Lesson 1: Spirits
Making Spirits & What the Heck is Proof?
Before we look at specific spirits, we need to understand the common steps in making any alcoholic beverage.
1) The first step always begins by either:
- making a mash by grinding up one of three things and mixing it with water:
- whole grains like corn or rye
- malts, i.e. sprouted grains, which are dried
- other plants like sugar cane, agave, potatoes, etc.
or
- squeezing fruit for its juice
2) The next step is fermentation. This converts the natural plant sugars to alcohol. Fruit juice will ferment naturally over time when left exposed to the yeast or bacteria found in the open air, or, as is usually the case, the yeast is artificially introduced. To start fermenting mash, it is first soaked in hot water. The yeast and bacteria are then introduced into the mash.
The yeast and bacteria break down large sugar or starch molecules, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. This is, incidentally, the same thing that happens to bread during its rising process.
These two steps are common with spirits, beer, and wine - but making hard liquor or spirits requires a further step - distillation.
3) Distillation, which was perfected by the Arabs, is a method used to capture and concentrate the alcohol developed in fermentation. The fermented mash or fruit juice solution is brought to a boiling point in an apparatus called a still. A still is usually either a hollow vertical column or a pot with a long, very narrow spout, both are designed to capture and condense the vapor coming off a boiling liquid.
Since alcohol has a lower boiling point than the other components of fermented juice or mash, the first vapor generated will be largely alcohol, which is captured and siphoned off from the mixture. It is later added back to some of the original liquid thus materially increasing its alcohol content.
So What is Proof?
Distillation, if repeated to the ultimate, will result in a liquid which is pure alcohol or “200 proof.” The proof number is twice the actual alcoholic content of the liquid expressed as a percentage. Thus “100 proof” rum contains 50% alcohol, or “80 proof” whiskey means the bottle contains 40% alcohol. The word “proof” used to be the only way that the alcoholic content of liquor in the U.S. was described, and the term is still widely spread.
There is an interesting history behind the usage and definition of “proof.” In Britain, skeptical buyers needed a way to test or prove the quality of the liquor they were purchasing. They developed a testing method that required the liquid to be mixed with gunpowder. The mixture was then held over a flame. The gunpowder ignited only when the percentage of alcohol in the liquid was 50% or better. So the liquor was considered entirely “proved” when its alcoholic content was at least 50%.
Outside of the U.S., most other countries no longer measure alcohol content by proof, but use a measurement called ABV, or “alcohol by volume”, also known as the Gay-Lussac system. The alcohol content is stated as a percentage of the total liquid, so a 40% ABV spirit contains 40% alcohol. Since liquor is sold internationally, most labels now will list both ABV and Proof.
While a few liquors, especially some rums, are bottled at higher than 100 proof (50% ABV) - most liquor is 80 proof (40% ABV). However, you do need to note the proof when consuming any new spirit with which you’re unfamiliar. Many manufacturers make different proofs using similar labels, which may not always make the difference evident. The Bacardi web site, for example, describes its Bacardi 151 brand as “one that lives on the wild side” but doesn’t ever actually state that the name “151” means it’s 151% proof or 75% ABV.
