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While the methanol produced in the first place is minimized, the process of distillation also removes methanol. In the fractional distillation process, methanol should be one of the first components to come over, and will do so around 64.7 degrees celcius.
There isn’t very much methanol produced in large distilleries. However, when distilling the beer to make whisky (for example), the liquid goes through a still. This evaporates off the alcohol, and condenses it, collecting the higher-proof liquid. The methanol evaporates off first. So, distilleries will run off the initial part of the liquid that condenses and not collect it, only beginning collection once things settle. This part that gets discarded is called the foreshot.
I would assume that distilleries use yeast that only produces ethanol and not methanol so it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. In a lab setting though, methanol has a slightly lower boiling point than ethanol so you could simply boil the solution until the methanol is gone.
First of the problem of methanol in distilling is greatly exaggerated.
Though there is a difference in vapor pressure between ethanol and methanol it’s not large enough to reliably separate the two. Also boiling point is not the only thing that decides to what degree one can use distillation to separate two substances. There will be a slightly higher concentration of methanol in the head (first bit of distillate), but the real reason for discarding this is taste not methanol poisoning concerns.
Edit: link to methanol ethanol equilibrium [http://www.ddbst.com/en/EED/VLE/VLE%20Ethanol%3BMethanol.php](http://www.ddbst.com/en/EED/VLE/VLE%20Ethanol%3BMethanol.php)
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