Food Commodities 33

Spirits

Whisky, rum, brandy, gin and other liquids created through the distillation process and containing ethyl alcohol. also known as spirits and more imprecisely and commonly known as liquor.

The term “spirits” can refer to a lot of things: the stuff you’re not supposed to lose during hard times. Something cheerleaders are professionally obsessed with. The beings you negotiate with after you’ve accidentally moved into a haunted house. And, oh yes, bottles of power-packing alcohol.

But what are alcoholic spirits, exactly? Basically they’re the biggest, brawniest older brother of the alcohol family. All alcoholic beverages are made by fermenting some form of sugary brew into ethanol and CO2. Because yeast can only ferment so much before alcohol levels become toxic to them, we have to distill (or physically separate out the water) to get higher alcohol concentrations. And that’s why “spirits” are differentiated in two ways: they’re distilled, and they have higher average ABVs, from around 20% to as high as 80 or 90% ABV (most spirits fall somewhere much closer to the middle).

Of course, the term “spirit” (aka liquor) doesn’t refer to everything you see in a liquor store besides wine and beer. For instance, you may also see bottles with names like Fernet Branca, Amaretto, Peach Schnapps, or Peychaud’s Bitters. These are all part of the colorful, intoxicating extended spirits family, but they’re not quite spirits (because they’ve had things like sugar, herbs, and spices added to them and tend to have lower ABVs).

So how can you spot a spirit/liquor? These days, thanks to a glutted market, it’s not quite as obvious as a jug with a few X’s on it. There are craft distilleries cranking out newer, smaller brands, flavorings that make hard liquor taste like anything from jalapeño to marshmallow, and even some seriously unusual packaging that takes brand recognition to a freaky new level.

But thanks to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, all spirits bottles have to be labelled with some pretty specific information: the brand name; the kind of spirit in the bottle (e.g. vodka, gin, tequila, rum, and whisky, though you may also see things like moonshine, mezcal, pisco, and cachaça); any further required details regarding the spirit, for instance the age of the whiskey if it’s under four years; the alcohol by volume (or ABV), which must be written as a percentage but will often also be labelled as “Proof”; the country of origin as well as address and name of the importer or bottler; and, last but not least, a big fat government warning about the dangers of alcohol.

There’s a lot more that differentiates one spirit from another, but this generally—plus centuries of distilling history—is what differentiate spirits in the alcohol world.

Spirits are the highest ABV products of the yeast-based fermentation of a liquid brewed to have fermentable sugars. Unlike beer or wine, however, spirits are the product of a second step called “distillation” that further fortifies them.

History of Spirits

Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan. Maria the Jewess. Aeneas Coffey. Just a few (very important) names in the history of distilling. The next time you take a shot of tequila, sip a fine single malt, or even order some kind of Mudslide, you might wanna pour some out on the curb for them. Sure, you’re buying the round, but they made it happen.

Unlike wine and beer, which are historically connected to early advances like the cultivation of crops (grapes and barley), spirits require a very specific second step after fermentation: distilling. See, fermentation can happen by accident—wild yeast could easily stumble upon some rotted fruit and ferment the sugars into alcohol. But distilling requires very specific intentions, which is why we only got to distilling through alchemy—yes, that thing where scientists try to turn lead into gold.

Alchemy was actually a complex discipline, not just the “gold digger” of early science. A kind of mystical precursor to modern chemical engineering, alchemy was preoccupied with understanding the nature of substances—unlocking their inner secrets as a means to understanding the universe, the elements of nature, and life itself. The fact that we got booze from it is just a solid bonus.

Not that alchemy “invented” booze as we know it. There had been prior evidence of crudely distilled alcoholic beverages, liquors made from things like rice and mare’s milk in Asia as far back as 800 B.C. A far cry from Grey Goose, but evidence of a knowledge of distilling that found its way to Ancient Greece and continued into the first century A.D. Writings in the 4th century A.D. also attribute the development of the tribikos—or three-armed pot still—to “Maria the Jewess,” the first documented Western alchemist. (Whether she actually invented it is unclear.) But it wasn’t until the 8th century A.D. that Arabic alchemist Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan designed the alembic pot still, a contraption that allowed for the effective distillation of alcohol.

Not that Jabir (corrupted into “Geber”) was interested in recreational alcohol, even when he discovered a clear, flammable vapor from the distillation of wine. A forefather of modern chemistry, Jabir was driven by science. Even when fellow alchemist Muhammed ibn Zakaryia Razi began refining the practice of distilling alcohol specifically in the 9thcentury, the goals still had little to do with recreation—distilled alcohol was used primarily for ritual or medicine. In fact, the first documented use of distilled alcohol comes from a 12th century Italian medical school—not a bar.

Of course, the modern existence of “Happy Hour” tells us that alcohol distillation dideventually become recreational. It just took a while. The first published book on the subject, The Virtuous Art of Distilling by Hieronymus Brunschwig (1500), treats distilled alcohol like medicine; but by 1618, a proto-travelogue called The Penniless Pilgrimage (PDF) mentions recreationally drinking “aqua vitae” (an early, euphemistic nickname for booze). Distilling had finally found its audience.

And it kept finding its audience, spreading in the 17th and well into the 18th century with trade, exploration, and colonization. And as the practice spread, it evolved. Medieval alchemist Avicenna had already devised a coiled cooling tube that made pot distilling more efficient, which left later innovators the problem of the larger inefficiency of the pot still: it had to be cleaned after each use. (By this time, distilled alcohol was highly recreational, so producing it quickly had become a priority.) Between the work of Robert Stein and Aeneas Coffey, a Scotsman and an Irishman respectively, we got the “column,” or continuous still, in the early 19th century. As the name suggests, it allows for virtually constant distillation and lower costs. Add a dash of rabid industrialization and large-scale commercial distilling was born.

Not that modern distilling is Absolut-ly just big business (get it?). Like beer—which started small, got macro-commercialized, and went micro again—spirits have enjoyed a recent “craft distilling” renaissance, with smaller-scale production bringing a slew of new products to the market.

Whatever you’re drinking, though, it’s a nice idea to pour a little bit out on the curb for alchemy.

Types of Alcohol

Types of Alcoholic BeveragesThe variety of alcohol types, different brands, and mixing ingredients is sometimes overwhelming. SYRUP Magazine makes it easy for you to gain a clear understanding of each type of alcohol and mixing ingredients by breaking them down to their basic classes: Spirits, Liqueurs, Wines & Champagnes, Beers, and Mixers. SPIRITS GIN - a colorless alcoholic beverage made by distilling or redistilling rye or other grain spirits and adding juniper berries or aromatics such as anise, caraway seeds, or angelica root as flavoring. VODKA - originally distilled from fermented wheat mash but now also made from a mash of rye, corn, or potatoes. RUM - distilled from cane juice, or from the scummings of the boiled juice, or from treacle or molasses, or from the lees of former distillations. Also, sometimes used colloquially as a generic or a collective name for intoxicating liquor. WHISKEY - distilled from grain, potatoes, etc., especially in Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. In the United States, whisky is generally distilled from maize, rye, or wheat, but in Scotland and Ireland it is often made from malted barley. TEQUILA - an alcoholic liquor distilled from the fermented juice of the Central American century plant Agave tequilana. BRANDY - an alcoholic liquor distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice. LIQUEURS (FLAVORED SPIRITS) Liqueurs are flavored spirits prepared by infusing certain woods, fruits, or flowers, in either water or alcohol, and adding sugar, etc. Others are distilled from aromatic or flavoring agents. WINES & CHAMPAGNE RED WINE - wine having a red color derived from skins of dark-colored grapes. WHITE WINE - any wine of a clear, transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon, etc.; -- distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and Burgundy. ROSE WINE - pinkish table wine from red grapes whose skins were removed after fermentation began. CHAMPAGNE - a sparkling white wine made from a blend of grapes, especially Chardonnay and pinot, produced in Champagne. SPARKLING WINE - any of various effervescent wines, such as champagne, produced by a process involving fermentation in the bottle. VERMOUTH - a sweet or dry fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs and used chiefly in mixed drinks. BEER ALE LAGER - a type of beer of German origin that contains a relatively small amount of hops and is aged from six weeks to six months to allow sedimentation. CIDER NON-ALCOHOLIC MIXERS WATER JUICE SPARKLING BEVERAGES SYRUPS COFFEE CHOCOLATE

Benefits of Alcohol

In moderation, alcohol can actually offer up some notable health benefits.

1. Alcohol can help fight colds.
2. Drinking moderately can improve sexual function in men.
3. It offer libido boosting power for women.
4. A glass of cab could enhance your workout.
5. Tequila can help you lose weight.
6. Cranberry and vodka can boost your creativity.
7. Alcohol can soothe sore muscles.

How Alcohol is Made

Ethanol is commercially produced using a process called fermentation. Many other alcohols can be made this way, but are more likely to be produced by synthetic routes. From natural gas, oil or coal.

Fermentation ?

Fermentation is the process in which yeast breaks down sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Yeast are tiny single-celled fungi that contain special enzymes responsible for this reaction. The word equation for this process is :

                                    Glucose + yeast  alcohol + carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide gas bubbles out of the fermenting solution into the air leaving a mixture of ethanol and water. It's important that no air is present or the yeast will produce ethanoic acid. The chemical found in vinegar.

Beer and Lagers

Barley, hops, water and live yeast produce beers and lagers. The sugar in the mix comes from the spouting barley. Bitter, stout and ale use top fermenting yeast, while lager uses a variety that sinks to the bottom

Wine

In wine making the sugars come from the flesh of the crushed grapes. The type of wine produced depends on the type of grape used in the process.

Spirits and Distillation

Yeast cannot survive in high levels of alcohol, so to create stronger spirits an additional process, distillation is required. Fermented drinks are distilled to create vodka, rum, and other spirits. Distillation relies on ethanol having a lower boiling point than water. When the fermented drink is heated the ethanol vaporises at 78.5 degrees and the water is left behind. The ethanol gas is caught and cooled so it condenses into a stronger concentration of ethanol liquid.

Other Uses of Fermentation

Fermentation is also used in bread making, the yeast is mixed with the dough and kept warm. The carbon dioxide produced byfermentation makes the bread dough rise and the alcohol evaporates.

How to Use Alcohol

Not only used in beverage alcohol can be used in food to enhanced the flavor and also used in medical as a drug.

Sources
@ Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts by Steven Labensky, Gaye G.Ingram, Sarah R.Labensky
@ https://vinepair.com/spirits-101/what-are-spirits/
@ https://vinepair.com/spirits-101/history-of-distilling/
@ http://www.eatthis.com/benefits-of-alcohol/
@ http://www.alcoholandyou.org.uk/facts/howisitmade.html
@ https://santafespirits.com/distillation-process