StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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comprised of higher alcohols that are the spirit is distilled from. If it sounds equally disagreeable. Using the middle like the raw material was shipped from portion, or "heart" of the run, is optipoint A to point B in freight cars, it's mum. Some distillers use a far smaller likely not a boutique spirit. slice of the middle portion than others. • Tradecraft. Most—if not all— The smaller the slice used, the more distillers of handcrafted spirits will costly the production run. make a point of stating that they used • Aging. Some types of spirits are left traditional techniques to make their unaged, such as gin and vodka, while products. High-tech production methothers like brandies, whiskeys, some ods are quite effective at producing high tequilas and rums, require maturation quantities of alcohol, but not necessariin wood to reach their full potential. ly high-class spirits. For example, when Over its stay in the barrel, the alcohol is making tequila, the traditional techniques include crushing the agaves with L'Essence de Courvoisier is a drawn into the wood and then out again rare combination of blends, depending on the ambient temperature a tahona wheel and baking the plants in consisting of more than 100 clay ovens. It's a slow, laborious process. eaux-de-vies from top crus in and humidity. The process slowly transforms the spirit. The wood imbues it While there are high-tech alternatives the cognac region. It comes with flavor and color and gradually softavailable to producers, they haven't in a handmade Baccarat decanter and retails for ens its character. been proven to yield better results. approximately $3,000. The type of wood it's aged in is a huge • Water Source. The fact of the matter is, the largest ingredient in any distilled spirit factor. American white oak is different than French under 100 proof is water. A whiskey bottled at 80 proof Limousin oak and they affect spirits differently. The size of (40% alcohol by volume) contains 60% water, so the the barrels alters the amount of surface area the alcohol has quality and taste of the water is a huge variable. [The one with the wood. Naturally, how long the alcohol stays in the notable exception is spirits labeled as "cask strength." barrel is also a significant variable. Remember this, there is They are bottled undiluted directly from the barrel and a moment in the aging cycle when a spirit has reached its therefore do not contain water.] Suppliers of boutique peak. Removing it from the barrel before this is largely spirits make a point of identifying the source of the water done for financial considerations and a rush to get the spirused in production, such as limestone filtered spring it on the market sooner. Leaving it in the barrel well past water, glacial water and underground aquifer well water. it's reached its peak yields diminishing returns and invari• Fermentation. Fermentation is the process through ably dulls its character. Another trend in the business is to finish a which the sugars in a raw ingredient are conspirit's maturation in a different type of barrel. verted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The catSo a spirit may spend eight years in charred alyst is yeast, which may be a proprietary strain American oak barrels used previously to age especially developed for that purpose, or wild, bourbon and then another year or so in anothnaturally occurring yeast present in the air. One er type of cask—for example a port pipe, isn't necessarily better than the other. However, Sherry butt, Madeira cask, or even one previmost handcrafted spirits are allowed to ferment ously used to age cognac or Caribbean rum. All slowly over the course of 48-72 hours. will yield an entirely different finished spirit. • Distillation. Although there are some In the final analysis, taste is the real measure exceptions, the vast majority of artisanal spirof a spirit's greatness. A particular brand may its are distilled in traditional copper pot stills. have a laudable pedigree and its makers may The capacity and exact configuration of the have done everything true to form. However, individual still is a significant variable and by the end of the process the spirit may fade to often a well-kept secret. Two stills configured something little more than average in the glass. differently will yield markedly different spirits The taste test is the great equalizer. from the same fermented mash. Another quality variable is what portion of the distillation run the master distiller selects for Hennessy Black Upselling Brandy and Cognac bottling. The beginning portion of the run— was added to the top-selling called the "heads"—contains aldehydes, esters Hennessey he most important key to upand acids that are unfit for consumption, while Cognac line a selling cognacs and brandies is the end of the run—referred to as the "tails"—is few years ago. emphasizing the region in which T 22 StateWays I www.stateways.com I November/December 2013