Spirits

Spirits

Introduction

The first distiller were the probably perfume makers who distillates – not from fermented liquids but from flowers, scents and water. Prior to the Christian era the Chinese made a crude spirit from rice beer. Arak was being distilled from sugar cane and rice in the East Indies as early as 800 BC. Physician s such as Hippocrates of Costa (469-339 BC) and other Greeks Medics used boiled down wine and wine concentrates as part of the medical treatment to cure sores and heal wounds. It is thought that the Arab physician learned the art of distillation from the Greeks. Certainly the Arabs advanced the technique further and fashioned for us word such as alcohol, alembic (still) and elixir. Even the word distillation is attributed to Albukassen, an Arabian alchemist of the tenth century. In the Middle Ages , spirits was known as aqua vitae, water of life. In France it was referred to as eau-de-vie and the Celts of Ireland called it usage beatha.

In the eleventh century, the Italian distillers were making brandy from wine. By the twelfth century, uisge beatha (whiskey) was being made in Ireland from the barley beer. The twelfth century also saw the emergence of rhiznennia oda or water of life – later to be called vodka – in Russia and Poland.

In the fourteenth century, brandy was distilled in France and by the fifteenth century whisky making was well established in the Scottish highlands. Rum was first made in the West Indies in the sixteenth century and about the same time calvados was first distilled in Normandy, France. Gin started life as a medicine in Holland in the seventeenth century, while the eighteenth century saw the development of whiskey distilling in America.

To make the potable spirit , that is a spirit which is safe for human to drink, it is first of all necessary to have a fermented alcoholic liquids. Of these, beer (without hops flavours) seems to be the most comes next because, although it is traditionally associated with rum, it can also be used to make gin and vodka. Wine when distilled becomes a brandy. Cider is the base for calvados and apple jack ‘brandy’, pulque is the base for the tequila and perry the base for the eau-de-vie de poire. What distinguishes the individual spirits is the method of distillation employed and the flavouring and aroma elements- the small amounts of higher alcohols, solids and minerals – that differ in the base material of vegetable, fruit, cane and grain.

Distillation

The principle of distillation is that ethyl alcohol vaporises at a lower temperature than water -78°C (172°F) against 100°C (212°F). The distillation of alcoholic spirits depends on three factors;

1.      Ethyl alcohol vaporises, becomes a gas, when the temperature of 78°C (172°F) is reached. Water boils at 100°C (212°F). The still is the apparatus which allows the separation of water and alcohol to be carried out.

2.      Water is constantly vaporising to some extent so every distillation will contain water.

3.      The minor constituents, or congeners, which include higher alcohols (fusel oil) aldehydes, ethers, esters, volatile acids and organic compounds, give the product its distinctive, individual character of taste and aroma. These are obtained either in the vaporising process or by extraction from the residue and the further enhanced as spirit ages in wood. Adehydes, produced from the combination of alcohols and air particularly important for the character of a spirit. Esters result from a combination of acids and alcohol and form the volatile substance that contributes to the aroma of a spirit.