Spirits...

Spirit Facts...

All Forms of consumable alcohol have their origins in the process of 'fermentation'.

Whether they be wine, beer or spirits, all consumable alcohols must first begin with the fermentation process. Fermentation is the natural process of the decomposition of the mixture of the organic components of carbohydrates & yeast. (The Mash) Since carbohydrates & yeast are found in abundance in just about every sustainable society worldwide, almost every civilization developed some type of alcoholic beverage early in their respective history.

The fermentation process utilizes sugars that are hidden in the products used, which when mixed with yeast, create a reaction which than expels alcohol as a by-product.

The base products used in this worldwide production range from rice to sugar cane, grapes, honey, assorted grains or even potatoes. The necessary ingredient that is used in fermentation from these items is carbohydrate. All these organic products contain carbohydrates.

Beer & Wine production use the process of fermentation and stop there with the desired end result…Beer & Wine. Spirits on the other hand… take this ‘alcoholic brew’ if you will… and pass it through another process call ‘distillation’ that basically vaporizes the alcohol out and away from the water that is a medium from the fermentation process.

 ‘Distillation’ is the process of heating the water & fermented alcoholic ‘brew’ to the point where one of the products (alcohol) ‘boils’ first before the water & juice does. This is done in a heated ‘closed’ container called a ‘still’. This process produces a vapor that rises and is collected. This condensate is at a higher concentration of alcohol than the original ‘brew’. This vapor is of course flavored with the original components of the original fermentation process.

Alcohol boils at 173.3 degrees & we all know that water boils at 212 degrees, so if they keep the brew between these two temperatures, the steam from the alcohol rises & is collected in that curly tube that we have all seen on the ‘Beverly Hillbillies’. The ‘tube’ is called a ‘condenser’ and as I said the whole contraption is called a ‘still’. The condensate that is derived from this process is the alcohol. Many of the products on the market today distill and redistill their wares many times to increase the level of purity, or to enhance the desired flavor. The number of times and the exact process is the ‘recipe’ that each distiller views as the best way to achieve their goals. There are different kinds of ‘stills’, but that topic is for another day.

 Vodka is distilled as clean and pure as possible. Gin on the other hand is distilled with varying amounts of flavoring agents. Herbs, Spices & Botanicals, the most notable and universal being the Juniper Berry.

 So…the only difference between Vodka & Gin is that in the distillation process, herbs & spices & botanical are used to ‘flavor’ Gin .

 The raw ingredients that are used to make a distilled spirit are of two types…

1)     Those that have a high degree of natural sugars; such as sugar cane grapes, molasses, sugar itself and agave.

2)     Those that have a high degree of carbohydrates that can be easily converted to sugar by enzymes. These ‘Starchy’ materials include; corn, rice, barley, wheat & potatoes.

 ‘Spirits’ have a range that is often double that of wine or beer

 1)     Beer has an alcohol range between 2-8 %

2)     Wine has an alcoholic range between 8-14 %

3)     Alcoholic Spirits have a range between 35-50 % alcohol