*Production, Style & Quality Flashcards
Fermentation produces 3 things…
- Alcohol (mainly ethanol) to about 10% ABV
- CO2
- Flavours, aka “Congeners” (including Esters)
Distillation serves to concentrate 2 things:
- Alchohol (Ethanol) from c.8%-10% to between 75% and 96%
2. Specific congeners (flavours)
Post-distillation tweaking serves what purposes?
‘Batch consistency’
Ensuring that the spirit is identical to previous bottlings…
Colour, sweetness, ABV, aroma.
Food for yeast comes in two forms…
- Naturally occurring sugar (cane, grapes)
2. Converted complex carbohydrates (malting or cooking in the case of agave)
Congeners derived from fermentation come from (2)
- Either from the fermentation itself, called “Esters”
2. From the the raw materials
How are consistent esters achieved from one fermentation to the next?
Specially selected yeasts
- With a Pot Still, the first distillation raises the ABV to roughly what?
- The collected liquid is called?
- 25% - 30%
2. The “Low Wines”
Why is the first distillation carried on for several hours until the condensate has fallen from c.50% down to 1% ABV?
To ensure that the lovely congeners also make it out of the still, along with some water which dilutes the condensate to 25% - 30%
Pot distilled spirits have a medium to pronounced aroma intensity because?
There are loads of congeners that pot-stilling cannot separate from the ethanol heart.
Remember that heads and tails from the previous 2nd Distillation have been added to the Pot Still for precisely this reason: to enable the capture of positive congeners always present, but hitherto uncaptured, in the heads and tails of the previous distillation.
At what ABV does a column still’s spirit become so congener free that it can legally be called “Neutral” in
- The USA
- The EU
From 95% in the USA
From 96% in the EU
So the EU is kind of Soixante-Neuf…
What feature of a column still determines the highest ABV it can make?
The number plates, and therefore the height.
What are the post-distillation processes - in the correct order!
(M)(A) (B)esht (F)riend
- Maturation
- Adding (other) flavours
- Blending
- Finishing
MABF - Ma Besht Friend
Maturation in oak achieves 4 things:
COCS
Adding: Colour Oxygenation Concentration Smoothing
COCS
(yeah, ho! ho!)
Barrel maturation adds colour. What are the 4 colours?
Lemon, Gold, Amber and eventually Brown.
What are the commonest early oak matured congeners found?
Vanilla, coconut, cinnamon, clove
VCCC
- How do “Rancio” characteristics develop?
2. What are common Rancio flavours?
- Within an oak barrel, and given time.
Congeners react with each other and/or with oxygen. - Leather and mushroom.
A maturing spirit loses volume through evaporation.
What is this commonly called?
The Angels’ Share
Barrels of very old spirit can lose as how much to the thirsty Angels?
50%… or more.
Barrels for maturing spirits are charred on the inside.
How does this make the spirit smoother?
The ‘char’ (or ‘toast’) captures (filters out) harsh congeners
A distiller has 3 considerations when it comes to oak barrels.
They concern what?
ACT
- The (A)ge of the barrel
- It’s previous (C)ontents
- The (T)emperature the barrels are stored at whilst maturing the spirit
An old barrel affords greater levels of colour and flavour than a new one.
True or False?
False.
Quite the opposite.
Scottish whiskies are often finished in old barrels used to mature other spirits.
Why?
The barrels retain significant traces of the previous spirit and this adds flavour and/or colour.
How does the storage temperature of a barrel affect the maturation process?
The higher the temperature, the quicker the maturation. Scottish whisky therefore matures more slowly that Kentucky whiskey.
What does maturing spirit in inert vessels (glass, stainless steel) give to a spirit. If anything?
Technically ‘unaged’, but the texture becomes smoother and more mouth-filling after a few months to years.
The colour remains unchanged.
- Very old Cognac is decanted into inert glass vessels called, what?
- For what purpose?
- Demijohns
2. Blending very expensive Cognacs.
Why blend spirits? (2)
To manage:
- consistency : variations between oak vessels can be considerable.
- complexity: a consistent complexity is attained blending old with the new.