Alcoholic Beverages
All ethanol contained in alcoholic beverages (including ethanol produced by carbonic maceration) is produced by means of fermentation induced by yeast.
- Wine is produced by fermentation of the natural sugars present in grapes and other kinds of fruit.
- Mead is produced by fermentation of the natural sugars present in honey.
- Beer, whiskey, and vodka are produced by fermentation of grain starches that have been converted to sugar by the enzyme amylase, which is present in grain kernels that have been germinated.
- Rum is produced by fermentation of sugarcane.
In all cases, fermentation must take place in a vessel that allows carbon dioxide to escape but prevents outside air from coming in. This is because exposure to oxygen would prevent the formation of ethanol.
Read more about this topic: Ethanol Fermentation
Famous quotes containing the word alcoholic:
“The alcoholic trance is not just a haze, as though the eyes were also unshaven. It is not a mere buzzing in the ears, a dizziness or disturbance of balance. One arrives in the garden again, at nursery time, when the gentle animals are fed and in all the world there are only toys.”
—William Gass (b. 1924)