Fusil oil mystery

[robint]

I spent many years in Saudi up till 9/11 when it stopped being a fun place after that. I had many pals who ran stills, some were very sophisticated reflux columns made by chemical engineers. I would buy my supply in a 5 gal water flagon 98% abv, imagine driving around with a bomb like that in your car boot - those were the days. When cut 50:50 a litre bottle worked out at £3.50 - like for nothing, those were the days

Question comes to mind having browsed many posts, it concerns fusil oils. This topic doesnt seem to arouse
much concern among brewer here?

In theory this should never become part of the hearts in a properly managed run

The hooch in Saudi (KSA) was called "sid" from arabic "siddiqui" meaning friend. Sid had a noticeable trace of fusils. You could detect this using the flaming spoon method and seeing the yellowing flame towards the end and also any ash left over
Fusils were a nuisance because they left a strong smell on your breath - sort of nasty aniseed, and also your skin smelt of the stuff the next day - not good for the office environment or the local police

I was told it was part of the spirit run. In those days we didnt have internet in KSA

It seems that long term siddleys had an addiction to this flavour and would even drink it neat 98%abv. Some guys even smuggled bottles out when going home on leave (bomb on a plane??????????

I concluded later that this contamination must have been deliberate cos thats what customers wanted

Does anyone know of any addictive qualities of fusil oils? Why would you leave it there unnecessarily

[NZChris]

Why would you leave it there unnecessarily

Greed.

[cuginosgrizzo]

...and would even drink it neat 98%abv.

.

I strongly hope you are kidding. Drinking 98%ABV would not leave you any time to get addicted, it would quickly lead to death.

[Birrofilo]

Does anyone know of any addictive qualities of fusil oils? Why would you leave it there unnecessarily

It depends on the raw material used. For what I read, certain rum distillers discard the first part of the tails, and then collect a long stretch of subsequent tails. Those must be rich in fusel oils.

I don't think there is any addictive quality to them, it's just taste. For instance, in the former Turkish empire coffee is prepared by boiling, and that brings about certain phenolic notes that smell like cardamom, or turpentine, or nail polish remover, depending on the concentration. Those notes are considered a serious defect in an Italian espresso coffee, yet they are desired by many Turk coffee drinkers and there are blends of coffee which purposedly produce that flavour.

Some people find nice a whisky that other people would say smell of gasoline.

Taste is in tongue of the drinker.