Today, we leave the wine (but not alcohol 😉 ) to talk about spirits: whisky, tequila, rum, … After drinking it a lot in my youth, I wanted to know what I had swallowed ! And there are some surprises !

Firstly, two little specifications:

– we call “spirits” the alcohols from the distillation. The boiling temperature of the ethanol (the drinkable alcohol) is lower than the one of water. So, when you heat the alcohol, you can recover that alcohol to produce a liquid more concentrated, the distill and the water stays in the boiler.

– the word “spirit” comes from the Latin “spiritus“, because liquid from the distillation, it could be the soul of the alcohol. Then, now I pretended to be more clever that I am, let’s go to the drinks and see how does it work !

Whisky: usually, it’s produced from the grains like barley, corn or rye. The latters contain the starch, a solid molecule, and not sugar like the grape. Then, this starch is turned in fermentescible sugar for the yeast !!! So, each country has their own making process: the Scottich whisky is distilled mainly from the malted barley, whereas the bourbon (United States) from the corn.

Rum: my favourite, the one I could give another blog, because it returned to me a lot between hangover and memorable parties ! So, the raw material of this precious drink is the black treacle, it means a residue of sugar (syrup, powder, …) from the sugar cane, if it’s an industrial rum. If it’s an agricultural rum, the base is the vesou, namely the juice from the sugar cane.

Vodka: this one, it was my first surpise when I learnt a little about its history. First, the word comes from the Slav “voda”, which means “little water”. I understand more why the Russian and the Polish drink it a lot if they consider it like water ! And more, the raw material using for that “water” is: everything !!! Sure, the majority is produced from the grains or potatoes (!?!), but everything is allowed. Well, we find some distilled vodka from rice, soyabeans, beetroot, … so, all you can make in your garden ! In fact, the distillation degree is so high that the characteristic of the raw material disappears. In the same time, it’s not so bad, because alcohol of potatoes

Tequila: the man above cuts the blue agave, it means the plant using to elaborate the tequila. But not anyone: the one from a demarcated and regulated area by the law, in the middle of Mexico. Then, it exists differents tequilas because, as the golden, are not oaked or colored with toffee and others, as the reposado or anejo, are oaked. Hombres, we don’t laugh with the tequila !

Gin: last, if the rum is my favourite, the gin is my obsessive fear ! Here, it’s a basic spirit, dry and neutral, to which we add aromas. If the coriander or the peel lemon exist, the most common is the juniper ! So, no more “gin party” of my life !

There, I hope that the fragrance of this article didn’t turn your head. As for me, a glass of rum is waiting for me…cheers !