Beer Liquor Wine?

Questions and confusion periodically present themselves concerning the comparison of liqueur to wine. Is liqueur a stronger version of wine? And remember, here we are talking about liqueur and not liquor. Let us dig into this a bit.

Wine

Wine is made using grape juice, adding yeasts, and developing a controlled fermentation process. Subsequently, most of grape's natural sugars are converted into alcohol. The winemaker removes unwanted solids and performs some tweaking to balance the wine toward the intended taste goal. Ultimately, the product is bottled with alcohol content in the 8% to 14% range (not counting dessert wines, etc.).

Therefore, wine has the finicky yeast control, while also managing the correct combination of sugar, temperature, color, and acidity ranges. All the while, a big part is allowing in just the right amount of oxygen.

Liqueur

The general method of liqueur making is to take an existing alcohol base and cooking in special flavorings. After which any remaining solids are filtered, then it gets sweetened, aged, and bottled. The products are extremely high in sugar and alcohol (20% or more).

The liqueur development process does not resemble what transpires with wine. Liqueurs are not blended with yeasts, sugar is added only for taste, and there is not a fermentation period. Acidity is completely unimportant and oxygen is of no main concern.

All in the Family

There are parts of the process that both wine and liqueurs both go through: filtration, clarification, sterilization, and of course bottling. That would give them a bit of family resemblance. However, now it should be clear that the critical parts to winemaking are not the same as with liqueur. Blame it on the yeast!

Contributor: WineDefintions Staff Writer

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