Alcoholic Origins

Question 1

Gin (Gods Nectar)

Answer 1

• Ingredients: Grains (Barley,Corn,Rye)
• Flavor: Derived from juniper berries, herbs and spices.
• Date: mid 17th century
• Origin: Amsterdam (Dutch)
• Backstory: Herbal medicine, developed on the basis of Jenever

Also, drinking Gin makes you a sick cunt and extends your life by like at least 20 years…

Question 2

Vodka

Answer 2

• Ingredients: Originally potatoes, Currently Barley,Wheat,Rye)
• Flavor: Products vary
• Date: Arguable > Poland 8th century or area of todays Russia 9th century
• Origin: Eastern Europe
• Backstory: Medicinal

Question 3

Rum

Answer 3

• Ingredients: Sugarcane juices or sugarcane byproducts like molasses.
• Flavor: Aged in oak barrels
• Date: First true distillation = 17th century
• Origin: Caribbean – Island of Barbados
• Backstory:
• Sidenote: Light rum for cocktails, golden/dark are consumed individually

Question 4

Whiskey/Whisky

Answer 4

• Ingredients: Fermented grains (Barley,Corn,Rye,Wheat)
• Flavor: Aged in Oak casks generally white oak
• Date: 1405
• Origin: Ireland
• Single malt whisky: is whisky from a single distillery made from a mash that uses only one particular malted grain.
• Blended malt whisky: is a mixture of single malt whiskies from different distilleries.
• Blended whisky: is made from a mixture of different types of whisky.
• Cask strength: (also known as barrel proof) whiskies are rare, and usually only the very best whiskies are bottled in this way. They are bottled from the cask undiluted or only lightly diluted
• Single cask: (also known as single barrel) whiskies are bottled from an individual cask, and often the bottles are labelled with specific barrel and bottle numbers.
• Bourbon whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% corn (maize) MUST BE AGED IN CHARRED OAK!
• Corn whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 80% corn
• Malt whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted barley
• Rye whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% rye
• Rye malt whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted rye
• Wheat whiskey—made from mash that consists of at least 51% wheat

Question 5

Tequila

Answer 5

• Ingredients: Blue agave plant
• Flavor: Blue agaves grown in the highlands region are larger in size and sweeter in aroma and taste. Agaves harvested in the lowlands, on the other hand, have a more herbaceous fragrance and flavor.
• Date: 16th century
• Origin: Mexico: highlands of Jalisco/ area surrounding Tequila
• Backstory:

Question 6

Brandy/cognac

Answer 6

• Ingredients: Distilled wine
• Flavor: Aged in wooden casks and/or coloured with caramel colouring
• Date: origins tied to development of distillation > significant production = 15th century
• Origin: Netherlands
• Backstory: Initially wine was distilled for preservation/merchant transport. Storing in wooden casks resulted in a surprisingly improved product
• Cognac: French brandy named after the town of Cognac. Made from specified grapes (Ugni blanc = most common). Must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged two years min in french oak barrels from Limousin or Troncais

Question 7

Wine

Answer 7

• Ingredients: Fermented grapes or other fruits
• Flavor: fermented ingredient
• Date: 6000 BC
• Origin: Georgia > Reached Balkans by 4500BC and was consumed in ancient Greece and Rome.
• Backstory:

Question 8

Champagne

Answer 8

• Ingredients: Grapes from Champagne in France
• Flavor: Grapes used
• Date: 1690s
• Origin: Champagne
• Backstory: “Sparkling” champagne was the result of reintroducing the cork stopper and shipping champagne from a cold Champagne to a warmer England. The cold of Champagen halted the fermentation process and the warm of England restarted it, resulting in carbon dioxide gas in the shipping bottles.

Question 9

Vermouth

Answer 9

• Ingredients: Fortified wine (wine to which a distilled spirit is added, usually brandy)
• Flavor: Various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, spices)
• Date: Originally 1250-1000 BC, however modern production started in the mid to late 18th century
• Origin: China – Medicinal wine with aromatic botanicals… go figure
• Backstory: Medicinal

Question 10

Beer

Answer 10

• Ingredients: Saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar
• Flavor: Hops (female flowers of the hops plant). Herbs or fruit may occasionally be included
• Date: 5th millennium BC
• Origin: Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
• Backstory: The invention of bread and/or beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity’s ability to develop technology and build civilization.