International
Found in many different countries.
Malt for beer
Sometimes a problem is cleverly turned into an advantage. The world is indeed fortunate that barley is good for little more than making beer. But for that, it is excellently suited.
How to make a still
Wine and beer aficionados often enjoy making their own. Even if it's just a casual hobby, the experiments are fun and often produce some worthwhile results. But making vodka, gin and others is partly just a matter of continuing or altering slightly that same process.
Vodka
Last year European Union officials gathered to debate the question posed by the title. One would think that after centuries, the issue would be easy to settle. But legal definitions for purposes of trade and regular names are sometimes two different things.
Gin
There's no limit to the ingenuity of mankind. Anyone who could look at a juniper bush and think: "You know, I'll bet the fruit from that tree would make a great addition to an excellent spirit" just has to be some kind of genius. Adding the juice to distilled grains has created a drink popular for centuries: Gin.
Brandy
Spirits or liquor, such as scotch or bourbon, are made from grains and distilled. Wine, by contrast, is the product of fermented grapes.
Anisette
Few would have thought that a member of the parsley family could be used to make an outstanding liqueur. Yet, anisette, based on the oil from anise seeds, is just that.
Spirits
The perfect way to end a perfec evening is to linger over an after-dinner drink and good conversation. It is the hour of spirits.
Yeast for beer
Yeasts are living organisms, a uni-cellular fungus, and have a rare ability: to live with or without oxygen. In the presence of air, they multiply. In the absence of oxygen, they ferment sugars into alcohol. That's what makes beer brewing possible.
Wheat beer is weizenbier or weissbier
Wheat beer recipes are as old as Babylon, where wheat grain was often used to make a heady brew. The Middle Ages saw many new forms arise, where it was considered the brew of the nobility. Most beers of the period were dark and consuming this Weissbier -white beer- was therefore a mark of distinction.
Water for beer
Water might be the most varied chemical compound on the planet. Plain old H2O is the same anywhere, of course. But brewing with pure water is not only expensive, but leads to poor beer - flat, stale and downright incorrect.