Alcohol Introduction

Definitions
Fermented Beverages Distilled Beverages

Fermented Beverage is alcoholic drink obtained by Distilled beverages are spirits, liquors created by
fermentation process in which sugars such as glucose distilling the fermented mash. By doing the distillation
and sucrose are converted to alcohol by adding yeast. alcohol volume and purity of the product are increased.
Most common beverages created by fermentation
There are 2 main types of distillation:
process are wines, sakes and beers
-cooper pot (pot still) distillation
-column (continuous) distillation

Pot Still column (continuous) distillation

 History of Alcohol
Clear evidence of the distillation of alcohol comes from the School of Salerno in the 12th century

Early forms of distillation were batch processes using one vaporization and one condensation. Purity was improved by further distillation of the
condensate. Greater volumes were processed by simply repeating the distillation. Chemists were reported to carry out as many as 500 to 600
distillations in order to obtain a pure compound.

The Primitive Distillates

Origin: 800 BC

Ingredients: various ferments

Around 800 BC distilled alcoholic beverages were being made in Asia. These included:
Skhou: In the Caucasus, from kefir (mare's milk)
Sochou/Shochu: In Japan, from sake (rice)
Saut/Sautchoo: In China, from tehoo (rice, millet)
Arrack: In India, from toddy (rice with molasses or palm sap)
Arika: By Tartars, from koumiss (mare's milk)
Fermentation Process
Fermentation is the process where grape juice (or any other mash) is joined with yeast which activates chemical reaction
and sugar are converted to alcohol.

The formula for the fermentations process is: sugar, added to yeast yields alcohol and carbon dioxide. The yeast, added to
the grapes converts the natural sugars contained in the grapes (glucose and fructose) into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide is then released from the wine mixture into the air and the alcohol remains.

When all of the fruit’s sugars converts over to alcohol or the alcohol is tested and found to be 15%, then this means that
fermentation is complete and all the natural yeast as well as the added yeast nutrients has been destroyed

Brettanomyces, also known as "Brett", is a yeast strain commonly found in red Burgundy wine.
 Distillation
The basic distillation procedure is the same regardless of the spirit. Alcohol is not "created" by distillation, just
concentrated. A weak alcoholic beverage such as wine or beer is heated to boiling in a still (see illustrations
below). Since the various constituents of the resulting vapor (like water, ethyl, methyl, and isopropyl alcohols)
will vaporize and condense at different temperatures, they may be selectively extracted to create a new
mixture which may then be further aged and/or flavored by the distiller. The different kinds of stills (e.g., pot
still, column still) function in different ways and result in products of vastly different makeup and taste, but
the basic process is the same: slowly boil the liquid and keep the vapors you want.

pot still column still

The first type of still and the only one used until the early 1800s, a Created in the early 1800s to avoid the process of draining
pot still actually consists of two pots, the first of which contains and cleaning the pot still between batches, it is also known as
the wash. When the first pot is heated to between 173 and 212 the patent still or continuous still because it can be run
degree Fahrenheit (hot enough to boil alcohol but not water),
alcohol vapor rises up and out, into a coiled tube where it is
constantly, without need for maintenance between batches.
cooled, collected, then re-heated and further purified. (Moonshine Column stills allow the distiller less control of the resulting
is the term for alcohol which has forgone the second distillation flavor constituents and produce a characterless spirit relative
and which is potentially deadly due to its high concentration of to the pot still. It also allows the distiller to use cheaper
poisonous constituents.) Because the pot still allows for precise ingredients since less of the original ingredients' flavor is
control (when wielded skillfully), it is the still of choice for any preserved.
spirit without additives in which the pure flavor is important (e.g.,
any good whiskey or brandy).
 Distillation
Copper Pot Distillation
A pot still is a type of still used in distilling spirits such as whisky or brandy. Heat is applied directly to the pot containing the
wash or wine (for brandy). This is called a batch distillation (as opposed to a continuous distillation).
At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F) but alcohol boils at 78 degrees Celsius (172 °F). During
distillation, the vapor is richer in alcohol than the liquid. When this vapor is condensed, the resulting liquid contains a
higher concentration of alcohol. In the pot still, the alcohol and water vapor, combined with vapors of the multitude of
aroma components such as esters, alcohols that give the mash or wine its aroma, evaporate and flow from the still
through the condensing coil. There they condense to the first distillation liquid, the so-called 'low wines', with a strength of
about 25-35% alcohol by volume, which then flows into a second still below. It is then distilled a second time to produce
the colorless spirit, collected at about 70% alcohol by volume.

The container at center receives both the distillate from the first pot, which
must be further purified, and the undesirable portions--the fore shots and
feints--of the second distillation, more of whose alcohol can thereby be
extracted.
Distillation
Column Still Distillation

Created in the early 1800s to avoid the process of draining and cleaning the pot still
between batches, it is also known as the patent still or continuous still because it can be
run constantly, without need for maintenance between batches. Column stills allow the
distiller less control of the resulting flavor constituents and produce a characterless spirit
relative to the pot still. It also allows the distiller to use cheaper ingredients since less of the
original ingredients' flavor is preserved.

The plates in each column are hottest at the bottom and coolest at the top. Liquids
with low boiling points are concentrated in the vapor that leaves the first column
and rises in the second. As is the case with the pot still, the impurities are recycled
to extract their fraction of desirable ingredients.
Products of
distillation
Vodka

Origin:
Russia, 1400s

Ingredients:
rye or wheat, sometimes potato or another grain
(traditionally the cheapest starch available)

Probably produced since the 12th century for

medicinal purposes, the word comes from the
Russian diminutive for "water." In the 1930s Vodka
became popular in the United States where it is
government-defined as a neutral spirit without
distinctive characteristics.
What are our
bottles?
Products of
distillation
GIN

Origin:
Holland
Ingredients: juniper berries, various grains
The word come from the Dutch "genever" which means juniper. The number of botanicals in a gin ranges from 4 to 20.

Genever
Origin: Holland
Ingredients: malt wine (malted barley, wheat, corn, and rye)
Process: Pot double- or triple-distill at low proof, distill once more with juniper to
about 48% ABV.
A few genevers from Holland and Belgium are distilled directly from juniper berries.

London Dry Gin

Origin: England
Ingredients: grain (corn, barley, malt, wheat, or rye), juniper berries, botanicals
Process: Column distill to 90 or 94% ABV, pot distill with juniper and botanicals,
dilute, bottle. Generally, don't age. For some high quality gins juniper and botanicals
go in a chamber in the still which the vapor passes through before condensation.
Gin dan Gyun
Gin dan Gyun
 Rum

Products of Origin: India, 1500s

Ingredients: molasses or sugar cane
distillation Process: Distill in continuous still to about 85% ABV, filter, blend, and leach through charcoal
for "silver" rum, age for 1 year (light-bodied) to 6 years (heavy), add caramel (if desired) to
deepen color and flavor. For Jamaican Rum ferment longer and pot distill to lower purity.
Settlers in the New World began to make rum because barley had not yet been cultivated
and molasses was plentiful.
Rhummmmmmm
Products of
distillation
Tequila

Origin: Jalisco, Mexico

Ingredients: juice of blue agave (agave tequiliana)
Process: Similar to mezcal but bake piña in steam oven or autoclave (oversized pressure cooker) until all starch is converted to sugar.
Silver/Blanco: Age 60 days, less, or not at all.
Gold (usually a mixto): Unaged silver tequila plus caramel for color.
Reposado: Age in wooden tanks or casks for legal two months (three to nine months for better quality brands). Best-selling tequila in Mexico.
Añejo: Age in wood at least one year (one and a half to three years for high-quality mixtos, up to four years for high-quality agaves).

By Mexican law all 100% agave or aged Tequila is bottled in Mexico. All 100% agave tequila is labeled as such (otherwise it is a "mixto," made from
fermented agave juice and other sugars, usually cane sugar with water). Aging tequila more than four years is controversial; most Tequila producers oppose it
to protect the distinctive earthy and vegetal agave flavor.

Mezcal The famous "worm" found in some bottles ("con gusano") is

Origin: Mexico actually the larva of one of two moths that live on the agave
Ingredients: juice of any species of agave plant (a.k.a. maguey, pronounced muh- plant. Reason for the worm is obscure, but it does serve as
GAY) proof of high alcohol content--if worm remains intact,
percentage of alcohol in the spirit is high enough to preserve
Process: Cultivate agave 8-10 years, depending on the type, cut off flower stalk the pickled worm. Top-quality mezcals do not include a worm
when it appears at plant's sexual maturity--growth is redirected into central stalk in the bottle.
which swells with sweet, juicy pulp. After swelling, cut plant from roots and remove
the long sword-shaped leaves, leaving the piña ("pineapple," so-called because it
resembles a giant green and white pineapple) which weighs 25-100 pounds.
Quarter piña, bake in underground oven heated with wood charcoal (for mezcal's
distinctive smoky taste), and crush and shred to extract the sweet juice aguamiel
("honey water"). Ferment and pot distill agave juice to 55% ABV with water only
(high-quality) or add sugar ("mixto"). If needed add natural flavorings and caramel
for color.
Tegilagila
 Products of
Whisky distillation
Origin: Ireland and Scotland, around 1500; known as aqua vitae, (all Tennessee Whiskey
meaning "water of life") until the 1700s (name shortened from Origin: Tennessee, United States
"usquebaugh" to "usky" and eventually "whiskey"). Ingredients: corn (minimum 51%), barley malt
Ingredients: barley, corn, rye Process: By law: distill at less than 80% ABV, filtered through bed
of sugar maple charcoal, age for at least two years in new
Spelled "whisky" in Scotland, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.
charred barrels.
Single-Malt Scotch Canadian Whisky
Origin: Scotland, 1500 Origin: Canada
Ingredients: 100% barley malt Ingredients: corn or wheat with rye, barley, or barley malt
Process: Under the Scotch Whiskey Act 1988: pot distill to no more than 94.8% Process: Usually: blend from different whiskies of different ages;
ABV, age in oak for at least three years, dilute with water and add nothing but by law: age in used oak barrels for minimum three years (four
caramel for color. to six in practice). Export in barrel or bottle in Canada at
Currently there are only about 115 operating distilleries producing single-malt 43.4% ABV.
scotch. Irish Whiskey
Origin: Ireland
Rye Ingredients: barley (60%), barley malt (40%)
Origin: North America Process: Dry the malt (don't roast), and triple distill.
Ingredients: rye (minimum 51%), barley malt Milder than single malt and some blended scotch
Process: By law: distill at less than 80% ABV and age for at least two years in new
charred barrels.
Some rye is bottled and marketed directly, but most is blended into other whiskies
Blended Scotch
for character and structure.
Origin: Scotland, 1860s
Ingredients: single malt scotch (30-60%), grain alcohol (from
Bourbon corn)
Origin: Bourbon County, Kentucky, United States Process: Mix several malt whiskies from different distillers with
Ingredients: corn (minimum 51%), barley malt grain spirits (more neutral in flavor) produced in column stills.
Process: By law: distill at less than 80% ABV and age for at least two years in new Legal since the 1860s, the motivation for blending was originally
charred barrels. In practice, aged at least four years. economic but it also met the demand outside of Scotland for a
milder spirit.
Single Malt
A,I,C,J
Blender
BR
 Products of distillation

Cognac
Origin: Cognac, France, 1500s
Ingredients: wine (7.5% ABV, high acidity)
Process: Pot double-distill to 70% ABV, dilute to 50%, age in oak 2 years
(minimum) to 5 years or more (Very Superior Old Pale--VSOP). Dilute (if
necessary) to 40% ABV, color with caramel, add a small amount of sugar for
taste.

Grape Brandy
Origin: likely the first Western distilled beverage
Ingredients: grape wine

Brandy
Origin: Italy, 1000s
Ingredients: fruit wine (unaged)
The word comes from the Dutch "brandewijn" meaning "burnt wine."
Cognac & Brandy