Liquor

Flavor and volume are two separate things. There is a trend towards smaller batch products being more flavorsome, but when they become popular, they will still maintain their flavor while reaching scale.
 
Transcript: "It's an interesting question insofar as the whole notion of flavour and volume. And from my viewpoint, they are two completely separate things. There is a trend towards smaller batch, which just happens to be more flavoursome, if you like. But ultimately, what will happen is that when these smaller brands do become more popular, through really good branding and marketing and building up your own tribe and getting their characteristics known out in the marketplace, ultimately these products then become at scale. So what that means is that you can have what started off as a flavoursome, small batch type product, and then when it reaches scale, it still needs to be flavoursome. And it still needs to be pretty much the way it was before it went to scale. So what that actually means is that at the moment there is a trend towards more flavoursome, if you like, more flavoursome gins, which suppress juniper to a certain extent, which just happen to be small batch. Ultimately, with the popularity of these batches improves and increases, they will also become large scale."

Single malt whiskey is legally defined by its criteria of using multiple barley and being distilled in a single distillery with pot stills. It must also be stored in barrels of no larger than 7,700 L for it to be classified as a single malt whiskey.
 
Transcript: "The significance of the term single malt whiskey is actually designated specifically if we look at the situation in Scotland in legislation. So the whole key with being a single malt whiskey is that it's legally defined, there's a certain set of criteria associated with it, but the major thing is that it uses malt barley and it's distilled at a single distillery in pot stills. So those are the major criteria. There's other criteria as well, so for example, you can bring a malt and barley in from different places, you can't use exogenous enzymes, it's got to be distilled to 94.8% or no more than that, it's got to be stored in barrels of no larger than 700 litres, but the actual distinction of single malt whiskey is legislatively important and it's determined by the use of a single site and the use of pot stills."

Pot stills are used to make alcohol with high flavor and low strength, while column stills are used to create higher strength and lower flavor.
 
Transcript: "Pot stills and column stills do have different processes and different sets of equipment that you can apply in the distilling process overall. The key to making that distinction is that a pot still, let's look at a pot still with no columns. What that means is, sorry, no columns, with no plates. If there's a pot still with no plates, then that means you get lots of flavor. The more plates you have, which is in a column, the less flavor you get. So what that means is, for example, the extreme of that is when you want to make vodka or neutral spirit that's flavorless and neutral, you need lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of columns, lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of plates. So those are the two biggest differences between the two. It also means that you can distill to a far higher proof or alcohol by volume if you use columns, but it means that it loses character. So you get high strength, low character with columns, and you get high flavor, low strength with pot stills."

The development of a liquor's flavor profile is heavily dependent on the maturation process. Maturation involves oxidization, extraction from the wood, and esterification which are all crucial to change the liquid coming off the still into one that has a unique flavor profile. Distillers look for the particular spirit that matches the length and maturity level of the maturation process to achieve their desired flavor profile.
 
Transcript: "What are your thoughts on the role of aging and the development of a liquor's flavor profile? Well, I don't really use the word aging, I use the word maturation because what you're looking for is the maturation of the spirit that you're working with. You'll have to excuse me, I'm sweaty, I just got out of the garden, this is how I'm taking my breaks. So anyways, what I mean by that is the balance of the raw material from raw material through fermentation and distillation into the barrel and maturation, that blend and balance, right? The yin and yang that you're after. And there's a difference between age and maturity for sure when it comes to any spirit out there. So you can have a 30 year old whiskey that's trash, trust me, you can have them, they exist. You can have a 20 year old whiskey that's trash, you can have a two year old bourbon that's fantastic, believe it or not. It's all about that blend and balance and it's based on what kind of barrels that you use, what kind of casks that you use, right? What kind of char they have, what kind of toast they have, if they had something in them previously, right? And going in and actually sampling through those barrels and looking for what you expect to be the characteristic of the spirit that you are producing. So for me there's a big difference again between age and maturity, right? I'm not ever going to release something because it's a certain age. I'm only ever going to release something because it's reached a certain maturity and it's reached certain characteristics I'm looking for. The maturity level or the maturation process is all about oxidization as well as extraction from the wood, as well as esterification, the changing of long chain fatty acids into new and different compounds. All the way down to the extent that the liquid that comes off the still chemically is not the same liquid that comes out of the barrel after a few years of maturation. It has changed entirely in its profile and its chemical composition. They share DNA, yes, but they're no longer the same liquid. That's true alchemy and that's really what I'm looking at as a distiller. I'm looking for what matches the particular spirit when it comes to maturation based on not only the length but the actual maturity level and the flavor profile."

Sake is brewed and shochu is distilled, resulting in a different flavor for each. Sake has more flavor notes than shochu due to its brewing process.
 
Transcript: "The differences between sake and shochu are pretty clear and straightforward. So sake is essentially a brewed beverage, so it's made from rice wine, and shochu is a distilled beverage, which is made from various base materials to produce a sugary liquid that gets fermented and is purified through the distillation process. What that means is that shochu has a, generally speaking, a cleaner type flavor to it, so cleaner flavor notes, whereas sake, by nature of its brewing production and such, has probably got a lot more flavorsome characteristics to it. They are two completely different things made two completely different ways from two different types of base ingredients following different processes. So in summary, sake is brewed, and shochu is distilled."

The selection of grind can have a major influence on the final product profile and taste. Grain provides sugary liquid as the starting point, but fermentation and distillation help to hone down flavors. The skill of the distiller also plays an important role in selecting the right shots, hearts and tails.
 
Transcript: "The selection of grain can have a major influence on what the final product profile or the taste of that product will be. Now it's not so much to do with the grain, but the processing that takes place when you create a sugary liquid from that grain. So the grain that produces sugary liquids for barley and rye, which and other materials, even things like potatoes or bison grass or whey or anything like that, produces a sugary liquid that's one part. And then it's the use of a particular yeast under certain conditions that generally delivers the flavors that would be attributed to the grain. So the grain is a source of sugary liquid. It's the fermentation process and the selection of yeast that then determines what those flavors will be. And then the distillation process through two steps in that case actually helps to hone down which flavors that become predominant. That's the skill of the distiller, determining four shots, hearts and tails."