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Name the 3 common features of all flavored spirits
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Base sprits: usually a highly rectified spirit but also Cognac and whisky
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Flavors and flavorings: fruits and botanicals (herbs and spices)
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Coloring (optional): natural plant extracts or artificial
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What is a natural flavor?
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One that is directly extracted from a fruit or botanical
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What is a nature-identical flavor?
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One that has been manufactured but is chemically identical to, and tastes the same as a natural flavor
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When is coloring added to a liqueur?
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Near the end of the process
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Describe two types of coloring techniques
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Natural colors: extracted from plant material by maceration
colors unstable
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Artificial colors: chemical dyes approved for human consumption
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Why are artificial coloring used?
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More vivid and stable than natural coloring
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Do premium spirit producers use artificial colors?
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Name four techniques for natural flavor extraction
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Maceration: ffruit or botanical placed in diluted HRS for hours to months, heated or not
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Distillation: diluted HRS and botanicals placed in pot still
sometimes with maceration
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Steam distillation: botanical mixed in a reservoir of water or suspended above it
water is boiled
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Vacuum distillation: variation of distillatioun or steam distillation but liquid boils at lower temperature
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Percolation: spirit is repeatedly dripped through the botanical
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How is a final flavored spirit made?
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Blend to even out batch variation: Some use only one flavor extraction technique (e.g., London Dry Gin).
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Blend different components: Different flavor extraction techniques used for different components
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Cold compounding: Nature-identical flavors blended into base spirit
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What botanicals are used to make absinthe?
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Aniseed flavors are from star anise, green anise, and fennel
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Wormwood adds a musky floral note an a bitter quality (but not predominate)
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Must absinthe contain grand wormwood (artemisia absinthium)?
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Yes. While there is no legal definitions, most are agreed it must contain wormwood.
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How is classic absinthe made?
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Botanicals are macerated in high strength alcohol (wine-based or HRS) for 24 hours
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It is then diluted, redistilled with botanicals, and collected at 80% abv
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How can you tell if a absinthe is an imitation?
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A classic absinthe louches when water is added
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Absinthes made by adding extracts to alcohol (imitations) do not
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Toxin in absinthe that can cause convulsions in extremely high doses
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Thujone levels are controlled (10ppm in USA, 35ppm in EU)
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19C "absinthism" was chronic alcoholism
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Where was anise first used by distillers?
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Turkey (Byzantine Empire)
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What is the most famous/infamous anise drink?
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Absinthe was popular in the 19C
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Wrongly linked to disease and moral decay so banned in 20C
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What is the flavor compound that all anise drinks share
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What plants contain anethole?
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When water is added to a spirit containing anethole it goes cloudy
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Anethole is not easily soluable in water so comes out of solution
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How are anise-based spirits drunk?
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Diluted with water so no stronger than wine
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How is flavor extracted for anise-based spirits?
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Many techniques are used to create several flavored spirits that are blended to create the final product
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Do anise-based spirits use artificial colors?
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Yes, even the best producers
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Define an aniseed-flavored spirit
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Predominant flavor of anise extracted fro star anise, anise, fennel or any plant with same aromas
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HRS with flavor obtained by maceration and/or distillation and addition of extracts
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Only natural flavors can be used
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Anise-flavored spirit made from liquorice root at well
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Anethole levels between 1.5 and 2g/l
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Can be sweetened up to 100g/l
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Define Pastis de Marseille
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Same as Pastis but higher alcohol and anethole
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Anethole level must be 2g/l
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How does Pastis differ from Absinthe?
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Absinthe is dry and served with sugar
pastis is sweetened and is also based on liquorice root as well as anise, star anise, and fennel.
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Name two brands from Pernod Ricard (rivals merged in 1975) that dominate anise-flavored spirits
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Ricard Pastis: blend of distilled Chinese star anise and fennel, percolated Middle East liquorice root, herbs from Provence, neutral alcohol and sugar (<100 g/l)
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Name Aniseed drinks other than Absinthe and Pastis
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Ouso: Greek equivalent of pastis
HRS redistilled with anise, mastic, etc.
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Raki: Turkey
raisins/grapes distilled to max of 94.5% abv (not HRS) called suma
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Apertifs: palate sharpener before a meal
Campari, Suze, Cynar, Aperol
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Digestifs: Sweeet (Unicum, Becherovka, Calisay, Averna) and Bitter (Fernet Branca, Jagermeister, Underberg, Carlsbad)
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Cocktail: bottled at high strength (Angostura, Peychaud)
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Distilled to obtain an essential oil or macerated in HRS.
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Natural bittering agents include cinchon bark/quinine, angelica, gentian, bitter orage, rue, artichokes, rhubarb, bitter aloe
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Base is aromatized by clove, vanilla, coriander, ginger, sweet peels, etc.
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What is the history of bitters?
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Romans consumed bitters as an aid to digestion.
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Italy has greatest following (and calls them amaro).
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What is the history of Angostura bitters?
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1824: Created in the Venezuelan town of Angostura ("narrows" of Orinoco river) now Ciudad Bolivar) as a medicinal drink for troops of Simon Bolivar
does not contain bark of Angostura tree (but other bitters do)
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1830: Exported to England and Trinidad
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1862: Pink gins (gin and Angostura) created
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1876: Moved to Trinidad (by Dr. Johann Siegert's brother and son after his death in 1870)
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