Cocktail Recipes

Spirit Guide

Vodka
Vodka is a clear spirit, usually distilled from grain. Fermented, distilled to a high proof, filtered, diluted, and bottled. Many varieties of schnapps are like this too, so they're in this list as well.

If you're a schnapps purist, please forgive my vodka-centrism. Also included here are flavoured vodkas and some vodka-based liqueurs as well.

Akvavit (or aquavit), though named like whisky (the water of life), is pretty much flavoured vodka. The home of vodka is north-eastern Europe, with various countries (usually Poland or Russia) claiming the invention of vodka.

Whatever the case, I find that the best vodkas are Polish, with Russian and Finnish vodkas close behind. You might prefer Western-style vodkas with less-flavour.

And how to drink it? Straight, and in company. Keep the bottle in the freezer if you want. Friends, a bottle, a table and a few glasses are all you need.

Western tradition, unable to cope with as much strong drink, usually insists on mixing spirits. Vodka, with its unobtrusiveness, is an ideal mixer.

Vital to Black Russians, vodka-tinis, screwdrivers and many others, also goes well with everything from cola to coffee.


Gin
Gin is a flavoured white spirit. All gin is flavoured with juniper berries, and usually other things too, like lemon, coriander seeds, and so on. Unlike liqueurs, where flavourings are added to the distilled spirits,

gin is made by re-distilling the spirit with the flavourings, either with the flavouring ingredients in the still, or by passing the vapour through the flavouring agents during distillation.

The name comes from genievre, French for juniper. There are two main styles of gin: English gin/dry gin/London gin/London dry gin and Dutch gin/sweet gin.

The best London dry gin we've tried is Bombay Sapphire, with Tanqueray a close second.


Rum
Fermented from sugar or molasses or other sugar industry by-products. Rum starts off clear; white rum remains so, while golden and dark rums gain colour from cask aging or added colouring.

Rum tends to be a tropical product, made in sugar cane growing areas, with the Caribbean islands being particularly famous for their rum. Here in the southern end of Queensland cane country, there's no shortage of rum.


Brandy
Brandies are distilled wines. Brandy can be used either specifically to refer to distillates of grape wines, or, more generally, to spirits distilled from any fermented fruit. Another generic term that can be used is eau de vie (French for water of life).

Some fruit liqueurs are labelled as brandies, but, not being distilled from fruit, aren't true brandies. The word brandy comes the Dutch word brandewijn, meaning burnt wine.

Brandy is often made from thin, harsh, acidic wine; bad wine can make good brandy.


Whisky
Whisky, simply put, is aged grain alcohol. Fermented from malt or grain, distilled and aged in wooden barrels. Whisky starts out as clear, and gets its colour from aging in wood. Sometimes, the spirit is filtered,

or other ingredients such as neutral spirit added. A straight whiskey has nothing else added to it. There are many different kinds of whiskys. If you want to be adventurous and try different ones, don't be put off by the occasional dud.

I've found that there is Scotch that I like, Scotch that I don't like, bourbon that I like, bourbon that I don't like, and so on. So far, I haven't found a rye that I don't like.

Whisky includes: bourbon, rye, Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, single malt whisky, Canadian whisky, corn whiskey, Tennessee whiskey.


Liqueurs
Add flavourings to a base spirit, and you have a liqueur. Usually sweetened, too. Grape spirit, brandy, neutral grain spirit, whisk(e)y, rum, whatever, can be used as the base.

The flavourings can be herbs, flowers, barks, roots, nuts, fruits, or even entirely artificial. Often regarded as the spirits for casual drinkers to drink, they offer a lot of variety.

Many traditional liqueurs started life as medicines. Gins are not liqueurs, since the flavouring isn't added to the final liquor.

Flavoured vodkas and akvavits are liqueurs (at least by the definition above), but are not usually considered as such (so they're in the vodka category).

About Spirits

Spirits are measured by the level of alcohol content. Different scales are used in different locations. Most countries use alcohol by volume (ABV), also known as the Gay-Lussac system, which expresses alcohol content in a percentage of the total liquid volume of the drink.

A 40% ABV spirit contains 40% alcohol. In the ASA, the proof scale of measurement is used, with the proof of a spirit being double the ABV.

Therefore 40% ABV spirit is 80 proof. A degree symbol is customarily used when expressing proof.


How Are Spirits Classified? Generally speaking, spirits are classified by the fermented material that they are distilled from. Whisky, Vodka, Gin and most types of Schnapps are made by distilling a type of beer made from grain.

Brandy is made from fermented grape juice, and Fruit Brandy is made from other fruits. Rum and Cane Spirits derive from fermented sugar cane juice or molasses.

Tequila and Mezcal come from the fermented pulp of the agave plant. Fortified wines are hybrid beverages in that they are a blend of fermented wine and distilled spirits (often Brandy).