Complex fluids have long posed a significant challenge in our ability to characterize and model fluid properties. Here, complex fluids are considered to be mixtures with many components that can differ significantly in polarity and polarizability. The penultimate complex fluid is crude oil, although many other fluids such as finished fuels are also highly complex. We have recently introduced a measurement strategy that can simplify these efforts and provides the added potential of linking chemical composition (i.e. analytical) information with physical property information. In addition to chemical characterization, the approach provides the ability to calculate thermodynamic and transport properties for such complex heterogeneous streams. The technique is based on the advanced distillation curve (ADC) metrology, which separates a complex fluid by distillation into fractions that are sampled, and for which thermodynamically consistent temperatures are measured at atmospheric pressure. The collected sample fractions can be analyzed by any method that is appropriate. Analytical methods we have applied include gas chromatography (with flame ionization, mass spectrometric and sulfur chemiluminescence detection), thin-layer chromatography, FTIR, Karl Fischer coulombic titrimetry, refractometry, corrosivity analysis, neutron activation analysis and cold neutron prompt gamma activation analysis. This method has been on product streams such as finished fuels (gasoline, diesel fuels, aviation fuels, rocket propellants), crude oils (including a crude oil made from swine manure) and waste oil streams (used automotive and transformer oils). In this review, we describe the essential features of the ADC metrology with illustrative examples.