An adult reference for what is in the glass
What is actually in the glass, and what the rules actually say
Explore spirits, beer, wine and cocktails with sourced explanations of labels, production, tasting and service, plus clear limits on alcohol estimates.
What do you want to know about?
Spirits, beer and wine by category; how a drink is made, served and stored; and what the label on it is allowed to claim.
Latest
What the rules actually say about what is in the bottle, and how to read a label that is telling you less than it looks.
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Wine
01
Agiorgitiko, and What Its Label Actually Predicts
Agiorgitiko is a black-skinned Greek wine grape planted almost entirely in the Nemea appellation of the northeastern.
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Spirits
02
Blended Irish whiskey: which word counts the distilleries?
Blended Irish whiskey is a blend of two or more of the three Irish whiskey varieties: pot still, malt and grain. The.
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Spirits
03
Blended Scotch: what is in it, and why does the recipe change?
Blended Scotch whisky is a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch.
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Spirits
04
Blended grain Scotch: is the grain the cheap part of a blend?
Blended grain Scotch is a blend of single grain Scotch whiskies from more than one distillery. Both words in the name.
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Spirits
05
Blended malt Scotch: what is in it, and when was it blended?
Blended malt Scotch is a blend of single malt Scotch whiskies from more than one distillery, with no grain whisky in it.
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Liqueurs
06
Blue Curaçao: What Does the Name Actually Tell You?
Blue curaçao is a sweetened orange-flavoured liqueur with added blue colour. The colour is the least useful clue to.
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Spirits
07
Bottled in bond bourbon: what do those words on the label guarantee?
Bottled in bond is a labelling standard for distilled spirits, not a bourbon rule and not a mark of quality. Six.
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Spirits
08
Bourbon: which of the rules you have heard are actually in the standard?
Bourbon is a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn, distilled at 160 degrees of proof or less and stored in.
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Spirits
09
Campbeltown whisky: what does that word on the label actually claim?
Campbeltown is not one of Scotland's whisky regions. The specification for Scotch Whisky lists two protected localities.
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Spirits
10
Canadian whisky: the standard that never mentions a grain
Canadian whisky is mashed, distilled and aged in Canada, held not less than three years in casks of no more than 700.
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Spirits
11
Cask strength whisky: what does the phrase actually promise?
Cask strength whisky is bottled at the strength it left the cask, with no water added to bring it down, and neither the.
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Liqueurs
12
Cherry Liqueur Is a Family, Not One Sweet Red Style
Cherry liqueur is a sweetened alcoholic drink whose defining flavour comes from cherries. The category includes deep.
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Liqueurs
13
Chocolate Liqueur: Read the Formula Before the Colour
Chocolate liqueur is a sweetened alcoholic drink with a predominant chocolate or cacao character. Its most important.
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Spirits
14
Corn whiskey: the American whisky that does not need a barrel
Corn whiskey is an American whisky designation built on a fermented mash of not less than 80 percent corn, distilled at.
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Liqueurs
15
Curacao Liqueur: Orange Flavour, Colour, and Origin
Curacao, commonly written Curaçao, is an orange liqueur family built around citrus peel, alcohol, water, and sugar. The.
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Spirits
16
High Rye Bourbon: What It Means and Whether a Cutoff Exists
High-rye bourbon is bourbon made with a comparatively rye-heavy mash bill, but United States law sets no percentage at.
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Spirits
17
How is Australian whisky defined, and by which law?
Australian food law never defines whisky. The only statutory definition sits in customs legislation, it turns on how.
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Spirits
18
Sherry cask whisky: what was the oak doing before the whisky?
Sherry cask whisky has matured or finished in oak that previously held Sherry. Almost all of that oak was built and.
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Spirits
19
Single cask whisky: what happens when the cask runs out?
Single cask whisky is drawn from one cask, with no whisky from any other cask added to it. That fixes the number of.
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Spirits
20
Single pot still Irish whiskey: why the unmalted barley?
Single pot still Irish whiskey is made at one distillery from a mash of at least 30 percent malted barley and at least.
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Spirits
21
Straight Bourbon: What Does the Word Actually Add?
Straight bourbon is bourbon stored in charred new oak containers for at least two years, with no colouring, flavouring.
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Spirits
22
Tennessee Whiskey: What Does the State Rule Require?
Tennessee whiskey is defined by Tennessee state law, not federal law. Six of its seven statutory conditions are the.
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Liqueurs
23
What Is Blueberry Liqueur, and Why Does Every Bottle Differ?
Blueberry liqueur is a sweetened alcoholic drink in which blueberry is the defining flavour. Its name does not.
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Liqueurs
24
What Is Chestnut Liqueur, and What Does Crème Mean?
Chestnut liqueur is a sweetened spirit drink whose leading flavour is chestnut. Its most useful distinction is on the.
Start with the rules
The American whiskey standards in the order they build on each other, from the category most people know to the words that narrow it.
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Spirits
01
Bourbon: which of the rules you have heard are actually in the standard?
Bourbon is a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn, distilled at 160 degrees of proof or less and stored in.
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Spirits
02
What is rye whiskey, and what may it contain that bourbon may not?
Rye whiskey is built to bourbon's numbers: the same mash threshold, the same distillation ceiling, the same charred new.
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Spirits
03
Bottled in bond bourbon: what do those words on the label guarantee?
Bottled in bond is a labelling standard for distilled spirits, not a bourbon rule and not a mark of quality. Six.
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Spirits
04
What is blended American whiskey, and how much of it is whiskey?
Blended American whiskey is not one federal class but several, and the one that permits the most neutral spirits.
Reading a label
What a specific word on a bottle is allowed to mean, and what it leaves the producer free to do.
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Glossary
01
Age statement
The age on a spirits label is the time the liquid spent in a barrel between distillation and bottling, and it refers to.
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Spirits
02
Blended Scotch: what is in it, and why does the recipe change?
Blended Scotch whisky is a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch.
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Spirits
03
Campbeltown whisky: what does that word on the label actually claim?
Campbeltown is not one of Scotland's whisky regions. The specification for Scotch Whisky lists two protected localities.
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Spirits
04
What is black rum, and does the colour mean anything?
Black rum is a shade, not a grade. The federal rum standard names exactly one type of rum and it is a country rather.
If you are worried about someone right now
If someone may have alcohol poisoning, call emergency services now. In the US that is 911. Do not wait to see whether they improve.
- Confusion, or the person cannot be woken.
- Vomiting while unresponsive or barely responsive.
- Seizure.
- Breathing slower than about eight breaths a minute, or long gaps between breaths.
Signs and first actions