The Best Documents of Upendra Nepali

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Wines
As we know that, wines are the valuable and most stylish drinks in the beverage industries ever since, its discoveries. It is the most unfathomable substances in the history of the beverage in comparison to any other beverage industries. All of us like to have the taste of the wines at an occasional or the almost all the time of their lifes .this is the best industries ever grown up. Rest of the business might have come or face the crisis in the past, present and will face financeial meltdownness,perhaps not this industries; nobody expects to happened or will happened in the near futures.We will discuss every simple matter or the issues in these topics regarding the wines. Fermentations: fermentations is the process of adding wine yeast to fesh grapes juices to convert the natural sugar in the grapes to ETHYL ALCOHOL. In this method co2(carbon dioxide is simultaneously released making fermentations violent at 1st and slow. The yeast added in the grapes juices is 3 to 5 % or more than the percentage mentions because the more the yeast could make alcoholic % greater and fabulous taste. This process takes about 2 days and during this process the temperature is maintained between 64 degree to 77 degree forinhight. There are 2 types of yeast in fermentations they are Saccharomyces cerevisiae & Saccharomyces, refers to saccharo Another method is that the wort is cooled and then passed in to vessels where it is fermented by the yeast which attracts the sugar and converts in to crude alcohol. The result is a sort of beer-then washed and with the alcoholic strength increases up.In fermentations sugar in fruits or grain developed by germinations and malting is converted in to alcohol by the actions of the bacteria. The degree of fermentations can be controlled .co2 OR carbon dioxide is a by products and can be retained as in the case of of beers and champagnes.What can be fermented? Like grapes, fruits, Selections of the wines by the names of the grapes will always satisfy our quest to know the taste and the color of the wines and that is any wines.Those things which can be fermented cant be distilled and distilled cant be fermented. Distillations: A distillation is the process of producing the alcohol. By heating the components is separated or mashed and as the vaporizations takes places the vapors are cooled so they condense in to NEUTRAL spirits with little colors, aroma.the distiller then distils or blends neutral spirits with other alcohol and leave it to maturity or may or may not leave it for the maturated ,until the desired aromas, is achieved before the bottlings.brandy,grappa,armagnac,vodka,gin,whiskys,and many more. Distillations in which alcohol vapor is passed through the flavouring agents and cooled.it shows that spirits have absorbed the flavors.Distillations is the process of increasing the concertrations of alcohol in the beverage. There are 2 types of STILL POT STILL: Its based on alchemist alembic. It is associated with the seperations ,slow,low temperatures,distillations,as a results products contains, good propartions of congeners,in the
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flaviours.the pot still provides the each spirits its characters, and appeal. All heavey spirits like brandy ,malt,whisky,dark rum,tequila,calvados are the pot still. These are the earliest distillation devices (also used in the production of Brandy and Scotch). A basic pot still consists of three parts: the kettle, where the liquid mixture is boiled, the condenser, which cools down the vapors coming from the kettle, and the gooseneck, which connects the kettle to the condenser. The liquid obtained from this type of distillation is also known as single distillate, since it is processed through the still only once. Typically this liquid is processed a second time, thus producing a double distillate which is cleaner and stronger than the single distillate. Several distilleries have taken this a step further by running the distillate a third, even a fourth time through the still, obtaining a cleaner, stronger, more rectified spirit at the end of each run. Because the amount of liquid that can be distilled at one time with a pot still is limited to the size of the kettle, distillers employing this method must perform their work batch by batch, which is a very labor intensive process (the kettle must be cleaned in between batches). Wines dont get completed without the fermentations and distillations.perhaps this the process of making the wines. COLUMN STILL: IT IS THE CONTINUOUS DISTILLATIONS COLUMN STILL: THE CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION SYSTEM WAS CREATED IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE THE DISTILLATION PROCESS MORE CONSISTENT. IT ALSO REDUCED THE AMOUNT OF WORK REQUIRED TO PROCESS EACH BATCH, THUS ALLOWING FOR HIGHER VOLUMES OF ALCOHOL TO BE PRODUCED. A DISTILLATION COLUMN IS CONSTRUCTED MUCH LIKE A VERTICAL MAZE, MADE UP OF A NUMBER OF HORIZONTAL TRAYS PLACED AT DIFFERENT LEVELS THROUGHOUT THE COLUMN. HERE THE FERMENTED LIQUID MIXTURE IS INTRODUCED INTO THE COLUMN AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL WHILE STEAM IS INTRODUCED AT ITS LOWEST LEVEL. AS THE LIQUID MAKES ITS WAY DOWN THE COLUMN, IT IS HEATED BY THE SURROUNDING STEAM, AND THE ALCOHOL IN THE MIX IS VAPORIZED. ONCE IT REACHES THE BOTTOM OF THE COLUMN, THE WASH CONTAINS NO ALCOHOL AND IS REMOVED THROUGH A RELEASE VALVE. THE SATURATED STEAM IS COLLECTED FROM THE TOP OF THE COLUMN AND IS THEN COOLED DOWN, ALLOWING IT TO CONDENSE. DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF ALCOHOL DESIRED, COLUMN STILL OPERATORS WILL EMPLOY SEVERAL COLUMNS, EACH ONE FEEDING THE NEXT, EACH ONE PRODUCING A CLEANER, STRONGER, MORE "RECTIFIED" SPIRIT There are 4 types of distillations, they are
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Atmospheric pressures distillations Fractional distillations Vacuum distillations, Stem distillations DECANTATIONS; Decantations simply means cleaning of the foreign particles within the bottles and letting the wines of the spirits be cleaned. DEFUCATIONS: is the process of cleanings of both the red/white wines by boling steaming method. Direct defecations: is the process of distilling of the beverage with the help of the steam. SPIRITES: spirits is a potable alcoholic beverage obtained from the distillitations of an alcohol containing liquid.in distilations all the alcohol can be separated with the presents of methylalchol and ethyl alcohol which is C2H3OH/EATHYOL from the liquid. Like vodka, gin, grappa, j& b, sambuca ALCOHOL: Alcohol is a volatile mobile fluids obtained by fermenting a liquid containing sugar, in which the strength of which can be further be increased by distillations process.methylalchol and ethyl alcohol which is C2H3OH/EATHYOL is the formula. Alcohol has 100 calories in a single unites. GRAPES: SELECTIONS OF GRAPES: WHITE WINE GRAPES Cabernet sauvignon Chardoannay Chenin blanc Geuwrzraminer Merlot Nebbiolo Pinot noir Riesling Sauvgnon blanc Syrah Albarino Pinot blanc Cheinin blanc Geuvirztramines Gerner vetttinge Marsame Muscat Pinot grigios Riesling Rosussane Sauvgnon blanc Semillions taste black current ripe lemon,pineapple apples tropical fruits lychees plums,damson prunes strawberies cheries,plums apricots,peachs gooseberies raspberries apple,pears,lychees melon,lime, lychees,mango coriander lemon,apples,pears apple,peach,appricot spices,safforn
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RED WINES GRAPES Zinfandel black berries,bramble spices Alicante bouschet safforn,thyme Barbera Cabernet franc black berries& all berries Cabernet sauvignon Carignanc all cherries,black berries Carmenere cherry,strawberries Cinsault strawberries Duriff Gamay noir cherry,strawberries Grenche rustic,fleshy,sweets dusty Frignolino Malbec Merlot plums,apples,apricots Mission all berries Mourvedre thyme,clove,cinnoman,black peppers Werbbiolo black berries,cherry Petit sirah ninous,black fruits and black berries Pinot meanier Pinot noir cherry,strawberries,black berries,red berries,apple,lemon Primatino all berries Sangionese Syrah black current Tempranillo all fruits Valdiguise Zinfandle all berries Pintoage THE CLASSIC RED WINE GRAPES:What I consider to be the six classic red grapes are detailed here, together with further details on a number of other varieties at the foot of the page. Some of the grape varieties mentioned here, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, will be familiar to even the novice wine drinker. Others, however, such as Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, will be much less familiar, as outside of the regions of northern Italy where these grapes have their home they are not, as yet, extensively planted. Each profile contains information on: Spiritual home: the Old World locations where the grape has its home. Most grape varieties have just one or two locations in the Old World where they are traditionally cultivated. This section tells you where. Grown elsewhere: some grapes have found a niche in the New World, and may have gained considerable fame as a result, such as Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand. Others are almost ubiquitous, whereas some have travelled little. This section gives you a brief one-liner as to where the variety is found,.
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Keywords: this section gives just one or two words that give some idea as to the intrinsic flavour of the grape. It is merely a quick note to 'hang your hat on', so to speak, and is by no means comprehensive.. Profile: A guide to the growing requirements or preferences, taste and aroma, ability to age and so on. Cabernet Sauvignon Spiritual home: Bordeaux. Grown elsewhere: Widely cultivated throughout the world. Key flavour: Blackcurrants. Profile: Renowned for the wines it produces on the well-drained, gravelly soils on the left bank of the Gironde in Bordeaux, cabernet Sauvignon has been a natural choice for New World winemakers wishing to emulate the fine wine that is claret. It is a robust grape that has travelled well, and is now cultivated in Australia, South Africa, North America and South America, but has also been put to use in Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe. It has small, blueblack berries which have thick skins, providing necessary tannin, colour and flavour. Characteristics aromas and flavours are blackcurrants, cedar, old furniture and cabinets, coffee, tobacco, cigars, cigar boxes, violets, minerals, green pepper (especially if grapes are somewhat under-ripe), chocolate and so on. Young wines start off intensely fruity, whilst the more complex aromas will develop with age. Merlot Spiritual home: Bordeaux. Grown elsewhere: Important in Italy and California. Key flavours: Chocolate, fruitcake. Profile: Whereas Cabernet Sauvignon has its spiritual home in the left bank communes of Bordeaux, Merlot is most famous for the wines from the right bank, especially from Pomerol and St Emilion. Although somewhat less widely travelled when compared to Cabernet, this thin-skinned, large-berried variety has found a new home in California. It is also important in some of the top wines of Italy, and can also be found in Australia and Eastern Europe. Spicy fruitcake, Christmas cake and chocolate characteristics will often give Merlot away, although it may also display blackcurrant, black cherry and plums. It is less tannic than Cabernet Sauvignon, and is often used in clarets when they need to be 'fleshed out' in weaker vintages. Pinot Noir Spiritual home: Burgundy, important in Champagne. Grown elsewhere: Success in New Zealand, California, Australia. Keywords: Summer berry fruits (primary characteristics). Profile: Without doubt, although many winemakers of the New World have tried their hand at cultivating this variety, none have come close to emulating the fine wine that can be produced in Burgundy. Nevertheless, the wines of New Zealand have received critical acclaim in recent years, and there are
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also extremely good examples from California, Australia and South Africa to be found, although all are made in a richly fruity style quite distinct from Burgundy. This variety is thin skinned, grows in small bunches, and is prone to problems with yields. Accepted wisdom states that consistently low yields are necessary to maintain quality, and although high-yield clones have been developed (there are many different clones of Pinot Noir, all of which have different flavour, yield, disease resistance and so on) the final product lacks the necessary quality. When discussing Pinot Noir, it is also worth remembering that it plays a vital role as one of the three grapes widely planted in Champagne. Primary aromas and flavours (those present when young) are redcurrants, cranberries, strawberries, blackberries and chocolate. The secondary aromas (those that develop with age) include horsehair and animal fur, farmyard aromas, manure and compost. Lovely! Syrah/Shiraz Spiritual home: Rhne Valley, particularly the north. Grown elsewhere: Australia, but many other countries also. Keywords: Black fruits & black pepper. Profile: Syrah is the grape behind fine wines of the Northern Rhne, not only Cte Rtie ("roasted slope") and Hermitage, but also Cornas and CrozesHermitage. Nevertheless, most wine drinkers are familiar with it as Shiraz, the name by which it is known in Australia, where it is responsible for richly fruity wines, ranging from inexpensive everyday bottles right up to Australia's first growth, Penfolds Grange (once known as Grange 'Hermitage'). This thickskinned grape may produce potentially tannic and long-lived wines. It is also late-ripening, explaining why it has gravitated towards warm regions such as the Rhne and Australia, although it is also producing good wines in South Africa, Chile and California. Typical descriptors include black fruits and black pepper, but more intriguingly raspberries, spice, herbs, grilled meats, charcoal, smoke and tar may be found. When aged it may develop rubbery aromas, particularly when from the Northern Rhne. Sangiovese Spiritual home: Chianti. Grown elsewhere: Not extensively. Keywords: Black cherries. Profile: This variety enjoys a warm climate, and is capable of producing great wines in such conditions. A cooler environment may result in excessive acidity. Despite this, Sangiovese has not been the focus of the attention of new World winemakers in the same way as Cabernet or Pinot. This may relate to Chianti's image problem, as for too long it has been regarded by many as a jug wine, despite the efforts of top producers such as Felsina, Fonterutoli and Fontodi. Sangiovese is also the grape behind other classic wines of Northern Italy, such as Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello being an Italian synonym for this grape) and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. In the New World, there are some small plantings in California and Australia, as well as Argentina. Typical
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characteristics include slightly bitter, mouth-watering sour cherry and black cherry aromas, with spices, herbs and tobacco. Nebbiolo Spiritual home: Barolo. Grown elsewhere: Not extensively. Keywords: Black cherries. Profile: Like Sangiovese, Nebbiolo is another of Northern Italy's classic grapes which, despite great potential, and being responsible for some of Italy's finest wines, has not been widely planted in the New World. It's home is not just in Barolo, but also nearby Barbaresco, where fine wines are also produced. It would seem ideally suited to planting in warmer climes, as this thick-skinned variety is late ripening. Indeed, the name Nebbiolo may be derived from nebbia, a fog which hangs over the vineyards during the Autumn harvest. There are small plantings, however, in California, Australia and Argentina. Typical adjectives used to describe the wines of the Nebbiolo grape include black cherries, liquorice, tar, hung game and chocolate. Other Red Grapes There are tens of thousands of grapes suitable for viticulture, although only a few are capable of making great wine. Here are a few of the other important red grapes. Grenache: Important in the Southern Rhne, where it dominates. Nevertheless, in almost all cases in is blended with other varieties such as Syrah and Mourvdre, which is standard practice in this region. It may also be found in Spain and Australia. Characteristics: raspberries, white pepper. Mourvdre: Also important in the Southern Rhne, but also Bandol in Provence where it produces some classic wines. Also known as Monastrell or Mataro, and may be found in Spain and California. Characteristics: tannic, long ageing wines. Black fruits. Cabernet Franc: Dominant grape in the Loire Valley, but also extremely important in Bordeaux where it is general used as a minor component of the blend by most chteaux, although by itself it is the grape behind the wine from one of the regions top estates, Cheval Blanc. Characteristics: blackcurrants, blackcurrant leaves, green/bell peppers, smoke, spice. Tempranillo: The grape of Rioja. Many of the characteristics of Rioja are derived from the long oak-ageing. Characteristics: vinified without oak, you might find strawberries and soft spices. Malbec: Like Cabernet Franc, this is used as part of the blend by some Bordeaux estates. It is also the grape behind Cahors, a southern French appellation. It is becoming more widely known, however, for the steadily improving wines it is producing in Argentina. Characteristics: intense summer fruits, spice. Zinfandel: The grape the USA has made its own, with wide plantings in California especially. It is also grown in southern Italy where it is known as Primitivo. Characteristics: red and black fruits, black pepper.
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Pinotage: This grape belongs in South Africa. It is a crossed variety, the parents being Pinot Noir and Cinsault, which was once known as Hermitage. Characteristics: summer fruits, fruitcake, tar, leather, smoke. Gamay: The grape of Beaujolais. Like Tempranillo, many of the flavours associated with this grape are not from the grape itself. In Beaujolais, the winemaking technique carbonic maceration is more the culprit. Certain yeast strains have also been implicated as being responsible for some flavours, particularly banana. Characteristics: red fruits, bananas, bubblegum. White wines Exampels : pinot grigio attems ,chardonnay reserva,monragny premier cru,albarino rias baixas,riesling art series,chardonnay,semillon louis,sauvignon blan,viognier the virgilius,chablis bougris grand cru, RED WINES exampels :Cabernet sauvignon yellow label,bardolino superiore,pinot noir,chateau musar,merlot,les terrasses priorat,shiraz mount edelstone,tignanello,chateau palmer 1997,chateau cheval blanc 1986, Wines: wine is an alcoholic beverage obtained from the fermentations of the grapes History of making a wines: THE HISTORY OF MAKING WINE spans thousands of years and is closely intertwined with the history of agriculture, cuisine, civilization and man himself. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest wine production came from sites in Georgia and Iran, dating from 6000 to 5000 BC. The archaeological evidence becomes clearer and points to domestication of grapevine in Early Bronze Age sites of the Near East, Sumer and Egypt from around the third millennium BC. Evidence of the earliest European wine production has been uncovered at archaeological sites in Macedonia, dated to 6,500 years ago. These same sites also contain remnants of the world's earliest evidence of crushed grapes. In Egypt, wine became a part of recorded history, playing an important role in ancient ceremonial life. Traces of wild wine dating from the second and first millennium BC have also been found in China. Wine was common in classical Greece and Rome and many of the major wine producing regions of Western Europe today were established with Phoenician and later Roman plantations. Wine making technology, such as the wine press, improved considerably during the time of the Roman Empire; many grape varieties and cultivation techniques were known and barrels were developed for storing and shipping wine. In medieval Europe, following the decline of Rome and therefore of widespread wine production, the Christian Church was a staunch supporter of the wine necessary for celebration of the Catholic Mass. Whereas wine was also forbidden in medieval Islamic cultures, Geber and other Muslim chemists pioneered the distillation of wine for medicinal purposes and its use in Christian libation was widely tolerated. Wine production gradually increased and its consumption became popularized from the 15th century onwards, surviving the devastating Phylloxera louse of the 1870s and eventually establishing growing regions throughout the world. In Iran (Persia), mei (the Persian wine) has been a central theme of poetry for more than a thousand years, although alcohol is strictly forbidden in Islam. Little is actually known of the prehistory of wine. It is plausible that early foragers and farmers made alcoholic beverages from wild fruits, including wild grapes (Vitis silvestris). This would have become easier following the
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development of pottery vessels in the later Neolithic of the Near East, about 9000 years ago. However, wild grapes are small and sour, and relatively rare at archaeological sites. It is unlikely they could have been the basis of a wine industry. Domesticated grapes were abundant in the Near East from the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, starting in 3200 BC. There is also increasingly abundant evidence for wine making in Sumer and Egypt in the third millennium BC. The ancient Chinese made wine from native wild "mountain grapes" like Vitis thunbergii for a time, until they imported domesticated grape seeds from Central Asia in the second century. Grapes were, of course, also an important food. Exactly where wine was first made is still unclear. It could have been anywhere in the vast region, stretching from North Africa to Central/South Asia, where wild grapes grow. However, the first large-scale production of wine must have been in the region where grapes were first domesticated, Southern Caucasus and the Near East. Wild grapes grow in Georgia, northern Levant, coastal and southeastern Turkey, northern Iran or Armenia. None of these areas can, as yet, be definitively singled out, despite persistent suggestions that Georgia is the birthplace of wine. In Egypt, wine played an important role in ancient ceremonial life. A thriving royal winemaking industry was established in the Nile Delta following the introduction of grape cultivation from the Levant to Egypt c. 3000 BC. The industry was most likely the result of trade between Egypt and Canaan during the Early Bronze Age, commencing from at least the Third Dynasty (2650-2575 BC), the beginning of the Old Kingdom period (2650-2152 BC). Winemaking scenes on tomb walls, and the offering lists that accompanied them, included wine that was definitely produced at the deltaic vineyards. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five wines, all probably produced in the Delta, constitute a canonical set of provisions, or fixed "menu," for the afterlife. The Roman Empire had an immense impact on the development of viticulture and oenology. Wine was an integral part of the Roman diet and wine making became a precise business. As the Roman Empire expanded, wine production in the provinces grew to the point where the provinces were competing with Roman wines. Virtually all of the major wine producing regions of Western Europe today were established by the Romans. Wine making technology improved considerably during the time of the Roman Empire. Many grape varieties and cultivation techniques were developed and barrels and bottles began to be used for storing and shipping wine and bottles. Following the Greek invention of the screw, wine presses became common on Roman manors. The Romans also created an early form of appellation system, as certain regions gained reputations for their fine wines. Wine, perhaps mixed with herbs and minerals, was assumed to serve medicinal purposes. During Roman times it was not uncommon to dissolve pearls in wine for better health. Cleopatra created her own legend by promising Marc Anthony she would "drink the value of a province" in one cup of wine, after which she drank an expensive pearl with a cup of wine. When the Roman Empire fell around 500 AD, Europe went into a period known as the Dark Ages. This was a period of invasions and social turmoil. The only stable social structure was the Catholic Church. Through the Church, grape growing and wine making technology was preserved during this period. In the Middle Ages, wine was the common drink of all social classes in the south, where grapes were cultivated. In the north and east, where little or no grapes were grown, beer and ale were the common drink of both commoners and nobility. Wine was imported to the northern regions, but was expensive, and thus seldom consumed by the lower classes. Wine was necessary for the
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celebration of the Catholic mass, and so assuring a supply was crucial. The Benedictine monks became one of the largest producers of wine in France and Germany, followed closely by the Cistercians. Other orders, such as the Carthusians, the Templars, and the Carmelites, are also notable both historically and in modern times as wine producers. The Benedictines owned vineyards in Champagne (Dom Perignon was a Benedictine monk), Burgundy, and Bordeaux in France and in the Rheingau and Franconia in Germany. In 1435 Count John IV. of Katzenelnbogen, a very rich member of the holy roman high nobility near Frankfurt, was the first to plant Riesling, the most important grape of Germany. Nearby the winemaking monks made it into an industry, producing enough wine to ship it all over Europe for secular use. In Portugal, a country with one of the oldest wine traditions, the first appellation system in the world was created. A housewife of the merchant class or a servant in a noble household would have served wine at every meal, and had a selection of reds and whites alike. Home recipes for meads from this period are still in existence, along with recipes for spicing and masking flavors in wines, including the simple act of adding a small amount of honey to the wine. As wines were kept in barrels, they were not extensively aged, and therefore were drunk quite young. To offset the effects of heavy consumption of alcohol, wine was frequently watered down at a ratio of four or five parts water to one of wine. One medieval application of wine was the use of snake-stones (banded Agate resembling the figural rings on a snake) dissolved in wine against snake bites, which shows an early understanding of the effects of alcohol on the central nervous system in such situations. In the late 1800s the Phylloxera louse brought devastation to vines and wine production in Europe. It brought catastrophe for all those whose lives depended on wine. The repercussions were widespread, including the loss of many indigenous varieties. On the positive side, it led to the transformation of Europe's vineyards. Only the fittest survived. Bad vineyards were uprooted and better uses were found for the land. Some of France's best butter and cheese, for example, is now made from cows that graze on Charentais soil which was previously covered with vines. "Curves" were also standardised. This was particularly important in creating certain wines as we now know them today - Champagne and Bordeaux finally achieved the grape mix which defines them today. In the Balkans where phylloxera did not hit, the local varieties survived but along with Ottoman occupation the transformation of vineyards has been slow. It is only now that local varieties are getting to be known beyond the "mass" wines like Retsina. Grapes and wheat were first brought to what is now Latin America by the first Spanish conquistadores to provide the necessities of the Catholic Holy Eucharist. Planted at Spanish missions, one variety came to be known as the Mission grapes and is still planted today in small amounts. Succeeding waves of immigrants imported French, Italian and German grapes, although wine from grapes native to the Americas is also produced (though often deemed an acquired taste, since the flavors can be very different). Wine in the Americas is most closely associated with Argentina, California and Chile, all of which produce a wide variety of wines from inexpensive jug wines to high-quality varieties and proprietary blends. While most of the wine production in the Americas is based on Old World varieties, the wine growing regions of the Americas often have "adopted" grapes that are particularly closely identified with them, such as California's Zinfandel (from Croatia), Argentina's Malbec, and Chile's Carmenre (both from France). Until the latter half of the 20th
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century, American wine was generally looked upon as inferior to European product; it was not until the surprising American showing at the Paris Wine tasting of 1976 that New World wine began to gain respect in the lands of wine's origins. For wine purposes, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries without a wine tradition are also considered New World. Until quite late in the 20th century, the product of these countries was not well known outside their small export markets (Australia exported largely to the United Kingdom, New Zealand kept most of its wine internally, South Africa was closed off to much of the world market because of apartheid). However, with the increase in mechanization and scientific winemaking, these countries became known for high quality wine. Classifications of the wines:the classifications of the wines are on the basis of the grapes fermentations and not distiled.the wines can be classified on the basis of the names as well.red wines and white wines and the sparkling wines and the fortified wines.it even depends on the basis of the volume of the alcohol present in it. In todays world the wines are being classified on the continentals as well. Those places or the countries which produces the wines from 5th B.C or 9th b.c on wards are called old world.and after the 19-20th century it is called the new world. OLD WORLD: they have been producing the wines which is branded and with the names of the grapes. FRANCE, ITALY,chilly,spain, NEW WORLD: SPAIN, HUNGARY, JAPAN, NEPAL, PORTUGAL, INDIA, AMERICA, GERMANY In Nepal red barriers wine have been introduced HINWA Wines are to be purchased by the names of the grapes only, because the types of the grapes and the cultivated places will simultaneously tells us its characters, natures, tastes ,and over all the maturity periods. Basically the NEW WORLD have missed to mentions the name of the branded grapes, and its characters, like don Auriol, though its from Australia ,still they dont wirte the names of the grapes. Some of the examples of the wines are that Chardonnay terret Chardonnay eagle hawk Pinot gregio Shiraz cabernet, merlot Grenache, Merlot Chianti, bourdoux ,bardoline ,barbera, soave, orvieta, st.emillion,j.p cenet YOUNG WINES: those grapes which are used to make the wines within year of maturity and not properyly aged/vintage are called the young wines. some wines are made to be aged (some French Bordeaux) while others are meant to be drunk young (fresh, crisp whites such as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc). Furthermore, even red wines that CAN be aged, dont necessarily HAVE to be. Some people prefer a young wine, while others may prefer an aged wine.
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While Bordeaux sits atop the throne of wine (alongside its more elegant Queen Burgundy) what troubles me about many of the top Bordeaux is its need to be aged before it is even approachable. Some young Bordeux (a red wine blend generally containing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and up to 3 other Bordeaux varietals) can be so acidic & tannic that one really needs to wait as many as 10 years or more before it softens enough to be palatable. Good Bordeaux may then be soft, luscious and complex for many years before beginning its inevitable decline. At which point the wine will be devoid of fruit flavors and will likely smell/taste more like dried/stewed fruit, leather, earth, etc. Cabernet based wines (AKA Bordeaux blends) from all over the world are more about preference. Wines such as these made in warmer climates often allow the fruit of the wine to shine through at a younger age making them approachable upon release. BUT, these wines often lack the acidity/structure to age for very long periods. Whereas a good Bordeaux can age for 30, 40, 50 years and more, Pushing your California Cab past 20 years or Australian Shiraz past 10 might be a bit of a gamble. On the other hand, That said, many Bordeaux, Napa Cabs or other Cab/Merlot/Syrah (AKA Shiraz) wines are made in a more simple style and as such are NOT meant to be aged, rather they are intended to be drunk young. And trying to age such a wine will likely result in a dead wine by the time you open it. As to white wines, beginning with Chardonnay or other whites fermented and aged in oak barrels, these are much the same story as Cabernet. The best of these can age for many years and gain complexity & balance as they age. Whites that are NOT aged/fermented in oak and are made in a more crisp/fresh style should NOT be aged. These wines will lose their fresh fruitiness and their crispness and will just taste dull after only 3-4 years (and in as few as 2 years). Drink these wines UP and check the vintage date before buying such wine as you want to make sure you are getting one that is young. NEW WINES. The wines which uses the latest grapes of one year times is called new wines. There are basically 4 classifications of the wines. They are table wines,sparkling wines and the fortified wines. TABLE WINES OR STILL WINES: these includes red wines, white wines, rose wines and the still wines,and the still wines lack the carbonatins.again these wines are classified by the taste dry,semi dry,sweets, and the alcoholic presents in these wines are 14 -16% Whites wines are designed to be served chilled and the red wines are served at room temperatures.Dry white wines are best served between 45degrees fahrenheit to 50 degrees fahrenheit & sweets white wines at 40degrees fahrenheit to 50 degrees fahrenheitRed wines full bodied wines & matured red wines are served at 60 to 65 degrees fahrenheit and the young red wines are served at 55 to 60 degrees fahrenheit
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White wines: white wines are to be served at the ratios of18cl or 180 mlIt has to be served by the chilled glass and the chilled wines too. Chardonnay terret ,Chardonnay eagle hawk,Pinot gregio RED WINES: red wines are too served atleast21cl or 7 oz or 210ml Shiraz cabernet, merlot Grenache, Merlot Chianti,bourdoux,bardoline,barbera,soave,orvieta,st.emillion, SPARKLING WINES: wines which have carbon dioxide to make it fizzy is called sparling wines. champagne is the best example.Alcoholic volumes is less than 14%.it is usually drunk on the festives,winning of the match. Some of the names of the champagne are: Nicolas feuillatte brut 2000 Boilinger grande annee 1998 Joseph perrier sosephine 1995 Krug 1995 Krug 1998 Vintage 1997 Louis roderer bruts 1986 Pommery pop brut Louis Roederer brut Lanson black lable Joseph perrier cuvee royal Moet & chandon brut imperial Veuve clicquout brut Gosset brut excellence Bollinger special cuvee Gosset grand reserve Krug grand cuvee Bollinger grand annee 1997 Joseph perrier josephine 1990 Dom perignon cuvee 1996
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Louis roederer cristial 1997 Louis roederer brut 1983 Krug cuvee 1988 Dom perignon enotheques 1990 Taittinger brut Laurent perrier brut Laurent perrier grand siecle Krug clos du mesnil 1992 Pommery pink pop
Champagne rose Pommery pink pop Lanson rose Joseph perrier rose Moet& chandon imperial rose Veuve cliquot rose Laurent perrior rose Laurent perrier grand siecle rose Dom perignon 1995 Krug rose Louis roederer cristal rose 1998,1992,1985 Billecart salmon rose Laurent perrier rose Louis roederer rose 1982 CHAMPAGNE GRAPE VARIETIES The grapes of Champagne are primarily black. About two-thirds of the vineyards grow black grapes. However, although the skins are black, the juice is white. The chief grape is Pinot Noir, which make all the finest red Burgundies. It has difficulty ripening in Burgundy, any further north in Champagne it almost never attains any great depth and strength of color or alcohol. This is fair because with the exception of pink Champagne, or the rare, non sparkling Coteaux Champenois, the idea is to produce a white sparkling wine. Very careful pressing of the grapes in enormous square vertical presses is the best way to draw of the juice as pale as possible. Even so, the black grape juice does have a fairly big feel to it, and a Champagne relying largely on black grapes is certain to be heavier and take longer to mature. Example of the Pinot Noir Grape Variety The other black grape is Pinot Meunier, which makes a softer, fruitier style, important in producing easy, forward wines. Example of the Pinot Meunier Grape Variety The white grape is Chardonnay of white Burgundy fame. This produces a lighter, fresher juice, and the resulting Champagnes are certainly the most perfumed and honeyed. They have been
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criticized as lacking depth and ageing potential. Not true good Blanc de Blanc has a superb, exciting flavor which is only improved by ageing. Three grapes permitted are: PINOT NOIR (BLACK) = cherry, strawberries, black berries, red PINOT MEUNIER (BLACK) CHARDONNAY Pinotage: This grape belongs in South Africa. It is a crossed variety, the parents being Pinot Noir and Cinsault, which was once known as Hermitage. Characteristics: summer fruits, fruitcake, tar, leather, smoke. Champagne cocktails are Royal gallery Kir royal Lemon mimosa Mango bellini FORTIFIED WINES:Fortified wines are being fortified by the additions of the alcohol either during or after the fermentaitons which enables the alcoholic % increases from 15th to 21% .It was created at the beginning of the 18th century in the DOURO vally in Portugal. some of the examples of the wines are sherry,port,madira,marsala,Ruby port,Tawny port,crusted port,white port and vintage port ,malaga tarragona . ROSE WINES Rose wines, often referred to as Blush wines or written ROS, are wines which are not truly red, but have enough of a reddish tinge to make them assuredly not white. The actual color varies depending on the grapes involved, and often may seem to be more orange than pink or purple. Rose wines may be produced in a number of different ways, depending on the desired results. Most Rose wines are the result of crushing the red grapes used rather early on, so that they are not able to impart their color or much tannin to the final wine. These wines are in most respects white in character and flavor, with only the tinge of red and some subtle taste differences belying the difference. In the past, it was fairly common to make Rose wines by simply taking a white wine and adding a bit of red wine to it. Some winemakers thought this could produce interesting wines that possessed some of the hearty character of a red wine while retaining the crispness of many whites. This practice has fallen out of vogue, even in Champagne where it was once quite respected. Rose wines are generally sneered at by wine connoisseurs, but many people find their crispness and lightness very refreshing in hot weather, leading to them being often referred to as summer wines. Styles vary widely, but in general, a Rose wine is much simpler than a true heavyweight white or red wine even if made from the same grapes. European Rose wines are generally dry,
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while Rose wines from the United States are generally sweet. Sometimes, this distinction is highlighted by referring to sweet Rose wines as Blush. One of the most popular Rose wines in recent years is the White Zinfandel so popular in California. Rather than being made by blending red and white wine, or by crushing grapes before the color has time to leech into the wine, White Zinfandel is the result of a practice in the production of Zinfandel known as bleeding. When bleeding a red Zinfandel, winemakers often take away an ample quantity of liquid so that the resulting wine is stronger and more concentrated this lighter, less tannic remainder is then packaged and sold as a wine in its own right: White Zinfandel. After a lengthy period of declining popularity, it seems that Rose wines may again be on the rise around the world. Pockets of enduring popularity in regions of France and Spain have ensured the survival of some quality makers of Rose wine, and now that the social prohibition against Rose is diminishing, many consumers in England and the United States are turning once again to this summertime favorite. Anjou Tavel Bin 35 Sierra zinf Sunset Sherra lorry
What Is Fortified Wine? Fortified wine is a wine to which a neutral grape spirit (brandy) has been added during fermentation. Unlike other wines to which nothing is added, these wines are "fortified" by this addition of strong alcohol, increasing the final alcohol content and halting the fermentation. There are many fortified examples of wine from around the world but three are most prominent by far. Port wine, produced in Portugal's Douro Valley, is a fortified red wine (generally). Madeira, from the island of Madeira in the Atlantic, and Sherry, from southern Spain, are two other famous fortified wines, both of which are produced from white grapes. Depending on when the grape spirit is added during fermentation, anywhere from a dry to sweet wine can be produced. While most Port are quite sweet, Madeira and Sherry can both vary from dry to very sweet. Because alcohol is added, the resulting wine is generally higher in alcohol than typical table wines, generally in the 17 to 20% range. The fortification with alcohol generally produces a more stable wine that is capable of very long aging, even into the hundreds of years in some cases! Other wines that are produced in this style with fortification include Banyuls and Maury from the South of France, Marsala from Italy and port-styled wines from California and Australia.
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How Are They Made? Normally wines are made from grapes which are fermented until the yeast stops fermenting, converting the sugar in the grapes into alcohol. This generally occurs because the yeast run out of sugar and a dry wine is the result. However, in the production of fortified wine, the neutral grape spirit is added at some time during fermentation. The sudden large increase in alcohol content stuns the yeast and they stop fermenting (most yeast can't tolerate very high alcohol levels). This halts the fermentation process at whatever point it was when the alcohol was added. The wine then goes on to be aged and bottled in various ways depending on the style of wine being produced. By stopping fermentation, whatever sugar was left in the wine at that point is left in the final wine. So if the wine is fortified early in the fermentation then the resulting wine will be quite sweet (since a lot of sugar is left in the wine). If the fortification occurs later, near the end of fermentation, then the wine will be more dry. After fermentation, most fortified wines are aged in barrel for some period of time before bottling. This can vary from just a couple years to literally decades! This depends on the style of wine being produced. What Do They Taste Like and What Foods Do You Eat with Them? The styles of these wines vary. Most Port is quite sweet and is firmly in the dessert wine range of sweetness. They are dark, rich, heady wines made in several styles depending on how they are aged prior to bottling. They can be wonderful alone after dinner or accompanying many cheeses and dried nuts. Madeira and Sherry are both generally aged in barrel a long time and develop somewhat unique aromas and flavors due to oxidation that occurs during this process. Madeiras can range from almost dry (such as a Sercial) to very sweet (Malmsey). Sherries also vary in sweetness. Light Fino and Manzanilla Sherries are dry whereas Olorosso, Amontillado and particularly Cream Sherries can have some sweetness to them. These wines, particularly young Port and Madeira, often benefit from decanting and aeration prior to drinking. Decanting even for many hours or overnight often help the wine open up. Again, all of these wines are generally very long lived and will also last in bottle after being opened longer than regular table wines. However, we still recommend drinking them up within a few days for their freshest flavor and most complexity. Want to learn more about pairing specific wines with food? Be sure to check out our Port Wine Port - the World's Most Famous Fortified Wine. Port wine though typically associated with Portugal, really owes at least part of its invention to England as a direct by-product of battling France. Basically, the English boycotted French wine in the late 17th century as a result of war and began buying their wine from Portugal. The Brits started adding a wee bit of brandy to the still wine to help sustain it during the voyage back to England. This brandy addition, served to give the still wine the fortitude to make the long trip on a rocking boat, but it also made the wine considerably sweeter to boot. Ports have a reputation for being higher in alcohol, noticeably sweeter, with more body and palate density than other still
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wines. If you are a fan of desserts, then Port may be your new pairing partner, as they accommodate a number of dessert options with ease and added versatility. What is Port Portugal's Douro Valley is the key viticultural region for growing the more than 50 different local red and white grapes used for making Port. While the majority of Port is made from red wine grapes there is a category, known as "White Port," that as the name implies, is made from white wine grapes. By definition, Port is made by taking a still wine and adding brandy to it. The name Port is derived from the coastal city of Porto, Portugals second largest city, and the key city found on the mouth of the Douro river. Port is now being made in several countries, but to experience what authentic Port delivers, you might want to opt for the true blue Portugal Port, designated as Porto on the bottles label. Types of Port: In broad terms, Port can be split into two distinct categories: Wood Aged or Bottle Aged. The only true bottle aged port is a Vintage Port, while the other Ports are all Wood Aged to some extent. In general, Port starts life as a red wine (unless of course it is a white Port) and then it's typically aged in wood casks or in the bottle (if its a Vintage Port). Ruby Port Ruby Ports, so named for their distinct ruby color, are the economical, entry-level Ports, made from a mix of both grapes and vintages and aged for a total of 3 years. One year of aging does actually occur in an oak cask and the other two years of aging is supposed to occur in the bottle; however, Ruby Port does not technically continue to age in the bottle because it is typically already oxidized. Ruby Ports are designed to be consumed young. Foods to Pair with a Ruby Port: Blue cheese, milk chocolate and berry-based desserts. Tawny Port A Tawny Port is lighter in both color and body when compared to a Ruby Port and typically lies on the slightly sweeter side of the spectrum. As a tawny Port spends more time in oak, its color start to fade from ruby red to more ruby-orange, Technically "brick red" and sometimes increasing to an almost mahogany color. Its tastes become nuttier and the flavors begin to develop the rich flavors of caramelized figs, dates and prunes compared to the Ruby Port. On the label, the age is most commonly designated as 10, 20, or 30 years. These year designations are the average compilation of various vintages used in the Tawny Port blend. Tawny Ports come in three different styles: Colheita, Crusted or Indicated Age. A Colheita Port is considered a Tawny port that is made from grapes that all share the same vintage year. While a Crusted Port is an unfiltered tawny that develops visible sediment, crust, and needs decanting before serving. Tawny ports that are made from grape blends that are older in average age are referred to as Indicated Age tawny Port. Foods to Pair with a Tawny Port: Aged cheddar cheese, caramel apples or apple pie, dried fruit, milk or dark chocolate, cheesecake, tiramisu, pumpkin or pecan pie. Vintage Port A Vintage Port is a Port that is made of blended grapes, usually from various vineyards, which are all from the same vintage year, hence the name. Vintage Port typically spends about 6 months in oak and then goes unfiltered and unoxidized into a bottle for further aging. This further aging is typically to the tune of another 20 years! As a direct result of this long-term aging, you can expect a pretty heavy layer of sediment that requires decanting and a good bit of aeration to take
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place prior to consumption. If Ruby Ports are the entry-level Port, then Vintage Ports represent the upper echelon both in style and cost. A classification that is common to to mistake with the "Vintage Port" designation is the "Late Bottled Vintage" Port (LBV). This particular style of Port is made with grapes from a single vintage, but it has only aged 4-6 years in oak before it is bottled and released. Foods to Pair with a Vintage Port: Blue and Stilton cheese, almonds and walnuts, chocolate and chocolate-based desserts and puffed-pastries. White Port As the name implies, is derived from white grape varietals and can be made in both the very dry to semi- sweet styles. White Port is typically fruitier on the palate and a bit fuller-bodied than other fortified white wines. Often served as an aperitif, this particular Port has found favor as a gin replacement when served as a Port and Tonic on the rocks. Storing and Serving Port Vintage Ports should be stored on their sides, in a dark, cool environment like their still wine counterparts. Ruby and Tawny Ports are ready to drink once released and can either be stored upright or on their sides. Once opened Ports can last from a day (Vintage Port) to several weeks for Ruby Ports and several months for Tawny Ports. For opened Ports the determining factor for whether it will last a day or weeks is the amount of time it has spent oxidized and in oak. When serving Port shoot for keeping the serving temperature right around 65 degrees. AROMATISED WINES: these wines are prepared with the additions of the brandy or neutral spirits and flavored with the herbs, roots, barks, .example like vermouth, bitters, ENDANGERED SPECIES: AROMATISED WINES Do you drink vermouth? If so, let me extend my personal congratulations, and urge you not to stop. If the drink world has a pygmy hippo, an angel shark or a Siberian tiger, they are mostly constituted by the exotic flora and fauna of aromatised wines. Singular and exquisite, these drinks were once familiar halts on the drinking landscape. Now, alas, theyre somewhere between vulnerable and endangered. Flavourings have been added to wine for as long as wine has been made. Originally, this was for a highly practical purpose: to stop wine souring. Sipping wine flavoured with herbs, spices, resin, sugar or honey was more fun than gulping vinegar. Our medieval ancestors flavoured wine as a matter of routine: the drink was called Hippocras (since the spices were strained through a bag called a manicum hippocraticum or sleeve of Hippocrates). A sixteenth-century recipe in the British Library calls for sugar (a pound for every gallon of wine), cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and grains of paradise. There are hundreds of variants. Progress, though, brought us bottles and corks, and the fortification of grape juice or partfermented wine with high-strength spirit. By using fortification, or by bottling a wine and
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whacking in a cork, the souring of wine could be averted. Corks joined bottles from the midseventeenth century; fortification became commonplace from the mid-eighteenth. And from them on, the flavouring of wine became a more subtle affair. It no longer required tooth-rotting shovelfuls of sugar. Health considerations, always a sales pitch when herbs or spices were involved, became paramount. Wormwood (ARTEMISIA ABSINTHUM ) had long been considered tonic for the tummy; vermouth is derived from wormwood wine (Pepys drank and called it just that) via an Anglicization of the German equivalent WERMUT. Technically, vermouth is now just a fortified, flavored wine from which wormwood has been chased. Though not, as it happens, entirely I once visited, blithely enough, the Noilly Prat factory down near Ste in the far south of France, expecting to see a vat or two of wine with a few sprigs of herbs floating around in them. Such innocence. Noilly Prat (the original French vermouth prescribed by purists for authentic dry Martini) makes the recipe for Melton Mowbray pork pie look no more challenging than boiling an egg. Noilly Prat begins life as a pair of local white wines: two-thirds of the incisive Picpoul and one-third of softer Clairette. Both are fortified to 16 per cent alcohol by volume (abv), and stored in big casks underground for a year. They are then transferred to smaller casks, leaving an airspace in each, and left outside for a year. The rain hammers down in winter, and the sun bakes them in summer. In spring and autumn, a white yeast mould similar to the flor which grows on fino and manzanilla sherry develops on the surface of the wines. But it all gets stranger still. Do you realise Noilly Prat is part-Greek? Yes, the recipe requires Muscat from the Greek island of Samos to be added after open-air ageing, together with one per cent of an alcoholic infusion of red fruits (chiefly raspberries) and citrus peels. More alcohol then gets tipped in, to take the drink up to 18 per cent, and then a kilogram of mixed herbs, flowers and roots is added for each thousand litres of wine. Chamomile is very important (Noilly Prat absorbs over half Frances annual production), but elderflower, oregano, lemon balm, saffron, nutmeg and iris roots are also Auxerrois: Also known as Malbec or Cot, Auxerrois creates a neutral wine, fruity and soft. It is mainly grown in Luxembourg and Canada. In Alsace it is ofted blended with the Pinot Blanc grape. Barbera: Barbera is a low-tannin grape known for its tarry flavor. It is very widely planted - in California it's about equal with Merlot grape vines, while in its home in Italy it has more acerage than Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. Piedmont is especially well known for this grape. Cabernet Franc: A "parent" of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Cabernet Franc is used in Bordeaux - added in small amounts for flavor. It is also used in the Loire Valley, where it is called Breton. Other names include Bouchy, Bouchet, Gros Bouchet and Veron. Cabernet Franc is mostly used as an additive to blend with other grapes.
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Cabernet Sauvignon: Cabernet Sauvignon wines are made from these grapes - on the vine they are red, small, and tough. The wines tend to taste like blackberries and cedar. Bordeaux uses the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, usually mixed in with Merlot. These grapes are also grown widely in California and Australia. The grape contains a lot of tannin, which leads to a good red wine when properly aged. Chardonnay: This is a fresh, fruity grape grown in Burgundy, Champagne, California, Australia, and South Africa. Chardonnay wine tends to taste like fruits - melon, peach, etc. - and also many have an oaky flavor. It is one of the most popular and easiest to grow white grapes - it buds early, grows easily and has high ripeness levels. Chenin Blanc: This grape makes a light, fruity wine. It is planted primarily in the US and in the Loire valley of France (well known in Vouvray wine). In South Africa this grape is referred to as Steen. Also known as White Pinot (Pinot Blanco), Chenin Blanc is able to age ten years or more. Cinsaut: Also known (incorrectly) as Hermitage, this grape is mostly used for blending with other, stronger varieties. Cinsaut is the "parent" of pinotage. It is grown in Southern France, Lebanon, Australia and South Africa. Colombard: These grapes end up making a wine with "tropical fruit" overtones, a light wine to go with seafood. It is used in South Africa and other countries. South Africa also uses Colombard to make brandy. Cortese: The primary grape for Gavi wine, this grape ripens early and makes a neutral white wine. It is grown primarily in Piedmont, Italy. Ehrenfelser: Created by crossing the Johannisberg Riesling grape and a Sylvaner grape clone, Ehrenfelser is extremely frost resistant. The wine it creates tastes a great deal like Riesling wine. Ehrenfelser is grown primarily in Canada. Gamay: This is the grape famous used in Beaujolais Nouveau wine, from France. It is often drunk young in as in these light fruity reds. various types of gamay are used in the US often in Blands. Gewurztraminer: The first part of the name literally means "spicey" in German. It has a floral taste with nutty tones. Gewurztraminer is also grown in Italy, California, Canada and Australia. Grande Vidure: Also known as the Carmenre grape, this grape was best known for its use in Medoc wines. While some thought this grape had been destroyed by phylloxera, cuttings were taken to Chile in the mid-nineteenth century, where phylloxera has not arrived yet. The grape is known for problems with coloure and oidium, and produces low yields. Grenache: Grenache is most often used for rose wine, and is widely planted in France, Spain and California. It is the second most planted grape in the world. Wines made with grenache tend to be sweet and fruity, with little tannin. "Grenache" refers to Grenache Noir, the red variety, but there is also a Grenache Blanc. Kerner: A German cross of the Riesling grape and Black Hamburg (Trollinger), Kerner is resistant to frost and does well in cooler climates. It has a sweet taste, much like a Riesling wine. The grape does well in cooler areas like Michigan, US. Lemberger: Also known as Blaufrankish and Limberger. Lemberger is a popular Austrian wine that is also planted heavily in Washington, US. Marchal Foch: Early ripening, this grape has very small berries in small clusters. The vines are hardy, though, and make a good range of red wines.
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Merlot: This is an early ripening grape, with gentle flavors of cherry, honey, and sometimes mint. It has less tannin than some of its red cousins. Merlot wine is a major blending component of most Bordeaux wines. It's grown in France, Italy, Australia, and in the states - California, Washington, and Long Island, NY. Muller-Thurgau: The grape most widely planted in Germany, Muller-Thurgau comes as a mix of riesling and sylvaner. This is also grown in Austria, New Zealand, and the northwest section of the US. It has a floral aroma. Muscadet: Part of the confusing-Musc-series, Muscadet or Muscadekke is one of the white grapes grown in Bordeaux. It is not related to the Muscat grape, and does have a grapey-tasting flavor. This grape is well known for its use in the Tokay wine of Australia. Muscadine: This is a Muscadinia grape which is a separate branch from normal vinifera grapes that most people know of. Grown almost primarily in southeastern US and in Mexico, the Muscadine is a large grape with a thick skin. Scuppernong is a type of muscadine grape. They are very hearty and grow in places that other grapes might not. Muscat: This is a very grapey-tasting grape that doesn't ripen easily. There are various varieties of Muscat - Muscat Blanc, Moscato (Italy), Muscat of Alexandria, and Muscadel. Moscato is the grape used for Asti Spumanti, the sparkling wine from Italy. Muskat Krymskii: This aromatic white wine is used in Bulgaria, the Ukraine and other eastern European countries. Other names include muskatel, misket or mishket. The wine tends to be wheat colored, and have a clean fruity bouquet. Nebbiolo: This is a late ripening grape that's known for being tannic, pruny, tarry and chocolaty. It is notoriously difficult to grow. Nebbiolo is grown in the Piedmont area of Italy (where it makes Barolo wine), Switzerland, California and Australia. Optima: A German variety used to add sugar to other wines, this wine is not very palatable on its own. Ortega: A cross between Muller Thurgau, Madeleine Angevine and Gewurtztraminer. This is very flavorful and has a mangoey taste to it. It is grown in Canada. Petite Sirah: This is a dark, tannic, fruity grape. It sometimes has smoky or chocolaty tones to it. It should not be confused with Sirah/Shiraz grape, which is a completely different grape. It is popular in California where it often goes into "jug wines". Pinot Blanc: This grape has a flavour very much like Chardonnay wine. It is grown in Alsace, Italy, and Austria (where it's known as Weissburgunder). It is a mutation of the Pinot Gris grape. It's used in many Californian sparkling wines. Pinot Gris or Pinot grigio: This is a clone of Pinot Noir, grown in France, Germany, Austria and along the west coast of the US. It's also known as Rulander or Grauer Burgunder. It can be used to create both fine whites and roses. Pinot Noir : These grapes are softer and earlier ripening than Cabernet grapes, and are very sensitive to conditions. Used often in red wines, they are also used (without skins) as a white ingredient in Champagne. Pinot Noir wine is made in Burgundy, and also Australia, California, Oregon, Italy and Germany. Pinot age: Developed in the early 1900s and used primarly by South Africa, Pinotage is a mix between pinot noir and cinsaut. The grape makes a wine that is hearty, with a fruity and spice taste.
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Riesling: Not just a dessert wine-grape, Riesling can produce dry crisp and fruity wine as well honeyed, musky flavors in warmer climate or when left longer on the vine. Riesling wine is native to Germany, and is also used in France, Australia, California, and many other countries. The Finger Lakes region of New York is well known for their Rieslings. Riesling is also used in the creation of Ice Wines Sauvignon Blanc: This grape is grown primarily in California and France. It has a grassy flavor and makes a crisp, light wine. Scheurebe: This is a mix between Sylvaner and Johannisberg Riesling. It is mostly planted in Germany and is used for aromatic white wines. Semillon: This thin-skinned grape ripens early, and is used mostly in Bordeaux, France. It has a grassy, "figgy" flavor. It is also grown in Australia and California, and is often blended with Sauvignon Blanc. Seyval: Seyval is an "East Coast US" wine, and is one of the most widely planted grapes east of the Rocky Mountains in the US. They have melony flavors, as well as grassy/hay overtones. Sylvaner: Sylvaner was once the most widely planted grape of Alsace, France, but now only accounts for 15% (and dropping). It is also grown in Germany and Central Europe. The grape produces a pleasant, but bland, white wine. Flavors include light spice and floral ones. Syrah/Shiraz: This grape is grown in France and California as Syrah wine, and in Australia as Shiraz. In France, it is associated with the Rhone Valley and Hermitage red wines. Syrah tends towards a minerally, blueberry, or sometimes spicy and peppery type of flavor. Petite Sirah is an entirely different grape. Siegerrebe: Siegerrebe is a cross bewteen Gewurtztraminer and a normal table grape. It ripens very early, and has a high sugar content. Wines made with Siegerrebe have tastes of peach and honey. Tempranillo: Tempranillo: The grape of Rioja. Many of the characteristics of Rioja are derived from the long oak-ageing. Characteristics: vinified without oak, you might find strawberries and soft spices. Trebbiano: Viognier : This rare varietal originated in Condrieu, on the northern Rhne. It is predominantly found in the Rhne valley and California, noted for spice, floral, citrus, apricot, apple and peach flavors. It typically produces medium bodied wines with relatively high acids and fruit. Viogner can produce fairly complex wines. Vidal Blanc: Vidal is mostly grown in the northeast US, and is very hearty. It does well in late harvest sweet wines, as well as in icewines. Zinfandel: Most Zinfandel grapes are grown in California, although they are thought to have originated in Southern Italy. The wines can be fruity or spicy, depending on age. The Zinfandel grape makes both Red Zinfandel (if the skins are left on) and White Zinfandel (if the skins are SERVICE: RED WINES: GOES WITH THE RED MEAT WHITE WINES: GOES WITH WHITE MEATS ROSE WINES: GOES WITH ANY FOOD APPETIZER WINES: GOES WITH SOUPS DESERTS WINES: GOES WITH DESSERTS OR COFFEE
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SAPRKLING WINES: GOES WITH ANY MEALS MESUREMENTS OF THE ALCOHLIC BEVERAGE 1ML=1ML 1CL=10ML 1oz=30ml Vital measurements which a bartender/f & b service staff must know
WINES TRADE: Vintage wines: wines made in vintage years Vine: Aging: maturations of wines in wood or bottle Aroma: taste in the mouth Bouquet: aroma or perfume or smell in the glass/bottles Brut: dry wines
THE FUTURES OF THE WINES: the wine productions will go high and demand will also be higher than the presents day. Slowly the grapes will be reduced and controlled for the medical uses and of course there will be still high productions of the wines. Different types of grapes will be used to make a single bottle wines and the fermentations/distillations process method will be vanished. One of my favorite globalization books is The Box:
HOW THE SHIPPING CONTAINER MADE THE WORLD SMALLER AND THE WORLD ECONOMY BIGGER by Marc Levinson. It is the story of how the invention of the standard
shipping container (those 20-foot steel boxes you see on ships, rail cars and truck beds) made international trade much cheaper, more efficient and more secure. Now it looks like another kind of box is about to shake up the wine world. Cheap and Nasty:Im talking about box wines or bag-in-box (BIB) wines (the Australians call them cask wines) that feature an airtight wine-filled plastic bladder inside a cardboard box. You use a built-in spigot to get to the wine. They can be found on the bottom shelf of the wine wall and behind the bar and out of sight at your local restaurant. They come in several sizes 3 liter and 5 liter containers are the most common. Box wines have a bad reputation. They first appeared in the 1970s and were filled with generic bulk wines. They were one step down from the popular 1.5 liter magnum bottles of Burgundy, Chabils and the notorious Rhine wine. Box wine was cheap, nasty stuff that acquired a frequently deserved bad reputation. Its time to reconsider box wine. Screw caps had a bad reputation, too, until quite recently. We associated them with low grade swill until fine wines appeared under screw cap (the New
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Zealand producers were in the vanguard) and we began to appreciate that that screw caps have many advantages. Now screw caps are actually associated with QUALITY for some types of wine, especially youthful whites, and no one expects to pay less or get less because of the screwtop closure. The technology of box wine is very solid. The airtight bladder is a neutral container that is well suited to holding wine for relatively short periods of time. (Dont cellar box wine consume within a year of production check out the drink by date on the box.) The bladder and spigot do in fact protect the wine from oxygen in the short run, so it will last longer once opened (especially if the box is stored in the fridge) than similar leftover wine in bottles. Bladders are so good at the particular thing that they do that they have become an industry standard technology for bulk imported wines, which are shipped in huge bladders inside steel shipping containers (big bag in big box) and then bottled in the import market. So you may already be drinking box wine and not know it. The box wines sales risings The most recent Nielsen retail wine sales figures (reported in the October 2009 issues of WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY ) suggest that box wine sales are growing. Wine sold in 3, 4 and 5 liter containers (most of it is box wine, I think) accounts for just under 10 percent of US supermarket wine sales, according to the Nielsen data (compared to 65% for standard bottles with the remainder in 1.5 liter and other formats). Sales are rising in this category, with 3 liter packages up 8.7% in the last year on a dollar basis, for example, and 5 liter packages are up 9.3% by value. The total market for box wines rises if we include on-premises sales. Recent data (see previous posts) indicate that box wines (served to customers in carafes and by the glass) are strong sellers in casual dining establishments. The rise of box wine is part of the trading down effect, clearly, since most box wines fall into the two price categories that are experiencing the highest growth. Sales of wines that are less than $3 per 750ml bottle equivalent have risen 7.1 percent according to Nielsen and by 10% for wines between $3 and $5.99. Supermarket sales of $20+ wines, on the other hand, have FALLEN by 3.4%. Nasty, Brutish and Short?;Does this mean that Americans have traded down all the way to the bottom, back to the nasty box wines of the 1970s? The answer, incredibly, is no. Or at least not necessarily, according to the October 15 issue of WINE SPECTATOR . You cant miss this issue on the newsstand it features a cover story on 500 Values for $20 or Less and includes a set of box wine reviews that make interesting reading. WINE SPECTATOR purchased 39 box wines in packages that ranged from 1 liter to 5 liters. Twenty seven wines were rated as good (a score of 80-84) and ten very good (85-89). The names of the 2 wines that scored below 80 were not reported. The top box wine, going by the rating numbers, is a white: Wine Cube California Chardonnay, which sells in Target Stores for $17 per 3 liter box, which is $4.25 per standard bottle equivalent. It earned a very respectable 88 points. Wine Cube is a partnership between Target and Trinchero, the maker of a wide range of wines including Sutter Home. The best red wine (at 87 points) is the Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2006, which costs $20 for 3 liters or $5 per standard bottle equivalent. Black Box is a widely distributed Constellation Brands product. Good AND Cheap?
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Some box wine, apparently, is both pretty good and pretty cheap. Perhaps just to show that they really do rate wines blind, WINE SPECTATOR gave a pretty good 84-point score to a non-vintage Carlo Rossi Cabernet Sauvignon California Reserve wine. Five liters for $13, in case you are interested, Thats $1.97 per standard bottle equivalent. How can decent wine be this cheap? One answer, of course, is that you can choose to make the wine itself less expensive by economizing in the cellar in many ways (less oak or none at all for red wines, for example). But to a considerable degree the box itself is responsible for the savings. The bag in box container costs less than $1, according to the WINE SPECTATOR article, which automatically saves $4 to $8 compared with a similar quantity of wine in standard glass bottles and the box they come in. Shipping costs are also less since the boxes weigh much less than glass bottles for the same quantity of wine and are less likely to be damaged in transit. There are environmental benefits too, especially in areas where glass bottle recycling is problematic because the sour economy has undermined the market for recycled glass. Is box wine the future of wine? No. The wine market is too complex to be dominated by any single trend. But with better wine in better boxes (and with consumers embracing a more relaxed idea of wine) box wine deserves to play a bigger role in the future of wine. Another triumph for The Box Wine Futures Wine Futures :to buying wine after it is made, but before it is bottled. Cask samples of wines are made available for tasting to wine journalists and large wholesale buyers in the spring following the vintage. The brokers and merchants sell the wine on to their customers. It is generally bottled and shipped around two years later. In good vintages, wine futures can offer the investor the greatest return; the initial release prices are usually the lowest at which the wines will ever be sold. However, when buying wine futures it is strongly recommended that you deal only with established and reputable retailers and importers. Bordeaux Futures Commonly, the wines are released in a number of 'tranches' with each release priced at a different level depending on how the previous one sold. 1997 Bordeaux is an example of a poor vintage where the initial release was priced too high. The 1997s declined in price over the following years. The Bordeaux 2000 vintage was quite the reverse; a vintage in great demand, it was initially priced too low. The first tranche prices did not appear on Wine-Searcher as the wine merchants reserved their allocations for their best customers. Even those who bought at the second or third tranche prices saw the value of their wines rise quickly.
BEERS
Beer is one of the world's oldest beverages, with the history of beer dating back to the 6th millennium BC, and being recorded in the written history of Ancient Iraq. The earliest Sumerian writings contain references to beer. A prayer to the goddess Ninkasi known as "The Hymn to Ninkasi" serves as both a prayer as well as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a
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culture with few literate people. As almost any substance containing carbohydrates, mainly sugar or starch, can naturally undergo fermentation, it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures throughout the world. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization. The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, ca. 3400-3000 B.C. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BC, and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.[12] Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century.[13] The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweriesMore than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per yearproducing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (147.7 billion) in 2006. Beer is an alcoholic drinks brewed from malt,sugars,hops & water and fermented with the yeast.it can also be like this that beverage fermented from cereals and malt,flavoured with the hops.the alcoholic volume in the beer is between 3% to 5% and it is also the refreshing drinks. Beer: The Basics Beer is a fermented beverage principally made from four ingredients; water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. Each one of these ingredients will impart its own flavour characteristics to the finished product, one which is almost as old as civilization itself. One Egyptian recipe called for bread to be left out in the rain and then allowed to ferment. The result was a soggy but mysteriously invigorating concoction.Rhine heights:You may have heard of the "Bavarian Purity Law," also known as "Reinheitsgebot." This German law, dated 1516 and still enforced today, stipulates that only barley malt, hops, and water may be used in the making of beer. It is one of the earliest and longest running, examples of consumer protection legislation. Inventive brewers, like inventive cooks, have often experimented with the addition of other ingredients in their search for the perfect brew. These additional ingredients are called adjuncts and are any source of carbohydrates other than malted grains. Many brewers, in their search for the perfect bottom line and a stable beer with a longer shelf life, add ingredients such as cane or corn sugar, molasses, corn, and rice in order to provide the sugars required for fermentation without incurring the costs of more expensive malted grains. Though these cheaper ingredients, in restrained quantities, can be used with intelligent care by a craft brewer, macrobrewers tend to be unrestrained in their use.
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MACRO VS. MICRO: WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A "MICROBREW," ISN'T BEER ALL PRETTY MUCH THE SAME? MICROBREWERIES (THE LITTLE GUYS, HOWEVER YOU WANT TO DEFINE THEM) ALMOST UNIVERSALLY USE CRAFT BREWING TECHNIQUES. THIS IS THE TRADITIONAL METHOD OF MAKING BEER IN SINGLE BATCHES. EACH RECIPE IS PRODUCED TO MAXIMIZE THE DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF ONE BEER. On the other hand, microbrewers (the globally present brand makers) almost always use high gravity brewing to produce their products. Although it may sound like work for NASA, the gravity that is referred to here is just another word for alcohol. In this process beer is fermented to an alcohol content approaching that of wine and then cut with water. It may also be further processed to produce more than one brand. These practices usually result in a less malty and more estery(fruity) product. Another macro technique is the high budget advertising campaign to convince consumers that there actually is a difference between their brands. Barley: is preferred to as a cereals as it can be more easily malted for brewing and solubles extracted from malt are complete than those of others grains.when the grains has been steeped and dried it is termed malt,and is ready for grinding or stoning.Any cereals containing starch or sugar can be used in the brewing of the beers.examples like maize,rice,corn,wheat,however these grains lacks the essential enzymes (chemicas which facilitate the extractions of the starch or the sugar)and when used requires special treatments and if it is used alone the final products wouldnt be the beers. Water:, comprising about 96% of the final product, is a key ingredient. While some brewers like to evoke images of pristine glacier fed springs, effectively, water is an easy ingredient to modify by filtration (usually to remove chlorine) or the addition/subtraction of salts. Hard water tends to be more appropriate to ales while soft water compliments the subtler flavour profile of a lager. Malt:This ingredient is made from grain, usually barley, that has undergone a process of wetting and drying called malting before the brewer can use it. Raw grain is soaked and begins to germinate (sprout) releasing enzymes that help convert its carbohydrates into fermentable sugars. It is then roasted to stop the germination process. The roasting can vary in duration in order to create different degrees of roasty flavour. The germinated/roasted grain introduces to the beer; colour, malty sweet flavour, body, and protein to form a good head. The yeast will consume the sugars and produce beer's intoxicating ingredient (ethanol) and its bubbles (carbon dioxide, CO2) Hops are the cone-like flowers of a female climbing vine in the cannabis family which can grow as tall as 18 feet. Hops contain oils, bitter acids, and resins that counterbalance the sweetness of the malted barley, add flavour, provide aroma, and help preserve the beer. Preservation is a key
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word - the same resins and acids that flavor the beer have been found to delay the inevitable effects of bacterial spoilage, thereby giving beer a longer shelf life. Beer with strong hop aroma and flavor are said to be "hoppy." Those who crave bitter beers are characterized as "hopheads." Prior to hop usage in beer making, brewers bittered their beer with flowers, leaves, berries, spices, and a host of odd and sometimes unpalatable ingredients, many of which failed miserably. By the 16th century hops became the most widely accepted spice for beer. Making beer Brewing is the process of changing water and grain into beer through a yeast catalyst. The quality of the water is extremely important. Hard water produce a bitter ale, soft water produce bitter lager. Barley or hops, or a combination of them, is used for the grain. Getting dry grain ready for fermentation is called malting. The grain is steeped in water until it sprouts. The sprouting or germination is not allowed to end naturally but is interrupted either by drying or roasting in kilns. Hops:hops belongs to the nettle family,the femal plants used beers coneshaped formations which impats a bitter flavours and aromas and stimulating disgestions. Sugars: sugar is an viatal additions as it heps to produce a beer of pale colors,less filling with a better taste,and increases the stability in the beers. Yeast, although present in all fermented beverages, was not discovered until the 18th century. It is a member of the fungus family that, because of its cell-spliting capabilities, is self-reproducing. Yeast has a voracious appetite for sweet liquids and produces abundant quantities of alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide (bubbles) as a waste product. There are limits to the amount of alcohol that certain yeast strains can tolerate without dying, hence one reason for the traditional difference in alcohol between beer and wine. Yeasts are single-celled fungi. As fungi, they are related to the other fungi that people are more familiar with. These include edible mushrooms available at the supermarket, common bakers yeast used to leaven bread, molds that ripen blue cheese and the molds that produce antibiotics for medical and veterinary use. Many consider edible yeast and fungi to be as natural as fruits and vegetables. Over 600 different species of yeast are known and they are widely distributed in nature. They are found in association with other microorganisms as part of the normal inhabitants of soil, vegetation, marine and other aqueous environments. Some yeast species are also natural inhabitants of man and animals. While some species are highly specialized and found only in certain habitats at certain times of the year, other species are generalists and can be isolated from many different sources. yeast is used to leaven bread throughout the world and it is the type of yeast that people are most familiar with. Bakers yeast is produced from the genus and species of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The scientific name of the genus of bakers yeast, Saccharomyces, refers to saccharo meaning sugar and myces meaning fungus. The species name, cerevisiae,
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is derived from the name Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Bakers yeast products are made from strains of this yeast selected for their special qualities relating to the needs of the baking industry.
The typical yeast cell is approximately equal in size to a human red blood cell and is spherical to ellipsoidal in shape. Because of its small size, it takes about 30 billion yeast cells to make up to one gram of compressed bakers yeast. Yeast reproduce vegetatively by budding, a process during which a new bud grows from the side of the existing cell wall. This bud eventually breaks away from the mother cell to form a separate daughter cell. Each yeast cell, on average, undergoes this budding process 12 to 15 times before it is no longer capable of reproducing. During commercial production, yeast is grown under carefully controlled conditions on a sugar containing media typically composed of beet and cane molasses. Under ideal growth conditions a yeast cell reproduces every two to three hours. Yeast is the essential ingredient in many bakery products. It is responsible for leavening the dough and imparting a delicious yeast fermentation flavor to the product. It is used in rather small amounts in most bakery products, but having good yeast and using the yeast properly often makes the difference between success and something less than success in a bakery operation.
In the production of baked goods, yeast is a key ingredient and serves three primary functions: Production of carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is generated by the yeast as a result of the breakdown of fermentable sugars in the dough. The evolution of carbon dioxide causes expansion of the dough as it is trapped within the protein matrix of the dough. Causes dough maturation: This is accomplished by the chemical reaction of yeast produced alcohols and acids on protein of the flour and by the physical stretching of the protein by carbon dioxide gas. These results in the light, airy physical structure associated with yeast leavened products. Development of fermentation flavor: Yeast imparts the characteristic flavor of bread and other yeast leavened products. During dough fermentation, yeast produces many secondary metabolites such as ketones, higher alcohols, organic acids, aldehydes and esters. Some of these, alcohols for example, escape during baking. Others react with each other and with other compounds found in the dough to form new and more complex flavor compounds. These reactions occur primarily in the crust and the resultant flavor diffuses into the crumb of the baked bread.
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YEASTS PRODCUTIONS PRINCEPLES: Yeasts can grow in the presence or absence of air. Anaerobic growth, growth in the absence of oxygen, is quite slow and inefficient. For instance, in bread dough, yeast grows very little. Instead, the sugar that can sustain either fermentation or growth is used mainly to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Only a small portion of the sugar is used for cell maintenance and growth. In contrast, under aerobic conditions, in the presence of a sufficient quantity of dissolved oxygen, yeast grow by using most of the available sugar for growth and producing only negligible quantities of alcohol. This means that the baker who is interested in the leavening action of carbon dioxide works under conditions that minimize the presence of dissolved oxygen. On the other hand, a yeast manufacturer that wants to produce more yeast cell mass, works under aerobic conditions by bubbling air through the solution in which the yeast is grown. The problem posed to the yeast manufacturer, however, is not as simple as just adding air during the fermentation process. If the concentration of sugar in the fermentation growth media is greater than a very small amount, the yeast will produce some alcohol even if the supply of oxygen is adequate or even in abundance. This problem can be solved by adding the sugar solution slowly to the yeast throughout the fermentation process. The rate of addition of the sugar solution must be such that the yeast uses the sugar fast enough so that the sugar concentration at any one time is practically zero. This type of fermentation is referred to as a fed-batch fermentation. YEAST PRODUCTIONS PRACTICES:The bakers yeast production process flow chart attached below can be divided into four basic steps. In order these steps are, molasses and other raw material preparation, culture or seed yeast preparation, fermentation and harvesting and filtration and packaging. The process outlined in the flow chart takes approximately five days from start to finish. The basic carbon and energy source for yeast growth are sugars. Starch can not be used because yeast does not contain the appropriate enzymes to hydrolyze this substrate to fermentable sugars. Beet and cane molasses are commonly used as raw material because the sugars present in molasses, a mixture of sucrose, fructose and glucose, are readily fermentable. In addition to sugar, yeast also requires certain minerals, vitamins and salts for growth. Some of these can be added to the blend of beet and cane molasses prior to flash sterilization while others are fed separately to the fermentation. Alternatively, a separate nutrient feed tank can be used to mix and deliver some of the necessary vitamins and minerals. Required nitrogen is supplied in the form of ammonia and phosphate is supplied in the form of phosphoric acid. Each of these nutrients is fed separately to the fermentation to permit better pH control of the process. The sterilized molasses, commonly referred to as mash or wort, is stored in a separate stainless steel tank. The mash stored in this tank is then used to feed sugar and other nutrients to the appropriate fermentation vessels.
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Bakers yeast production starts with a pure culture tube or frozen vial of the appropriate yeast strain. This yeast serves as the inoculums for the pre-pure culture tank, a small pressure vessel where seed is grown in medium under strict sterile conditions. Following growth, the contents of this vessel are transferred to a larger pure culture fermented where propagation is carried out with some aeration, again under sterile conditions. These early stages are conducted as set-batch fermentations. In a set-batch fermentation all the growth media and nutrients are introduced to the tank prior to inoculation. From the pure culture vessel, the grown cells are transferred to a series of progressively larger seed and semi-seed fomenters. These later stages are conducted as fed-batch fermentations. During fed-batch fermentation, molasses, phosphoric acid, ammonia and minerals are fed to the yeast at a controlled rate. This rate is designed to feed just enough sugar and nutrients to the yeast to maximize multiplication and prevent the production of alcohol. In addition, these fed-batch fermentations are not completely sterile. It is not economical to use pressurized tanks to guarantee sterility of the large volumes of air required in these fermentors or to achieve sterile conditions during all the transfers through the many pipes, pumps and centrifuges. Extensive cleaning of the equipment, steaming of pipes and tanks and filtering of the air is practiced to insure as aseptic conditions as possible. At the end of the semi-seed fermentation, the contents of the vessel are pumped to a series of separators that separate the yeast from the spent molasses. The yeast is then washed with cold water and pumped to a semi-seed yeast storage tank where the yeast cream is held at 34 degrees Fahrenheit until it is used to inoculate the commercial fermentation tanks. These commercial fermentors are the final step in the fermentation process and are often referred to as the final or trade fermentation. Commercial fermentations are carried out in large fermentors with working volumes up to 50,000 gallons. To start the commercial fermentation, a volume of water, referred to as set water, is pumped into the fermentor. Next, in a process referred to as pitching, semi-seed yeast from the storage tank is transferred into the fermentor. Following addition of the seed yeast, aeration, cooling and nutrient additions are started to begin the 15-20 hour fermentation. At the start of the fermentation, the liquid seed yeast and additional water may occupy only about one-third to onehalf of the fermentor volume. Constant additions of nutrients during the course of fermentation bring the fermentor to its final volume. The rate of nutrient addition increases throughout the fermentation because more nutrients have to be supplied to support growth of the increasing cell population. The number of yeast cells increase about five- to eight-fold during this fermentation. Air is provided to the fermentor through a series of perforated tubes located at the bottom of the vessel. The rate of airflow is about one volume of air per fermentor volume per minute. A large
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amount of heat is generated during yeast growth and cooling is accomplished by internal cooling coils or by pumping the fermentation liquid, also known as broth, through an external heat exchanger. The addition of nutrients and regulation of pH, temperature and airflow are carefully monitored and controlled by computer systems during the entire production process. Throughout the fermentation, the temperature is kept at approximately 86 degrees Fahrenheit and the pH in the range of 4.5-5.5. At the end of fermentation, the fermented broth is separated by nozzle-type centrifuges, washed with water and re-centrifuged to yield a yeast cream with a solids concentration of approximately 18%. The yeast cream is cooled to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit and stored in a separate, refrigerated stainless steel cream tank. Cream yeast can be loaded directly into tanker trucks and delivered to customers equipped with an appropriate cream yeast handling system. Alternatively, the yeast cream can be pumped to a plate and frame filter press and dewatered to a cake-like consistency with a 30-32% yeast solids content. This press cake yeast is crumbled into pieces and packed into 50-pound bags that are stacked on a pallet. The yeast heats up during the pressing and packaging operations and the bags of crumbled yeast must be cooled in a refrigerator for a period of time with adequate ventilation and placement of pallets to permit free access to the cooling air. Palletized bags of crumbled yeast are then distributed to customers in refrigerated trucks.
YEAST TEASTING The quality of yeast is often discussed in terms of microbiological purity and gas producing activity. At the beginning stage of the manufacturing process, strain purity and trueness to type are carefully controlled. In the laboratory, a pure culture of the yeast strain being used is maintained and prepared for inoculation into the initial fermentation vessel. Strict adherence to sanitary practices and GMPrules of the Food and Drug Administration are required at all stages of yeast production to produce products with acceptable microbiological standards. Complete microbiological testing is conducted on all finished yeast product using approved and published methods. This insures product safety and lack of potentially harmful organisms. Dakota Bakers Yeast microbiological standards have Salmonella sp. specification of negative/375 grams and an E.coli specification of less than 100/gram. Gas production is the major function of yeast in bread dough. To ensure consistent gassing performance, each code of Dakota Bakers Yeast is tested for gassing activity. The test involves gassing a standardized dough formula at a constant-temperature in a precision gassing apparatus that measures the amount of carbon dioxide produced over a fixed amount of time. While the test is an excellent predictor of yeast performance, it is not an exact predictor of proof times. This is due to the fact that proof times are related to
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both gas-productions by yeast and gas-retention by the dough. Factors such as flour quality, dough strengtheners, and the amount of mixing are some of the factors that affect gas retention. Gassing activity numbers are provided with the certificate of analysis (COA) accompanying each shipment of Dakota Bakers Yeast. Until the mid 19th century all beer was made with top fermenting ale yeast which work best at warm temperatures (15 to 24c) and produce fruity, distinctive flavours. Advances in chemistry led to the isolation and development of bottom fermenting yeast. which thrive at lower temperatures (3 to 11c). Lower temperature fermentation takes longer and lead to the term lager, from the German word "to store." The cleaner, more subtle, flavours associated with lager fermentation have, with rare exception, swept the global mass market. Brewers yeast:brewers yeast is a micro organism belongings to the saccharomyces spices and is capable of reproducting at a fantasic rate.its work is to propagate and split up the sugar components in to equal qunties of alcohol & carbondioxide.at this time it may well to mention it is the carbondixiod content of the beer which determines the amount of the foam formation. There are 3 types of method of making the beers.
BREWINGS; The barley is the steeped in water until it germinates.it is then klin-dried up to 18degree f to stop germenations.the resultant products is termed malt and is ready for grinding. MASHING:the crushed malt is mixed with water at a given tempetures for proper length of times. The tesultant solutions wort is then used to make a beer and the residus(spent grains) is soled as stock fodder. FERMENTATIONS: Is the next process where the yeast splits the sugar in to alcohol and carbondioxide.this is the most decisive phase in the brewing for attaining brews of fine taste and aroma. BEER AROMAS Aromas associated with beer mainly come from malt and hops. Malt can smell perfumy-sweet to rich and carmelly. Roasty, toasty, chocolaty are characteristics that come from more heavily kilned malts. Hop aromas are often described as herbal, perfumy, spicy, grassy, floral, piney, and citrusy Ales and Lagers Ales, stouts and several other types of brews, like porter, are top-fermented. The top-fermentation yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, usually produces stronger alcohol contents than the bottom-
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fermentation yeast, Saccharomyces carlsbergi, but the latter produces more quality-consistent brew. Lagers are bottom-fermented. Ales usually are heavily hopped, and include bitters, brown ales, cream ales, mild ale, pale ale, India pale ale, barley wine and several other types. There are two types of the aboriginal ale still brewed in Europe. They are Belgian lambic and Finnish sahti, which is brewed from rye malt. They are brewed on wild yeast and spontaneous fermentation. Both have very distinct tastes. The word lager is German and means storage, which refers to the lager (storage) fermentation. The main fermentation of both ales and lager are done on the similar temperature for 7-14 days. After that time the ale, depending on the type, may be ready for bottling. With lagers, this is only the start. After the main fermentation the beer is pumped into lager (storage) tanks with temperature some 10 deg C lower than room temperature. It is then let to mature and ferment for several weeks, usually 6-10 weeks. At 270 days, the longest lager fermentation is for that of Budejovicky Budvar brewerys Bud Strong. The differences between a larger and ale is that the yeast used for the fermentations of a larger works at a coolers temperatues and sink to the bottoms of the fermentations vessels while ale yeasts work at a higher temperatures and rise to the top of the vessels. ALE; is more bitter than beers and contians 6% alcohol. PILSNER:a term used for light colored beers & are all bright,light and lagered. STOUT:is ver y dark ale that is slightly bitters and malty.roasted barely is added to flavour and color the brews. STOUT BEERS Having trouble sleeping? Feeling constipated? For aiding digestion and as a natural tonic, drink a pint of stout. Stouts have had an enduring tradition of giving strength, possessing nutritive and healing values and, in bygone years, were prescribed by doctors for alleviating a myriad of ailments. Some traditional English sweet stouts, referred to as milk and cream stouts for the milk sugar (lactose) or whey added to the brew, were thought of as pick-me-ups for invalids and, as recently as the mid-1900s, were frequently recommended to nursing mothers by medical professionals. According to British beer expert, Michael Jackson, in 1920 a British advertising agency polled drinkers about why they drank Guinness. Among the most common responses was, "It does me good." This likely formed the basis of Guinness' long and successful advertising campaign espousing "Guinness Is Good for You," "My Goodness, My Guinness," and "Guinness for Strength."
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Although the earliest recorded use of the word "stout" to describe a beer came in 1677, stout as its own commercial beer style was not established until around 1820. Before then, stout and porter were the same style of beer. Stout is simply an archaic term meaning "strong" and was used to refer to a high alcohol version of porter called "stout porter." DRY STOUT Today, more than any other beer style, stout is defined by a single commercial brewer -Guinness of Dublin, Ireland, and its signature dry stout. But Guinness came from humble beginnings when Arthur Guinness bought an abandoned brewery at St. James Gate in Dublin in 1759. Initially, Guinness was one of the first breweries in Ireland to brew a porter and by 1799 it had dispensed with brewing all other styles of beer in favor of becoming a porter specialist. But with the advent of black malt, Guinness proved willing to change with the times and began brewing stouts in the mid 1800s. Contrary to its rich, opaque black character, Guinness is a rather light beer when it comes to calories and alcohol content. Guinness Draught weighs in at 4.2 percent alcohol by volume, which is slightly weaker than Budweiser at 4.7 percent. By contrast, the bottled version exported to the United States is stronger with an alcohol content of 6 percent by volume. Today, there are some 19 variations of Guinness Stout made in breweries around the world. The profile of the classic Irish-style dry stout includes a malty, caramel flavor up front with a distinctive dry-roasted bitterness in the finish. There should be no perceptible hop or fruity aroma or flavor, but it should display a rich, creamy head and rich character with medium to full body. While Guinness is the standard-bearer for the classic Irish-style dry stout, there are other excellent examples from Ireland, most notably Murphy's Irish Stout from the Lady's Well Brewery in Cork and Beamish Genuine Stout, coincidentally also in Cork. Interestingly, Murphy's was traditionally thought of as the Catholic brewery, while Beamish was the Protestant. Across the Atlantic, fine American microbrewed versions of dry stout include North Coast Brewing Co.'s Old No. 38 Stout, Mendocino Brewing Co.'s Black Hawk Stout, Sierra Nevada Stout and Rogue's Shakespeare Stout, all of which display hoppier characteristics than their Irish counterparts. Oyster Stout The association of stouts with oysters and lobster has intrigued gastronomists for years. Jackson describes the combination as a marriage truly made in heaven, and I would have to concur. Brewers of old took this one step further by producing stouts that included oysters as an ingredient. Not surprisingly, they were dubbed "oyster stouts." Some contained ground oyster shells while others contained oyster meat or simply oyster juice. Although I can think of no oyster stouts being commercially produced today, I suspect there are a few American microbrewers who have recently had a go at it, and I have encountered a few homebrewers who have recreated the style. My best recollection of a homebrewed oyster stout was at an American Homebrewers Association National Convention in Baltimore in 1995. I had just entered the hospitality suite hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based homebrew club, Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP), when I heard a commotion and spirited screams emanating from the adjoining room. When I stepped into the room I spied black-as-tar, homebrewed oyster stout coating the entire
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room -- the drapes, ceiling, upholstered chairs, carpet, bedspread and all beer geeks within spraying range. Apparently, when a pudgy, bespectacled club member opened his bottle of homebrewed oyster stout, enough pressure had built up in the bottle that the fishy brew blew everywhere. It must have been my lucky day to have been spared the carnage. It wasn't a bad tasting beer either. Sweet Stout/Cream Stout Sweet stouts first emerged as a recognizable commercial style in London in the early 1900s. By 1936, Mackeson's Milk Stout from Mackeson Brewery of Kent, England, was widely available throughout the country. Although the Whitbread-owned Mackeson continues today to brew its "Sweet Stout," England's Ministry of Food persuaded brewers to remove lactic references from their labels. Still, Mackeson's displays a butter churn on its label and other breweries continue to use the appellation "cream stout" on their own. Outside the jurisdiction of the British government, the Guernsey Brewery, in the Channel Islands, still brews a beer labeled "Milk Stout," even though it no longer contains lactose. As in England, the United States has strict laws prohibiting the word "milk" on beer labels, contending that it would confuse consumers. Nevertheless, the Boston Beer Co. is permitted to market the widely available Samuel Adams Cream Stout. Go figure. Sweet or cream stouts offer less roasted bitterness on the palate and are more full-bodied than dry stouts. The style's body can be fortified with lactose, and the malty sweet, chocolatey-caramel flavor should be balanced with hops. Oatmeal Stout Some sweet stouts include oatmeal as a key ingredient. This practice was begun during the "nutritious stout" era and continues today. The oats contribute a silky smoothness to the stout, and because of their oily nature, must be added to the brew in small proportions. Two of the best oatmeal stouts available in the United States are Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout from Tadcaster, Yorkshire and Anderson Valley Brewing Co.'s Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. Imperial Stout Had it not beer for the Russians, Imperial Stout, originally known as Imperial Russian Stout, may never have been produced by the Brits. It was Russian Czarina Catherine the Great's voracious appetite for stout that inspired the brewers of London to create this style. By the time barrels of stout from London reached their Baltic ports, most of it had turned stale. To solve this problem, British brewers produced a highly hopped, high alcohol stout to survive the long journey. Courage, the British brewery that was Catherine's primary supplier, continues to produce its Imperial Russian Stout today, and it is believed to be the longest continuously marketed example of the style. The present day label states that it was originally brewed for Catherine II, Empress of all the Russias, and carries the phrase "As brewed for more than 200 years."
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Typically, imperial stouts bear an alcohol content of more than 7.5 percent by volume with an intense roasted, perhaps burnt, flavor and strong fruity esters, such as burnt currants and raisins. It is full-bodied and warming. Although Courage's version is not widely available in the United States, some other fine examples of this imaginative beer are available: Yakima Brewing & Malting Co.'s Grant's Imperial Stout, which is a bit lower in alcohol and is brewed with honey; North Coast Brewing Co.'s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout; Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout; and Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout. The following is Michael Jackson's inspiring description of imperial stout: "When a high gravity, roasted grains, and often a warm fermentation, perhaps with an ale yeast, are combined, the result is a brew of extraordinary power and complexity. Its intensity calls to mind the tarry sweetness of a Pedro Ximenez sherry. The roastiness melds with smoky, tar-like, burnt, fruity, estery notes and alcohol flavors. There is a suggestion of cocoa, or strong coffee, on a winter's night. The fruitiness is reminiscent of the burnt currants on the edge of a cake that has just been removed from the oven, or the Christmas pudding traditional in Britain, heavy with dried and candied fruits. The alcohol suggests that the cocoa or coffee, pudding or cake, has been laced with spirit." DRAUGHT BEERS:draught beers are low caloried beers,of sohpisticated flavours and 3.5% light beers. Draught or Draft beer is almost always un-pasteurized and therefore is more
fragile. It should be consumed after being "tapped", and is generally truer to the flavors of the ingredients as pasteurization exposes the beer to heat and changes the flavor profile. A keg has a concentrically located downtube and a valve that allows beer in and gas out when filling and vice versa when beer is dispensed. Also kegs have a simple concave bottom. This aspect of keg design meant that all the beer in the keg was dispensed which therefore required that the beer be processed by filtration, fining or centrifuging, or some combination of these, to prevent sediment formation. Lastly, kegs have straight sides unlike the traditional barrel or cask shape. In order to get the beer out of a keg and into a customers glass, it can be forced out with gas pressure, although if air or gas at low pressure is admitted to the top of the keg it can also be dispensed using a traditional hand pump at the bar. By the early 1970s most beer in Britain was keg beer, filtered, pasteurized and artificially carbonated. This change was largely driven by the customer's dislike of sediment in his beer.
EXAMPLES of larger beers like Carlsberg beer,everest beer,san miguels beers,tuberg beers, Ale beers like corona,budweisers,amstel beer,fosters,heineken, Best taste the best taste usually is acquired at an alcohol content of 4.7% ethanol per volume. Less than that results in a beer with a bland taste. More than that and the higher alcohols (butanol, pentanol etc) become overpowering and spoils the taste. The strongest beer type by alcohol content is doppelbock, which is usually 8%-10% ethanol by its volume content. The strongest beer brand in production is German Eisbock, with some 14% ethanol by volume.
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Ice beer is produced by freezing the brew and filtering the ice crystals, increasing the alcohol content. This process was already known in the Middle Ages to cold-distil brandy from wine, and the ancient Chinese produced rice hooch that way. The Canadians adopted the colddistillation method for ice beer.
Beer Types There are two primary types of beer, Ales and Lagers. The primary distinction is the temperature at which the beer is fermented. Ales are fermented at higher temperatures 65-75F, and Lagers are fermented must colder at about 46-55F. The second distinction is the type of yeast that is used in the fermentation process. Ales generally use top fermenting yeast. This means that the yeast floats on the surface for the first few days and then settles on the bottom. Lagers use bottom fermenting yeast, which does not float to the surface before settling. There is a third type of beer that far less common than Ales or Lagers, and that is the Lambic. True Lambic is only brewed in the Payottenland region of Belgium. In Ales and Lagers the yeast is specially cultivated for the fermentation. Lambic is fermented by wild yeast. This means that the beer is exposed to the Belgian air which contains wild yeast and bacteria. Among Ales and Lagers there are many, many different beers. See the beer articles for in depth information on many of these beers. For now the hierarchy of many types of beer is shown below.
Beer and ale volumes 4
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gills = 1 pint 2 pints = 1 quart 4 quarts = 1 gallon 9 gallons = 1 firkin 2 firkins = 1 kilderkin 3 kilderkins = 1 hogshead 2 hogsheads = 1 butt
THE FUTURES OF THE BEERS: The futures of the beers: Getty Images. When Montana Brewing Co. won the "Small Brewpub of the Year" award at last year's Great American Beer Festival, owner Travis Zeilstra attributed much of his success to a Northwestern bitter hop called Northern Brewer, which he adds to 40% of his brews to achieve a bold flavor and clean aftertaste. But when his current batch of hoppy beers runs out in the next month or two, Mr. Zeilstra will be forced to alter his prized recipes. Since the beginning of this year, his cost for Northern Brewer has increased from $5 a pound to $40. Mr. Zeilstra has grudgingly paid the new price on the spot market, but the cost is too much for him to continue, and even if he could, he would not be able to get a contract for the sought-after hop until 2013, as the upcoming harvests have already been contracted out to larger brewers. .Brewers are descending on Denver this week for the 27th annual Great American Beer Festival, the U.S.'s largest beer gathering in which nearly 2,000 brews compete. They are facing soaring costs and a shortage in hops, the plant used to give beer its bitterness, aroma and flavor. It was about this time last year that brewers first started to feel the impact of the current hop crisis -- a loss of 10,000 acres world-wide in 2007 -- caused by a bad crop from Europe, growing demand in Asia (where beer sales have increased 3% each year for the past half decade), and decades of reduced acreage in favor of real-estate development and more lucrative crops. Since the summer of 2007, the shortage has pushed the cost of hops from around $3-$5 a pound to $20-$40 a pound. It has forced almost all craft brewers -- small, independent and traditional breweries -- to raise retail prices. Smaller brewers, who don't typically have contracts on hops, have had to pay the higher costs, alter recipes or turn to less hoppy brews such as wheat beers, stouts and Pilsners. It's been a struggle, but you have to be able to adapt," Montana Brewing Co.'s Mr. Zeilstra says. I have a couple of other hops that I use as a substitute. Some of them will work very closely and
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are interchangeable, but others are not. We are just going to have to see how people react to them." As hops prices have risen, so has consumer demand for the bolder beer styles hops provide, such as India Pale Ales (IPAs) and seasonal drafts like Oktoberfest beers and pumpkin ales. According to market data through July, sales for IPAs and seasonal beers this year have seen the greatest increase among craft beers, 8% and 16% respectively. The largest -- and most competitive -category at the Great American Beer Festival is the American Style IPA. "Consumer demand continues to go hoppier and hoppier," says Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, a nonprofit group based in Boulder, Colo., that works with craft brewers and runs the Great American Beer Festival. "What we are seeing is that when [brewers] can't get the hops they want, they are coming out with different beers. Some are rationing their own beers." Weather conditions and growing demand for small craft brews are causing a major shortage of hops and driving up prices. Market Watchs Paul Lin talks to Vermont brewers about what it means for the industry. .Rising Prices As the hops crisis became more apparent at the beginning of the year, Bear Republic Brewery in Northern California, whose better known brews include Red Racer IPA, Hop Rod Rye and Red Rock Ale, raised it prices almost immediately, from a $8.50 a six pack to $10. Owner Richard Norgrove says he got an earful from distributors who said the company would lose market share to other craft brewers: "It was met with a lot of apprehension. Sure enough, 60 days later everybody was doing the same." Price hikes have been almost universal, with the cost of six packs increasing by up to $2 depending on the market. Even larger brewers such as Sierra Nevada, the second largest craft brewer in the U.S., raised the price of a case by 50 to 60 cents to combat rising costs, said owner Ken Grossman. At Stone Brewing Co., considered one of the industry leaders in creating hoppy beers, the 1520% price hike instituted earlier this year was the "biggest single price increase we had to take" in the company's 12-year history, said owner Greg Koch. Recipe Changes Despite the rise in hop prices, one option that was off the table for almost all brewers was cutting back on hops. For many brewmasters, this means using the hops available and altering the ingredients to recreate the taste. Mr. Vaccaro says he often tinkers with the recipe for his Imperial IPA, which uses four varieties of hops.
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"It tends to be a beer that is robust in flavor that you can play around with," he said. "Unless you drink it everyday, you are not going to notice the difference. What we have learned is what varieties we can substitute in and still keep our flavor profiles." In beer parlance, there are two kinds of hops: one that tones down the sweetness, known as a bittering hop, and another that is added closer to he end of the brewing process, called an aroma hop, that gives beers their distinct flavor. The shortage in hops has caused prices to surge by as much as ten times. "Where it becomes more difficult is the aroma varieties that make a character unique," Mr. Vaccaro says. "You can change more with the bittering hop without a perceived change. When you start playing with the aroma hops, it is a little more noticeable." Despite rising prices and a shortage in hops, craft beer -- beer made by small, independent and traditional breweries -- has grown 6.5% in volume and 11% in sales in the first half of 2008, roughly the same amount as the same period last year, Mr. Gatza says. According to the Brewers Association, in 2006 and 2007, 47 of the top 50 craft brewing companies grew in production to keep up with demand. So far this year about 42 of the top 50 are growing to keep up with demand, Mr. Gatza said. One of the reasons for this continued growth despite the economic downturn is that craft beer is still one of cheaper luxury items people can buy, with most six packs cost less than $10, says Mr. Norgrove of Bear Republic Brewery. Bear Republic has seen business grow by more than 50% in 2006 and 2007, and is seeing healthy profits again this year, he says. "We are in one of those industries that is really doing well. I don't want to say it's recession proof, but we are seeing steady growth." Between March and May of this year hop growers planted an additional 8,500 acres in the U.S. and more than 11,000 world-wide to help keep up with demand -- though most of the hops planted are the bitter hops which are will not reach full maturity for three years and do less to distinguish flavor. At the beer festivals this fall, hop-filled beers will still be prevalent, though some may have altered recipes. But for the next harvest, brewers and experts agree that there could be less diversity in the styles of beers. Things are predicted to get a little better on the hop front in the next year to two," Mr. Koch said. There has been a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but it's definitely not in the clear."
BITTERS
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Definition: In the culinary arts, the word bitters refers to an alcoholic beverage flavored with herbs and other ingredients to produce a bitter flavor. Some bitters can have a sweet flavor, depending on their ingredients and formulation. This generic term applies to all bitter liqueurs & bitters .bitters are produced from herbs & roots extracts ,from the narcotic components of ( primarily )tropical & sub tropical plants & spices .they are usually dark in colour & valued for their appetite promoting & digestion bitters have. BITTERS: are distilled alcohimaolic beverages strongly infused with the essences of aromatic herbs and roots. Common ingredients in bitters include gentian, quinine, orange peels and Angostura bark. Although the alcohol content of bitters can reach 45% or higher, most consumers only use a few drops at a time to enhance their appetites, flavor other distilled spirits such as gin, or to settle their stomachs after a heavy dinner. Bitters were first developed in the 1820s as a digestive aid, but it also became popular as a flavoring agent for various alcoholic beverages, most notably Pink Gin. Bartenders would first rinse a few drops of aromatic bitters around a glass before adding the beverage of choice. This tradition of using bitters as a flavor enhancer is still practiced by mycologists today. Classic martini recipes often call for a swirling of orange-based bitters. Customers of traveling medicine shows during the 19th Century were often buying highly concentrated distilled spirits containing bitters. These patent medicines, usually sold as miracle elixirs, did actually serve a few medical purposes. A small sampling of bitters could be served as an APERITIF to stimulate a person's appetite, or as a DIGESTIVE to help settle a heavy meal or alcoholic overindulgence. Bitters are still sold today in many grocery stores, either with other condiments as Worcestershire sauce or with beverage mixers such as grenadine. A few drops of bitters can be added to recipes to enhance the sweetness of other ingredients, in the same sense that salt can bring out the inherent sweetness of melons or other fruits. Bitters are usually added in dashes, and a little do indeed go a long way. Bitters are primarily used in the preparation of cocktails, so it helps to keep a bottle of Angostura bitters in a well-stocked wet bar. Beverages which could become too sweet, such as lemonade, can be tempered by swirling a few drops of bitters in the shaker before preparation. Bitters can also be added to tonic or soda water as a homemade cure for indigestion and other stomach ailments. Bitters can be used as an ingredient in cocktails. Cocktails such as the Pink Gin and the Old Fashioned are made with bitters. Angostura bitters Proprietary concentrated bitter tincture of herbs, spices, & spirits from Trinidad produced since 1824. Most popular aromatic bitters ever known. Indispensable in cocktails calling for it.
Amer Picon
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Proprietary French bitter-sweet spirit-based aperitif beverage bitters with slight orange character. Notable in the Basque drink, Picon Punch, which is considered one of the finest examples of a highball beverage. Unfortunately, from the 1970s to present, the House of Picon has lowered the proof of their product repeatedly, creating a situation where traditional recipes calling for it (such as the Picon Punch which was created with the original 78 proof product in mind) did not taste the same. Picon's current iteration has an alcohol content of less than half of the original product.
orange bitters Generic for concentrated bitter tincture of orange peel, spices, herbs, and spirits. Example: Fee Bros.
absinthe Generic for distilled high proof spirit-based aperitif bitters flavored with anise & other herbs - containing wormwood. Used mainly in simple cocktails showcasing it, many more cocktails citing it were actually formulated for the use of absinthe substitutes like Herbsaint or post1913 Pernod. aromatic bitters Generic for concentrated bitter tincture of herbs, spices, fruit, and spirits. Deemed too bitter to be consumed by themselves, they are normally applied to any beverage in dashes or small fractions of an ounce or mililiter. Though containing alcohol up to 80 proof, manufacture was allowed without restriction even during Prohibition, because the bitterness was such that the Internal Revenue Service, who administered compliance with the National Prohibition Act, termed it "non-potable alcohol" ie, too bitter to consume straight. Cora Bitters Proprietary Italian aperitif/digestif bitters of long standing. Pleasant and sweet. Notable in the Amarosa
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Cocktail. Campari Proprietary celebrated bittersweet Italian beverage/aperitif bitters produced since 1860, by the company bearing its name, of herbs and fruit in a neutral spirit base. Noted for its use in the NEGRONI Cocktail among others. Peychaud bitters Proprietary Louisiana brand of anis-charactered aromatic bitters introduced by Haitian immigrant, Antoine Amedee Peychaud. Produced since the early 19th century, currently by The Sazerac Company, which can trace its linage to one of the first venues to serve these bitters - in the drink for which they were created. They remain notable & essential in the Sazerac cocktail, as originally prepared with brandy, and in later years with rye whiskey.
Fernet Branca Proprietary Italian bitter-sweet spirit-based beverage/digestive bitters
Calisaya bitters Generic Spanish/Italian spirit-based beverage/digestive bitters of calisaya bark (quinine), herbs, and spices. Ferro China and china-Martini bitters are other forms of this product. Calisay is a liqueur which utilizes the same main flavoring ingredients. peach bitters Generic concentrated bitter tincture of peach pits, spices, and spirits. Extinct after Prohibition until revived in the mid-1990s, as the result of a conversation between John Fee & Ted Haigh, by Fee Bros.
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Hostetter's bitters Defunct Pittsburgh-based herbal stomach bitters called for in 19th century cocktail guides and likely, along with Stoughton's Bitters, one of the first bitters ever specified for cocktail use. Survived until at least WW1. Aperital Proprietary Argentine aperitif bitters. Notable in the EL GUARANI Cocktail. bitters Generic for aromatic bitters, fruit bitters, or aperitif/digestif bitters used in cocktails and other mixed drink forms to enhance spiciness and piquancy. When called for without further description in mixed drink recipes, aromatic bitters are meant. Boker's bitters Defunct proprietary New York-based digestive bitters brand of presumed cardamom character called for in 19th century cocktail guides as aromatic bitters. No evidence of manufacture after Prohibition, or indeed after the advent of the 20th century. Bogart's Bitters is a corruption of Boker's Bitters Khoosh bitters Defunct, proprietary British aromatic bitters used in American bars in England & Europe during & after American Prohibition, called for in cocktail recipe guides of the period, most notably - The Cafe Royal Cocktail Book. Never a U.S. import. Abbott's bitters Defunct proprietary Baltimore aromatic bitters made by C.W. Abbott company until circa 1950. One of the three most important aromatic bitters brands of the twentieth century, the other two being Angostura and Peychaud.
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Jgermeister Proprietary German herbal digestive liqueur containing 56 herbs, roots and fruits among which are cinnamon, bitter oranges, ginger root, red sandalwood, and blueberries. While mainly a dige
The futures of the bitters The first definition of the cocktail in print appeared in THE BALANCE AND COLUMBIAN REPOSITORY in 1806, which lists four essential ingredients: liquor, sugar, water, and bitters. However, bitters predate the cocktail. Bitters were sold as curative formulas and, frankly, were nothing short of snake oil. Early advertisements for the now defunct Pond's Bitters claimed that the bitters cured headaches, dyspepsia, biliousness, diarrhea, AND constipation. (Presumably the bitters know when to put on the gas and when to put on the brakes for the latter two ailmentsno pun intended.) Yet enterprising bartenders decided that these elixirs work well in drinks. As you can well imagine, the essential characteristic of a bitter is that it contains a bittering agent. These agents are generally macerated in alcohola solventand sometimes in water and glycerin with stabilizers. Common bittering agents, and ones that I use in my own recipe, include gentian root, quassia bark (QUASSIA AMARA contains quassin, allegedly the most bitter substance on the planet), quinine, wormwood, and dandelion. As a brief aside, bitters are an "aversive" flavor. When we consume something bitter it sends warning signals to our brain that what we're eating or drinking could potentially be toxic, or fun. Many substances that have pleasurable affects are also bitter (beer and coffee, for example). Combined with "apertive" flavors such as salty and sweet, it often causes a mixed response. This is an acquired tasteand let's face it, cocktails are an acquired taste. However, the adventurous drinker will find great rewards once he or she has learned to love cocktails. In the past, you could find hundreds of formulas for bitters, from Brown's Iron Bitters (no relation to me) to Peychaud's Bitters, along with various flavors including orange, Angostura, and celery. Each one had a different application in cocktails, and by switching from one to another you could transform a drink. Apart from bittering agents, many aromatic compounds are added to bitters as well. And, much like with gin or vermouth, the list of possible botanicals, peels and vegetables is enormous. To name a few: orange peels, cassia, caraway, coriander, and anise. Bitters ran up against the law when in 1906 Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. Products required some truth in labeling and the bevy of absurd claims and potentially poisonous ingredients were destined to fall away. (Other spirits didn't fare much better.) This was the
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beginning of the end for bitters, no longer considered medicine, and subsequent taxation was nearly the final straw. Once Prohibition passed in 1919, the number of available bitters was reduced greatly, and the product never recovered from those blows. That is, until now. Next week I will discuss some of the new lines of bitters and how bartenders are making their own.
THE WHISKY
Whisky is a spirit obtained by the distillation of a fermented mash of grain ( usually barley, maize , or rice , or all together ) and is aged in wood. There are approximately 2oo brands of whiskies available and they vary in taste from distiller . There is no similarity in taste between scotch. Irish, Canadian or American whiskies _rye and bourbon. In the productions of the scotch whisky two process are being implemented and they are : POT STILL process which has individual distillations according to lots. Malty whisky is produced by this process. The patent or Coffey) still process permits continuous distillations. Grain whisky is produced by this process. Scotch malt whisky is made from malted barly only and is manufactured by the pot still process. This process has the following sequences. CLEANING: the barley is washed to separate the husk and dried. Malting: the selected barley is soaked in the water for 2-3 days until is sprouts a shoot,a thum nail long.it is the water in Scotland that imparts the unique quality of scotch. The barly is spread on the concrete floor to germinate for 8-12 days. the sprouting barley is constantly turned by the hand or by the Saladin machines to aerated it. Service styles of the whisky: serve with the soda, coke,ice or net and the on the rock WHISKY PRODUCTTING COUNTRIES :Scotland,Canada,irish,USA,IRLAND,INDIA,UK,HUNGARY,ITALY,FRANCE,NEPAL,
THE HISTORY OFWHISKEY THE KNOWLEDGE OF DISTILLING WAS DISCOVERED SOMEWHERE IN ASIA AROUND 800 BC. INITIALLY THE TECHNIQUE WAS ONLY USED TO MAKE PERFUME BUT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE CHINESE ALSO DISTILLED LIQUOR FROM RICE AT THIS TIME. IT IS UNCLEAR EXACTLY HOW THE KNOWLEDGE OF DISTILLATION FOUND IT WAY TO THE BRITISH ISLES, BUT WE KNOW THAT THE CRAFT WAS BROUGHT TO EUROP BY THE MOORS. WHAT MOST LIKELY HAPPENED THEN WAS THAT THE KNOWLEDGE SPREAD THROUGH EUROPES MONASTERIES. A COMMON THEORY IS THAT IT WAS ST. PATRICK, THE PATRON SAINT OF IRELAND, WHO BROUGHT THE ART WITH HIM WHEN H CAME TO IRELAND AS A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY IN 432AD.
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IN ANY EVENT, THE KNOWLEDGE AT SOME POINT CAME TO THE CELTS WHO USED IT T MAKE THEIR UISGE BEATHA, WHICH IS GAELIC FOR WATER OF LIFE. WE HAVE THE CELTS TO THANK FOR THE WORD WHISKY AT LEAST, SINCE WHISKY CAN BE DERIVE FROM THE GAELIC WORD UISGE.
THE YEAR 1494 IS A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF WHISKY; IN THE EXCHEQUER ROLL OF THAT YEAR IS RECORDED A PURCHASE OF EIGHT BOLLS OF MALT TO FRIAR JOHN COR WHERE WITH TO MAKE AQUA VITAE. THIS IS THE FIRST WRITTEN PROOF OF WHISKY PRODUCTION IN SCOTLAND. AS WITH MANY OTHER CRAFTS THE KNOWLEDGE OF DISTILLING SOON SPREAD OUTSIDE OF THE MONASTERIES, AND EVENTUALLY THE WATER OF LIFE CAME TO BE PRODUCED ON ALMOST EVERY FARM IN SCOTLAND. THI WIDESPREAD HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION WAS TO CONTINUE UNTIL THE 1820S WHEN TH EXCISE ACT WAS PASSED AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT STARTED TO COME DOWN HARDE ON ILLICIT DISTILLERIES.
WHISKY BACK IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TASTED VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE DRIN WE ENJOY TODAY. AT THAT TIME WHISKY WAS CONSUMED VERY YOUNG AND HAD A BRUTAL, RAW TASTE. THE DISCOVERY THAT WHISKY IMPROVES AND MELLOWS IF IT I ALLOWED TO MATURE WAS NOT MADE UNTIL THE MID EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. AS WIT MANY OTHER BREAKTHROUGHS THE DISCOVERY WAS MADE BY ACCIDENT; AN OLD FORGOTTEN CASK WAS FOUND, AND THE LUCKY OWNER REALISED THAT THE WHISKY HAD IN FACT NOT BEEN DESTROYED BUT INSTEAD TASTED BETTER THAN EVER.
THE ACT OF UNION IN 1707 UNITED THE PARLIAMENTS OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. THE TREATY WAS THE RESULT OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS WHICH ALL INDICATED THAT A UNION WOULD BE MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL. THE GOVERNMENT NATURALLY WISHED TO EXPAND THE TREATY AND THE TURN EVENTUALLY CAME TO MALT. AFTER A VIOLENT PERIOD WITH MANY RIOTS WITH DEADLY OUTCOMES AN EQUIVALENT TO THE ENGLISH MALT TAX WAS FINALLY APPLIED IN 1725. THIS WAS TH START OF AN ERA FILLED WITH ILLICIT DISTILLERIES, SMUGGLING AND ROVING EXCISEMEN. IN THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY MORE THAN EVERY OTHER BOTTLE OF WHISKY IN SCOTLAND WAS ILLEGALLY PRODUCED.
THE FOLLOWING YEARS SAW A LARGE NUMBER OF TAX RAISES, THE INTRODUCTION O DIFFERENT DUTIES FOR DIFFERENT DISTILLERIES AND OTHER LICENSE REGULATIONS CRIME AND VIOLENCE WAS COMMON AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF ALL THE REGULATIONS EVENTUALLY BECAME UNMANAGEABLE. IN THE 1820S THE GOVERNMEN HAD HAD ENOUGH AND PASSED THE EXCISE ACT WHICH MADE CLEAR EXACTLY WHA KIND OF PRODUCTION WAS LEGAL AND WHAT WAS NOT. ANOTHER ACT WAS ALSO PASSED THAT SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED THE PENALTIES FOR SMUGGLING. THE NEW
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ACTS HAD THE DESIRED RESULTS AND ILLICIT DISTILLING AND SMUGGLING WAS GREATLY REDUCED IN ONLY A FEW YEARS.
IN 1831 A FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL OF EXCISE IN IRELAND, AENEAS COFFEY, INVENTED A TWIN-COLUMN VERSION OF THE PATENT STILL. THIS IMPROVED TECHNIQU IN CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION LOWERED PRODUCTION COSTS AND ALLOWED SIMULTANEOUS USE OF MALTED AND UNMALTED BARLEY TOGETHER WITH OTHER KINDS OF CORN. THE IRISH NEVER LIKED THE IDEA BUT COFFEY MANAGED TO INTRODUCE IT IN SCOTLAND. IN JUST A FEW DECADES, THE IRISH STANDPOINT WOULD MAKE THEM LOOSE THE DOMINANCE OVER THE WHISKY INDUSTRY; THE COFFEY STIL COULD PRODUCE GREAT QUANTITIES COMPARED TO THE TRADITIONAL STILLS BUT PRODUCED AN INFERIOR PRODUCT. THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM WAS TO BLEND THE SPIRIT FROM THE COFFEY STILL WITH WHISKY FROM TRADITIONAL STILLS. ANDREW USHER INTRODUCED THIS IDEA IN 1852, AND THE BLENDING TRADE WAS BOR BECAUSE OF THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESS OF BLENDED WHISKY, THE SCOTTISH VOLUME SOON FAR EXCEEDED THE IRISH. THIS ADVANTAGE IN VOLUME SOON BECAME IMPORTANT; AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE INTRODUCTION OF BLENDED WHISKY THE AMERICAN VINE LOUSE PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX CAME TO FRANCE. THE PEST RAPIDLY SPREAD AND REACHED THE COGNAC REGION BY THE 1880S. THE LOUSE ALL BUT DESTROYED THE ENTIRE BRANDY INDUSTRY AND THE BLENDED WHISKY WAS READILY ACCEPTED AS AN ALTERNATIVE. BY THE TIME THE FRENCH VINEYARDS HAD RECOVERED, WHISKY HAD CEASED TO BE ONLY AN ALTERNATIVE AND WAS FIRMLY ESTABLISHED AT THE TOP.
WHISKY STARTED OUT AS A PRODUCT FOR THE BRITISH MARKET IN THE 1820S, BUT TODAY IT HAS BECOME A DRINK THAT IS APPRECIATED AND LOVED AROUND THE WORLD. MUCH OF THIS INCREDIBLE DEVELOPMENT IS THE RESULT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF BLENDED WHISKY; EVEN TODAY APPROXIMATELY 90 PERCENT OF ALL WHISKY THAT IS PRODUCED IN SCOTLAND IS USED IN BLENDED WHISKY. HOWEVE THE INTEREST OF SINGLE MALT WHISKY HAS INCREASED IN RECENT YEARS AND THIS DEVELOPMENT IS LIKELY TO CONTINUE. THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE WHISKEYS
Black level Red level Gold level SILVER LABLE(White level) Premium whisky deluxe whisky REGUALR WHISKY ULTRA PREMIMUM BRONZE
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SCOTOCH WHISKY Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail The only malt whisky trail in the world Whisky distilleries were founded in an environment rich in the highest quality ingredients: pure, clear spring water and abundant supplies of fragrant golden barley. On the whisky trail of Speyside, you'll find more than half of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries, each with its own warm welcome and an invitation to see, smell, taste and absorb the magic of whisky. Each whisky distillery on the distillery tour follows its own traditions, lore and recipes for everything from malting the barley to the height and size of its stills. The unique characteristics of each Speyside whisky distillery result in delightful, handcrafted whisky from each one. All offer visitors a sample of the finished product and some include an informative nosing and tasting while others give an insight into the complex art of blending whisky and malt.Follow the world-famous Malt Whisky Trail through Speyside to seven working distilleries, including a fascinating cooperage and a historic distillery. From Benromach to Dallas Dhu, a perfect time capsule of whisky-making; from Glen Moray to Strathisla, home and heart of Chivas Regal; from the Glen Grant distillery to the Speyside Cooperage where real coopers work with incredible speed and skill; from Glenfiddich to The Glenlivet and the Cardhu distillery, Scotland's whisky trail signposts lead you through the picturesque lush countryside of Speyside, the world's favourite malt whisky region. COME FOR A WEEKEND IN MAY, OR IN SEPTEMBER FOR THE WHISKY FESTIVALS, WHEN DISTILLERIES, WHISKY SHOPS, BARS, PUBS AND WHOLE VILLAGES WELCOME VISITORS WITH DRAMS, SPECIAL NOSINGS, CEILIDHS AND OTHER PARTIES. COME AT ANY TIME TO ENJOY FAMOUS NAMES AND SHARE WELL-KEPT SECRETS WITH KNOWLEDGEABLE LOCALS IN WELL-STOCKED BARS AND FRIENDLY PUBS. Now that craft cocktails have gained their place in the world of drinkingand are no longer relegated to girls' night out or bastardized versions of the classicsit's fitting that home bartenders should focus on bitters. It was once enough when asked about bitters to point to a crusty bottle of Angostura on the back bar and be done with it, but now the game has changed.
History Initially Whisky, the name of which evolved from uisge beatha, was lauded for its medicinal qualities, being prescribed for the preservation of health, the prolongation of life, and for the relief of colic, palsy and even smallpox. It became an intrinsic part of Scottish life - a reviver and stimulant during the long, cold winters, and a feature of social life, a welcome to be offered to guests upon arrival at their destinations.
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This increasing popularity eventually attracted the attention of the Scottish parliament, which introduced the first taxes on malt and the end product in the latter part of the 17th century. Ever increasing rates of taxation were applied following The Act of Union with England in 1707, when England set out to tame the rebellious clans of Scotland. The distillers were driven underground. Water & Temperature WATER Very occasionally, one encounters a whisky whose virtues are better displayed neat. Outside the tasting room, many people prefer to drink their after-dinner malts straight - with sound medical justification. In these cases your own saliva acts as the dilutant, and they should be sipped in very small amounts. Blenders nose at 20% ABV, but this can drown some whiskies which tend to 'break up' with too much water. It is always best to add water a little at a time until any nose prickle has disappeared and the sample has fully opened up. The water you use to dilute the strength of your dram should be still and not too high in minerals. True aficionados will use the water used in the production of the individual whisky they are tasting. Scottish water is predominantly soft, so if your local tap water has a suspicious taste, is heavily recycled or chlorinated, your best plan is to use plain bottled water from Scotland. At professional tastings, distilled water is used. TEMPERATURE The ideal temperature at which whisky should be drunk varies according to the climate of the country in which you are drinking it. However, for the purposes of tasting malt whisky, it is best appreciated at the equivalent room temperature of an old-fashioned Scottish parlour (however difficult to recreate in these days of central heating, and hermetic glazing). In other words, you should nose at about 15C. Chilled whisky does not readily yield up its aromas and the addition of ice will close them down altogether. On the other hand, warming the glass in the hand - as one does with brandy - helps to release the volatiles in the spirit, especially when the sample you are tasting is neat. Malt
Malt whisky takes its name and flavour from the way it is produced. The barley is allowed to sprout before being toasted over a fire in a malt kiln, and the mashing, distillation and fermentation processes begin. After distillation, single malts are allowed to mature for between eight and fifteen years on average before bottling. Single malts whiskies from a single distillery - are familiar to most drinkers, and many of the big-name brands are single malts, for example, Macallan, Glenmorangie, and Glenfiddich. Other types of malts include: Single cask malts which are the product of a single distillation and bottled straight from the maturing cask. This process ensures that the
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particular character of the specific distillation is emphasized. Singlecask malts are normally stronger than ordinary malts - anything up to around 65% ABV (alcohol by volume) - and are usually about twice the price. Vatted malts where single malts of different ages and from different distilleries (but usually owned by the same parent company) are mixed together. Grain Grain whisky is distilled in a different way from malt whisky, using a patent still. Its main ingredient - barley, maize or another cereal - is left unmalted, but one thing it shares with malt is that both have to mature for at least three years before they are legally allowed to be called 'whisky'. Unlike malts, grains get the minimum maturing time. The 10year-old Invergorden is one of the few grain whiskies available since most goes to blending plants where it is mixed with single malts to form the third type of whisky - blended. Blended Single malts may be the most fashionable brands in the whisky industry, but the blends are its steady, background performers. Bells, Johnnie Walker, Whyte & Mackay and Teacher's are likely to be the varieties that most newer drinkers coming to whisky will try first. And no matter what impression you get from the ads or from 'connoisseurs', it's worth remembering that most of these blends can taste just as good as - and in some cases, better than - some the single malts you'll hear people raving about. Deluxe whiskies such as Dimple or The Antiquary are blends which have a higher proportion of older and better quality malt in their mix. Want to more about appreciating your single malts and deluxe blends? Read our Guide to Tasting Whisky.
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These are, generally speaking, the whiskies produced in the southern half of the country, below the Highland Line that runs between the rivers Tay and Clyde in the centre of Scotland. These whiskies are mellower and gentler than their northern neighbours, and much of their produce ends up in blends. Ironically, their subtleties of taste are appreciated by both newcomers to malts and by more experienced malt drinkers. Campbeltown Once Scotland's most famous whisky town and home to more than 20 distilleries in the 19th century. Their number has dwindled to two in operation - Springbank and Glen Scotia - plus the new GlengyleDistillery, opened in 2004. Its whiskies are more distinctive than those of the Lowlands, with peat lending more of a hint of the flavours of Islay to the north. Their number has dwindled to two in operation - Springbank and Glen Scotia - plus the new Glengyle-Distillery, opened in 2004. Its whiskies are more distinctive than those of the Lowlands, with peat lending more of a hint of the flavours of Islay to the north. Islay The most distinctively flavoured of all whiskies come from this island, where the apparently endless supplies of peat are put to use in the malt kilns. The resulting 'peat reek' gives the island whiskies a smell and taste that has variously been described as 'iodine', 'seawater' and even 'kippers'! Islay malts are undoubtedly an acquired taste, and their presence adds instant depth of character to a blend. (Incidentally, the name is pronounced 'Isle-aah'.) Highland An enormous area which is home to some of the world's most famous drinks names, as well as others that are worth taking the time to discover. In Speyside alone are more than 40 distilleries with names recognisable from any supermarket and liquor-store shelf. This is also
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the place to come if you want to visit lots of distilleries: several in the Spey valley are on the Whisky Trail and open to visitors. Varieties of whisky produced here range from mellow and sweet to aromatic and flowery, with every shade of flavour between. Islands Strictly speaking an area of Highland, this is a sub-grouping based on geography rather than flavour characteristics. From Arran, Jura, Mull and Skye in the west to Orkney in the north, the whisky flavours here are as wide-ranging as any in the Highland group.
Scotch whisky :( fermented grapes) like j.w red levels bells j & b rare grants the famous grouse ballantine j.w black level j.w green level chivas regal 12yrs chivas regal 18yres chivas regal royal salute
Premium whisky distilled from a fermented mash of grains usually con,rye,barley or wheat and then aged oak barrels.it is a blended whisky which is 12yrs old or more.whisky can be take with Ice,on the rock,or with the soda,cola
j.w black label j & b reserve ballantines gold seal dimple 15yrs chivas royal 12yrs bond
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crown royal Canadian club whisky Glendiffich Chivas regal Jim beam Paddy old irish John jameson Jack Daniel Glenmorangie 10yrs deluxe whisky j.w gold label j.w blue label chivas regal 18ys chivas royal salute royal stag dimple antiquary
single malt whisky:is malt whisky from a single distillery.however unless the whisky is described as single cask in will contain whisky from many casks and more different years,so blender can achieve a taste recognisabel as typical of the distillery.in most cases the names of a single malt will be that of the distillers(the GLENLIVET,BUSHMILLS,YOICHI)with an age statements and perhaps some indications of some special treatment such as maturations in a port wine cask. glenfiddich 12yrs/18yrs/30yrs glen morangi 10yrs glen morangi sherry wood glean morangi port wood glen morangi burgunoy wood malavan morangi 12yrs coolica 12yrs macallan 12yrs whyte & mackay 22yrs dalmore 40yrs the bourbon whisky:Bourbon whisky it was 1st produced in the year of 1789 in the usa,perhaps it was on may 4 1964 that a resolutions was passed by the us senate and the house of representatives that bourbon are straight whiskies which means that they are obtained from the a spirit distilled from maize or rye and aged in new charred oak barrels for at least 2 years.
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Sour mash whiskey is made through a variations of the fermentation method.the distiller uses part of the previous days mash and fresh yeast in the fermentations of bourbon,thous each batch is related to the previous batch. The quintessential American libation, Bourbon conjures images of corn fields and little streams cutting their way through Kentucky. Kentucky is Bourbon country in spirit and, indeed, in name. For when the American pioneers first colonized the country, they divided up the land and one plot, which covered much of what is now Kentucky, was named Bourbon, for the French Royal Family. The county was formed in 1786. Originally part of Virginia, it was not until 1792 that Bourbon County was transferred to the new State of Kentucky. There was a great quantity of corn-based whiskey produced in the area, and it was shipped from a port on the Ohio River, which lay in Bourbon County. The barrels were stamped with their origin, Old Bourbon, and thus the name stuck. The principal distinction in Bourbon whiskey is the make up of the mash bill. The mash bill is the list of cereal grains used for distillation. Bourbon is distilled from 51% corn, differing it from other American spirits. Other grains are used including wheat, rye and barley. Distillation is achieved in a pot still before ageing in new, charred oak barrels. The use of charred barrels is credited, by and large, to Reverend Elijah Craig. Such claims are not necessarily reliable, but the story is worth mentioning, for it is so oft told. The significance of this is decidedly great, for the Scotch whisky industry uses a proliferation of ex bourbon barrels, as do the rum and tequila fraternities. Elijah kept an outhouse, in which he stored his barrels and one day, a fire tore through the building, blackening his casks. The reverend filled his scorched barrels regardless, and found the charred inners imparted a vanilla sweetness and a rich hue. Once a bourbon barrel has been emptied, it cannot be reused, thus they are shipped for use overseas. The spirit is aged for two years and bottled at a minimum of 40% alcohol by volume. There has been that more recent phenomenon of small batch and high end bourbons. The market for these is substantial and ever-growing, as consumers lean toward quality over quantity. Single barrel offerings and artisan products are of increasing popularity. llow spirit.Because of the fact that almost all Bourbon is made in Kentucky many people believe this is a requirement, but in fact Bourbon may be produced in any state. The only prerequisites are that it must be made in the US, contain at least 51 percent corn and that it must be stored for at least two years in new, charred oak barrels. Lastly, the raw spirit may not be distilled to more than 80 percent alcohol by volume. the typical grains mixtures for bourbon is 70% corn with the remainder being wheat and rye and malted barely.this mixtures calle the mash is fermented through a process called sour mash fermentations in which yeast from previous fermentations is added to induce the new batch to maintain a consistent of flavor and the quality.the results is then distilled to produce a clear spirits. This spirits is then placed in charred oak barrels for aging,which is what imparts color on to bourbon.consequently,bourbons that have been aged longer are generally darker in color. A few common Bourbon whiskeys are:
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Jim Beam (Jim Beam Distillery Van Winkle (Buffalo Trace Distillery) Buffalo Trace (Buffalo Trace Distillery) Eagle Rare (Buffalo Trace Distillery) Blantons (Buffalo Trace Distillery) Makers Mark (Makers Mark Distillery) Woodford Reserve (Woodford Reserve Distillery) Evan Williams (Heaven Hill Distilleries) Elijah Craig (Heaven Hill Distilleries) Wild Turkey bakers small batch makers mark knob creek bookers single barbell Elijah craig Wild Turkey Bourbon 8 yrs Jim Beam Bourbon White Jim Beam Black 8yrs Makers mark(m& m) Knob creek Bookers single barrel REGUALR WHISKY BLENDED WHISKY WICH IS BETWEEN 5-10YRS OLD Black & white Cutty sark Dewars white label Famous grouse Grants whisky J & b rare j.w red lable teachers southern comfort vat 69 White Horse J & b rare cradle Jameson irish Ballantines Famous grouse
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Grants Haig White hores Tennessee Tennessee whiskey is closely related to Bourbon but there are a few differences; Tennessee whiskey must be produced in the state of Tennessee and is always filtered through sugar-maple charcoal. The filtering process usually takes 10 days to complete. Tennessee whiskey was recognised as a separate style by US government officials in 1941. Tennessee is a style of whiskey that differs from Bourbon whiskey very slightly in production. Every other process is the same, though the mash bill need not contain the same quantity of corn. The additional process is known as the Lincoln County Process. It was named for Lincoln County, in which Jack Daniel first distilled. This process involves filtering the spirit through sugar maple charcoal. This process removes some of the congeners and esters in the spirit and proffers a slightly smoky character. There are two distillers who produce Tennessee whisk(e)y; George Dickel and the famed Jack Daniel There are only two active Tennessee Whiskey brands: Jack Daniels (Jack Daniel Distillery) George Dickel Whiskey (George Dickel Distillery) JE Straight Wheat Whisky: Straight Wheat Whiskey is an American spirit, and differs from Bourbon in production in one aspect: It is distilled from at least 51% wheat, as opposed to bourbons minimum requirements of at least 51% corn. Straight wheat is mostly distilled from wheat, but can also contain other cereal grains, such as barley, rye and corn. It has to be matured for at least two years in fresh, charred new oak barrels. Bernheim was the first straight wheat whiskey available in the US since Prohibition, and it remains the sole brand. The principal grain used in the production of whiskey has a great deal of effect upon the final character of the spirit. For example corn, the principle grain used in Bourbon production, has a sweetness, it provides body and earthy, spicy flavours. Wheat, on the other hand, is a sweet, smooth grain, which creates a supple, me Bourbon Whiskey RYE & WHEAT WHISKEY Only a small amount of Rye whisky is bottled as Straight Rye Whisky most of it is used in blending to add character to other whiskies. To be called a Rye whiskey, the spirit must be made from at least 51 percent rye, distilled at less than 80 percent and stored in new, charred oak barrels for at least two years. Rye whiskey is slightly more powerful and bitter than Bourbon. Most current Rye whiskies are made in Indiana and Kentucky. Wheat whiskey must be made from at least 51 percent of wheat and is quite uncommon. Examples of Rye Whiskey: Wild Turkey Straight Rye Whiskey Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 Year Sazerac Rye Whiskey 18 yr Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey
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Michters Rye Whiskey
SINGLE MALT
IRISH WHISKY:irish whisky is made from a mash of cereals grains like wheat,rye,mostly with 20% of oats and wheat in a manner similar to the malt of Scotland and it is distilled in pot still.triple distillations and long maturations contribute to the uniqueness of Irish whisky for even the youngest aged in sherry casks for at least seven years by law.irish whiskies were mostly straight whiskies highly flavoured and smooth.but now a number of bleded malt and the grains whiskies are available and are found to light bodied products. The history of Irish whiskey is as old as the history of whisky itself. The art of distilling is believed to have been brought to Europe through Irish missionary monks. The knowledge of distilling spread through the Church and eventually reached beyond the monastery walls. Ireland was overtaken by Scotland long ago as the worlds largest whisky producing region, but there are still three active distilleries on Ireland. The Irish whisky is less smoky than most Scottish whisky since the Irish generally do not smoke their barley. Additionally, the Irish practice triple distillation which further reduces the medicinal qualities of the whisky. Some Differences between Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky. Not all barley used in Irish whisky is malted. Together with the fact that Irish malt generally is dried without the use of peat or any other smoke, Irish whiskey allows more of the natural flavours of the barley to rise to the front than Scotch whisky. Because it is triple distilled, Irish whiskey also has a softer, more rounded flavour than its Scottish counterpart. The Irish pot stills are larger than Scottish stills. The Irish tend to put more emphasis on the process and the casks than Scottish distillers who emphasise the skills of the master blender. Jameson Irish Some of the whiskey distillers of the world are: Bushmills The worlds oldest licensed whiskey distillery, founded in 1608. Midleton Midleton is the largest distillery on Ireland and are licensed producers of Jameson, Powers, Midleton, Paddy and Tullamore Dew. The new Midleton distillery started its production in 1975. Cooley A new Irish distillery which was founded in 1987. Cooley produce Connemara which is the only peated whiskey on Ireland. Cooley also make the Kilbeggan and Lockes whiskeys.
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Tullamore Dew Irelands lightest and smoothest whiskey. Has been produced by Midleton since 1975. CANIDAIN WHISKY:the principle grains used in Canadian whisky are maize,wheat,and barley malt.the proportions of the grains used and the distlilling and redisitilling process are the tread mark secrets of the master distillers. Canadian whisky is a products of blended whiskies which may be done before aging or during the aging period.maturations takes palce in charred,white oak barrels for two or more years but most Canadian whiskies are at least 6years old. Canadian whisky has been around for a very long time and is the number one spirit imported into the United States. It currently accounts for 11.5% of spirit consumption in the US and only trails behind vodka for market share. The key reason for this is the smooth nature of Canadian whisky. For most people, drinking is a casual affair and Canadian whisky is a casual whisky. However, there is more to this spirit than meets the eye. Here are the basics: Canadian whisky must be aged for at least three years, most are aged 6 to 8 years (Canadian Club, Seagram's VO) and double distilled. The final product is almost always a blended whisky which produces a more consistent product. The Canadian government does not place any restrictions on the mash bill, blending or distillation. Basically, they leave it to the expertise of the master blender, which is a good thing. Like Scotch, most Canadian whisky's are aged in used bourbon or sherry casks. One common rumour is that Canadian whisky are blended with "unaged neutral grain spirits". This is false. The reality is that some of the mash is distilled to a very high proof, effectively becoming a neutral grain spirit, however it still must be aged for at least three years. This is not necessarily a bad thing since a blender requires many whisky types to choose from when making their final product. American whiskey like Seagrams7 Crown are blended whiskey's that can use unaged neutral grain spirit for up to 80% of the product! The reason for this was that after the repeal of prohibition, there was a large vacuum for spirits that needed to be filled. Ramping up production would take some time and using neutral grain spirits and a small amount of whiskey was the fastest way to market for many US whiskey producers. Seagrams "7" Crown is a 2 year old American blended whiskey, and should not be confused with Crown Royal, which is a 10 year old Canadian whisky. Most exported to the US is "light" Canadian Whisky. Basically, the product is manufactured in Canada for the American palette. The number one selling whisky is Canadian Mist, which is an extremely light Canadian whisky made from corn (maize). It also has a small amount of natural
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flavouring added. Other exported whiskies include Black Velvet, Windsor Canadian, Canadian Hunter, Lord Calvert and Rich & Rare. Many of these whiskies are not marketed in Canada surprisingly. On a side note, the Canadian Hunter whisky label is probably the reason it is not sold in Canada. I have no idea what huskies and an Inuit hunter have anything to do with whisky. There is a large category of aged Canadian whiskies that are sold in Canada that are aged and have outstanding quality. Like all spirit categories, you will find different grades of quality. Canadian whiskies often get a bad wrap as not being complex, but I think that reflects that Canadian nature. Our whiskies are mellow, relaxed and created to be enjoyed with friends and family in a casual environment. However, there are a few expressions of Canadian whisky that would make any connoisseur happy. Gibsons Finest (18 Year Old) Gibsons Finest (12 Year Old) Wisers Very Old (18 Year Old) Corby's Lot 40 Pot Still Corby's Pike Creek Double Barreled Corby's Royal Reserve Canadian Club founders Blend Canadian Club (20 Year Old) Canadian Club (15 Year Old) Crown Royal Danfields Private Reserve Forty Creek Barrel Select Alberta Premium 100% Rye Alberta Springs Seagram's VO
CORN THIS TYPE OF AMERICAN WHISKEY WAS DEVELOPED DUE TO THE ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF CORN, AND IS A PREDECESSOR TO BOURBON. AS THE NAME SUGGESTS CORN IS THE MAIN INGREDIENT; THE MASH MUST CONSIST OF AT LEAST 80 PERCENT CORN. ANOTHER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORN WHISKEY AND BOURBON IS THAT CORN WHISKEY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE AGED
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IN WOOD. IF CORN WHISKEY IS TO BE AGED, ANY MATURATION MUST BE DONE IN EITHER UN- CHARRED BARRELS OR USED BOURBON BARRELS. BLENDED AMERICAN WHISKEY THE BLENDED AMERICAN WHISKEY SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH THE BLENDED SCOTTISH WHISKY. BLENDED AMERICAN WHISKEY ONLY CONTAINS 20 PERCENT OF RYE AND BOURBON WHISKEY; THE REMAINING 80 PERCENT ARE MADE UP OF A NEUTRAL MASS- PRODUCED INDUSTRIAL SPIRIT. AS A RESULT, AMERICAN BLENDED WHISKEY IS VERY CHEAP. IT IS ALSO MUCH LIGHTER THAN FOR EXAMPLE TENNESSEE AND BOURBON WHISKIES. AMERICAN SINGLE BARREL WHISKEY: SINGLE BARREL WHISKEY IS AMONGST THE RAREST OF ANY SPIRIT FROM AMERICA. THE TERM REFERS TO WHISKEY WHICH HAS BEEN AGED IN A SINGLE BARREL, AND HAS BEEN BOTTLED UNBLENDED (THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS). THESE ARE ALSO OFTEN BOTTLED AT NATURAL CASK STRENGTH "STRAIGHT FROM THE BARREL", AND BECAUSE THEY ARE UNBLENDED THEY USUALLY OFFER AN UNBRIDLED LEVEL OF RICHNESS AND COMPLEXITY, AND ARE HELD IN A SPECIAL PLACE BY CONNOISSEURS OF BOURBON AND OTHER WHISKEYS.
AMERICAN SMALL BATCH WHISKEY: THE TERM "SMALL BATCH"

HAS NEVER BEEN PROPERLY DEFINED, THOUGH IT ALWAYS REFERS TO AMERICAN WHISKEYS WHICH HAVE BEEN DISTILLED IN LIMITED QUANTITY. THE MOST COMMONPLACE MEANING OF THE TERM IS FOR A BOURBON OR RYE WHISKEY WHICH IS DISTILLED IN QUANTITIES OF AROUND 1,000 GALLONS OR LESS (TYPICALLY FEWER THAN 20 BARRELS), FROM A MASH BILL OF UNDER "200 BUSHELS OF GRAIN". THE RESULT IS ALMOST ALWAYS MORE COMPLEX, AND SMALL BATCH WHISKEYS ARE USUALLY DESTINED FOR CONNOISSEURS. FAMOUS SMALL BATCH WHISKEYS INCLUDE MAKER'S MARK, BASIL HAYDEN'S, FOUR ROSES AND ELIJAH CRAIG. BLENDED MALT WHISKY
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Blended malts proffer the advantage of having the attributes of numerous single malts, combined. Blended malt is essentially a blend of single malt whiskies. No grain whisky can be added. Blended malts are sometimes referred to as pure malts though the term has generated much controversy for it is deemed to be misleading BLENDED WHISKIES:are normally a cheaper whiskies made from a mixtures of malt and grains whiskies.a whisky simply described as a scotch whisky or irish whiskey is most likely to be blend in this sense.a blend is usually from many distilleries so that the blender can produce a flavor consistent with the brand,and the brand names. E.g like chivas regal,jameson irish whiskey,Canadian club,will usually not there contain the name of a distillery.however blend can less frequently have other meanings.mixture of malt with no grains from different distilleries more usually called a vatted malt,may sometimes be referred to as blended malt,and a mixtures of grains whiskies with no malts will sometimes carry the designations blended grains. VATTED MALT: A V A VATTED WHISKY OR A BLENDED MALT IS
COMPOSED OF MALT WHISKY FROM MORE THAN ONE DISTILLERY. THE MAIN GOAL IS TO CREATE A MALT WHISKY WITH A UNIQUE CHARACTER, WHICH MAY BE HELD CONSTANT OVER TIME. THE PROCESS IN WHICH THE BLENDED MALTS MIX AND BLEND TOGETHER IS CALLED MARRYING. VATTED IS A RELATIVELY UNCOMMON WHISKY
TYPE. Whiskey based cocktails are Highland cooler Rusty nail or kilt lifter Scotch mist Round the world Thistle Whiskey sout
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RUM
Rum is such an evocative spirit. It transforms, transcends and instantly transports the drinker to the sun-washed shores of the West Indies; white sands, palm trees and blue seas. It always has a sense of joviality, in part... thanks to its Caribbean origins, and also because of the unabashed decadence surrounding a libation whose raw ingredient is sugar. In the Spanish and British Antilles, rum is traditionally distilled from molasses, a by-product of sugar production and today a variety of stills are used in its production, but because it is made in so many different countries legal requisites differ greatly around the world. Usually, pot stills are used to distil thick, rich, aged rums ( El Dorado 15 and Pussers are good examples). Continuous column stills are used to produce white spirits best associated with cocktails (rums like Bacardi Carta Blanca). Rums are sold both aged and otherwise and due to the tropical nature of the climate, Caribbean rums mature particularly rapidly - at as much as thrice the rate of Scotch whisky. In this respect 15 year old rum is the equivalent of 45 year old whisky! The Caribbean has been cultivated for sugar for centuries, and the various occupiers, be they Spanish, French or English, have their own terms for the spirit; Ron, Rhum and, of course, Rum respectively. There has always been a strong connection with the Royal Navy. Indeed, the Navy afforded their sailors a pint of rum as part of their daily ration. The rum was traded and export grew in a large part because of the export possibilities that sea travel brought about. Many competing arguments exist as to the origins of the term rum. The most convincing is that it is a shortened version of rumbullion a term for great uproar and noise and a good reminder of the often violent, dramatic history of rum. Other terms have existed, including kill devil used to describe spirit distilled from molasses. Rumbullion meaning rumpus was the drink of the slaves on plantations in the British, West Indies as early as the 17th century and from this came the drink as we know as rum today. British law in 1904 defined rum as spirits distilled from the byproducts of sugar cane from growing countries. Puerto rico is a big rum producer and other suppliers are bratian, the west indies,Venezuela,brazil,Jamaica,Australia and cuba.
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Rum is made by distilling fermented sugar and water. sugar comes from fermented from cane juices,concentrated cane juice,or molasses. molasses is the sweet,sticky,residue,that remains after sugar cane juice is boiled and the crystallized sugar is extracted. Most rum is made from molasses. This molasses is over 50% sugar. rums made from cane juice.
Definition
Rum must be made from sugar cane and distilled in a country in which sugarcane grows, although it may be aged and bottled anywhere. It must be bottled at a strength no lower than 37.5% abv.
History of the rums :Rum is historically known by many different names. It is believed that the name Rum originated in Barbados although no one knows for sure. It has been called Rumbustion, Barbados Water, Red Eye, Rumscullion, Devils Death, Nelsons Blood, Rumbo and Kill-Devil. All these names imply rum to have been a fiery, strong and powerful spirit inducing the drinker into drunken stupor with ease. It was known as Nelsons Blood as it was believed that Admiral Nelsons body was carried back to England in a barrel of Rum. The sailors on the boat, although greatly respecting Nelson, started to siphon off the rum to drink. When they got back to England the barrel was empty of rum, so the sailors had been drinking Nelsons Blood. Modern rum brands will translate rum into the language historically of the colonized area Rum (English islands), Rhum (French islands) and Ron (Spanish and Portuguese islands). Sugar cane (the raw ingredient of rum) first arrived in the Caribbean with Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage. This makes the Caribbean the birthplace of the rum industry although rum was produced earlier in other parts of the world. 2000 years ago, sugar cane grew like weeds in India and China. After his conquest of the Punjab, Alexander the Greats armies spread the cane through Egypt and the Mediterranean. Later, the Moors took the cane to Europe having learned the skills of distillation from the Saracens. This knowledge and skills were taken to the Caribbean by the 16th Century Spanish Conquistadors. Their original hopes of finding gold were dashed and so they turned to rum that turned out to be just as profitable. It is funny to think that such a valuable product comes from molasses, the waste product of sugar refinement! With the English, Dutch, Spanish and French colonizing the Caribbean during the 1600s, rum soon became the corner-stone of the Caribbean economy. The British Royal Navy has a long history with rum. Life on board the naval vessels of the 1600s was primitive and hard. It was made harder by the fact there was very few comforts in particular drink apart from stale beer and foul water stored for weeks in wooden casks. When Vice-Admiral William Penn captured Spanish Jamaica in 1655, the local rum was brought on board. The sailors must have loved this sweet tasting spirit to lift them out of their misery. By
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1731, a daily rum issue was commonplace on board ships stationed in the West Indies. At first, the rum ration simply replaced the beer ration, which meant each sailor was drinking a pint of crude and very strong rum every day in one gulp. Extreme drunkenness was inevitable causing sickness and deaths through accidents. By 1740, Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon ordered that rum was no longer served as a pint ration but at two half rations diluted at 4:1 with water. Vernons nickname of Old Grogram was shortened to grog and used as the name for the ration. Over the years, the ration weakened so that by 1850, the ration was only a quarter of the original amount. With the ever-increasing sophistication of modern weapon systems, the Royal Navy had to abandon the rum ration on July 31st, 1970 Black Tot Day the final ration was drunk with the traditional toast of Up Spirits. Rum and the USA In 1654, a General Court order made in Connecticut made rum from the Caribbean illegal but it still became an important part of the colonial North American economy. Food, livestock and timber were traded in exchange for rum, which was a particular favourite of the fisherman and lumberjacks who had to endure harsh winters and cold weather. Despite being illegal, rum was also traded to the North American Indians who drank vast quantities of it. Alcohol abuse devastated the social and economic order in the Indian communities that had already been hit by disease brought over by the European settlers. Combined with the US Cavalry, Rum and disease helped to destroy the American Indians. It took the American Revolution and its inevitable disruption of the economy to slow down the spread of rum to the Indians. Before long, molasses was being shipped to New England for distillation into rum hundreds of distilleries sprang up and a roaring industry making 12 million gallons of rum a year. Most of the molasses came from French islands as it was cheap. In 1733, the British Government in London passed the first Molasses Act, putting heavy taxes on imports of rum, sugar and molasses from non-British Islands of the Caribbean. This new law was not welcomed in the colonies, as raw materials from British islands were more expensive. It is widely believed that rum played a very crucial role in fueling the flame of discontent that led to the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. Rum, smuggled in by rumrunners, helped to keep American spirits high during the years of Prohibition in the States (1919 1932). Bootlegging, controlled by the Mob gangsters, was very profitable. A consignment of rum bought on Nassau, Bahamas for $170,000 could be worth up to $2 million on the streets of Chicago. The big players of the were people like Scarface Al Capone and Bill the King of the Rum Row McCoy (the phrase The Real McCoy dates from the 1920s when Bill McCoys rum was famed for its purity and strength) who were rumored to have made as much as $20 million a year! Production: Rum is made from a sugar cane, saccharum officinarum, which is one of the tallest members of the grass family. The cane can grow up to 14 feet high under tropical conditions. Through modern genetic improvement, the canes are now higher in sugar content and more resistant to disease than the original types. The harvesting of sugar cane takes place as close to the ground as possible. In some places, the fields are torched with fire first to clean away the dead leaves and to drive out snakes. The cane is usually cut by hand using a machete if the farm is on hilly ground or it is too small to need mechanization, although the larger farms use harvesting
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machines. The plant re-generates by sending out new shoots (ratoons) from the base of the ground stalk. These shoots grow towards the sun into stalks that photosynthesize the sucrose found in the cane. In most other plants, this sucrose is turned into starch for energy storage not so in the sugar cane. It remains in its original form. At the time of harvest, the stems of the cane are spongy and full of the richly sweet sap. The cane deteriorates quickly after harvesting, so it is transported quickly to the mill. At the mill, the cane is chopped and then passed through a series of rollers and grinders that squeeze the juice out from the stems. The crushed remains of the cane (bagasse) are used for variety of things from fuel to chipboard. The green coloured cane juice (vejou) is then heated and clarified before being pumped into evaporators that drive off any excess water. The liquid is then cool-boiled in a vacuum to create a syrupy mixture from which Grade A sugar crystals are extracted. The brownish-black liquid that remains is known as Light Molasses. It is both light in colour and flavour and is often used as syrup for desserts. After a second boiling, the molasses is darker and thicker. This molasses is known as black treacle molasses. The third and final boiling gives Blackstrap molasses - the stuff from which rum is made. It is very thick, dark and sticky. It tastes slightly bitter even though it still contains approximately 55% of the uncrystalised sugar. It contains lots of the original impurities of the sugar which help give the rum its characteristic flavours and aroma. Rum producers state that it is the unique qualities of the sugar cane, which give their rum the feeling of the island it is from. It takes approximately 1.5 gallons of molasses to make 1 gallon of rum. Rums made from molasses are called Rhum Industriale whereas rums made from sugar cane juice are known as Rhum Agricole and are commonly found in the French Islands and South America primarily Brazil (Cachaca). The next stage is that of fermentation. This, in essence, is all about the action of yeast on sugars. If you put them both in warm, sweet liquid, they multiply rapidly and secrete enzymes that convert sugar into roughly equal amounts of alcohol and carbon dioxide. First, a Live Wash is made by mixing the molasses with water so it reaches about a 15% sugar content. The quality of the water is very important, as its mineral content will affect the final rum quality. Cane juice for a Rhum Agricole can be fermented without adding any water, as its sugar content is naturally low enough. Just as sugar cane has been genetically changed to suit its environment, the yeast used has been specially cultured to contribute to the different characteristics and flavours of the rum. However, some producers are happier to use the natural yeasts found in the air to start fermentation. To create a heavier, darker style of rum, often the Dunder, or residue of distillation from the still similar to Bourbons Sour Mash , is added. Limings (the scum that forms on the surface of molasses as the sugar is extracted) can be added to create a more pungent flavour. If a light rum is required, it is fermented for only one or two days, although it can be as low as 12 hours. If the rum is fermented slower up to 12 days a heavier style (especially when dunder or limings are added) is produced. The slower fermentation also helps to give a heavier rum as other micro-organisms have a chance to work alongside the yeasts and so contribute their own set of alcohol flavours. A shorter fermentation period does not give these micro-organisms a chance to act in this way. After fermentation, the wash is approximately 5-9% alcohol. After fermentation, the wash is distilled. Rum can be distilled either using a pot or column still.
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The type of still used will often be linked to the history of the island. The old English and French colonies will usually use a pot still (the still used in Scotland and Cognac) whereas column stills are mainly used by the old Spanish colonies. Some rums will use a blend of pot and column distilled rums to give a greater depth and complexity to their rums (e.g. Appleton Estate). The pot-distilled rums tend to be heavier as the highest strength after distillation is 85% abv, so there is more room for impurities before bottling. Column distilled rums are lighter, crisper and cleaner with less of the molasses character as they leave the still at a much higher alcoholic volume 96%).>( Ageing Due to the consistently high temperatures in the Caribbean, rum ages at approximately three times the rate of Scotch or Cognac. This Caribbean Ageing (or Tropical Ageing) means that a 7-year-old rum will have many of the same qualities of a 21-year-old Scotch! Even white rums will be aged for a period of time, usually up to three years. The colour is then filtered out using charcoal filtration. The ageing of rum (as with all ageing) gives the rum a smoother, more complex quality. It started when rum producers started to make more rum than the demand required. The excess rum was stored in oak casks, which were also used to transport the rum on ships back to Britain, Spain and France. It was noticed that the spirit gained colour from the wood and a superior taste. The process of ageing is largely not understood, although we know that the spirit takes tannins, flavours and colours from the wood as it is porous and so allows the spirit to move in and out with temperature. This also allows the rum to breathe causing complex oxidative changes to the chemical make-up of the spirit. Most barrels used in the Caribbean are used Bourbon barrels. (Due to the laws governing Bourbon, they have no use of second hand barrels and so supply many of the worlds other spirits with barrels for ageing.) These barrels are sometimes re-charred on the inside to help impart more of the character from the wood, as well as to re-caramelise the sugars in the wood. The amount of rum in contact with the wood will affect the rate at which it ages. Therefore, the smaller the barrel, the greater the surface area to volume ratio and the quicker the ageing process within it. Many people believe that a rum peaks in its ageing between 17 and 20 years. This does, however, depend on the style of rum and whether it was made it a pot or column still. During ageing, some of the rum is lost through evaporation through the porous wood. This lost rum is called the Angels Share (although in Jamaica it is called Duppys Share a duppy is a Jamaican ghost or spirit) and accounts for up to a 6% loss per year! In cooler climates, this figure is normally around 2% per year. Often a rum producer will add water to the rum before ageing to bring it down to around 80%abv. This will slightly slow the evaporation without hindering the effect of the wood ageing. Blending the vast majority of rums are blended from a mix of styles, ages and types. In some cases (Bacardi) they are blended from rums originating in different countries. Some rum are also colored with caramel at this stage to ensure a consistency of color within the product as well as, in some cases, to help give a sweeter, more caramel taste and aroma. Once the different rums have been selected for blending, they are allowed to marry together after being reduced to
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bottling strength with water. Again, the quality of water is very important and is often boasted about by the rum producer.
Cuban Rum Information: Rum is a distilled beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses and sugarcane juice by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak and other casks. While there are rum producers in places such as Australia, India, Reunion Island, and elsewhere around the world, the majority of rum production occurs in and around the Caribbean and along the Demerara river in South America. Some major rum brands include Bacardi, Brugal, Captain Morgan's, Appleton Estate, Havana Club, Stroh, Matusalem, Mount Gay, Bundaberg, Myers, Malibu Rum, Gosling's, Cruzan, Pusser's, Flor de Caa, Don Q, Ron Abuelo, and Ron Zacapa Centenario. Prior to Alcohol Prohibition, many of the finest rums were once produced in New England.
Rum is produced in a variety of styles. Light rums are commonly used in mixed drinks, while golden and dark rums are appropriate for use in cooking as well as cocktails. Premium brands of rum are also available that are made to be consumed neat or on the rocks. Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies, and has famous associations with the British Royal Navy and piracy. Rum has also served as a popular medium of exchange that helped to promote slavery along with providing economic instigation for Australia's Rum Rebellion and the American Revolution. The origin of the word rum is unclear. A common claim is that the name was derived from rumbullion meaning "a great tumult or uproar". Another claim is the name is from the large drinking glasses used by Dutch seamen known as rummers, from the Dutch word roemer, a drinking glass. Other options include contractions of the words saccharum, Latin for sugar, or arme, French for aroma. Regardless of the original source, the name had come into common use by May 1657 when the General Court of Massachusetts made illegal the sale of strong liquor "whether knowne by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc., etc." In current usage, the name used for a rum is often based on the rum's place of origin. For rums from Spanish-speaking locales the word ron is used. A ron aejo indicates a rum that has been significantly aged and is often used for premium products. Rhum is the term used for rums from French-speaking locales, while rhum vieux is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements. Some of the many other names for rum are Rumbullion, Rumbustion, Barbados water, Rumscullion, Devil's Death (or "Kill-Devill"), Nelson's Blood, and Rumbo. A version of rum from Newfoundland is referred to by the name Screech (see Newfoundland Screech), while some low-grade West Indies rums are called tafia. Varieties of Rum
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Until the second half of the 19th century all rums were heavy or dark rums that were considered appropriate for the working poor, unlike the refined double-distilled spirits of Europe. In order to expand the market for rum, the Spanish Royal Development Board offered a prize to anyone who could improve the rum making process. This resulted in many refinements in the process which greatly improved the quality of rum. One of the most important figures in this development process was Don Facundo Bacardi Masso, who moved from Spain to Santiago de Cuba in 1843. Don Facundo's experiments with distillation techniques, charcoal filtering, cultivating of specialized yeast strains, and aging with American oak casks helped to produce a smoother and mellower drink typical of modern light rums. It was with this new rum that Don Facundo founded Bacardi y Compaia in 1862. Dividing rum into meaningful groupings is complicated by the fact that there is no single standard for what constitutes rum. Instead rum is defined by the varying rules and laws of the nations that produce the spirit. The differences in definitions include issues such as spirit proof, minimum aging, and even naming standards. Examples of the differences in proof is Colombia, requiring their rum possess a minimum alcohol content of 50 ABV, while Chile and Venezuela require only a minimum of 40 ABV. Mexico requires rum be aged a minimum of 8 months, the Dominican Republic and Panama requires one year, and Venezuela requires two years. Naming standards also vary, with Argentina defining rums as white, gold, light, and extra light. Barbados uses the terms white, overproof, and matured, while the United States defines rum, rum liqueur, and flavored rum. Panama uses "claro", "oscuro" and "aejo". Despite these differences in standards and nomenclature, the following divisions are provided to help show the wide variety of rums that are produced. Within the Caribbean, each island or production area has a unique style. These styles can be grouped by the language that is traditionally spoken. Grades of Rum The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location that a rum was produced. Despite these variations the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum: * Light Rums, also referred to as light, silver, and white rums. In general, light rum has very little flavor aside from a general sweetness, and serves accordingly as a base for cocktails. Light rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any color. * Gold Rums, also called amber rums, are medium-bodied rums which are generally aged. The rum can obtain its flavor through addition of spices and caramel/color (a variation often sold as Spiced Rum), but historically gains its darker color from aging in wooden casks (typically oak).
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* Dark Rum, also known as black rum, classes as a grade darker than gold rum. It is generally aged longer, in heavily charred barrels. Dark rum has a much stronger flavor than either light or gold rum, and hints of spices can be detected, along with a strong molasses or caramel overtone. It is used to provide substance in rum drinks, as well as color. In addition to uses in mixed drinks, dark rum is the type of rum most commonly used in cooking. It was this type of rum immortalized in the song 'The Old Black Rum' by the Newfoundland folk group Great Big Sea. * Flavored Rum: Some manufacturers have begun to sell rums which they have infused with flavors of fruits such as mango, orange, citrus, coconut, and limke which is a lime rum found in Sweden. These serve to flavor similarly themed tropical drinks which generally comprise less than 40% alcohol. * Overproof Rum is rum which is much higher than the standard 40% alcohol. Most of these rums bear greater than 75%, in fact, and preparations of 151 to 160 proof occur commonly. * Premium Rum: As with other sipping spirits, such as Cognac and Scotch, a market exists for premium and super-premium spirits. These are generally boutique brands which sell very aged and carefully produced rums. They have more character and flavor than their "mixing" counterparts, and are generally consumed without the addition of other ingredients. Rum Production Unlike some other spirits, such as Cognac and Scotch, rum has no defined production methods. Instead, rum production is based on traditional styles that vary between locations and distillers. Most rum produced is made from molasses. Within the Caribbean, much of this molasses is from Brazil. A notable exception is the French-speaking islands where sugarcane juice is the preferred base ingredient. To the base ingredient yeast, and potentially water, are added to start fermentation. While some rum producers allow wild yeast to perform the fermentation, most use specific strains of yeast to help provide a consistent taste and predictable fermentation time. Dunder, the yeast-rich foam from previous fermentations, is the traditional yeast source in Jamaica. The yeast employed will determine the final taste and aroma profile," says Jamaican master blender Joy Spence. Distillers that make lighter rums, such as Bacardi, prefer to use faster-working yeasts. Use of slowerworking yeasts causes more esters to accumulate during fermentation, allowing for a fullertasting rum. As with all other aspects of rum production, there is no standard method used for distillation. While some producers work in batches using pot stills, most rum production is done using column still distillation. Pot still output contains more congeners than the output from column stills and thus produces fuller-tasting rum. Aging of Rum
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Many countries require that rum be aged for at least one year. This aging is commonly performed in used bourbon casks, but may also be performed in stainless steel tanks or other types of wooden casks. Due to the tropical climate common to most rum-producing areas, rum matures at a much faster rate than is typical for Scotch or Cognac. An indication of this faster rate is the angel's share, or amount of product lost to evaporation. While products aged in France or Scotland see about 2% loss each year, rum producers may see as much as 10%. After aging, rum is normally blended to ensure a consistent flavor. As part of this blending process, light rums may be filtered to remove any color gained during aging. For darker rums, caramel may be added to the rum to adjust the color of the final product. Present conditions of the rums
The present conditions of the rum show that the supply of the rum will be high demand.
Futures of the rums Since its creation by Congress over 91 years ago, the rum cover-over program has provided important budgetary support for Puerto Rico, and later for the U.S. Virgin Islands. New plans to use federal tax revenues to excessively subsidize individual rum companies could put the entire program in jeopardy. History of the Rum Cover Over Program In 1900, Congress approved the first law for the governing of Puerto Rico, and provided that federal taxes on Puerto Rican products would be used to help pay for the government of the U.S. territory. The original version of the current law was enacted in 1917. It now covers over (transfers) to Puerto Ricos government most of the federal taxes collected on rum produced on the Island and in foreign counties to help pay for the cost of government. In 1954, Congress granted the request of the U.S. Virgin Islands for support of its government budget similar to that granted to Puerto Rico. Current permanent law gives Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands $10.50 of the $13.50 per proof gallon tax on rum distilled in each territory and in foreign countries. Temporary law, which requires recurring congressional approval, provides an additional $2.75 per proof gallon. Puerto Ricos Use of Federal Rum Tax Revenues
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Puerto Rico uses 94 percent of the federal tax revenues to support investments in infrastructure, health, education, and environmental preservation. Six percent is being spent to promote the territorys rum industry. Local law limits to 10 percent the amount that can be used for this purpose. These funds support marketing, efficiency and innovation initiatives of the industry as a whole and do not directly benefit individual rum companies. Puerto Rico adheres to this limitation to keep the use of the funds true to the original intent of Congress in transferring the taxes to Puerto Ricos government. Excessive Subsidies and Fair Trade Concerns The program as created by Congress was intended to provide budgetary support to the territorial governments never that federal revenues be used to excessively subsidize rum companies. The Government of the Virgin Islands has recently developed plans to use most of the federal tax to individually benefit two large corporations that brand and sell rum. One of the arrangements would give a single company more than $60 million, nearly 50 percent, of the federal tax each year for 30 years. This amount is so large it would cover the entire cost of producing the product. Puerto Rican producers say they will not be able to compete with distillers subsidized to the extent planned in the Virgin Islands. Giving the federal tax to rum producers that also sell the rum abroad would be an actionable subsidy under U.S. international fair trade commitments. Future of the Program Puerto Ricos resident commissioner and eight other members of the U.S. House of both parties have sponsored a bill (H.R. 2122) to limit to 10 percent the amount of federal tax revenue that can be used to subsidize rum production. The federal taxes at issue have not been collected yet and their use is fully within the purview of the Congress to determine or limit.
Distillations of rum rum is a colorless spirites.barrel aging and the use of added caramel determines their final color. Since caramel is burnt sugar. The brand that have been charcoal filtered, heavier are the dark rums. Recently, rum has surged in popularity. Its regard as a fine cocktail mixer is good and
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widespread and a number of the worlds most popular drinks are rum-based, the Daiquiri and the Mojito being two prime examples. It is only recently, though, that our beloved rum has really been enjoyed en masse as a standalone beverage of true merit, and this new direction is excellent, for rum is as much a connoisseurs libation as any other dark spirit. Like all dark spirits, a stemmed tulip glass is best for optimum palate entry and for focusing the aromas.
Some of the names of the rums are: Malusalem platino Bacardi 8yers Captain morgan (dark rum) Lambs navy (dark rum) Havana club 3yres Havana 7yers (dark rum) Havana club anejo 7 anos Mount apple ton White Hansen woods Vot Bacardi white Bacardi black(B&B) Bacardi gold Bacardi silver Some of the cocktails rum based Cuba libre Pina colada Daiquiri Pain killer Kas hava Between the sheets Jump up and kiss me Shanghai Bacardi superior blanco Bacardi carta oro gold Bacardi limon Havana club Malibu coconuts
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CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE RUMS: CLASSIFICATIONS OF RUM

White Rums are generally light-bodied (although there are a few heavy-bodied White Rums in the French islands). They are usually clear and have a very subtle flavour profile. If they are aged in oak casks to create a smooth palate they are then usually filtered to remove any color. White Rums are primarily used as mixers and blend particularly well with fruit flavours. Golden Rums, also known as Amber Rums, are generally medium-bodied. Most have spent several years ageing in oak casks, which give them smooth, mellow palates. Dark Rums are traditionally full-bodied, rich, caramel-dominated Rums. The best are produced mostly from pot stills and frequently aged in oak casks for extended periods. The richest of these Rums are consumed straight up. Spiced Rums can be white, golden, or dark Rums. They are infused with spices or fruit flavours. Rum punches (such as planters punch) are blends of Rum and fruit juices that are very popular in the Caribbean. Aejo and Age-Dated Rums are aged Rums from different vintages or batches that are mixed together to insure a continuity of flavor in brands of Rum from year to year. Some aged Rums will give age statements stating the youngest Rum in the blend (e.g., 10-year-old Rum contains a blend of Rums that are at least 10 years old). A small number of French island Rums are Vintage Dated. White rum: Are usually clear and color less. They are usually aged for 6-12 months. Dark rum: Caramel-dominated rums, richest of these rums are consumed straight up. Golden rum: also known as amber rums medium-bodied Spiced rum: they are infused with spices or fruits flavours. Anejo/aged/rhum vieux rumes: 10 yers old rum contains a blend of rum that are atlest 10yrs old. THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE RUMS: WHITE GOLD DARK/BLUE RED RUM PREMIMUM SUPER PREMIMUM ULTRA PREMIMUM RESERVE SEPCIAL RESERVE FAMILY RESERVE THE RUM REGIONS: The Caribbean is the epicenter of the world rum productions.
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Barbados produces light,sweetish rums,examples doorlys Cuba produces light bodied,crisp,clean rums,ideal for mixing and cocktails.examples like Havana club The Dominican republic is notable for its full bodied e.g bermudes,matusalem Guyana is heavy demerara rums named for a local river.demerara rums can be aged for extended periods,and frequently used for blending with lighter rums from other regions e.g el dorado Haiti follows the French traditions of heavier rums that are double distilled in pot still and aged in oak for 3 or more than 3 years to produce full flavoured exceptionally smooth tasting rums e.g barbancourt Jamaica is rich an aromatic rums it ranging from light to very full flavoured e.g Appleton martinique is a French island in eastern Caribbean e.g j.bally Puerto rico is known primarily for light,very dark rums.all white Puerto Rican be aged a minimum of one year while dark rums must be aged 3 years e.g Bacardi Trinidad produces mainly light rums for e.g angostura Brazil they mostly produce light rums with unaged cane spirit calle cachaca the best known example like cachaca Rum types based on raw material used: Sugarcane Juice: many French rums (rhums) are made from 100% sugarcane juice, which is then fermented, distilled and aged. These rums tend to contain a high level of floral/herbal aromas and clearly differentiated from molasses-based rums. In French-speaking rum-producing countries, rums made from sugarcane juice are known as "Rhum Agricole," to differentiate them from "Rhum Industriel," which is made from molasses. Molasses: when sugar processing plants extract sugar from the sugarcane juice, they boil the juice until crystals start to form, leaving behind a thick liquid known as molasses. Depending on how long they boil the juice and how much sugar they take out, one is left behind with Grade A Molasses (highest quality - highest percentage of fermentable sugar left), Grade B Molasses (slightly lower quality than Grade A), Grade C Molasses, Grade D Molasses and, finally, Black Strap Molasses (lower quality). The better rums in the market are made using higher quality molasses because they container a higher percentage of fermentable sugars and a lower percentage of chemicals (used to extract sugar crystals) that can interfere with yeast during the fermentation of the molasses. Other: a couple of distilleries (in Eastern Europe, possibly elsewhere) have distilled alcohol from fermented sugar beet extracts and have attempted to sell the resulting alcohol as Rum. Fortunately they have faced opposition from larger markets and have not been able to export the product as such. Sugar beets, a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, are a great source of sucrose and a viable alternative to sugarcane when the goal of cultivation is obtaining sugar as a final product (sugar from sugar beets accounts for about 30% of the world's production). As of the time of this writing, there are no countries in the world which have passed legislation allowing for alcohol made from fermented sugar beets to be labeled and sold as rum.
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Rum is made exclusively from sugarcane or its byproducts, anyone telling you otherwise is lying to you. Rum types based on fermentation method: Natural Fermentation: Natural fermentation is similar to the process used in the beer industry to make Lambic-style beer. Distilleries rely on wild, naturally occurring yeast, present in the air and in the cane juice to convert the sugars (sucrose) in the mash into alcohol. Natural fermentation takes place in open containers to maximize the exposure of the mash to the air. This type of fermentation, depending on the size of the vat, can take from one to two weeks, and the results are not always 100% duplicable. Controlled Fermentation (batch): In this method, a particular strain of yeast, which is usually guarded as one of the distillerys most valuable assets, is introduced into the mash and allowed to perform its job. To reduce the risk of natural fermentation from occurring, the controlled yeast is first mixed with a small batch of the mash, in some cases just a couple of ounces. Next, the yeast is allowed to multiply and reach a predetermined concentration. This starter is mixed with a larger amount of liquid, around a gallon, from the mash. This process is repeated two or three times until a large amount of highly concentrated starter is achieved, which is then added into the large fermentation tanks. Controlled fermentation done in this way usually takes only two to three days and the results are very predictable and reproducible. Controlled Fermentation (continuous): One of the latest trends in the world of fermentation is that of fermenting in a continuous process rather than in batches. As the name implies, this method consists of a main fermentation tank that continuously receives a stream of diluted molasses. While the influx of molasses keeps the yeast thriving in the medium, an equal amount of liquid is extracted from a different place in the fermentation tank, already digested and ready to be distilled. While the concept of continuous fermentation is relatively new to the rum industry, it is not so in other fields, such as the medical industry. An early continuous process was a vinegar generator in which acetobacter attached to wood shavings inside a container with one opening on top and another one at the bottom. Trickling a sugar solution down through the container packed with the wood shavings produced vinegar. The acetic acid discourages contamination at conditions where the acetobacter thrive. Rum types based on distillation method: Pot Still: These are the earliest distillation devices (also used in the production of Brandy and Scotch). A basic pot still consists of three parts: the kettle, where the liquid mixture is boiled, the condenser, which cools down the vapors coming from the kettle, and the gooseneck, which connects the kettle to the condenser. The liquid obtained from this type of distillation is also known as single distillate, since it is processed through the still only once. Typically this liquid is processed a second time, thus producing a double distillate which is cleaner and stronger than the single distillate. Several distilleries have taken this a step further by running the distillate a third, even a fourth time through the still, obtaining a cleaner, stronger, more rectified spirit at the end of each run. Because the amount of liquid that can be distilled at one time with a pot still is limited to the size of the kettle, distillers employing this method must perform their work batch by batch, which is a very labor intensive process (the kettle must be cleaned in between batches).
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Column Still: The continuous distillation system was created in an attempt to make the distillation process more consistent. It also reduced the amount of work required to process each batch, thus allowing for higher volumes of alcohol to be produced. A distillation column is constructed much like a vertical maze, made up of a number of horizontal trays placed at different levels throughout the column. Here the fermented liquid mixture is introduced into the column at its highest level while steam is introduced at its lowest level. As the liquid makes its way down the column, it is heated by the surrounding steam, and the alcohol in the mix is vaporized. Once it reaches the bottom of the column, the wash contains no alcohol and is removed through a release valve. The saturated steam is collected from the top of the column and is then cooled down, allowing it to condense. Depending on the type of alcohol desired, column still operators will employ several columns, each one feeding the next, each one producing a cleaner, stronger, more "rectified" spirit. Rum types based on age: Unaged: Technically, unaged rum is not rum, but rather aguardiente, which is ethyl alcohol with or without a lot of congeners, depending on the distillation method. There have been claims by some companies that their products are "bottle-aged" or "aged in stainless steel containers." Both of these mean the alcohol is unaged, as only time spent inside a wooden barrel constitutes as aging. Rum does not age in stainless steel containers or glass bottles, contrary to claims made by some creative marketers and misinformed writers. Aged: The age of a rum refers exclusively to the amount of time the rum spent inside a wooden (typically oak) barrel prior to bottling. In the USA, if a rum label displays an age statement, by law this age has to be that of the youngest rum in the blend (if the rum is blended). In Europe, the same rum's label can instead display the age of the oldest rum in the blend (if the rum is blended). Some countries allow barrels in their aging warehouses to be refilled, which reduces the amount of airspace and thus reduces the amount of rum lost to evaporation. Other countries do not allow refilling, resulting in higher evaporation losses each year. Age alone is not an indicator of quality, as climate (natural and artificial) dictate how the rum interacts with the barrel while in the aging warehouses. Knowing where a rum comes from, the laws of that country, and the age statement (if one is provided) on the label, are all pieces of the puzzle needed to fully understand a rum's character. Rum types based on blending technique: Single Barrel: In its purest form, a Single Barrel Rum is one where each bottle of finished product is clearly identified with the barrel that it was filled from. Depending on the laws of the country, some barrels may be close to full (if the laws allow for refilling the barrels) or may be at 70-80% capacity. A typical 200 liter barrel will yield at most 22 cases of 12 750ml bottles each. Because barrels tend to vary a lot between them (due to tannins, resins, etc.), each lot will have characteristics that make it unique and different from other lots. Some companies empty hundreds of barrels of rum into a large mixing wooden vat, where the rum rests for weeks or months before being bottled, calling the resulting product a "single barrel", referring to the mixing vat, rather than to the individual barrels. One good example of a Single Barrel rum is Cruzan's Single Barrel.
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Solera: The Solera method is sometimes employed in the blending of rums. Originally developed by the Spanish and often used in the production of Sherries, it consists of a series of barrels placed in long rows, stacked four, five or more levels high, each row containing a different vintage. Rum ready to be bottled is drawn from the bottom level of barrels. Only about one third of the rum in each barrel is removed. At this point, rum from the barrels above is used to refill the bottom barrels and so forth until all the levels are full again. Each year, as the new rum is added to the top barrel, some rum is moved down to the next level for aging. As a result, the young rum picks up some of the characteristics of the older rum and provides consistent quality year after year. A good example of a Solera rum is Ron Botrn Solera from Guatemala. Other: By definition, blending is the art (more than science) of mixing different rums of different types and ages together, and when desired, adding flavoring or coloring agents. Most rums produced in the world are blended after maturation to achieve the particular characteristics desired. Blending usually takes place in very large containers where individual barrels are emptied and mixed together to ensure product consistency. Some distilleries will blend pot still rum and column still rum together to come up with the various products they sell. Other companies will mix column still rums of different ages and styles (some lighter, some heavier) in order to achieve unique flavor profiles. Rum types based on style: American (Colonial): This style of rum is reminiscent of the original product distilled in the early years by enterprising Colonials with brandy-making experience. The rum was pot-stilled, had a high level of congeners and was aged (more than likely very briefly), in oak containers only long enough to transport it to markets and to keep it while being sold to eager consumers. A good representative of this style is Prichard's Fine Rum (Prichard's Distillery), distilled in Tennessee. Cuban and Puerto Rican: The Puerto Rican rum style is derived from the Cuban style, in which the goal is to distill the lightest, cleanest, most rectified alcohol possible, and then to add flavor to it only through careful aging and blending. For this reason, Cuban and Puerto Rican rums are considered to be "light" rums. A great example of Puerto Rican style is Don Q Grand Aejo from Serralls. French: Not all rums (rhums) made in French-speaking countries are considered to be French in style. Only those distilled in pot stills from fermented sugarcane juice (as opposed to distilled from molasses) are considered French in style. French rums are characterized by a large amount of congeners that result in increased aldehydes (fruity and floral notes). Good representatives of this style are made in Martinique (for example Depaz, pictured), in the French West Indies. Jamaican/Guyanese: Epitomized by dark, heavy and potent products, rums from these two countries have established defined this category and, subsequently, have fought against the ensuing stereotype. While not all rums produced today in these two countries are true to the
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original style, a few of them continue to perpetuate it, perhaps no one more than Myer's Jamaican Rum. A great example of a modern Jamaican- style rum is Appleton's V/X. Naval (British Royal Navy): Rum was distributed to British sailors daily as a ration meant to keep morale high, a much needed incentive since the work was arduous and financially not very rewarding. Naval rum was rarely purchased from a single country/distillery, instead the Admiralty had a "recipe" which typically included combining rums from Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana (read "Rum Yesterday and Today" by High Barty-King and Anton Massel for more information). While Pusser's is the most commonly name representative of this genre, British Royal Navy Imperial Rum is the most authentic. Spanish: When Spanish settlers arrived to the New World, they brought their brandy-making skills (and equipment) with them. It did not take a very long time for them to start using locally abundant fruits and sugarcane to produce alcohol. Spanish-style rums are characterized by their highly-fruity, brandy-like bouquet, with dominant raisin/currant/berry elements. While these can be produced using column stills, most rums in this category are produced by distilleries that employ pot stills. A great example of this style is Ron Zacapa Centenario from Guatemala. Other: Different countries around the world are using forms of sugar that are readily available in their markets but which are not typical outside their countries. One such example is Mexico, where some distilleries have began fermenting and distilling piloncillo, which is a very unrefined and moist form of brown sugar. Rums distilled from piloncillo have very peculiar organoleptic properties that distinguish them from other rums. Future practice will dictate if this is the beginning of a "Mexican Style" of rum or not. Rum types based on added flavors: Fruit Flavored: For the most part, fruit-flavored rums sold throughout the world are nothing more than un-aged alcohol (ethanol) with flavoring, coloring (sometimes) and sweetener added. Such products should not be sold as rum, since they are made with un-aged alcohol. A great example of a fruit-flavored rum that is made using aged rum is Santa Teresa's Rhum Orange, from Venezuela. Spiced: Like fruit-flavored rums, most spiced rums sold are made with unaged rum (ethanol). The most typical spices used to flavor these products are: vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, clover and sugar. An excellent example of a spiced rum is Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum. Other: there are rum-based beverages or infusions available throughout the Caribbean which falls exclusively in neither of the previous two categories. One example is the "Mama Juana" ("Dama Juana") from the Dominican Republic, which is made using a long recipe of botanicals, roots, honey, anise, even dried up animal parts. It is, of course, considered an aphrodisiac. Rum types based on alcohol content:
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Regular/Standard: Any rum that is bottled and sold with an alcohol strength between 35% and 45%. Strong and Over-proof: Strong rums have alcohol strengths over 45%, typically around 55% but lower than 75%. Over-proof rums have alcohol strengths of 75% or higher. Exercise caution when tasting these rums, either dilute them (up to 50%) with water or drastically adjust the amount sampled. Ice does not float on over-proof rums (due to its specific weight). Rum Liqueur: laws vary from country to country regarding what constitutes a liqueur but everyone agrees that the alcohol strength is lower than that of straight rum, and that the sugar content is quite elevated. The combination of low alcohol and high sugar result in a smooth SERVING GLASS:
BRANDY
DEFINTION: brandy is liquor distilled from wine or fermented juices. Brandy products without a specific source are distilled from grapes wines. Introduced to northern Europe by Dutch traders in the 16th century the name brandy comes the Dutch word brandewijin, meaningburnt wines After twice distillations the clear, colorless alcohol is given its distinctive nutty brown color & flavor by aging in wood, often in oak& barrels. The longer a brandy ages the more refined it flavor is judged to be in the U.S.A .brandy is made by 1st, 2dn, 3rd and 4th distillations process. The most common types of brandy are the French Cognac, Armagnac, MARC, and Calvados The introductions: CONGNAC IS DONE BY DOUBLE DISTILLATIONS PROCESS
WICH IS THE MAXIMUM USE OF THE POT STILLAND THE COLUM STILL PROCESS. After twice distillations the clear, colorless alcohol is given its distinctive
nutty brown color & flavor by aging in wood, often in oak& barrels. The longer a brandy ages the more refined it flavor is judged to be in the U.S.A .brandy is made by 1st, 2dn, 3rd and 4th distillations process.the end results is 80%proof.the three stars or v.s means the cognac has been matured in the barrels for atleast 2years ,v.s.o.p,vieux,v.o and reserve are cognac matured for 4 years ,v.v.s.o.p and grande resrve ate cognac matured for 5years ,extra,napoleon,x.o. fresvieux and vieille reserve are stored for 6-10yeras in oak /barrels. COGNACa common misconception is that all French
brandy is called cognac. Cognac comes only from one region, The agricultural district of the Charente - Maritime departments about 100 miles north of Bordeaux on the coast of France. Natives of the region put it this way: "All cognac is brandy,
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but not all brandy is cognac".The Cognac district, one of only three officially designated brandy regions in Europe along with
HISTOTY: As early as the 16th century, when the English had been chased
from France for more than a century, we find the expression VIN DU COGNAC. Wines shipped along the Charente from the town of Cognac were traded, initially for salt but later for timber, furs and wools which had been shipped from England, Ireland and Holland. The Coastal areas around La Rochelle were already developing vines as a stable crop and further south in Bordeaux the trade in wine was more advanced. Gradually vines were planted further inland in the Bois or woody areas usually on the slopes since the flatter land was still favoured for growing grain. The term VIN DE RITZEL or wines from La Rochelle was generally more favoured than the VIN DE COGNAC which had to be shipped a considerable distance from Cognac along the Charente by barge to Rocheforte and then onto La Rochelle. The wines were often found to be rancid due partly to being kept in cellars by the negociants until they could be shipped and partly to their long journey to the port for shipping to the more northerly ports. As a result they were condensed by distillation, a skill learned from the Dutch (who were skilled coppersmiths) and famous for their gins. The resulting water clear spirit became known by the traders as EAU DE VIE or Water of Life. In 1576 a local historian, J Corlieu emphasised that the Grandes Champagnes de Segonzac produced great quantities of fine wines that were shipped down the river all over the world. A century later these emerged as some of the best wines for distillation into condensed wine or eau de vie.
The end of World War II was followed by approaching 30 years of growing prosperity. The newly formed BNIC started to improve the relationship between growers and merchants and was in turn lubricated. The biggest changes were in the structure of the biggest firms.In 1947 the relationship between Martell and Hennessey came to and end when they failed to renew their agreement. Martell remained independent, but in 1971 Hennessey merged with the champagne firm of Mot & Chandon. The big two became the big four through the growth of Courvoisier and Rmy Martin. The firm of Courvoisier was established in the late 18th century and its name became synonymous with the Napoleon hat - a representative of the firm once said that there was more than a thousand originals scattered around the world. Courvoisier was taken over in 1964 by Hiram Walker, who were themselves taken over in 1986 by Allied Lyons. Remy Martin was able to grow without the aid of outside capital, selling their cognacs only from the Champagnes.In the post war euphoria production had greatly increased. Whilst the area of land planted with vines was still less than half of that reached in the 1870s before PHYLLOXERA, viticultural techniques had so improved that by 1973 production had reached nearly double of that a hundred years earlier. Around this time production levels stood at 264 million bottles, but as sales dropped considerably due to the oil crisis, this was more than twice what was being sold.Substantial tax increases in 1983 had turned the shippers to rely on export markets. Help was on hand in the form of the Chinese, whose beliefs in the medicinal and status related benefits of cognac meant they were
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prepared to spend heavily to gain access to the products. By 1988 sales to Hong Kong reached more than 17 million bottles, most of which was shipped across the borders into China in clandestine operations giving serious concern to the authorities.During the difficult years the big houses cut back their offtake from the growers, which caused serious financial difficulties for many, even driving some out of business. In some ways this later proved to be a benefit, since many started to sell their cognacs under their own name, a move which has provided many more brandies of much higher quality. The growth in the markets led to foreign companies buying established names. Otard went to Martini and Louis Royer was sold to the Japanese, whilst the Candian firm Seagrams bought Martell. The Americans now hold the top spot with more than 50 million bottles being shipped every year. Britain is in third place after Singapore with sales of around 13 million bottles. Moments when we talk about cognac, little thought is given to what we are talking about, or indeed what the definitions of cognacs really are. The battle against imitation cognacs was largely settled by legislation in 1905 and reinforced in 1929 by the special ACQUIT JAUNE DOR, the gold coloured certificate of origin that accompanies every load of cognac on the highway.The Martell/Hennessey pact created both stability and unrest amongst the producers who were offered custom to maintain their business, but at the same time restricted in what they made and supplied. During the war a well known grower Pierre Verneuil and Maurice Hennessey followed the example of some of the merchants and a few growers to form what emerged after the war as Cognacs governing body, the Bureau National Interprofessionel du Cognac.The BNIC acquired a great deal of de facto independence from the government in the formulation and supervision of the rules that govern cognac, most of which had been laid down before the war. They also took over the role previously performed by Martell and Hennessey, of deciding the price of new brandies from the various CRUS. The region had been divided into CRUS in the 1930s as a consequence of the system of APPELLATION DORIGINE CONTRLLE envisaged in the original statute protecting regional names. The introduction of new vines from America created large financial problems for the brandy industry, since the cost of the vines was largely prohibitive, especially to the very small producers and they simply went out of business. This crisis was caused not just by the cost of new vines, but also by the dwindling stocks of old cognacs that could be sold. And the problems got worse. After World War 1 came prohibition in the United States, regulatory state monopolies in Canada and Scandinavia and crippling taxes in Britain. The outlook was so bad that in 1922 Martell and Hennessey made a 25 year pact to work together, taking shares in each others firms and effectively carving up the worlds markets between them.Ironically it was the German Occupation of 1940-45 which provided the springboard for post war cooperation and prosperity in Cognac. Whilst the town was occupied, the commander Herr Klaebisc was a sympathetic figure. His family had controlled the well known firm of Merkow, who had been working in the lucrative trade through the Hanseatic ports with Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Klaebisch tried to minimise the disturbance to the Cognaaise, although they had to provide the Germans with enormous quantity of brandies. The Cognaaise cheated by shipping lot of spirit made from root vegetables, thus preserving their stocks of old and real cognacs.
Phylloxera vastatrix:The defeat of Napoleon in 1815 was a great relief to the Cognacais. In the following decades the town burst beyond its medieval walls and the new rich merchants such as Otard and Dupuy were able to show their wealth with large houses built in the woods around Cognac. Even so, Martell and Hennessy retained their pre-eminence and most crucially were able to set the process for which the growers would sell their brandies to the merchants. They formed
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hereditary relationships that were governed not by contract, but by the habit of regularly trading, which had become a style of the people in the area. The merchants' position was strengthened in 1857 by a new law which enabled them to register their trademarks. Previously, most cognacs, especially in Britain had been sold under the merchants own names who had imported them in casks.In 1861-2 a brief period of glory emerged when the customs duties were reduced by the British and sales tripled in 15 years to 450,000 hectolitres (65 million bottles) annually. From Latin America to Tsarist Russia, cognac became the fashionable spirit. The Charente became the biggest vineyard in France and thousands of acres of marginal land were planted with vines to cope with the new found demand in brandy.But in 1871 the region was struck down with the dreaded PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX, a yellow beetle imported from the New World. The beetle feed on the roots of the vine, causing fungal infection and root deformation that eventually killed the plant .The independence enjoyed by many of the growers, especially in the Champagnes, came to and end as the PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX beetle quickly killed off most of the vines. The survival of the brandy industry became a real issue during the 20 or so years it took to replant with PHYLLOXERA resistant vines. Many growers decided to change crops to cereals as a means of paying the bills. It probably took more than 10 years to find a vine with a suitable rootstock that suited the chalky conditions of the Charente. It was in the 1880s that a source was found by T V Munson, who lived in Texas near the Red River.The PHYLLOXERA plague changed the industry for good, and it was the larger well financed merchants who got the upper hand. Whilst could have exploited the growers by buying up the their land at very low prices, instead their exploitation was of a longer term. They lead the way offering vines grafted onto phylloxera resistant root stock, advice and fertilizer. This philosophy worked well for the biggest merchants, since it created a high level of allegiance from the growers who became dependant on merchants to sell their eaux de vie.There were other struggles, though mainly as a result of fraud that had besmirched the good name of Cognac during the years of shortage. This was largely settled by legislation in 1905 and reinforced in 1929 by the special ACQUIT JAUNE DOR, the gold coloured certificate of origin which accompanies every load of cognac leaving the Charente region to its customers around the world. Early cognacs in Britain (1790-1840)Heavy duties on brandies in Britain led to lively smuggling traffic throughout the century. In Rudyard Kiplings words, Brandy for the Parson (together with the other highly taxed item), Baccy for the clerk. In the late eighteenth century, Adam Smith concluded that smugglers were the biggest importers of French goods into Britain. By the end of the eighteenth century cognacs were being stored in oak casks for longer periods and the outbreak of war in 1756 actually helped the situation. The Market was big and every year 200,000 BARRIQUESS DE VIN PROPRES BRLER , from which emerged 13,400 pipes, (each of 3 barriques or about 600litres), adding up to 8 million litres of EAU DE VIE. Getting these brandies into Britain created great difficulties because of the war, so they had to be shipped over land through Holland by cart, and this meant they were in casks for greater period of time. In addition, the casks were being stored, and in 1780 Richard Hennessey noted that shrewd
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operators were buying up a years supply, keeping them for a year, befor selling them as Old Brandies. By the 1790s both Martell and Hennessey had established themselves and some further names had also come onto the scene, such as Otard Dupuy, two growers who had set up comfortable stocks, Thomas Hine, the descendant of a Dorset family and Ransom and James Delamain, whose son Jacques set up by himself by marrying the daughter of Isaac Ransom. Paul Roullet and Philippe Augier completed a trio by also marrying a Ransom. The outbreak of Total war failed to put a stop to sales of brandies, partly due to a drop in price, partly due to the British Minister Sir John Nichol a declaring the need for a little wine and French Brandy. The history of Cognac Growth in the market:By 1800 many of the houses that
we know of today were becoming established, and their requirement for brandies from the farmers was increasing demand. Coupled to this, the skills in making cognac had improved and a form of standardisation was gradually forming, both in the distillation and ageing process. But very little brandy was sold for keeping and most was intended to be cut with water when it reached its final destination usually in Ireland or England.However some producers had realised the benefits of longer ageing, especially farmers who were supplying quantities to the merchants for onward sales in Europe. By this time, ageing in oak was recognised as the way to develop a unique flavour. But it was noted that this took many years and for commercial reasons only small quantities could be kept back, either for the farmers benefit or for selling at a much greater price at a later date.In early brandies, distillation took place many times to increase its strength. By 1800 the brandies were all double distilled and Richard Hennessey noted that shrewd operators were buying up year old brandies and keeping them until they could get a better price. In 1786 the tax laws were rescinded and the Treaty of Free trade was established, allowing the merchants and producers to become more selective in the profitable UK markets.Some new names were also springing up - Otard and Dupuy were joined by Hine and all three saw advantage in the British markets by buying from the higher quality Saintonge rather from the south around Bordeaux. This loyalty to the Angoumois was later rewarded as the areas brandies became known as cognac after the principle town in the region. The history of Cognac Distillation of the Cognac Brandy.Distillation is a simple process, based on the fact that alcohol vaporises at a lower temperature than water, allowing the spirit to escape. When fermented liquor such as wine is heated, the alcohol vaporises and is trapped in the pipe leading from the top of the still, and is then cooled when it turns back into a liquid.There are a number of problems such as the shape and size of the vessel, the metal from which it is constructed and the quality of the liquid being distilled. Although in early days
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distillation was repeated on several occasions to increase strength, by the eighteenth century double distillation had largely become the norm. Initially BROUILLIS, a half strength spirit was produced, before being distilled again in what is called LA BONNE CHAUFFE. The stage when the spirit was acceptable and stopped distilling, are further problems to which only very simple rules were applied. Consequently, the many variations at these stages created many less than perfect results. By Muniers (a well known brandy trader) time, the conditions for producing the best cognac had been well defined. White grapes were used where ever possible, and the Folle Blanche had largely been accepted as producing the best distillation. By 1770 the Cognaaise had learnt the necessity for acidic wines to aid the process.
The history of Cognac - The Early Grapes, Wine and Region:In 1753, one Father
Arcre wrote in a history of La Rochelle, The wines of Aunis was once highly regarded, if in time it has lost its former reputation, this misfortune must be attributed to the poor choice of varieties used, these plants have impaired the quality of the fruit whilst increasing the yield. It was largely the Balzac and the Folle Blanche which provided the quantity but not the quality. Of course the remark was directed towards the wines which were regarded more favourably than the distilled or condensed wines, later to be cut with water for drinking at their final destination.However at this time, the trade in brandy was developing thanks largely to the efforts of brokers such as Hennessey, Lallamand, Roux and Augier, who had found ready buyers in Britain and Ireland.By this time many farmers had seen that growing vines could develop a ready market, and the BOIS (woods) on the slopes around cognac had been cleared for planting vines. The region is today known as Fin Bois and represents the largest geographical area in the region although not the largest producing area. This was certainly different in 1753 when much of the area had been cleared for agricultural purposes.However, by this time the quality of the wines from the area around Segonzac was also noted as being very good and were fetching a higher price than others, especially those from as far away as Nantes and Bordeaux. This was of course the time when many of the brandy houses were being set up, and the modern cognac industry that we know today was born. But it was to have its problems and over the next 150 years - wars, famines, disease and hardship were to follow. THE DUTCH, FRENCH, IRISH AND BRITISH FROM AROUND 1600
MANY IRISH TRADERS AND SETTLERS BECAME INTERESTED IN THE BRANDY BUSINESS. THESE WERE SETTLERS AND THE POTENTIAL TO CONDENSE WINES BY BOILING THEM HAD A NUMBER OF ATTRACTIONS, NOT LEAST THEIR GREATLY IMPROVED LONGEVITY, EASE OF HANDLING AND OF COURSE, THEIR GREATER STRENGTH. THIS LAST BENEFIT WAS
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A USEFUL MOTIVATOR AND ANAESTHETIC IN TIMES OF WAR, AND BARRELS OF BRANDY WHICH WERE IN PLENTIFUL SUPPLY DURING THE WARS WERE KEPT ON SHIPS FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE.DURING THE NEXT CENTURY THE DUTCH, WHO HAD BEEN DISTILLING THEIR OWN GINS AND SELLING THEM IN FRANCE, IMPORTED THE WINES FROM THE CHARENTE PRODUCERS AND DISTILLED THEM. THEY WERE REFERRED TO AS BRANDYWIJNS, THE QUANTITIES AND STRENGTHS BEING EXPRESSED IN DUTCH. THE VELT, AT JUST OVER 7 LITRES, WAS A BASIC MEASUREMENT OF QUANTITY AND SOLD IN BARRIQUES. THE SPIRIT WAS EXPRESSED IN RELATION TO STANDARD DUTCH GIN (PREVUE DE HOLLANDE) AT ABOUT 49% ALCOHOL. LONDON GIN WAS ABOUT 58% AND COGNAC AROUND 60%BY 1700 TRADERS HAD ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AND THE MORE SUPERIOR BRANDIES FROM AROUND THE TOWN OF COGNAC, AND NOTABLE NAMES SUCH AS RICHARD HENNESSEY, MARTELL AND JAMES DELAMAIN WERE LATER JOINED BY SAUL, A FRIEND AND CONFIDANT OF HENNESSEY, LALLAMAND OF LALLAMAND MARTELL, JACQUES ROUX AND PHILIPPE AUGIER (SAID TO BE THE OLDEST HOUSE IN COGNAC). ALL OF THESE NAMES WERE TRADERS, WHO EMPLOYED CORRESPONDENTS TO GET ORDERS FOR THEIR BRANDIES, WHICH WERE THEN SHIPPED BACK TO IRELAND AND ENGLAND.THESE BRANDIES WERE PURCHASED FROM THE FARMERS AND GROWERS FROM THE REGIONS AROUND COGNAC AND BORDEAUX, WHO HARVESTED GRAPES AS A CROP WHICH THEY FERMENTED AND DISTILLED ON THEIR ESTATES.
The History of Armagnac: The dominance of cognac in the French spirit
markets has created over the years a market inferiority complex, perhaps partly because the region has always been much poorer than regions to the north, but also because understanding of the spirit and its history has never been fully explored. The Bureau National Interprofessionel de lArmagnac (BNIA), is much smaller than its Cognac counterpart and cites some of the benefits of the golden nectar, especially the therapeutic qualities claimed by one doctor of medicine, Prior Vital Dufour who was ordained Cardinal of the Catholic church by Pope Clement in 1313. Amongst some of its 40 virtues it is claimed "IT
FRIES THE EGG, CONSERVES MEAT COOKED OR CRUDE, AND IN THE PRESENCE OF HERBS, EXTRACTS THEIR VIRTUES. IT CURES GOUT, CANKER AND FISTULA BY INGESTION, RESTORES THE PARALYSED MEMBER BY MASSAGE AND HEALS WOUND OF THE SKIN BY APPLICATION. IT RENDERS MEN JOYOUS, PRESERVES YOUTH AND RETARDS SENILITY".
In 1909 a decree defined the permitted boundaries for the production of armagnacs, by organising three large boundaries or crus. Bas armagnac has the largest production of armagnac and is regarded by most as having the finest armagnacs. 57% of all production comes from this region. The main town in the region is Eauze. To the east is the smallest cru of Tenarze, whose market town and traditional capital of Armagnac is Condom. This region produces about 40% of all armagnacs. This leaves the third cru, Haut
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Armagnac, with such a small production that their products are rarely seen, the region mainly being created to meet 19th century market demands. During the war supplies of the spirits stagnated and markets were difficult to supply, leading to many producers suffering financial difficulties. Today, armagnacs biggest market is Britain followed by Japan, Spain and Germany, but by the turn of the 20th century only 20,429 hectolitres of pure alcohol were produced. Phylloxera was no less kind to the Armagnaaise than to those in the rest of France and although a few growers managed to continue producing grapes, the vast majority lost everything they were growing in their vineyards. The Folle Blanche was much in favour in Gascogne, but was also one of the most vulnerable to the louse which found the weakened roots of the heavily cropped vines a wonderful source of food. Many small producers simply gave up and turned their land over to crops that provided easier and more importantly, faster and more accessible revenue. The decline in available brandies from the region also coincided with a lull in demand from British customers, who were the largest source of export trade. Levels of austerity at the end of the century and during the early First World War years had allowed the English to lose interest in the fruity brandies of the region. The Armagnaaise also had their own problems with access to the export markets mainly as a result of their failure to further their markets in other countries. Replanting after the phylloxera was slower than other regions and only the larger growers who already had an established market were able to afford the cost of replanting. In many ways, as is so often the case in French Viniculture, prosperity started to return to the industry with modernisation and greater demand from other countries. A new vine called the Bacco was introduced - it produced fruity wines which cropped later, providing more depth of flavour in the wines and greater flexibility in the harvest. Just at the time when sales were hitting a low, the wars came along which greatly affected sales of cognacs to the north. This enabled the fruity wines of Gascogne to be recognised for their distinctive flavours, finding favour in the bars and restaurants in Britain during the 1920s when brandies became allied to the fashionable mid-war period. Two important changes happened in the 19th century that changed the fortunes of the Armagnaaise for the better. The first was the introduction of the continuous still which is essential for extracting armagnacs particular qualities. The cognac stills used previously were unsuitable for wines from the sandy and clay soils around much of the region. They were also too expensive for the peasants, who needed a simpler and more easily transportable still which could be easily moved from farmhouse to farmhouse, and which used cheaper fuel. They became quickly interested in the continuous still, invented by Edouard Adam from Montpellier. The idea was taken up by Antoine de Melet, Marquis de Bonas, a landowner famous for
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new ideas. By 1819 a factory in Eaux was making the new still, which was perfected by a peasant called Verdier who gave his name to the final apparatus. Unlike all the other types of continuous stills, the Verdier model retained more of the essential elements in the wines than did the orthodox pot-stills. The brandies from this still developed in time to a more complex spirit than cognac, albeit at the expense of some initial roughness and woodiness. The second change was the development in the 1830s of the river Baise to a canal providing economical transport from the heart of the Tenareze region to Bordeaux, a world centre for trade in wines and spirits which allowed the Armagnaaise a way to sell their special brandies. By then, unfortunately, the Cognaaise had a 150 year lead. Nevertheless, the 50 years after the canal was built witnessed the first real breakthrough to the world markets. Some of the most famous names were founded around this time. The first, Castarde, which had previously been at Lavadac moved with other merchants to Condom nearer the centre of the region. The boom was real enough; in 1804 the Gers produced 50,000 hectolitres of pure alcohol, a figure which had doubled by 1872 from 100,000 hectares of vines. During the 16th century, a spirit distilled from a wine in Toulouse known as AYGUE ARDENTE or eau de vie became popular with the Dutch to supply their ships. They were happy to buy their the spirit at Bayonne, which after some time became known as Armagnac, and was found comparable in quality to the brandy from Cognac. Local historians claimed its international fame, but in reality armagnac remained something of a rustic curiosity. This was a puzzle since the region had an ample supply of acid wine and plenty of wood to burn. It had contact with the Dutch to provide a market and an older indigenous tradition of distillation than Cognac. Indeed, we can still see the earliest known BRLERIES set up at the Chteau de Busca in Maniban in the 17th century, by Thomas de Maniban, a member of the legal aristocracy who successfully sold fine wines of the region. The armagnacais lacked the commercial aggressiveness to sell their fine spirits and as a result armagnac did not compete as a rival to cognac in the market which counted the fashionable society of Restoration London - and became submerged in the mass of brandies from Bordeaux and Nants which were considered inferior to cognac. By the end of the 17th century armagnac was a well-integrated rural industry. Yet even when the Bordeaux monopoly collapsed during the 18th century, it remained largely local because of transport problems. Crucially the river Baise, which empties into the Garonne, was not navigable beyond Pont-de-Bordes at Lavadac at the very northern end of the region. It was this single difficulty that largely prevented the eaux de vie from being shipped to the ports, particularly Bordeaux, where
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merchants were trading in the local wines and eaux de vie with the merchants from England, Ireland and Holland. Armagnacs great variation from cognac, its great fruitiness and excitement to drink has kept the local and traditional methods alive through the 18th and 19th centuries for our enjoyment today. Geographically, Armagnac appears for the first time in the middle of the tenth century. By the fifteenth century, the English kings had come and gone for the past 450 years Armagnac (indeed the whole of Gascony) has been a happy country without much history. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Bayonne, the nearest port had the unusual freedom to trade in wine. This was important as the only ways to get produce from the region was by the rivers, since no roads existed to ship their wines to the ports. In many ways the easiest outlet was the long haul down the river to Bordeaux. This was a problem though, since through the Middle Ages the merchants of Bordeaux protected their own wines by refusing to allow the sale of wines from the Haut Pays, the river basins of the Garonne and the Dordogne before Christmas each year. Wines were fragile then, so the ruling effectively excluded the wines of Cahors, Bergerac, Montbazillac and Armagnac from the lucrative British and Dutch markets. The only alternative was to haul the wines by ox cart to the river Midou for transport to Bayonne on barges - a journey that took 3 days to travel 38 kilometres. Distilling the wine at least increased the value of the contents of the casks so laboriously transported... Armagnac had retained an association with Arab science in the Middle Ages through the famous University of Montpellier, closely connected with the great Islamic seat of learning at Salerno. It was not surprising that the Armagnaaise learnt the Arab art of distillation before any other French wine making district. According to a document in 1411 in the archives of the Haute Garonne, a man called Antoine distilled wine at Toulouse to obtain AYGUE ARDENTE, also called AYGUE DE BITO or eau de vie (water of life), a definition which emphasizes that the products were originally used for medicinal purposes. A further document in 1441 records that DISTILLED SPIRIT RELIEVES PAIN, KEEPS ONE YOUNG AND BRINGS WITH IT JOY. Armagnac, as the locals invariably inform even the most casual visitor, is at once the oldest and youngest spirit in France. Oldest because it was first distilled in the middle of the 15th century and youngest because the Armagnaaise are still arguing over how it should be made. President de Gaulle talked about the problems of governing a country which made 300 different cheeses. Armagnac has as many ways of making brandy. The region of Armagnac has always been a very special example of that elusive concept, LA FRANCE PROFOUNDE, even now well away from the madding crowds and their motorways. They are essentially Gascons,
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famous as swaggerers, soldiers (dArtagnam was the most famous), lovers of rich food (truffles and Fois Gras), and drink. Their homeland is as near a rural paradise as makes no difference, gentle, fair, fertile countryside as yet unspoilt by urban sprawls. It is tucked away a hundred miles south of Bordeaux stretching back from the sands of the Landes through a series of gentle valleys with none of the grim monoculture which marks other vineyards, but providing a most agreeable and varied vision of rural bliss. That was its attraction but the corollary was its unsuitability as a production centre for an internationally traded spirit. Armagnac was and still is a reflection of French individualism, while still a deeply united community in which the merchants are, for the most part, members of the same class as the growers. Unlike Cognac, there has never been a class war in Armagnac. By themselves individualism, change and experiment would not be of interest if the brandy was not exciting to drink. It is better than that; earthier than cognac, but, at its best, offering a closeness to nature, a depth of fruit and warmth that even the finest cognacs cannot match. Because the choice of three grapes and two methods of distillation, the brandys potential character is enormously varied. the history of calvados: the history of marc:
How to make Calvados:How to make Calvados Label, Bottles, Age and

Presentation.It is common practice with most calvados producers to put the age of the spirit in the bottle on the label, but it is not a requirement and can be confusing. Some producers put the minimum age, but older calvados may be in the bottle. Vintages can also be used but whilst it normally refers to the year of distillation it can also refer to the year of the apple harvest. Some of the generic terms as used in the cognac industry are also used but they mainly refer to very young spirits; for example VO or VSOP refers to a spirit aged for a minimum of 4 years, whilst XO or Extra refers to one of 6 years. Where a vintage is shown it refers to the year of distillation. Terms such as Tradition, Vieux, Vieille Reserve, Cordon Or, Cordon Argent or even Hors dAge also add to the confusion. The indication of alcohol is also required in France and shows the percentage by volume of alcohol. The term Non Reduit (not reduced), can sometimes be seen on the label (it is refreshing that at least in Calvados they can admit that their spirit is in most cases required to be reduced). The traditional calvados bottle is rather dumpy with a long neck and rather like the other great brandies has been traditionally green or even black in colour, thus preventing sight of the liquid inside. Some special shape bottles and a range of more modern designs are now commonly available - Chateau du Breuil is easily recognised for its phallic like neck, but some taller bottles are also
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available and a range of carafes also seem to be finding their way onto the market. Regrettably label design has never been exciting and remains firmly in the hands of the traditionalist. All we can add at this point is to open a bottle this Christmas and enjoy. Its an exceptionally fine spirit! How to make Calvados Making the Cider Most of the flavours in the calvados comes from the skins of the apples rather than the pulp. The equipment required for making the cider comprises of a grater tank, a press and a vat called a belleron. In the press house the apples are washed, selected and then crushed or grated. The pulp is left to stand for a few hours in a vat to macerate. This softens the skins and extracts the tannins and aromas and at the same time oxidises, changing the colour of the pulp. The pulp is then pressed and the solids, known as the marc is separated and sometimes sold as feed for the farm animals. Usually the juice from quality fruit is pressed once and the output will not exceed 65% of the weight, however it is possible to produce up to 90% by wetting the marc and re-pressing and providing a juice of lower concentration. The traditional press is made of wooden trays with linen stacked one on top of the other and pressed from the top but more modern methods employ cylindrical presses similar to those used for making cognac. It provides a juice that is both hygienic and retaining the colour and flavours of the apples. Fermentation of the cider for distillation is continued until crisp and dry unlike that used for drinking and referred to as cider bouche. The fermentation takes place in large oak barrels which have thinner walls than barrels for ageing and the cider ferments on its lees, the yeasty sediment for six to eight weeks before taking it out of its lees. Some quality producers can keep it in the barrels for anything up to a year. The minimum strength of the cider for distillation is 4.5% but most producers will ferment it to 5, 6 or even 7%. Ciders for drinking are stored in open vats where the pectin in the apple will clear most of the impurities. How to make Calvados Viticulture, the fruit for the cidre. The harvest of apples starts around the beginning of October and continues through to nearly Christmas since apples, unlike grapes ripen at different times and are also harvested at different stages of ripeness. Indeed one producer uses fallen apples which have a greater sugar and reduced water content thus making a sweeter cidre. The apples and pears are defined cider varieties and must be grown in the appellation zone. The amount of pears used varies between the areas but cannot exceed on third unless the calvados comes from Domfrontais. Perhaps the most important area of control is the style of orchard and the quantity of apples allowed to be used. Two types are common: 1 Haut-tige (high stem or high branch) planted pasture style 10 metres apart and with a density of
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70 180 trees per hectare (40 trees minimum for pears). The yield should not exceed 20 tonnes of apples per hectare and the first harvest must wait untilo the seventh year from planting. 2 Bassetige (low stem or low branch). This is the tighter modern planting style with a density of 400 750 trees per hectare and the harvest must wait until the third year of planting, the output from these trees is around 40 tonnes per ha. The quality, transportation and storage are all regulated by authorities. The traditional high stem trees are at their best around 18 years from planting whilst the low stem trees take only about 8 years to be at full maturity. Most producers will use a range of bitter and bittersweet apples and the flavours can influence the calvados although the pears will affect the flavour in the first 10 years providing a pear drop effect on the palate but which gradually decreases as the calvados matures developing a richer and deeper quality and thus masking the pungent pear aroma and taste.
PRESENT CONDITONS: THE FUTURES OF THE BRANDY: Brandy producing countries: Cognac Houses - Tiffon
Tiffon is now owned by the ubiquitous Braastad family whose name has been synonymous with a number of cognac houses including Delamain, Bisquit, Courvoisier. In the start of the twentieth century Sverre Braastard moved from Gjovik in Norway to Cognac and joined the firm of Alexandre Biscuit. Biscuit was established nearly a hundred years earlier and was already well known as a prominent Grande Champagne producer. Whilst working for Bisquit Sverre met Edith Rousseau (the granddaughter of Mdric, who founded the House of Tiffon) ad they were married in 1919. The Tiffon firm developed under their leadership and by the 1940s they had acquired the rather grand Chateau de Triac, a lavish building with castle keeps on
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either side of the entrance and with vineyards in both Grande Champagne and Fins Bois regions. The firm has developed and now has a sizeable international market with sales in North America, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. Their cellars are in Jarnac on the southern bank of the Charente River which provides a good level of dampness and humidity for maturing their cognacs. The firm is still a private company and produces a range of blended cognacs that include the use of sugar syrup and caramel. One of the oldest cognacs is the Reserve de La Famille, which is said to be between forty and sixty years old. But others such as the VS, VSOP and XO blends are only slightly more than the required minimum ages, and they like other houses have suffered from the shortage of eaux de vie.
Cognac Houses Prunier

The Prunier family has been shipping cognacs since 1700. The first member of the Prunier family to start the business was Jean Prunier (1665 1732). He was a freeman of the port of La Rochelle, which was the main shipping port for goods on the western coast of France. Jean Prunier was a renowned cognac expert, and living in La Rochelle he had the foresight to watch shippers at the port and was able to create connections with traders (or correspondents as they were called in other countries) and was able to sell their wines and brandies. The family remained in La Rochelle and Jean was succeeded by his son Gabriel Prunier (17111790) and his Grandson, Jean Prunier (1741-1843). They acquired vineyards around the town of St-Jean-de-Angly in the north of the cognac region, but Franois Prunier (1768-1843), moved to the town of Cognac. He lived in the old quarters by the Charente river in what is now the oldest house in the town. Called the Maison de la Lieutenants or Sheriffs house, it was probably where the mayor of the town would have collected the taxes on the cognac sales from the region. Alphonse Prunier, who died in 1918, was the last descendent of the Prunier family. She called in her nephew, Jean Burnez, to help running the business and he eventually took over the reins of the firm. He then passed them to Claude Burnez and his sister. Susan Burnez, Claudes wife, was an English lady from Somerset who inherited the control and management interest for the other family menbers. She retired in 2010 and her Stepson Stphane now controls the firms and its management. Prunier have been mainly negoiants and have specialised in very traditional cognacs, holding good stocks of rare and old cognacs in their warehouse in the town. They also still own the old Maison de la Lieutenants which has become the trade mark of this very old and famous firm.
Prunier Vintage 1969
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Prunier is one of the oldest houses in Cognac and has been shipping cognacs since 1700. Their style is drier than most but are a more modern example of some of the traditional skills of cognac blending.
Prunier 20 y.o.
Dry hazelnut and floral tones feature strongly in this really traditional cognac. There is an aroma of vine canes with some lemon peel. This is a true connoisseur cognac.
Prunier Vintage 1968
Prunier is one of the oldest houses in Cognac and has been shipping cognacs since 1700. Their style is drier than most but are a more modern example of some of the traditional skills of cognac blending.
Prunier 50 y.o.
The firms CEO is a hugely experienced blender of old cognacs. We have always maintained that this cognac is a wonderful example of a modern pre-phylloxera style.
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COGNAC HOUSES - UNICOOP NO HISTORY OF THE GREAT AND GOOD

WOULD BE COMPLETE WITHOUT MENTIONING UNICOOP, THE CHARENTE FARMERS CO-OPERATIVE FOR THE WINES AND EAUX DE VIE SOLD TO SO MANY NEGOIANTS.GOOD AND GREAT ARE WORDS NOT OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THIS VAST BUILDING ALONGSIDE THE MAIN ROAD BETWEEN COGNAC AND JARNAC. THE BUILDING IS RECOGNISABLE BY THE NAME OF ITS MAIN BRAND, COGNAC PRINCE HUBERT DE POLINAC. BUT STRANGELY ENOUGH THE COGNAC BRAND IT IS BEST KNOWN FOR IS HENRI MOUNIER, A ONCE FAMOUS COGNAC BRAND NAME TAKEN OVER BY THE CO-OPERATIVE.THE CO-OPERATIVE'S HISTORY IS SHORT AND TO SAY THE LEAST TURBULENT, SELLING EAUX DE VIE TO MANY OF THE BIG HOUSES, PARTICULARLY REMY MARTIN. IT WAS PROBABLY THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH THESE BIG HOUSES THAT BROUGHT THEM TO THEIR KNEES IN 1999, AND WHERE THEN RESCUED IN 2000 WITH A FF250 MILLION LOAN BY THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND CREDIT AGRICOLE, THE FRENCH BANK. THE FIRM HAS OPERATED FOR NOT A LOT LONGER THAN THE PAST THIRTY YEARS AND ONCE AGAIN IT APPEARS TO BE IN TROUBLE FINANCIALLY, WITH TALK OF JOINING WITH ANOTHER LARGE NEGOIANT IN COGNACAS WELL AS MOUNIER, THE FIRM OWNS A LOT OF OTHER NAMES INCLUDING PAUL BOCUSE, LA FAYETTE, MALLET AND THEIR BIGGEST ACQUISITION, THE FIRM OF CALVET IN BORDEAUX, THEY BOUGHT THE WELL KNOWN HARDY COGNACS WHEN THEY ALSO FILED FOR INSOLVENCY. THEIR SAVIOUR IN THE EARLY 2000S WAS A LARGE BOTTLING CONTRACT WITH GREY GOOSE, THE WELL KNOWN VODKA HOUSE WHOSE SIGN DOMINATES ALL THE COGNAC SIGNS ON THE SIDE OF THEIR BUILDING.
Proof: proof is a term found on the label of alcoholic beverage bottles to indicate the alcoholic content of the said beverage. Proof was evolved from the days when there was no way of measuring the strength of spirits. The system of assessing proof was by adding spirit and water to gunpowder. The mixtures was made progressively stronger till such time water portions had no effects on the gunpowder and allowed it to explode when ignited.the spirits that cause explosion was said to be proved as per the international methodological shows that there are three types of systems. British system which is used in all commonwealth countries. Under this system proof spirit was 100 and absolute alcohol and 175.25 British proof spirits was thus 57% alcohol. U.S system in which absolute alcohol was 200 and the proof spirits was 100.thus U.S proof indicates 50% of alcohol. Metric system which indicates the volume of alcohol in a beverage .thus if 100% the beverage volume,40% on the label would indicates the volume of alcohol in that volume of beverage.
GRADING OF THE BRANDY: V.O: VERY OLD V.O.P: VERY OLD PALE
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V.S.O.P: VERY SUPERIOR OLD PALE V.V.S.O.P: VERY VERY SUPERIOR OLD PALE V.S.O: VERY SUPERIOR OLD SERVICE STYLES: soda water, hot water, straight, ginger ale SERVING GLASS: BRANDY SNIFFER, BRANDY INHELLER, BRANDY BALLON DIFFERENT TYPES OF BRANDY: Armagnac (France) and Jerez (Spain), is divided into six primary vineyard districts; Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, and the Borderies. Fanning out in concentric circles from these three small areas are three larger but secondary vineyard areas. Fins Bois, Bons Bois and Bois Ordinaries. All cognacs are produced from wines made from grapes grown and harvested within the demarcated cognac region. The St. Emilion variety, or ungi blanc as it is also known, is by a wide margin the main grape type cultivated. Cognac is always distilled twice in small copper pot stills. The colorless, high-alcohol distillate, which by law cannot exceed 72% alcohol after the second distillation, is pumped into French oak casks for aging. The legal minimum period of wood aging is two and a half years but the vast majority of cognacs age for much longer periods, with the best XOs maturing for two to three decades or more.Virtually all cognacs are blends of many different spirits. A VSOP may be the end result of the blending of as many as 50 cognacs. The purpose of blending is to maintain a precise standard of taste and quality from batch to batch.France's other officially demarcated brandy region, Armagnac, enjoys a smaller, but remarkably loyal audience in the US. Armagnac differs from cognac in a number of ways, the most obvious being a single distillation. It is also notable that while armagnac production began a few hundred years before cognac, the Armagnac region is much smaller, accounting for only about one-sixth as many acres as Cognac. Armagnac also often carries a vintage date on the label, referring to the year that the brandies were distilled. All brandies used in the blend must, by law, come from that single vintage. Cognac only rarely uses vintage years as an identification, preferring instead to use a lettering system. The grapes:The first key to Cognac's success is the nature of the wine: the grapes used in the best brandies must have some character and be relatively weak and acidic. The ideal balance was found in the Folle Blanche, an acidic, aromatic grape used both in Armagnac and Cognac in the 19th century. Unfortunately, it proved unsuitable for grafting on to the American rootstocks used after phylloxera had attacked the vineyards - the bunches of grapes were all too susceptible to grey rot and too tightly packed to be reachable even by modern antirot sprays. So in Cognac, and now increasingly in Armagnac, the Folle Blanche was replaced by the higher yielding, more amenable
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(and markedly less characterful) Ugni Blanc.Unfortunately, only a few distillers have the means and patience to try alternative varieties, or to accept that a little Folle Blanche is better (even if more expensive) than a lot of Ugni Blanc. The balance is a delicate one: the Colombard, much favoured in Cognac in the 18th century, is a little too fragrant to be an ideal base wine. Distillations: Any method of distilling or cooking the wine must be both gentle and controllable. These requirements conflict with economic reality since the ideal involves the slow, gentle distillation of small batches of wine. The wine used to make cognac is heated twice in pot-stills holding not more than 30 hectolitres of wine; once to turn the wine (which has an alcoholic strength of 8 to 9%) into a brouillis of about 30%, and then into brandy up to 72%. Aging: Newly distilled Eau de Vie tastes raw, oily and unappetizing. The key to its final quality is a more or less lengthy sojourn in oak casks. The choice of wood was originally accidental: oak happened to be the most easily available for making the casks required by the pioneering distillers. They were, of course, accustomed to using wood to mature and market their wines. Because cognac, like wine, is a product of the grape, oak has proved suitable for maturing it. But there are many varieties of oak, and as with so many aspects of cognac making, local practices differ so widely that only a few generalizations can be offered as applying to the whole range of cognacs.Most of the qualities which make oak So suitable are physical. For whatever the chemical qualities of the wood and the reactions they induce when in prolonged contact with the spirit, it is the porosity of the cask which allows the brandy to have a steady, limited access to the air. The brandy gradually absorbs the oxygen required to oxidize and thus soften the raw spirit. Some of the names of the cognac: Remy Martin vsop Remy martin xo Remy martin extra Remy matin Louis xiii Hennessy paradise Hennessy Richard Hennessy xo Hennessy paradise Hennessy Richard
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ARMAGNAC IS DONE BY THE SINGLE CONTINOUS DISTILLATIONS POCESS .armagnac is fuller bodied and drier than the cognac.it is best to use the younger brandies for mixed drinks.more matures expensive brandies are better appreciated when drunk neat. Some of the names of the Armagnac: Castarede 1969 Castarede 1949 Castarede 1890 Castarede 1880 Armagnac marquis vs Armagnac marquis vsop MARC:the French pomace spirit is distlled from the press residue resulting from wines productions.depending on the variety,it either tastes powerful and full flavored (marc de Bourgogne) or light,dry,and very soft(marc de champagne).the alcohol content is between 80 to 90proof.there is a flavor difference between marc made from red wines/white wines residues.a small glass of marc, served neat is perfects digestives. Some of the names of the marc CALVADOS: Some of the names of the calvados POMACE BRANDY; DONE BY THE FERMENTATIONS/DISTILLATIONS PROCESS Some of the names of the pomace COCKTAILS; Side car Stinger Grass hopper You & me Alexander Depth charge Olympic B& B Stinger
GIN:
When we think of Gin we think of England
and her former colonies. The actual origins of Gin can be traced to 17th century Holland.Dr. Franciscus de La Boie invented Gin in 1650. He was a medical professor at the University of Leyden and was more widely known as Dr. Sylvius. As was with many other spirits, Gin was originally intended to be used as a medicine. Dr. Sylvius was seeking an inexpensive, but effective diuretic to use in the treatment of
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kidney disorders. He mixed oil of Juniper berries with grain alcohol, both of which have diuretic properties. He called his new medical concoction "genever", from the French word for Juniper. What made the recipe so revolutionary, was not the use of Juniper, it had been used before in dozens of liqueur formulas, but the choice of grain alcohol. Until Dr. Sylvius, most beverage alcohol had been made from grapes or other fruit. In other words, Brandies. While the Scotch and Irish were making Whiskies from grain, they tempered them with years of aging in wooded casks. Unaged grain spirits, at least those produced with 17th century technology, were considered too harsh for human consumption. But Genever tasted good and it was relatively inexpensive to produce. At the same time, English soldiers, who were fighting on the continent, were introduced to what they termed, "Dutch Courage". They returned to England with a preference for this new drink, and the population at large soon grew fond of this palatable yet inexpensive spirit, so much so that it eventually became identified as the national drink of England. It was the English, of course, that shortened the name to "Gin".Gin was also quite popular with the English foreign service in the "colonies". It mixed naturally with quinine (tonic water) which was used as a profilacsis to mulify the effects of Malaria. Even today it's easy to conjure up an image of the British Colonial officers sitting on a wide veranda sipping a Gin and Tonic while surveying his vast dominion.
"'London Dry' and other styles"
The dry Gin that London distillers eventually developed is very different from the Holland or Geneva Gin still made by the Dutch, which is heavy-bodied and strongly flavored with a pronounced malty taste and aroma. London dry Gin appeared soon after the continuous still was invented in 1831. This new still made a purer spirit possible, encouraging English distillers to try an unsweetened or dry style. Sugars had been used to mask the rough and unpleasant flavors that could show up in older pot still production. Originally, the phrase "London dry Gin" specified a geographic location; that the Gin was made in or near London. Now, the term is considered to be generic and is used to describe a style of Gin, (In fact, Beefeater is now the only Gin distilled in London.) and virtually every Gin on the market uses the term "dry". Gin is the distillate of a grain mash with various flavoring agents. It gets its primary flavor from Juniper berries, but many other herbs and spices go into the make-up. The botanicals come from all over the
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world: Cardamom from Sri Lanka, Cassia bark from Vietnam, Orange peel from Spain, Coriander seed from the Czech Republic, Angelica root from Germany. Most of the Juniper berries themselves are imported from Italy. There are also dozens of other possible ingredients. Each distiller has his own secret formula and no two Gin brands are exactly alike.
Production:The
vast majority of this unaged spirit (federal regulations do not permit any age claims for gin, vodka and other neutral spirits) is either English dry Gin or American dry Gin. The English version uses 75% corn, 15% barley and 10% other grains for the mash. The fermentation process is similar to that of whiskey. Following fermentation the resulting liquid is distilled and rectified through a column still, producing a pure spirit of at least 90. The liquid is then redistilled with the many flavoring agents. Methods vary from producer to producer. Some combine the botanicals with the spirit and distill the mixture, while others suspend the botanicals above the spirit in the still and let the vapors pass through the many flavoring agents. The spirit that comes off is reduced to bottling strength, anywhere from 80 to 97. American Gin is produced :using one of two standard methods: distilling and compounding. Distilled Gin is primarily made by adding the flavoring agents during a continuous process. There are two fairly similar methods of achieving this; direct distillation or redistillation. In direct distillation the fermented grain mash is pumped into the still. Then it is heated and the spirit vapors pass through a "gin head", a sort of percolator basket filled with Juniper, herbs and other natural ingredients. It picks up the delicate flavoring agents as it passes through and then condenses into a high proof Gin. Water is added to bring the product down to its bottling strength, usually 80.The other method, redistillation, differs only in that the fermented mash is first distilled into a flavorless neutral spirit. Then it is placed in a second still, containing a "gin head", and is redistilled, with vapors absorbing the flavoring agents.Compound Gin, a less costly product, is simply the combination of neutral spirits with the oil and extracts of the botanicals. However, the dominant flavor must be from Juniper berries.
VODKA
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THE HISTORY OF VODKA: THE HISTORY
Alcohol has always featured large in the lives of the Eastern Europeans. Its influence can be recorded as far back as 988! In that year the Grand Prince of Kiev was told by his ambassadors that Islam forbade strong drink. Consequently the Prince became a Christian and was sent plentiful supplies of communion wine from Byzantium, which was the seat of orthodox Christianity. Fermented drink was not enough to satisfy the Eastern Europeans for long. They discovered that the extremes of temperature in that part of the world enabled them to produce a beverage with a higher alcoholic strength. RUSSSIA In the 1540s the Russian tsar Ivan 'the Terrible' established his own network of distilling taverns and ensured that the profits went straight into the imperial treasury. He outlawed taverns that were outside his control and put a ban on distilling by potential rivals. He kept his options open, however! He was always in need of the support of the nobility, so he allowed them to continue distilling Vodka. Restrictions and threats of savage punishment didn't dampen the enthusiasm of people for vodka-making. Secret distilling survived through the next century. At the same time the tsar's taverns flourished and grew in number to such an extent that, by the late seventeenth century, a visitor to Russia remarked that they outnumbered bath-houses. Successive rulers tightened their monopoly on Vodka distilling but continued to curry favor with the nobility, gentry and government officials by granting them distilling rights. Thus, in addition to its social role, Vodka had considerable political and economic significance in Russia. From the beginning of the seventeenth century it had become customary for Vodka to be served at Russian imperial banquets. All formal meals began with bread and Vodka. Vodka was also drunk ceremonially at religious festivals and in church ritual, and to refuse to partake could be considered impious. Peter the Great, tsar of Russia from 1689 to 1721, was renowned for his hospitality and love of drinking. He served large quantities of Vodka, his favorite drink, at his legendary banquets. On these occasions he would shock foreign guests by cutting open enormous pies out of which dwarfs would jump.
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The Governor of Moscow trained a large bear to serve pepper Vodka to his guests. If anyone showed reluctance in accepting the drink, the bear would remove the guest's clothes, an article at a time. POLAND Making Vodka was a lot easier in Poland, as fewer official restrictions were imposed. Indeed, in 1546, King Jan Olbrecht issued a decree allowing every citizen the right to make Vodka. As a result many families distilled their own spirit, and as early as the sixteenth century there were forty-nine commercial distilleries in the town of Poznan alone. Vodka-making and drinking became established at all levels of society in Poland over the next few centuries. Poznan continues to be a major center for the production of Vodka today.
DEFFINITIONS OF THE VODKA: INTRODUCTIONS OF THE VODKA: VODKA PRODUCING COUNTRIES: SERVING STYLES:SERVER WITH THE SODA/COLA/ICE CUBES/NEAT/always with the lemon/lime SERVING GALSS:HIGH LAVEL GRADING OF THE VODKA: AGING OF THE VODKA: CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE VODKA: THE NAME OF THE VODKA: SMIRNOFF BLACK SMIRNOFF TWIST LEVEL STOLICHNAYA CIROC ROBERTO CAVALLI ULUVKA Belvedere Grey goose COCKTAILS BAISED ON THE VODKA: Screw deriver Bloody maryy Bikini Vodka tini PRESENTS MARKETS OF THE VODKA: FUTURES OF THE VODKA:
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is far and away the most popular spirit category in America, accounting for more than 20% of all distilled spirits consumption. It is defined by government regulations as a spirit without any distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. Vodka is essentially an unaged neutral spirit that can be distilled from just about anything fermentable. Although the legendary potato is used in the production of some vodka, most brands today, including the imported ones, are made from grain...any grain, including rye, wheat and barley, but principally corn. Vodka in most Slavic languages means "water". (Sometimes it's spelled "Woda", but the pronunciation is the same.) The word "Vodka" translates literally as "dear little water", an affectionate diminutive for this clean, tasteless spirit that blends with virtually any beverage. As with Whiskey, the historic origin of Vodka remains in question. The Russians and the Poles are just two national groups that claim the distinction of discovering how to produce Vodka. There are several others, and as the map of Eastern Europe continues to change, other national groups may lay claim to being the originator of Vodka. One thing is certain, however: Vodka originated somewhere in Northern and Eastern Europe and several sources note it's arrival in Russia as early as the 14th century. Americans knew next to nothing about Vodka before the 1930's and what they did know consisted mainly of impressions gleaned from Russian novels and old movies about Czarist Russia. Consumers weren't really aware of Vodka until after World War II.
PRODUCTIONS The key to distillation is the separation of alcohol from the water content of fermented liquid. Because water freezes at a higher temperature than alcohol, the Eastern Europeans were able to separate the alcohol by freezing fermented liquid during the winter months. As a result they were left with a drink with a higher strength than that produced by fermentation alone. This was the earliest method of producing stronger spirit in Eastern Europe. The techniques of distillation didn't spread from the west until the fifteenth century. From that time to the mid nineteenth century all Vodka was made in a pot-still using local natural resources such as wheat, barley, ryes, potatoes and rice. A mash was created by heating the grain to release the starch for conversion into sugar. The sweet liquid was allowed to ferment naturally before distilling. Gradually Vodkamaking in Eastern Europe was refined. In the beginning Vodka was the product of a
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single distillation to a relatively low proof, but distillers soon learned the benefits of two or more distillations on product quality. Extra distillations mean the final spirit has a higher strength and greater purity. Next the Eastern Europeans introduced filtration to improve the purity of the spirit further. This was carried out initially with felt or river sand, but in the late eighteenth century charcoal began to be used. The filtration standards established at that time remain to this day. With the invention of the continuous still in the last century, distillers were able to produce Vodka to a very high proof in a continuous operation. Most Vodka has no color and carries only the clean aroma and character of pure spirit from the still. It has a characteristically light and very slightly oily texture. Different brands have their own characteristics and have been made over the centuries to a variety of styles. There is a long heritage of making flavored Vodkas in Eastern Europe. This goes back to the days home distillation, when Vodka was flavored with herbs, spices and fruit. Nowadays natural flavorings such as cherry, lime, lemon, orange, mint, etc., are added in the final distillation.
Introductions: The Aztecs did not invent tequila. The one thing that held them back was thefailure to discover the secret of distillation. The Aztecs did, however, drink an alcoholic beveragecalled "Pulque" by the Spaniards."Pulque" was made by cutting offthe flower stalk of the agave plant before it had a chance to bloom, then hollowing out the base of the plantand allowing the cavity to fill with sweet, milky plant sap. With no place to go,the juice would collect there and ferment in a sort of murky, foulsmelling wine. The Spaniards tried bringing in grapes and grainsto recreate alcoholic beverages popular in Europe, but they wouldn't grow in the semiarid areaswhere the agave plant thrived. The Spaniards didn't like the taste of Pulque,so they tried distilling it.After experimenting with different types of agave, they finally produced a drinkable spirit,which they called "Mezcal".Tequila is not made from cactus. The confusion is common becausevarious agave species are often confused with cacti. (Agave leaves are succulent, rather than the stems, as in cactus). About 125 years ago, several of the distillers around the town of Tequila, in the central Mexican state of Jalisco, began making a superior form of
TEQUILA
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Mezcal.They used the whole heart of a specific variety of agave indigenous to the region;the Blue Agave.Today only spirits made within the confinesof this region can bear the name Tequila,with one exception (Chinaco).If produced elsewhere, it must be called Mezcal. productions:Blue Agave is no longer a wild plant,but has become a carefully cultured species. On average, agave plants are about ten years oldbefore they can be harvested for tequila production. The juicy core of the plant, which resembles a large pineapple, is harvested. Called the "pina" (Spanish for pineapple),the core which sometimes weighsupward of 100 pounds is trimmed,cut into chunks, then baked in huge steam ovens.A sweet juice (Aguamiel or honey juice) is extracted by steaming and compressing the pina.The juice is fermented for several days and then distilled at a low proof.It is then double distilled to a powerful 110 proof.Tequila isreduced to 80 proof with water before bottling.Some tequila is aged in wood; Gold and "Anejo",and some is bottled clear; the White and Silver.The Gold tequila rests in large oak vatsfor about nine months to one year,where it acquires a pale gold color.By law, tequila, designated "Anejo",must be aged a minimum of one year in wood,however, it is usually aged in smaller oak barrelsfor at least three years and sometimes up to seven.There are now premium mezcals made in the manner of tequila but produced outside of the Tequila region.Some mezcal is produced with an agave root worm in the bottle as a mark of authenticity. THE HISTORY OF TEQUILA: TEQUILA PRODUCING COUNTRIES: SERVING STYLES: SERVING GALSS: GRADING OF THE TEQUILA: AGING OF THE TEQUILA: CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE TEQUILA: WHITE/SILVER GOLD ANEJO SOME OF THE NAME OF THE TEQUILA: DON JULIO PATRON RESPOSADO 1800 SILVER JOSE CUERVA RESPOSADO PATRON ANEJO TAPATIO ANEJO RESPOSANDO PEPE HOPEZ ANEJO
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COCKTAILS BAISED ON THE TEQUILA: MARGARITA SUNRISE SLEEPERY NIPPLE PRESENTS MARKETS OF THE TEQUILA: FUTURES OF THE TEQUILA
WHITE LABEL GOLD LABEL Liquer Liquor APPERTIF
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Today's article is about water. What type of water should you be drinking? Dr. Christopher answers that question for you as he describes the 10 different types of water.
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Writing in Food, Yearbook of the U.S., Department of Agriculture, 1959, Dr. Oaf Michelsen of the National Institute of Health, tells us:
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Next to oxygen, water is the most important factor for survival of man and animals. A person can do without food for five weeks or more, but without water he can survive for only a few days." Allen E. Banik, O.D., with Carlson Wade in the book "Your Water and Your Health" (Keats Publishing Co., Connecticut 06840, 1974) gives us a listing of the ten basic kinds of water;

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