[Sca-cooks] fortified wines

[Ted Eisenstein]

>You can then age it in barrels and
>such to remove some of the nasty-tasting esters that have been distilled
>out with your alcohol, which gives you, in theory, a smooth, drinkable
>product, as opposed to harsh "white lightning".
>
>I probably don't have the chemistry perfect but this is reasonably close.

Errr, you don't, partly. What technically happens is that at the beginning
of the heating, a bunch of stuff comes off the wine into the condensing tubes -
and that stuff is poisonous, and should literally be tossed down the sink.
The temperature will drop slightly in the batch being boiled, and then come
back up again. _Then_ you can start saving what boils off.
Saving it in barrels has nothing to do with "removing" nasty-tasting stuff,
if I remember; what happens is that some of the rougher stuff gets smoothed
out by aging, and other stuff gets added from contact with the wood in
the barrel - vanillins, I believe, and, well, other stuff. It also depends on
whether you use new barrels, or toasted barrels (i.e., a fire was built inside
the barrel to add a small layer of charcoal to the innards - and charcoal
does help change the taste); or barrels used for other distillates. I seem to
recall that barrels previously used for Scotch can be used for the long-term
storage of sherry, although I could be wrong.
And the type of wood used in the barrel apparently makes a difference
in the final taste of the stuff being stored.
Aging does make a difference. Brandies, liqueurs, wines do undergo slow
chemical changes over time, and how much of a change and what kind of
changes depend on how much air they're exposed to, and the temperature
they're being stored at, and humidity levels. This is why some wines should
be drunk within a year (because they go downhill fast), and others should
wait for decades (because they go uphill very slowly).

. . . I made a batch of coffee-flavored rum last year; I am told that it was
better than usual this year (after a year's wait) - and taste delicious a full
day after the bottle had been cracked open. Something to do with letting
it breathe. . .

Alban