History Of Distilled Alcohol

 History Of Distilled Alcohol

 

The invention of the process of distilling alcohol has not been precisely dated. Using erudite references, analysts have set up it hard to distinguish between simply fermented potables similar as beer and wine and the more potent potables produced by boiling off the alcohol from a fermented beverage and retrieving it in a still. References to a rice beer distilled into a rice brandy appear in China as early as 800B.C. The Greeks, Romans, and Arabs all supposedly produced distilled drinks, although the first clear references don't show up until after A.D. 100. In the 12th century, alchemists appertained to aqua vitae (Latin) eaude- vie (French) and uisge beatha (Gaelic) as terms for distilled alcohol. Aqua vitae generally pertained to a distillation of wine, or brandy, while the Gaelic uisge (pronounced wees- geh) is the origin of the word whisky, a beverage distilled from fermented barley.

    The Scots began distilling in the 15th century and produced three types of whisky. When it was made solely from barley, also malted, dried over peat fires, fermented, and also double distilled in alembics or pot stills, also developed in casks that had preliminarily held sherry, the performing beverage was known as a single malt or a singleton. When two whiskies, each from a single distillery, were brought together in a large jar, they were known as vatted whisky. Malt and grain whiskies combined were known as blended whisky. When additional barley was produced in a district than could be locally consumed, the surplus was turned into whisky for merchandise. One region in the Scottish Highlands that frequently produced similar liquid surpluses were the Speyside, the home of Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, among other whiskies.

     In France, the brandy made from Charente wines of the Cognac district was distilled to reduce the husky wine for transport aboard boat, with the notion that the brandy would be adulterated back to a lower alcohol content with water at the receiving end of the shipload. still, the brandy produced was far more palatable than the fairly sour or acidic Charente wines from which it was made, and drinking it neat or absolute made it a far more potent beverage. The term Cognac is extensively used, but appropriately refers only to distillation from a fairly small district around the cities Cognac and Jarnac on the Charente River.

    Italian acquavite, Spanish brandy from the Jerez district, and other brandies from Europe can trace their origins to the 17th century and earlier. Beforehand in the 19th century, alcohol production turned industrialized, enhancing on the traditional pot still, which consisted of a restricted boiler over heat with a condensing tube to draw off the alcohol vapor, to continuing still systems with the stills arranged in a column. In 1831, Aeneas Coffey in Ireland constructed one of the first multiple still systems, linking two columnar stills.

     Whisky, made from barley in Scotland, was modified in the United States, where other grains were used, specially corn and rye, and where the attendant libation was spelled whiskey. Bourbon deduced its name from the corn- based liquor made in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The decision to place a tax on corn whiskey in the 1790s produced a popular insurrection in the United States known as the Whiskey Rebellion. In Ireland, a blend of barley with wheat, oats, and rye produced a distinctive Irish whisky. In Canada, where whisky is spelled without the as in Scotland, a wide variety of grains are used, with the aim of producing a smooth beverage analogous to the Scotch whisky. In other regions, similar as Scandinavia, aquavit is made from either grain or potatoes, and savored with caraway seeds. Rum is produced from sugarcane, vodka from potatoes, gin from grain, and tequila from the Mexican century factory. Experience in the production of distilled alcoholic beverages contributed to the advancement of chemistry, and the methodologies carried over to the catalytic cracking of petroleum to produce lubricants and fuels.