What makes you spirited? Do you like whiskey on the rocks or rum and coke is your drink? Different people like different types of alcohol as per their taste preferences. But seldom do we know what goes in our drinks- what they are made of. Here is what different alcohol is made of:
Wine
Wine is prepared by the fermentation of fruits, mostly grapes, with yeast. The yeast, in the absence of oxygen converts the sugar in the solution into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The more the sugar content in the grapes, the more alcoholic wine. Most wines contain 8-14% alcohol.
Beer
Most of us may not know but beer is the largest consumed alcoholic beverage. With 3-10 % of alcohol content, beer is the result of starch being fermented by yeast. This starch usually comes from malted barley or wheat which is stepped in water and then fermented. The entire process is called brewing.
Vodka
Vodka is made primarily by the distillation of fermented potatoes, grains or fruits. Among grains, vodka made from wheat and rye is considered better than the rest. It is also made by molasses, potato, beet, soya bean, grapes, rice and sugar. Vodka is originally a neutral spirit with 40% alcoholic content to be used in many cocktails, but artificial coloring and flavors are also added by its producers today.
Gin
The unique flavor of gin comes from the flavor of juniper berries. Gin may be made by double distilling an existing spirit with a mash of juniper berries and other elements.
Tequila
Tequila is made from the blue agave plant in the city of tequila and its surrounding areas in Jalisco, Mexico. The word Tequila has been granted to Mexico internationally, and Mexican law states that Tequila can be produced only in Jalisco.
Whiskey
Made by the fermentation of grains like corn, barley, malted barley, wheat, malted rye, rye etc. In its infancy, whiskey was not allowed to age much and thus was a coarser drink. Over time, whiskey attained its smooth quality. Contains 40% alcoholic content.
Rum
Rum is either made out of sugarcane juice or molasses, a sugarcane by product. The clear liquid is aged in barrels and the clear white liquid turns a darkish hue. Stories of fermentation of sugarcane first began in India, though the first time molasses was distilled was in the Caribbean. The largest selling dark rum in the world, Old Monk is an Indian product, made since 1954 in Uttar Pradesh!