Liquor and Whiskey Production: From Fermentation to Bottling
The liquor industry, considered from a global point of view, appears very fragmented. This is evident from the large number of manufacturers and the variety of packaging methods, production processes, and finished products.
What is Liquor?
Flavored-alcohol beverages are obtained by maceration, infusion, or distillation of various natural plant substances, flavored with distilled spirits, or by the addition of extracts, essences, and aromas allowed, or a combination of both, colored or not, with a generous amount of sugar.
Distilled spirits may be obtained from many materials, within which are fermented cereal grains, fermented fruit juices, sugarcane juice, molasses, honey, and cactus juice.
Dawn of the Spirits
Spirits were initially developed in the Middle Ages by alchemists as physical and medicinal remedies, love potions, aphrodisiacs, and cures for various problems.
Liquor production dates back to ancient times. Written documents attribute it to the time of Hippocrates, who said that the elderly distilled herbs and plants, in particular for their ability to cure diseases or as invigoration.
Liquor Production Process
Alcoholic beverages are divided into two processes depending on the method of preparation:
- Fermented beverages like wine and beer
- Distilled spirits like whiskey and brandy
The production of distilled spirits includes the following steps: receiving the material, grinding, cooking, fermentation, distillation, storage, blending, and bottling.
Phases of Liquor Production
- The grain elevator receives and weighs the grain that comes in and puts it in appropriate containers.
- The molienda consists of grinding the grain necessary for the vat to brace the beer fermentation process.
- The cookers mix the flour from the mill and pasta with the remaining grain, water, and ammonia with a specific pH (acidity) and temperature.
- Fermentation is the process by which sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast action.
The rate of distillation depends on the desired liquor. Generally, mud stills are used when you want to give the product a special “character”, such as cognac and whiskey. In general, multicolumn continuous distillation is used to produce more neutral spirits, which are used as mixtures or as neutral cereal liquors.
The different types of whiskey, brandy, and rum are aged (matured) in burnt oak barrels.
Maturation takes place over a number of years to get the final features that distinguish these products.
Bottling rooms are separated from other facilities to protect the product from any potential contaminant.
Packaging is the final step before storage. This process is automated, although a small amount is packaged manually, depending on the bottle and the package type.
Whiskey
A drink from Ireland, produced by fermentation of grasses: barley, corn, rye, wheat, oats, rice, etc. Distilled by evaporation of several stills for 2 years.
The term whiskey or whisky (in the U.S. and Ireland) derives from the Gaelic “uisge beatha” and the Irish Gaelic “Uisce beathadh” which means, in both cases, “water of life.”
It is the alcoholic beverage obtained by distillation of the ferment of ground cereal grains and aged in wooden casks (traditionally white oak). Graduation, according to its producer, ranges between 35 and 50 degrees.
Whiskey Production Process
The process of making whiskey is divided into 8 steps:
- Grain Collection: Raw materials are cereal grains, including rye, corn, wheat, and barley.
The process starts with the cleaning of barley, which is stripped of all its impurities and dust. It is then soaked with water, leaving it to germinate for 12 to 15 days. (Barley containing a lot of starch and low protein is preferred).
- Malting: When the barley grain comes into contact with water, it begins to germinate and is then dried. (This is what we call malt or barley malt).
From there, it is carried to the ovens for drying. This operation is done with the purpose of giving the barley a smoky taste, which is obtained by using peat charcoal.
This step is a difference between malt whiskey and grain whiskey, as the latter does not perform this process, which is why it is cheaper.
- Drying: Dried at 70°C to stop growth.
The dried buds are separated for use as livestock feed.
Whiskey is made from a mixture of barley and malted barley. The latter is dried in a closed kiln with hot air to keep the flavor.
The malt is dried with a peat fire, giving the final whiskey a characteristic smoky flavor.
- Grinding (Wort): The exact quantities of barley and malted barley are crushed until a thick dough called grinding, which is mixed with pure water in a container called a “Mash Tun.”
This sugar solution, called wort, is extracted from the beans and pumped into another container called a “Washback.”
- Fermentation: The sugar solution called wort is added to liquid yeast, producing fermentation and transforming all sugars into alcohol. At this point, it is ready to enter the distillation process.
- Distillation: To obtain malt whiskey, distillation is needed twice: first, the wash is distilled to obtain a first liquor, which is again distilled to finally obtain whiskey.
- Alembic: The alembic, called a Pot-Still, is the device used for the distillation of liquids through a process of evaporation by heating and subsequent condensation by cooling.
- Aging or Maturation: This process is the result of distillation called “spirit,” which is used for maturation in oak barrels made by coopers, where they mature for years without any disruption in huge, flavored, dark tanks.
- Blending: This step is to mix different types of whiskey for a particular flavor and is made by the panelists after the ripening process has come to an end.
- Packaging: Once aged, malt whiskey can be bottled as such or mixed with grain whiskey to give the “blended” variety. Grain whiskey is never consumed as such but is always mixed with malt whiskey.
Types of Whiskey
The two basic categories of Scotch whiskey are blended or combined and single malt or unmixed.
- Unmixed whiskey is produced from a single grain or a combination of grains if one of them represents at least 51% of the total.
- Blended whiskey can be made from several different distilleries, grain types, and different methods of distillation.
In general, single malt whiskey flavor is intense and full of character, while blended whiskey is smooth and silky.