Raspberry Wheat Beer Recipe
Argentinian Malbec
Wine, Liquor and Beer – Know the Difference?
Beer is made by Brewing grain (mainly barley, but wheat and rice are also used), into what is known as a wort. Yeast then converts the sugars in the Brew to ferment. Some light Beers most likely are just 3.2% Alcohol By Volume (ABV), while some strong ale is as high as 12%.
Wine is also made by fermentation, but of grape juice rather than a grain based wort. Grape juice is higher in sugar than the wort used in Beer Making. More sugar means more alcohol. Table wine runs from as little as 6% ABV (usually the sweet varieties of wine, with some residual sugar) up to as high as 17%. On the whole wine ranges from 11% to 15% ABV. Alcohol levels seem to have been getting higher over recent years, which is now an issue of controversy within the wine business.
The next step is fortified wine, like Port or Sherry. Brandy is added to the wines to increase the alcohol content. They may run from about 16% up to as high as 24% ABV.
Liquor refers to distilled spirits, and includes things like Brandy (Cognac, to provide an example) as well as Vodka, Gin, Scotch, Bourbon, etc. These spirits are able to be made into a liqueur that may have as little as 20% ABV (i.e. Frangelico, a blend of hazelnut, vanilla and cocoa extracts, alcohol, sugar, and water comes in at 24V). Then again, Everclear, grain alcohol, is 95% ABV, which is illegal in several states, including New York. Most liquor starts out at about 65% alcohol (which decreases as it ages in barrel) and is normally diluted to 40% – 50% ABV before bottling. Proof is a substitute for ABV when discussing the alcohol in liquor. Proof is exactly double the ABV. The Macallan, an extremely popular Single Malt Scotch, is 86 proof, 43% ABV.
Similar to beer, liquor starts off as wort (of grain or grape), but it is then distilled to improve the alcohol concentration. It is well known that when exposed to heat, alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water, so by heating the wort, the alcohol is able to be collected. Some water and other compounds are collected also – and these compounds include the flavor components many distillers are looking for.
Vodka is supposed to be neutral – no flavor components. Gin is vodka flavored with herbs and other botanicals. Makers of brown spirits like Scotch and Bourbon allow more flavor compounds to accumulate, though the brown color will likely be from the barrels used for aging, not through the distillate.
Differences in flavor among brown spirits are primarily through the grain used. Differences in flavor among Vodkas are usually through the water used, with slight differences caused by the type of grain, although it is not supposed to. Every Gin has its own recipe (those secret herbs and spices), and as such has a huge variation from one brand to another. Brandy, like Cognac and Armagnac, is created from grapes (the wort is really wine.) Eau de Vie is produced from other fruit, like raspberry (Framboise) or cherry (Kirsch).
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Raspberry Wheat Part1.m4v
