Distilled beverage: Encyclopedia II - Distilled beverage - Background

Distilled beverage - Background

Beer and wine are generally limited to a maximum alcohol content of about 15 percent by volume, beyond which yeast is adversely affected and cannot ferment; although in recent years high alcohol tolerant yeast strains have been used with special brewing techniques to increase this maximum up to about 23%. Alcohol levels higher than 15% have historically been obtained in a number of ways. Wine heated in an animal bladder draws out water and leaves alcohol behind (the bladder has a natural property which removes water), but there is no evidence this method was used before modern times. Another method, called freeze distillation, involves freezing the alcoholic beverage and removing water crystals, a method which has been known to have been in use in central Asia, known as the "Mongolian still", as early as the 7th century (Needham, 1980). In Europe and North America, this method was used to make applejack from cider. However the freezing method had limitations in geography and implementation and thus did not have widespread use. This leaves the method of distillation from which most of the history of potable spirits is drawn.

In contemporary references, 'spirits' generally refers to alcohol that is not sugar heavy (as with many liqueurs), and has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of approximately 35% (70 proof)or higher. As an example, a spirit refers to gin, vodka, rum, cognac, tequila, sake.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Background", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki