Wine Beer

Very often I hear people say how some high strength beers are like wine. Like wow! I grit me teeth when I hear this, as it is sometimes misleading to make a point. There is a correct perception that wine is higher in alcohol that beer relativity speaking. Factually it is incorrect as some wines approach beer strength. In today’s market of ever increasingly beer strengths, some brews may exceed some wines. What determines a type of alcoholic drink is its ingredients and manufacture. Beer is a fermented malt beverage while wine is fermented grape juice. Cider is fermented apple juice and perry is fermented pear juice. Although ordinary beer is 5%, it can be made much stronger but it does not BECOME wine. Yes, I know that the beer-wine comparison is used to illustrate a point, but it gives me reason to rant.

Actually, scotch is more like beer than wine. Scotch is a malt bases drink that is born from the brewing process. In a nutshell, grain is germinated, which converts starch into sugar. The germination process is stopped and it is now malt. The malt is added to hot water so the sugar can be extracted from the malt. Yeast is added which feeds on the sugars. The by-products of this buffet are carbon dioxide and alcohol. Plants consume one substance as food. Humans consume the other to make the opposite sex more attractive. This beer is distilled and the alcohol vapors are condensed into scotch.

This is a nice article on making scotch. http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id34.html

To make wine: smash grapes, yeast ferments juice, drink. Simple.