DISTILLING SCIENCE
How evaporating, condensing and filtering alcohol created one of the purest spirits on the planet
WORDS LAURA MEARS
Vodka is the purest spirit. Made almost entirely from pure alcohol and water, it forms the neutral starting point for dozens of cocktails. As liquor goes, it’s one of the simplest drinks available, but its production is anything but. Preparing this clear spirit is a complicated, multi-step process. Vodka starts out like any other alcohol. It’s a mixture of sugar and water fermented by yeast. The sugar comes from starchy plants like rye, wheat, potatoes or molasses.
When yeast digests sugar in the absence of oxygen, it produces a type of alcohol known as ethanol. It’s toxic, so as levels start to rise in the fermenting liquid, the yeast dies. When the alcohol reaches somewhere between 12 and 18 per cent, fermentation stops. Beer and wine manufacturers stop before the mixture reaches this point. They filter and bottle the finished
product with a relatively low alcohol content and lots of flavour from the raw ingredients. But for spirit producers, the work is just beginning.