Generic Distilled Spirits

Distilled spirits are alcohol-containing beverages with low or no extractive content with or without flavour addition. 

Generally speaking there are two basic processing techniques applied in the production of distilled spirits  

Raw materials can be mainly described with the following criteria  

In the case of neutral spirits, the intention is to optimally purify the distillate and therefore separate aromatic components, such as fermentation by-products (fusel oils), as much as possible and to ideally obtain absolutely neutral ethyl alcohol. Today s most common raw materials for the production of beverage alcohol are potatoes, grain and molasses. For the fermentation, so-called distillers yeasts, in particular top-fermenting yeast types are used. Since the measures are not sterile and increased temperatures accelerate the fermentation process, the yeast strains must provide good fermentation capabilities such as high resistency against alcohol, acidity and increased temperatures. 

The conversion of starch into fermentable sugars is mainly based on enzymes, naturally occurring in malt. After the starch conversion has been achieved, the temperature of the mash is decreased to approximately 30°C and the yeast (often bakery yeast) is added. 

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