Most fine distilled spirits (scotch, cognac, amaerican bourbon) are triple-distilled. It would seem to me that such a process would leave very little excepet for alcohol and water.Chemeists (coorect me if Im wrong) know that an alcohol-water mixture cannot be distilled above 95% alcohol (190 proof) because the water-alcohol mix is azeotropic. So, why distill 3 times? Now, after the distillation, you have a very strong mixture of alcohol and water-you now age the mixture in charred oak barrels. It seems that most of the flavor of these spirits comes from various sugars and oils leached from these barrels. So why does it matter what you start from (wine in the case of cognac, beer in the case of whiskey)?
Seesm like you could make whisket from plain old vodka-what am i missing?
Bourbon is usually only double distilled. By law, it can only be distilled to 80% alcohol, and no quality bourbon maker ever comes that close:
The “beer” they are referring to is from the fermented mash, not the stuff you would order at the pub. With that process, there is still plenty of room for various congeners to be present in the distillation, imparting flavor to the final product. It has not been distilled to “neutral spirits”.
I think basic grain alcohol is normally distilled in great bug columnar facilities. Those are the ones that basically grab a starch source convert to sugar and distill up to the 95% number you mention.
Pot distilling (for whiskey) is inherently less efficient. You normally only reach 60-70% percent I believe. That leaves a large amount of other types of alcohols, sugars, esters and what not floating about. Those are going to be determined by the source of the sugars which leads to the differing flavours encountered when drinking whiskey. The aging in wooden barrels does impart flavours (depending on the barrel) as well as reducing the amount of alcohol through evaporation.
Cognac is also double distilled:
First of all, IANA Whiskey expert.
That said, even I know that you’re starting off with at least a couple of faulty assumptions.
Whiskey is not fermented from beer. It is fermented from a mash of grains (corn, rye, wheat, barley etc.). Which grains are used depends on the whiskey. Of course, Beer is also fermented from grains, but the process and ingredients are different.
While many distilled spirits are aged in charred oak barrels, not all oak barrels are charred, and not all spirits have to be aged in oak.
With regard to your original question, just a little bit of thought will remind you that even very small ammounts of a substance can substantially change something’s flavor. The salt or other seasonings that you add to a dish may make up a very small portion of it’s total volume, but without them, the taste would be very different. It seems that the same principle applies when distilling and aging spirits as well.
Did you read what I said under that excerpt? “beer” is the term distillers use for the fermented mash.