Introduction to Alcoholic Beverages

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE– As per the Indian standard, alcoholic drinks are those drinks which contained alcohol from 0.5 to 42.8% v/v alcohol & as per world standard the range of alcoholic percentage are 0.5 to 95% v/v.

Fermentation– This is biological reaction in which sugar react with yeast at varied temperature (temp. varies as per alcoholic drink produced) & produced ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide gas, & energy. The maximum amount of alcohol produced will be 12% – 13 % because as percentage of alcohol rises the yeast gets killed by alcohol.

C₆ H₁₂ O₆  + YEAST = 2C₂ H ₅OH   +2 CO₂  + ENERGY

Distillation – Distilling is the process of separating two miscible liquid. This is done by heating wine (or another fermented alcoholic product) in a still at 78.3 ⁰C or 185°F (alcohol’s evaporation point). The alcohol evaporates (turns into a gas). These vapors passes through condenser and converted back to liquid. The newly formed liquid has been separated from most of the water, so it is now more concentrated in alcohol.

Congeners– Along with evaporated alcohol some minute particles are also transferred to resulting alcohol. These congeners are natural chemicals (phenol, aldehydes, acids, esters, minerals etc.) that are the part of original ingredient. The amount of congeners can be controlled in final product. Higher the proof, lower the congeners & vice versa. These congeners provides distinctive flavour to alcohol

ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH (PROOF) -The early distillers had a unique and entertaining method of determining the alcoholic strength of spirits. They would mix equal quantities of spirit and gunpowder and then apply a flame to it. When the mixture failed to ignite it was considered too weak; if it exploded or burned too brightly it was too strong, but if it burned evenly and had a mild blue flame it was ‘proved’ suitable’ and safe for humans to drink. Hence the words ‘proof’ originated.

• Bartholomew Sykes (Board of Excise- exchequer), introduced Sykes hydrometer in 1818. Sykes, in his wisdom, determined that 175⁰ ‘proof’ is equal to 100% v/v pure alcohol.
• French chemist Joseph Gay Lussac (1778-1850) invented a new system in which 100⁰ proof is equal to 100% v/v and was adopted throughout mainland Europe.
• The British have now abandoned the abstruse system introduced by Sykes. The new system known as OIML (Organisation Internationale de Metrologie Legale) expresses alcoholic strength as a percentage by volume of alcohol. It is very similar to the Gay-Lussac system except that OIML measures strength at 20⁰ C (68⁰ F) and Gay-Lussac does so at 15⁰ C (59⁰ F).

BRITISH         100⁰=57%v/v

U.S.A              200⁰=100%v/v

Gay Lussac     Follows metric system which that 40% GL means 40%v/v alcohol

OIML              Similar to GL system