Top Tips for Successful Spirits And Liqueurs

These top tips for successful Spirits & Liqueurs were provided by Arthur Smith of Edwards Essences.

1.   A Good Essence - Visually a good essence should be uniform and homogeneous. There should be no sediment at the bottom of the bottle neither should there be any oily looking rings around the neck of the bottle. Some essences such as Gin can have a feint haze to them but this should clear when added to the spirit. Essences with a thick cloud to them which is not usually in the finished drink should be avoided.

2.   Essence Aroma - Often smelling an essence just before adding it to the alcohol can a give very misleading impression as to how the product will taste when made up.

3.   Essence Addition - After adding the essence to the alcohol the spirit or liqueur should then be left for at least 48 hours before tasting. An initial quick taste can be done but this can some times bear little resemblance to the final product once the essence has 'mellowed' in with the alcohol.

4.   Mixing Essences with Other Essences - Firstly this should ONLY be done in the final alcohol as this may cause serious physical problems with the essences. When mixing essences in the alcohol do not mix more than 2-3 in any one product as this may cause negative interactions in the liquid and may not give the desired or expected effect.

5.   Mixing Directions - When using Edwards Essences or any other essence for that matter, it is very important to follow the instructions on that particular bottle or sachet. Edwards Essences make up multiples of 700ml bottles, the size readily available in all bottle shops throughout Australia.

6.   Copper vs Stainless Steel Stills - When using pure sugar or dextrose to make the wash it is far better these days to use a stainless steel Still and not introduce any copper into the process. Copper was originally used to remove sulphur based compounds which would originate from a natural fruit or vegetable material.

7.   Sugars - The choice of sugar type and quality can have a significant effect on quality / taste profile of the Spirit produced. The less refined the sugar is, the more flavour effect you are likely to achieve in the finished spirit. For example, a significant difference can be noticed when comparing the fermentation of dextrose with that of molasses.

8.   Water Quality - This is a fundamental and crucially important part of cutting the spirit or liqueur to the desired alcohol strength. Water can constitute up to about 75% of the finished drink, so if regular tap water full of Chlorine, Fluoride, mineral salts and OTHER ADDITIONS is used, it will have a significant detrimental effect on the finished drink and may taste a little strange!! Always use, filtered tank water, spring or bottled water... anything but tap.

9.   Storage - Once you have made up and bottled your spirits and liqueurs it is preferable to store them in a cool dark place. Not the fridge but certainly out of direct sunlight. The pH of the drink and the UV and IR rays of direct sunlight can seriously degrade the quality of the drink.

10.  Edwards Essences Customer Service - Should you ever experience a problem when using an Edwards product or have any questions regarding our essences, contact your local Brewers Choice manager or you may like to contact Edwards Essences directly at:

Edwards Essences, PO Box 620, Gympie, QLD 4570
Tel: (07) 5486 6611
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.edwards-essences.com.au