Normally I don’t give two thoughts about alcohol (not a drinker) but I was watching a show about the history of Smirnoff & Maker’s Mark in America, and I had this thought.
There are all sorts of types of alcohol and from what I can tell there are “rules” as to what they are. A vodka is this, a Chardonnay is that, an IPA is that, etc. I understand that within these categories then there can be many variations, hence the proliferation of brands and types.
Are all of these top and second-level categories of alcohol old and finite? Are they ancient? Can there be a new type of beer that isn’t a lager or pilsner or whatever? A new type of spirit that isn’t brandy or vodka or tequila?
What’s the newest classification for alcohol? When did alcohol start to be classified? Are classifications international or is something that’s say, a wine in one country considered a brandy in another? (that sounds silly, probably not a thing)
There is a finite taxonomy based on what the actual substance is that is being fermented to create the alcohol; the type of grain and yeast determines the type of beer, for example. The number of different alcohols is limited by the number of things you can make it out of.
But there’s an unlimited taxonomy based on, how do you say, gimmicky bullshit? There’s no limit on the number of weird things you can do to a barrel of something and give it a name. It will still be beer or wine or (something) at the end of the day, but now it’s a Skokie-style fruited crossgrain (something). Sort of like jewelry - the rock is the rock, but you can decide to start calling it “Chocolate” and say it’s a new kind of diamond.
Sub-groupings appear all the time. 20 years ago you never would have heard of “West Coast IPA” or “Hazy” anything. Growers breed new types of hops every year, brewers get bored and “creative.” Then there’s the whole “gimmicky bullshit” Jimmy_Chitwood mentioned, which can be laid at the feet of “mixologists” everywhere. Then there are the micro-distillers who will distill anything they possibly can, just for giggles.
Some of the top level categories are ancient. Some are more recent. It would take a book to cover everything, and even then it would be outdated almost immediately.
There are indeed labels like AOC or protected designation of origin
that certify that a bottle of wine, or some other agricultural product, comes from a certain area and is produced using certain methods, so, in theory, if you buy a bottle of, say Châteauneuf-du-Pape you know more or less what to expect.
The European “protected designation of origin” designation was created in 1992, for instance:
While known by other names for some time before, hard seltzers have only become popular in the last 5 years or so. I guess anything can become hard: hard Alfredo sauce, hard infant formula, hard nondairy creamer. We’re probably due for cannabis-infused alcohol products next.
White Claw seems to use “rum” as a base. They call it “alcohol from cold-brewed sugar.” Of course, all alcohol is ultimately from sugars, but this sounds like they whomp up a batch of sugar liquor, then flavor it with crap and carbonate it.
I believe that’s malt liquor, it’s basically an unflavored beer base. They are starting actual liquor based prepackaged mixed drinks in my area but the laws/taxes are weird.
That’s what a lot of them are, but White Claw specifically says “sugar.” Grain isn’t mentioned, which means it isn’t beer/malt liquor/malt beverage. Of the others, who knows? Most of that stuff is just flavored malt liquor.
It’s never distilled. It’s a “gluten free grain”. I’d say it’s brewed corn syrup or rice. The also add a small amount of cane sugar for flavor and to put it on their label.
It seems like you could create new categories by fermenting in fundamentally different ways. For example:
Fermenting in a different type of container. (Sheep’s stomach?)
Fermentation by a process not involving yeast.
Et c.
That kind of depends - a lot of them are beer based , White Claw seems to be beer based or not, depending on who is defining it and when and I know some are basically canned vodka cocktails (for example, juice, vodka and seltzer). This is why I can buy some (including White Claw) in the supermarket but others ( High Noon ) must be bought a the liquor store.
Yeah, so far as I could find, that is correct: High Noon is made with vodka (which is a distillate); White Claw and Truly are made on a fermented/brewed base (whether malt, sugar, or whatnot). Another one made with vodka is Monaco, though most of their products are fruity, heavily sugared drinks, but they do have at least two, I think, strict seltzer + vodka + fruit essence flavorings.
For me, the categories of alcohol basically starts with two categories: simple fermentations/brews and then distillates of those fermentations/brews. And then everything branches off from there (though you can have fortifications, like taking something brewed and adding a distillate to it, but you’re still starting with those two categories; same with something like a maceration, where flavoring ingredients are added after or in addition to the distillation process.) I’m struggling to think of an alcoholic drink that I couldn’t classify in these basic categories.
