This summer I took a trip to Pessione, Italy, the home of Martini vermouth. Pessione is a small town just outside of the city of Turin, in the northwestern part of Italy.
The distillery site was chosen as it is close the the railroad, though it is also close to both wine-growing and herb-growing regions. At the distillery, they produce not just vermouths, but also a range of sparkling wines.
They also produce more than that: 17 wine-based products and 12 spirits are made at the distillery altogether. But we were there to talk about vermouth.
Luckily, a series of signs made it easy to understand and explain.
Martini vermouths are a combination of wine, fortifying alcohol, herbs in the form of extracts and distillates, sugar, and coloring caramel for certain products. Then the vermouth is cold filtered.
The secret, of course, is in the combination of herbs, spices, flowers, roots, and bark that go into each type of vermouth.
These get into the vermouth either in the form of distillates (they are added to alcohol and distilled), or extracts (they are infused into alcohol).
Seventy percent of the botanicals used for the vermouths come from a local cooperative that we visited.
They have a lot of funky looking stills in the distillery. Click on the thumbnails below to see a few different ones.
To make extracts, they use rotary extractors. As you'll see in the chart below, some extracts are aged afterward.
In the new Gran Lusso vermouth, one of the extracts was aged for 8 years.
The extracts, distillates, wine, sugar, and caramel coloring (if used) are combined in gargantuan stainless steel tanks to blend. They are added in a certain order so that materials won't precipitate out of solution.
These resting rooms hold 5.6 million liters of vermouth on-site.
After blending, it's a 20 day process until bottling. They let the blend rest so that some stuff does precipitate out, then cold filter it, then bottle.
(Filtration nerd bonus: They use both .65 micron cellulose filters and diatomaceous earth to filter the wine).
Every day they make 400,000 liters of Martini vermouth in this facility.
In the next post, we'll look at some of the locally-grown herbs used to make Martini.
In my talk on sherry at Tales of the Cocktail, I was trying to summarize sherry in a way that makes it easy to understand what is in the bottles you find on shelves.
I think the three slides below get us pretty close (though I had 90 slides during the talk!). The last chart is the most important one if you want to skip ahead.
Sherry is aged in three ways:
With a layer of yeast called flor that floats on top of the wine in the barrel. This is biological aging. This sherry usually tastes yeasty, light, and often salty/ocean-influenced. Fino and Manzanilla sherries are exclusively aged biologically.
Explosed to air in the barrel. This is called oxidative aging. This sherry is darker in color and richer in flavor, tasting of leather, walnuts, and tobacco. Olorso sherries are exclusively aged oxidatively.
Or some of each. Amontillado and Palo Cortado sherries are aged first under biological and then oxidative aging; with Amontillado sherry spending more time under flor than Palo Cortado.
Each of these types of sherry can be unsweetened, or sweetened to different levels, and all are aged.
Sherry is not sweetned with sugar, but with naturally-sweet Pedro Ximenez (PX) and/or Moscatel wine made from those grape varietals respectively. These wines are aged in the solera system and are also sold on their own as sweet wines. Another sweet wine (that I've not seen on US store shelves) is Dulce sherry, which is a sweet wine made from any of or a combination of PX, Moscatel, and the Palomino grapes.
Oloroso, Amontillado, and Palo Cortado sherries are either dry (without a sweetness label) or labelled as Dry, Medium, or Cream.
Fino and Manzanilla sherries, when sweetened, are often sweetened with rectified wine musts instead of PX/Moscatel (because those wines are dark and would alter the color of the wine). These are called "Pale Cream" sherries.
Thanks to Sandeman sherry for providing this information.
When Fino and Manzanilla sherries are aged a long time (this is not easy to do, and more often the case with Manzanilla), they can be labelled as "Pasada," as in Manzanilla Pasada.
The other sherries can have average age statements (the solera aging and blending system makes exact age statements impossible). The only approved average ages allowed to be put on bottles are for 12, 15, 20 (VOS), and 30 (VORS) years of age.
Anada sherries, which are hard to find outside of Spain, are vintage-dated wines not aged in the solera sytem.
Finally, many/most Fino and Manzanilla sherries are filtered through carbon to make them light in color, though this will affect the flavor also. "En Rama" sherries are unfiltered (except to get rid of the flor).
So, putting it all together, I came up with this chart:
I hope all that makes sense.
For more information on sherry, check out all posts about sherry here on Alcademics, and Sherry.org has some great information as well.
We can then look at properties of bottled water from Scotland. Thanks to UisgeSource, we can look at the properties of Highland, Speyside, and Islay water that they collected. See this post for more details.
But as this water isn't available everywhere yet, we can look at their water analysis and try to find other bottled water that is somewhat close in pH level and mineral content.
For reference on mineral waters, I used the book Fine Waters, which I wrote about here and here and here. The mineral content for all mineral waters is available online, so you can look up other brands to see if they match Scottish waters. Fine Waters is a few years old, so it is possible the numbers have changed on some waters.
Also note that the UisgeSource numbers are approximate based on information on their website and tests I conducted at home.
The closest bottled waters to UisgeSource water are bolded. Note that I've never heard of any of those Islay-style water brands.
Update: If you want to help look for other bottled waters most resembling Islay waters, check out this ordered list by pH on MineralWaters.org and see if any waters that you have heard of are a good match for pH and TDS. And let me know!
So, should you want to try diluting whisky with different regional-style bottled waters, this should give you some starting points on how to do so.
The above images were taken from slides I presented at the Tales of the Cocktail convention in July 2013.
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The Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page.
It took a year, but they are finally releasing Noilly Prat Extra Dry on the US Market nationally, so now I'll explain the difference and Extra Dry and Original Dry.
From 1979 until 2009, the dry vermouth from Noilly Prat sold on the US market was called "French Dry Vermouth". It was different than the version sold in the rest of the world.
In 2009 they replaced this bottling with Original Dry, which was the version of Noilly Prat sold in the rest of the world.
Starting this summer, the former US version "French Dry Vermouth" will be called "Extra-Dry" and the Original Dry will also still be sold. So:
Original Dry = International Version
Extra Dry = US Version that was sold until 2009 and is now back on the market.
There are four production differences between Original Dry and Extra-Dry. In order to best understand them, it might be helpful to read about how Noilly Prat is made in general. Then read the below.
Differences between Noilly Prat Original Dry and Extra-Dry
Extra-Dry uses only clairette wine while Original Dry uses a combintation of clairette and picpoul. This is because clairette oxidizes less.
Extra-Dry uses less of the sweet mistelle wine, so it is, in fact, drier.
Both Original Dry and Extra-Dry use the same 20 herbs and spices, but in different ratios.
The wine for both Original Dry and Extra Dry is aged outdoors for one year, but after infusing that wine with herbs and spices, the Original Dry is aged an additional 6 weeks to 3 months. Extra Dry is bottled without this extra aging step.
Extra Dry tastes fruitier than the dry, and less woody. It is also clear as opposed to lightly yellow, and clearly intended for use as a mixer in Martinis and other cocktails. Original Dry can be mixed into cocktails or consumed on its own as an aperitif.
Hopefully soon both Original and Extra Dry will on store shelves again so you can compare the two side-by-side.
Noilly Prat Rouge is still on the market, and Noilly Prat Ambre will soon be available in major US cities.
John Jeffrey is the Head Distiller for Death's Door Spirits. He makes vodka, rum, and white whiskey and will be releasing aged whiskey in the future. The below information is what I learned from John and on my visits to other distilleries.
They run what I've been calling a pot-column hybrid still, though I'm sure there must be a better name for it. There is a pot on the bottom and then it is attached to one or several columns depending on how they configure it.
Part of the reason I proposed the seminar for Tales is that I would see these types of stills (usually in start-up or small distilleries) and dismiss them as being column stills in another form; or working just like other column stills.
However, these stills, unlike those for bourbon and rum/vodka, are not continuous stills but rather batch stills. You make a batch, then start over with a new batch; as opposed to the other stills that can run 24/7 without stopping.
In some of these stills, solids and liquids (beer with grains, fermented fruit chunks, etc) are put into the pot on the bottom. The pot separates out the solids from the liquids, as well as separates out water from alcohol. The mostly-alcohol vapors then go up through the column for rectification.
Stripping Column
At Death's Door, they don't put solids in the pot still though. They employ a separate 'stripping column', which is basically a bourbon column that separates the solids from the liquids as well as concentrates the alcohol a bit. (The column is mostly stainless steel, but as we talked about in the bourbon column post, the copper is important to have in the top of the column – you can see in the picture that the top of the stripping column is copper.)
Stripping column at Death's Door Spirits. Note copper at top of column.
Making Whiskey, Vodka, and Gin on One Still
This liquid alcohol then goes into the pot and is distilled. It is run through different columns depending on what product they're making. For whiskey, they don't run the alcohol over a ton of plates in several columns to remove all the flavor. However, they want to increase the amount of time the liquid spends in contact with copper in the column, so they run the vapor through one or more columns with no plates inside.
Death's Door Spirits Stills
Jeffrey said that for aged whiskey, they wouldn't do this, as many of the congeners break down over time in the barrel. But as they make unaged white whiskey, they want to get rid of more of those congeners right from the start.
For gin, they do not put botanicals into the pot still, but instead pack them into a different column (circled in pink below). The alcohol alone passes through the pot and column on top of it, then the refined vapors pass through the botanical column.
Gin botanical column circled in pink. Stripping column circled in blue.
In order to make vodka, they want a high-proof, clean spirit. Thus they refine the alcohol through several of the columns with lots of plates in them – over 40 plates in all. The two columns on the right are used for their vodka.
So that's what I think I know about this type of still. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll try to get them answered.
At the Tales of the Cocktail convention this year, I moderated a panel with three distillers who run column stills; one 5-column rum still, one continuous bourbon still, and one pot-column hybrid.
Liza Cordero is the Process Director for DonQ rum, made at the Serralles distillery in Puerto Rico. She runs a pretty gigantic 5-column still. It makes DonQ rum and also custom products for other brands. The information below is from the seminar as well as what I've learned in my distillery visits around the world.
The stills that make DonQ Rum
In my last post, we discussed how bourbon is made in a single column. The single bourbon column specializes in being continuous (as opposed to a batch-run pot still) and separating the alcohol from the water and from the solids in the low-alcohol beer that is put into it.
In a 5+ column still, this is also what is happening, but just in the first column or two. (It seems that columns can be split or divided in two according to purpose, or in some cases just to keep the height down so that airplanes don't hit them.) The center columns are for refinement of the spirit. The final column is for recycling of waste alcohols.
I can't claim to fully understand what is happening in each of the three middle columns exactly (yet!) but between the seminar, a detailed description of Grey Goose, and two Absolut vodka distillery visits it seems that the columns do five different things:
The first columns separate solids from liquids, and the alcohol from water. The alcohol can be partially refined in this column above the level at which the beer enters the still (as mentioned in the previous post).
In one (or more) columns they dilute the newly-distilled spirit with water and redistil it, and remove certain components. This is hydro-selection.
In another one (or two) rectification columns they take out other components – "high and low oils". At Grey Goose, this is split into two columns; one that uses pressure to separate components and another than uses a vacuum.
One column removes methanol from the final spirit.
Sometimes a final column captures waste alcohols pulled from other columns and processes them into a recyclable form.
So that's what I think I know about multi-column distillation for high-proof products like rum and vodka. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll try to get them answered.
At the Tales of the Cocktail convention this year, I moderated a panel with three distillers who run column stills; one 5-column rum still, one continuous bourbon still, and one pot-column hybrid.
Kevin Curtis is the Distillery Operations Manager for Michter's Whiskey. This company is building a new distillery with a continuous column still. He filled me (and the audience) in on how bourbon stills work. The below post is a combination of information gleaned from distillery visits, books, and Kevin's information at Tales.
The Purpose of a Bourbon Still
As opposed to some other types of stills, for bourbon the focus is not on getting a pure alcohol out of the still. By law, bourbon must not be distilled to above 80% alcohol by volume. The focus seems to be more on the continuous and stripping nature of the column still, as opposed to a discontinuous (batch) pot still.
Scotch Vs. Bourbon Distillation
More on that: If you know about single-malt scotch whisky, you'll note that it goes through a copper pot still. However, only liquids go into the still. Grains are fermented into beer, just like in bourbon, but in scotch the solids are separated from the liquid beer before going into the pot stills. In bourbon, the solids and liquids go into the still together (in practice; there is no law about this). In a pot still, one would have to be careful that the solids didn't burn against the still, making it even harder to clean than just scooping out the leftover solids.
A bourbon column still thus performs two functions: It separates the solids from the liquids, and it separates the liquids into mostly-alcohol (to keep) and mostly-water (to recycle).
How Liquid and Steam Moves Inside a Column Still
As you probably know, a column still is filled with perforated plates. The beer to be distilled is pumped in near the top of the column (but not at the very top), and steam is pumped up from the bottom of the column. While the plates are perforated, this lets the steam come up through the still, but the beer does not drip down through these holes. Rather, the beer runs across each plate to the other side, flows down to the next plate and flow across it to the other side.
The steam coming up through the column vaporizes the alcohol from the beer (which then flows to the top of the column), while leaving the water and grain solids to keep dripping down to the bottom. (As in every still, it is tuned so that the alcohol that has a lower boiling temperature evaporates off, leaving the water with its higher boiling point behind.)
Artwork by Camper English
The Top Part of the Still
As I mentioned, the beer initially doesn't enter the very top of the still but near the top. Above that point in the still, the steam is being rectified on those plates. It is up there where copper is crucial, and where you find "bubble caps" in stills. More on those:
Column stills can be built from stainless steel but there needs to be interaction with copper at some point. In other stills (as we'll see in a future post), the part of the still where beer is being separated and distilled is stainless, and where the steam is being rectified there is copper.
Bubble caps provide additional refinement of the spirit and increase contact with copper. Some other stills (I learned this at Absolut) are filled at the top with bits of shredded copper or copper pieces that look like jacks for similar reasons.
This also makes it easier to replace the copper at the top of the still or inside the top when needed, rather than the whole still column that can last for decades.
The Doubler or Thumper in Bourbon Distillation
Most bourbon undergoes a second distillation in a continuous pot still called a doubler of a thumper. Sometimes it looks just like a regular pot still. In other distilleries, it looks just like a flat-topped metal container- you wouldn't know it's doing anything.
In a doubler, the vapor off the column still is condensed back into liquid and this is run through the pot still. In a thumper, the vapor itself goes into the still to be redistilled (and makes a thumping sound that I've never heard but I associate with the sound of radiator pipes clanging in East Coast apartment buildings).
This second distillation is needed to raise the proof of the distilled spirit a little further, and this can be done in a pot still because there are no longer any solids to worry about. The waste product of the doubler/thumper is additional water.
The only other place I can recall seeing continuous pot stills was in Jamaica for Appleton rum. According to my tour guide at Jack Daniel's, they do not run a second distillation through a thumber/doubler at all. (see comments for a dispute on this)
Update: I was given permission to post this bourbon still schematic. You'll see that the beer goes into the still at Plate 15, the new-make spirit is condensed and sent to the pot still (doubler), then recondensed before entering the High Wine Tank at the end.
Anyway, that's what I think I know about column distillation in bourbon. If you have any additional questions (or corrections!) please let me know. In future posts, we'll look at other types of column stills and see how they work.
Though I often write for DiffordsGuide.com, this time editor Ian Cameron wrote about me, or rather, my talk on water at Tales of the Cocktail.
Some of the information in the seminar you may have read here previously on Alcademics as part of the Water Project, and some information from the talk is definitely new.
This write-up is a good summary of what happened at the talk, and stay tuned for more information in greater detail here on Alcademics.
Today, Friday July 12, is the last day to purchase online tickets for Tales of the Cocktail seminars. There are still plenty of seats in my Water World: Water in Spirits and Drinks seminar, and I encourage you to attend. It's going to blow your mouth.
In today's post I will go over what we'll taste in my seminar.
1. Bowmore 12 on its own.
2. Mountain Valley Spring water (flat).
3. Perrier (sparkling) on its own.
4. Bowmore 12 with just a few drops of flat mineral water added. What flavors change or become pronounced when we do this?
5. Water with whisky added on top of it. How does this smell different from water added to whisky? This is a a demonstration of Esterification/Saponification.
6. Swirl the last two cups. Do they now smell the same?
7. Add more mineral water to whisky, up to equal parts. How does the whisky continue to change. At what point does it go flat?
8. Add Magnesium salts to mineral water and stir. What does this water taste like?
9. Add this water to Bowmore 12. What flavors does this bring out in the whisky? Are those the same flavors as were in the Magnesium water, or different?
10. Add Calcium salts to mineral water and stir. What does this water taste like?
11. Add this water to Bowmore 12. What flavors does this bring out in the whisky? Are those the same flavors as were in the Calcium water, or different?
12. Now double up on those mineral waters. What do the waters taste like with lots of minerals? Better or Worse? Add more whisky to them. Still good?
13. Add a few drops of Perrier to Bowmore 12. What does this do to the whisky?
14. Add equal parts of Perrier to Bowmore 12, as in a highball. Now how does it taste?
I've gone through this tasting at home and with a victim friend, and the results are really fascinating. The mineral makeup and total amount of minerals influences the flavor of scotch whisky (and presumably other spirits) quite dramatically.
I hope that this will cause whiksy lovers in the audience not to rethink adding water to whisky at all, but to think, "Which is the best water to add to this particular dram?"
I hope to see you at the World World seminar, taking place on July 19th at 3:30PM in New Orleans.
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The Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page.
In my previous experiments with making colored ice balls, I found that the color from food coloring in water didn't evenly distribute, even though it made pretty patterns.
Surprised, I froze some of my own ice balls by filling the molds with juice – I tried grape juice, cranberry juice, and Vitamin Water.
All had nice and even color distribution. So this is a good trick for adding additional flavor to cocktails that slowly infuses into the drink over time.
An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.
