Techniques for Flavoring and Coloring Spirits Flashcards
Discovering the various ways spirits can be colored and flavored.
What does the term botanicals refer to?
Botanicals refers to an array of herbs and spices used by distillers.
When will maceration be used when adding flavors?
Macreation will be used if and when a producer wants to extract color and a fuller range of flavors from botanicals.
What is a tincture?
A spirit that has been flavored using maceration.
Describe the process of redistillation.
A diluted neutral spirit is placed in a pot still with fruits and botanicals, congeners from fruit and botanicals rise up as vapors (most volatile aromas come first) and then producers can control which aroma they want in the spirits.
What is a spirit that has been flavored using redistillation refered to as?
Distilate
What are purchased natural flavors?
Pre-prepared botanical flavorings that can be blended with alcohol.
What does cold-compounding refer to?
Cold compounding refers to artificial flavors that are blended into base spirit to create the final product.
What two ways can coloring be done?
- Using natural plant extracts through maceration
- Artificial colors (chemical dyes)
What are the two types of flavors that can be added to spirits?
- Natural - fruits and botanicals
- Artificial - manmade to mimic natural flavors
What is the process called in which botanicals are soaked in a spirit for a period of time?
Maceration
Why may it be important to use a pot still where a vaccuum is created when using the process of redistillation to introduce botanicals to a spirit?
In a vacuum, liquids boil at a lower temperature.
Some botanical flavors can be damaged by high heat, this process protects those flavors.
An example of this is cucumber, which does not react well to heat.
What is one problem producers may have using natural coloring when producing spirits?
Color extracted from plants can be unstable and may result in color differences between bottles.
Botanicals can be placed in what to make it easier to extract the botanicals from the solution when done macerating?
Large bags, similar to a tea bag.
