I've owned this bass since 1993.  I don't know anything about the instrument's history, etc.  I assume it was built in '81.  It's been a great bass, and I just got it serviced for the first time in at least 15 years.  Any info would be appreciated.

Some of pictures of my bass. . .

Cool top on this bass and welcome to the club Mark.

Cool top was the first thing I thought of too!

Here's what we found in the file for this bass:
 
top: Koa
body: Mahogany
neck: Maple and Purpleheart, 32 medium scale
fingerboard: Ebony with mother of pearl ovals
birthday: December 18, 1981
originally made for: Sam Ash, Queens, NY
 
One previous registered owner in Queens. The original purchase date was January 8, 1982.

It's nice to see the younger sibling of my distillate. Mine has the serial# 81D1981USA. I'm assuming mine was made 10 bases before this one? Is that how the serials work?
Anyway, I bought mine new in 1982. It's basically the same with a Zebrawood top.

A 1981 Distillate with S/N 1981 - cool! That must be the only Alembic with matching s/n and year.
 
Alembic use one serial number for all instruments: they just prefix with the year and a short code for the model (Series instruments have no code). Check the Reference page on the main site for details.