ABV (Alcohol by Volume) & Proof
ABV is short for Alcohol by Volume. In spirits, wine, beer, etc. it’s the percentage of the drink that’s pure alcohol.
Proof is 2X ABV, so a drink that’s 50% ABV like Bottled in Bond Whisky, is 100 proof. In …
Archives
Bottled in Bond
Back in 1897 the United States government passed the “Bottled in Bond” act to try to counter the massive problem of counterfit American whiskey. Prior to the passage of the act, “straight” whiskies were adulterated with tobacco, iodine, methanol, and …
Pot Still
Pot Stills are used to make malt whisky, Cognac and funky Jamaican rums, to name just a few spirits. They work in batches, i.e. you need to load stills full of wash or spirt, run them, then reload them. Column …
Dosage
Dosage is the practice of adding sugar to an alcoholic spirit. Dosage is common in Champagne (brut, demi sec, etc. delineate how much sugar is added), and in some styles of rum. Is adding sugar to rum a good thing? …
Age Statement and No Age Statement
In American and Scotch whiskies, an age statement is a declaration of the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle. Age statements in these two countries are strictly enforced, so you can rely on their accuracy. This is also …
Chill filtered and un-chill filtered
Chill filtration is the process of removing and esters from whisky immediately after distilling. This is done for aesthetic reasons, as whiskies that haven’t been chill filtered can get cloudy when the whisky is chilled after bottling. This happens only …
Peated & Unpeated
Peat is partially decayed organic matter and vegetation that turns solid and combustible over the course of thousands of years. It’s harvested in bricks from bogs, dried out, and taken to distilleries where it’s burned to dry malted barley.
…