• 9 Basic Types of Wine

    9 Basic Types of Wine

    Wine has a lot to do with style. Before each harvest, winemakers have to decide which direction they are going to take in order to produce their preferred drink. Below is a list of the most important styles of wine, resulting from a number of different production techniques... Read More
  • 19 Best Foods In Brazil

    19 Best Foods In Brazil

    Eating in Brazil is an absolute pleasure. Just like the country itself, Brazilian cuisine is vibrant, colorful, diverse, and exciting. Brazil is a vast country and the food vary greatly from region to region... Read More
  • 20 Great Cocktail Recipes You Should Know

    20 Great Cocktail Recipes You Should Know

    Here are all the great cocktail recipes and alcoholic drinks you should know how to make, from the margarita to the whiskey sour. For traditionalists who like to keep things simple, these tried-and-true recipes will guarantee your drink is made perfectly... Read More
  • Cherry Biscuit Cobbler

    Cherry Biscuit Cobbler

    Why choose between shortcakes and cobbler when you can have one dessert that combines the best of both? The lemony cherry filling is topped with shortcake-inspired cream biscuits (so tender, so light!) that soak up all of those fruit juices without getting soggy... Read More
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  • 1 Different Types of Beer
  • 2 Top 10 Persian Cuisines
  • 3 Healing Chicken and Rice Soup
  • 4 Best Ever Steak And Eggs
  • 5 The 19 Best Sauce Recipes
  • 6 Tuna Salad With Crispy Chickpeas
  • 7 Chocolate Mousse and Marshmallow Icing S'mores Cake Recipe
  • 8 15 Famous Italian Foods You Must Try
  • 9 Blueberry Cheesecake Squares
  • 10 The Best Vodka Mixers
  • 11 Classic homemade burger recipe
  • 12 Best Angel Food Cake
  • Different Types of Beer

    Beer has a long and rich history, dating back millennia and playing a vital role in the early development of human civilization. As its influence has spread, beer itself has changed, resulting in hundreds of different varieties that are enjoyed around the world. The question of how many types of beer styles there are..
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  • Top 10 Persian Cuisines

    Persian food is one of the most delicious food that you can try in your life. If you are a food lover, actually it's impossible if you haven't heard about Qormeh Sabzi or Iranian Kebab or other delicious Iranian food. The truth is Persian food is famous between the travelers who visit Iran and sometimes it is the reason that many tourists travel to this country...
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  • Healing Chicken and Rice Soup

    Things I want you to know about healing chicken and rice soup: it is limey, salty, and so fresh. It’s super satisfying thanks to juicy and garlic-ginger-infused chicken thighs and tender jasmine rice, and it can be (read: should be) loaded with fresh herbs and peanuts and more lime juice...
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  • Best Ever Steak And Eggs

    It doesn’t require too much of a cook time and you won’t really need a meat thermometer either. And while that steak is resting, go ahead and fry your eggs in that same cast iron skillet. If fried eggs are not your jam, scrambled eggs are also perfect here. Just be sure to drizzle that fresh herb sauce everywhere...
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  • The 19 Best Sauce Recipes

    Is there anything in this world that's not made better by sauce? Definitely not. Because if you don't already know: sauce is life. Slather these on sandwiches, drizzle them on salads, pour them over pasta - the options are endless...
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  • Tuna Salad With Crispy Chickpeas

    Tuna salad deserves more than to be dolloped on dressed greens for lunch. Some pan-fried chickpeas and the crunch from endive improve things tremendously...
    Read More
  • Chocolate Mousse and Marshmallow Icing S'mores Cake Recipe

    Borrowing all the classic flavors of a campfire s'more, the Ideas in Food team creates a graham cracker cake that's flavored with browned butter, layered with a dulce de leche-spiked chocolate mousse, and topped with a toasted bourbon-marshmallow icing...
    Read More
  • 15 Famous Italian Foods You Must Try

    The most difficult thing about eating in Italy is that you can’t try everything. Traditional Italian food is arguably the most popular and well known cuisine in Europe and indeed the entire world. Typical Italian ingredients, methods and dishes influence other palettes...
    Read More
  • Blueberry Cheesecake Squares

    Looking for a wonderful dessert? Then check out these delicious cheesecake squares topped with blueberries...
    Read More
  • The Best Vodka Mixers

    Figuring out the right mixer to use to turn this liquor into a libation can be daunting when all you really want is a drink. So to uncomplicate your aperol hour, here are the best vodka mixers for a classic vodka cocktail. In each of the cases below, we recommend a two- (or three)-to-one ratio of mixer to vodka...
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  • Classic homemade burger recipe

    This super easy homemade beef burger recipe gives you delicious patties, packed with onions and herbs for extra flavour, that are perfect for topping with cheese, lettuce and tomato, and sandwiching between floury buns...
    Read More
  • Best Angel Food Cake

    Angel food cake is so simple, but the specific ingredients and equipment matter. Yes, you do have to use a tube pan and cake flour, and yes, you do need to sift the dry ingredients and cool the pan upside down. But it all pays off in this cloud-like cake with just the right amount of sweetness. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes...
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Spices & Herbs

A Complete List of Spices & Herbs

We've put together the ultimate reference guide filled with a global list of spices, from the basics to the hard-to-find. 

Read More


Similarities & Differences Between Hard Liquors

Gin, Rum, Tequila, Vodka, and Whiskey

There are more similarities than differences between hard liquors or spirits...

Read More
  • Different Types of Bread

    Get to know the different types of bread all over the world. Learn about the distinguishing characteristics for each and how the different cultures enjoy them as part of their diet.

    Bread is the most widely consumed food in the world and has been a staple food since the earliest times. There’s evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe that the early man used starch extracts, possibly from the roots of cattails and ferns, to make flatbread...

    Read More
  • Light and Airy Cherry Cheesecake

    Step away from the supermarket cheesecake, especially if you have the time to make it yourself! Preparing a traditional rich and creamy cheesecake is simple and straightforward using our easy-to-follow instructions.

    We suggest preparing this recipe at least seven hours before serving. This way, your cheesecake can get nice and cold overnight. This recipe contains a smaller amount of cream cheese for texture and a greater amount of...

    Read More
  • Chickpea Pancakes With Greens and Cheese

    These cheesy, green-y, and utterly satisfying chickpea pancakes were inspired by Healthyish contributor Aliza Abarbanel’s favorite work-from-home comfort lunch. “I’ve filled these pancakes with just about every leftover in the fridge, from cooked greens to roasted mushrooms to marinated lentils, but melty cheese remains a constant,” she says.

    Gluten-free and packed with protein, chickpea flour pancakes come in...

    Read More
  • The 10 Most Popular Types of Wine

    Although there are hundreds of different grape varietals, there are 10 wine types that are known as the most popular in the United States. Here is a brief description of each.

    Most wine-serving establishments in America will have these wine types, but there are many great varietals beyond the ten listed below. Region, cultivation style and climate all make each varietal different, which is why wine is such a fascinating beverage...

    Read More
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Eggnog Panna Cotta with Rum Soaked Raisins and Pecans Learn More

The 6 Main Types of Distilled Spirits Learn More

14 Types of Peppers you should Know Learn More

 
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Classic Vanilla Flan

Desserts

Dessert lovers will delight in the creamy vanilla custard accented with a hint of cinnamon and lemon, swimming in luscious caramel sauce.



Chocolate fudge cake

Chocolate cakes

This fantastically easy chocolate fudge cake is rich, moist and treacly with a glossy ganache finish.


The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Cookies

Classic chocolate chip cookies level up with brown butter and chopped chocolate.  Chewy chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges, a rich flavor...



Hawaiian pizza

pizza

If you like pineapple, add a ray of sunshine to your week with a cheeky Hawaiian pizza. It’s easy to make your own pizza...

Similarities and Differences Between Hard Liquors: Gin, Rum, Tequila, Vodka, and Whiskey

Similarities and Differences Between Hard Liquors: Gin, Rum, Tequila, Vodka, and Whiskey
 
There are more similarities than differences between hard liquors or spirits. Gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey/whisky all make great cocktails, for example.
All spirits are made by roughly the same process. Something sugary is fermented, during which yeast convert sugars to alcohol, and then distilled. Distillation is the process of bringing the fermented mash to a warm temperature and collecting the vaporized liquid. More of the alcohol, which has a lower boiling point, will evaporate than the water, so you get your high proof spirit. Some spirits are then aged or undergo some other special process and finally additional water is often added to achieve the desired strength, and the liquor is bottled. The things that change between liquors are what the initial sugary substance is, if and how it is aged, and other special things that happen along the way. Other factors, like the method if distillation, effect the flavor, but don't effect what type of liquor is made.

 

What Is Liquor?

Liquor is made through the distillation of a fermented mash bill. The concentrated end product (pure ethanol) is then used in a multitude of different ways to create diverse flavor profiles. Whiskey, for example, begins as liquor and then is aged in new, charred American oak barrels. There are a variety of ways to make gin, but adding herbs and spices to flavor the ethanol is a consistent process amongst all gins.

The alcohol by volume (ABV) content of gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey (also spelled whisky) varies, but to be considered a "liquor" and not a "liqueur," the ABV must be over approximately 35%. They are all commonly referred to as hard alcohol.

 

 

Fermentation and Distillation

  • The production process includes fermentation and distillation through a continuous column or pot stills.
  • With the exception of rum and tequila, gin, vodka, and whiskey/whisky are fermented from various grains. Gin is made from corn, wheat, barley, or rye. Vodka is made from barley, wheat, rye, corn, rice, or sorghum (some producers even use soy, potato, beets, or molasses). Whiskey/whisky is made from corn, rye, wheat, or barley. Rum comes primarily from molasses (the by-product once sugar has been extracted from sugar cane) but also sugar cane syrup, sugar cane juice, or beet sugar. Tequila is fermented from the blue agave plant.
  • Before fermentation and distillation, the grains of gin, vodka, and whiskey/whisky are crushed then combined with water and boiled, or steeped into hot water to make a mash. Sugar cane is crushed to extract the juice, which is then boiled to a concentrate, and turned into a thick liquid before the sugar and molasses are separated. Agave is baked then the juice or “pina” is extracted for fermentation.

 

More Similarities

  • Gin, for example, was used to treat kidney ailments, then scurvy, and later as a stimulant for the Dutch military.
  • Some of their blends are aged in new or old wooden barrels/casks (tequila is also aged in stainless steel vats). The length of the aging period depends on the flavor, body, and color producers want to create.
  • They are infused with various herbs, fruits, and other botanicals to create new blends. For example, producers add coriander, lemongrass, ginger, rosemary, hot chili peppers, anise, chamomile, mint, cinnamon, cardamom, tamarind, citrus peels, berries, grapes, watermelon, peach, mango, almond, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, or honey. They use one botanical or combinations of them. Gin producers must include juniper berries regardless of what other botanical(s) they use.
  • Blends can be dry or sweet, light to full-bodied, and clear to various shades of brown.
  • Each of them was called many different names. Gin was called Hollands, genever or the Dutch jenever because of the juniper berries. Rum was saccharum, which is Latin for “sugar,” rhum in French, ron in Spanish, demon and kill-devil in the English Commonwealth, and rumbullion. Tequila was octli in Aztec, and pulque. Vodka was aqua vitae in Latin for “water for life,” voda in Russian for “water,” bread wine, burnt wine, bitter wine, and distilled wine. Whiskey was known as uisce breatha or uisage breatha in Gaelic for “water of life,” poteen, moonshine, and white lightning.
  • They each have various distinct classifications. Gin is classified as distilled or compound. It is also classified as London Dry, Old Tom, Plymouth, or Dutch. Rum can be grouped as light, dark, or flavored/spiced. It also grouped as Jamaican, French, Spanish, or Demerana. Tequila’s classification is mixto (mixed) or 100% agave. It is also classified as Blanco, Resposado, or Anejo. Vodka is grouped as neutral or flavored. And whiskey/whisky is classified as malt or grain, and also Irish, Scotch, American, or Canadian.
  • They are great for making cocktails. For example, gin is used in the classics Tom Collins, gimlet, and gin and tonic. Rum is used in the piña colada, daiquiri, mai-tai, and mojito. Tequila is found in the margarita, tequila sunrise, and diablo. Vodka is in cosmopolitan, Bloody Mary, screwdriver, and White Russian. Whiskey/whisky is in the Manhattan, rusty nail, mint julep, and whiskey sour.

 

Geographical Origins of Different Liquors

  • These five hard-core liquors or spirits, as they are also called, originate from different parts of the world. Though gin is the national spirit of England, it originated in 17th-century Holland. The British military was responsible for introducing it.
  • Rum production began in Asia some 3,000 years ago because sugar cane is native to that region. It reached the Caribbean, today’s major producers, in the 15th century through Portuguese and Spanish explorers including Christopher Columbus, and 17th-century slave traders who used it to barter.
  • Tequila is a Mexican original. In fact, the spirit must be made in Mexico to be called tequila. The agave comes from the town of Jalisco. Native Aztecs were the first to ferment it. By law, tequila must contain 51% agave.
  • Vodka, Russia, and Poland’s national drink have three countries laying claim. Russia says it was discovered by Russian monks around 1100 AD. Poland says they made it in the Middle Ages. And Sweden says they invented it in the 15th century.
  • The origin of whiskey/whisky is contended by Ireland and Scotland. Notes found in a 1405 journal favor the Irish. Written evidence supporting Scotland’s claim was discovered in 1494.
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