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What About Hard Liquor?
What about all the different kinds of hard liquor? We have so many favorite mixed drinks made from combinations of hard liquor. Lets look at the different kinds there are and learn a little bit about them.
| Let’s start with the hard liquor called Rum. Rum and sugar have a long history. Rum is really a by-product of sugar. Follow the trail of sugar from Indonesia, to Asia and on to India, to the Middle East and North Africa to the Canary and Azores Islands. Then Christopher Columbus took sugar cane cuttings to Hispaniola, the island in the Caribbean that is now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. |
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The Caribbean had an ideal climate for growing sugar cane, and quickly spread around the islands. The demand for sugar led to plantations and mills. These mills crushed the cane and extracted the juice. Boiling this juice caused chunks of crystallized sugar to form. The remaining juice was called became molasses. It was when the molasses mixed with water and left out in the sun it would ferment. By the mid 1600 it was being distilled in what became known as rum bullion. Later this became shortened to Rum. Rum was used as cure-all for many of the aches and pains.Some of the favorite drinks here are Rum& Coke, Pina Colada, MaiTai.
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What about the hard liquor known as whiskey. Whiskey is nothing more than a spirit distilled from fermented grains such as corn, rye, wheat, malted barely or malted rye grain and aged in wood for any where from2 to 6 years or more. This all determined by the type of whiskey being made and the country. The difference between the three hard liquors whiskey, bourbon and scotch is. Bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn and aged in new, charred oak barrels. Scotch must be distilled and aged in Scotland and uses malted barley. Often peat is burned to dry the barley during the malting process. This is what gives many Scotches their tell tale characteristics. A few favorites are On The Rocks, Manhattan, Whiskey Sour, Irsh Coffee.
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The next hard liquor to look at is Gin. Gin is also referred to as mother’s ruin. Gin is a juniper berry-flavored white grain spirit. Gin production in the United States dates back to colonial times. But Gin became a real favorite during Prohibition in 1920. Moonshine quickly filled in the gap left by the shutdown of commercial distilleries. The nature of illicit distilling worked against whiskies, all of which required some aging in oak casks. Bootleggers just didn’t have time to age illegal whisky. Gin did not require any aging, and was easy to make by mixing raw alcohol with juniper berry extract and other flavorings and spices in a large container such as a bathtub. These gins were of poor quality and taste. This is what brought on the popularity of cocktails. Mixers served to disguise the taste of the Gin. Gin remained the dominant white spirit in the United States until the rise of Vodka in the 1960s. It still remains popular, helped along recently by the revived popularity of the Martini. Name a flavor its now a Martini. Rastini, Bluetini, Gin& Tonic.
| It might say wine club but they have an extensive selections of hard liquors. Check out their spirits and liquors under their products. |
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The hard liquor from Russia is Vodka. All Vodka comes out of the still as a clear, colorless spirit, neutral spirits, so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. In American Vodka is, by law, neutral in taste, there are only very subtle distinctions between brands. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus produce the full range of Vodka types, and are generally acknowledged to be the leaders in Vodka production. Only the better brands, all of which are distilled from rye and wheat, are exported to the West.Have you tried Vodka Tonic, White Russian, Mudslide?
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Let’s head south of the border and check out the hard liquor Mexico offers- Tequila! Tequila is made by distilling the fermented juice of agave plants in Mexico. The agave is a spiky-leafed member of the lily family, not cactus. By Mexican law the agave spirit called Tequila can be made only from one particular type of agave, the blue agave and can be produced only in specifically designated geographic areas, primarily the state of Jalisco in west-central Mexico. Tequila does not ever have a worm in it. Mezcal, also made from agave, not the blue agave, is the drink with the worm. The worm can be consumed without harm. Straight Tequila with lime and salt, Margarita, Tequila Sunrise, all delicious hard liquor drinks made with tequila.
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