The world of spirits is vast and complex; you may have looked at the drinks menu at a restaurant and been lost in the long list of options that are in front of you.
While everyone out there has their own favorite drink, it can be difficult for a young person who’s never drunk before or someone who’s only ever had one type of alcohol to learn the differences between every type to try and find out what their favorite option is.
We’ll explain the differences between a few different types of alcohol below to give you an idea of not only how they’re made but also which ones you may enjoy.
Some of The Most Common Types of Alcohol
If you do decide to sample any of what’s mentioned in this article, be sure to drink responsibly, or you may find yourself discovering the required proof in an employer’s intoxication defense.
Wine
At its most basic, wine is pretty simple: any drink made by fermenting fruit juice is wine. The most common fruit used for this is grapes, so if the label doesn’t specify what fruit makes the wine, you can safely assume that the main ingredient is some species of wine grape. This grape difference is important to understand because the grapes you eat at home are much larger and less sweet than wine grapes.
They also have almost no seeds, which wine grapes are full of. Basically, if you accidentally get wine grapes somehow instead of the grapes you’re used to, you’ll likely notice before you even reach the checkout.
When you look at a bottle of wine or wine on the menu at a restaurant, there is one more thing that is vital to understand about wine: it can be made with juice from multiple types of grapes. If a wine is made from mostly one type of grape, you’ll know by its name.
When you find a wine that shares a name with a species of grape, the main ingredient is juice from that grape. If you’re looking at wine while in the store keep in mind that cooking wine is very different from regular wine and it may not always be a great idea to drink it.
Beer
Even if you know nothing about alcohol, you’re familiar with beer. While it can be made by fermenting any grain, it is usually made with barley specifically. Barley grains that have become malt (germinated and roasted) are heated in water in a mash tun, which creates wort. Hops are then boiled in the wort. Yeast is added once it’s cool and when the yeast is done, the batch is stored in tanks.
Beer has been made for centuries and therefore has a lot of varieties. The most simple ones are made as outlined above and nothing else really changes between being stored, bottled and served. Other beers have extra additives such as fruit juice. Even with these additives, it is likely the simplest alcohol out there and is the most popular as a result.
Whiskey
Whiskey and beer have one thing in common: they’re both made with grains. However, the grains that typically make up whiskey are crushed into a flour-like substance and the grains that are used result in wildly different drinks.
Whiskey goes by many names as a result, from scotch to bourbon. Another difference between beer and whiskey is that almost all whiskey is aged in barrels specifically, which also has an affect on the flavor.
Each type of whiskey is also aged for a different period of time. The quickest one is bourbon because it only needs to be in the barrel for only about a day. Scotch, meanwhile, needs to be aged for at least three years. Keep this in mind the next time you enjoy some; it takes a lot of time and care to reach your glass.
Vodka
Each type of alcohol we’ve mentioned so far has its own unique flavor and color provided by its ingredients. While this is still true of vodka, it’s more out of shock value than anything else.
Vodka is clear and has little flavor of its own. It can be made from one of four ingredients: the familiar wheat and barley, corn, or the one you most likely already guessed, potatoes. Both the color and flavor come from the drink being distilled once it reaches a certain alcohol by volume level.
This is why vodka is used in so many cocktails. It adds an alcoholic kick and unique texture without adding much of anything in the flavor department save for the occasional weak undertone or aftertaste.
A ton can be mixed with vodka to delicious results, from tomato juice to create a savory bloody mary to the bitter and slightly sour vodka tonic made from tonic water and a dash of lemon or lime juice.
Rum
Anyone who enjoys pirates or the book Treasure Island will be familiar with the saying, “Yo, Ho, Ho! (And a Bottle of Rum).” Once you get a taste of rum, you’ll completely understand why they sang about it.
Every alcohol mentioned so far has been made by fermenting either grains, potatoes or fruits, but rum production ditches all of those ways of obtaining sugar by being made from sugarcane directly, though molasses and syrups can also be used.
The resulting alcohol is sweet and has a deep amber color as a result. They are aged in wooden barrels, just like whiskey, and take anywhere from three to ten years to age depending on the climate it’s aged in. Rum is also easy to flavor and the flavors are only becoming more popular, so you may have heard of at least spiced rum before.
Alcohol is a fascinating subject. From the history of each drink into the different ingredients and brewing techniques to even the various colors and flavors, there’s something for everyone to enjoy no matter their palette or alcohol experience.
