Distilled spirits are the concentrated essence
of wine and beer. They’re the product of a
basic chemical fact: different substances boil
at different temperatures. The boiling point of
alcohol is about 173ºF/78ºC, well below
water’s 212ºF/100ºC. This means that if a
mixture of water and alcohol is heated, more
of the alcohol than the water will end up in the
vapor. That vapor can then be cooled and
condensed back into a liquid that has a higher
alcoholic content than the original beer or
wine.
Distilled spirits were first valued, and still
are, for their high alcohol content. But there’s
much more to them than their intoxicating
power. Like alcohol, the substances that give
wine and beer their aroma are also volatile: so
the same process that concentrates alcohol
also concentrates aroma. Distilled alcohols
are some of the most intensely flavorful foods
we have.
The History of Distilled Spirits