How to classify sugar wash spirits?

[-Chad-]

Im having trouble deciding what to call my spirit I'm distilling from a sugar wash.

It's not a whisky or a whiskey.
Not a brandy
Not a rum
Could become a vodka, but not with my little pot still.
Not a tequila
Not a Baijiu
Not anything...

Anyone have any input? I kind of like just calling it a sugar wash spirit, but I will probably use it to make a macerated liqueur or something. Then it can be called a liqueur, problem solved.

I have another spirit that has no classification, but I will save that madness for another time.

[NZChris]

What is it? Write that on the bottle.

If that is too embarrassing, don't let anyone see it, write something else on the bottle, or make something better.

[StillerBoy]

Call it rubbing alcohol if you like the name alcohol..

Mars

[Expat]

Im having trouble deciding what to call my spirit I'm distilling from a sugar wash.

It's not a whisky or a whiskey.
Not a brandy
Not a rum
Could become a vodka, but not with my little pot still.
Not a tequila
Not a Baijiu
Not anything...

Anyone have any input? I kind of like just calling it a sugar wash spirit, but I will probably use it to make a macerated liqueur or something. Then it can be called a liqueur, problem solved.

I have another spirit that has no classification, but I will save that madness for another time.

Technically it's actually a very very mild rum since most table sugar is extracted from sugar cane. Some people call it a Sugar head, or just Neutral after it's been through the still.

As Chris said though, just write what you made, doubtful that anyone really cares what the underlying alcohol base is anyways.

[-Chad-]

Thanks for the input! I was wondering about if technically it would be a pseudo rum of sorts, but it doesn't matter much. It is just for my distilling hobby notes to keep myself organized. I think sugar wash alcohol neutral spirit will suffice, or SWANS for shorthand.
Boom! Settled, thanks guys.

[HDNB]

brandy is made from fruit.
whiskey is made from grain
rum is made from sugar
vodka is made from anything and distilled to above 190 proof.

[Rob C]

Hey there, Chad -

I’m originally from Brazil and the National spirit is cachaça (kah - shah - sah), usually made from freshly pressed sugarcane juice. Cachaça can be made from evaporated cane sugar or Pamela / rapadura (dark brown, very dense cakes of boiled off sugarcane juice often found in Latin American stores) but never molasses, brown, turbinado, white or other processed sugars.

That said, there are over 9,000 cachaça distilleries in Brazil and only a handful of products are exported to the US. Some representative brands include: Pitú (pee - tu), Ypioca (yip - pee - awka), 51, Leblon (lay - blom) and Sagatiba (sah - gah - chi - bah). Cachaça is sometimes classified as a rhum agricole but it is very distinct in flavor from other spirits classified as such.

At any rate, there’s a lot of varieties in the process, including the addition of flaked maize or citrus in the wash. Generally speaking, the cachaça is pot distilled to retain a fair amount of flavor although some distilleries will run it through multiple times or in a series.

Cachaça can be plain, like silver tequila or aged in charred as well as uncharted woods. Brazil has a variety of different species of woods, each of which add distinct flavors to the finished product. Generally speaking, silver cachaça is the main ingredient in the caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail.

I’ve also seen a gluten free sugar wash based column distilled vodka in the US but the name escapes me at the moment.

That’s all probably a little TMI but it’s a long winded way of saying you may be making a cachaça without realizing it.

Hope that helps!

Warmly,

Rob

[Single Malt Yinzer]

https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Sugarheads" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/index.ph ... tyle_Guide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[fizzix]

I've found "White Lightning" and "Corn Squeezin's" provoke an interest and scrutiny beyond other names.

[decoy]

Hey there, Chad -

I’m originally from Brazil and the National spirit is cachaça (kah - shah - sah), usually made from freshly pressed sugarcane juice. Cachaça can be made from evaporated cane sugar or Pamela / rapadura (dark brown, very dense cakes of boiled off sugarcane juice often found in Latin American stores) but never molasses, brown, turbinado, white or other processed sugars.

That said, there are over 9,000 cachaça distilleries in Brazil and only a handful of products are exported to the US. Some representative brands include: Pitú (pee - tu), Ypioca (yip - pee - awka), 51, Leblon (lay - blom) and Sagatiba (sah - gah - chi - bah). Cachaça is sometimes classified as a rhum agricole but it is very distinct in flavor from other spirits classified as such.

At any rate, there’s a lot of varieties in the process, including the addition of flaked maize or citrus in the wash. Generally speaking, the cachaça is pot distilled to retain a fair amount of flavor although some distilleries will run it through multiple times or in a series.

Cachaça can be plain, like silver tequila or aged in charred as well as uncharted woods. Brazil has a variety of different species of woods, each of which add distinct flavors to the finished product. Generally speaking, silver cachaça is the main ingredient in the caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail.

I’ve also seen a gluten free sugar wash based column distilled vodka in the US but the name escapes me at the moment.

That’s all probably a little TMI but it’s a long winded way of saying you may be making a cachaça without realizing it.

Hope that helps!

Warmly,

Rob

Hi Rob
Your post was informative, I would love to hear more, perhaps you might like to start a separate thread under viewforum.php?f=9
And title it something like "Native Spirits of Brazil"

Cheers

[6 Row Joe]

Neutral spirit. Not a classy name though.

[metalsmith]

I've found "White Lightning" and "Corn Squeezin's" provoke an interest and scrutiny beyond other names.

“Squeeze”. Could be sterno. Think Androma strain. I guess I am admitting my age.....

[cranky]

I call mine "Unicorn Sweat"

[CuWhistle]

Rhymes with pooch.

[nateboussad]

It dont bother me a bit to run cloudy stuff but I aint as picky as some. As thin as that wash bound to be with sugar water and nutes..cant envision the murkiness being much of an issue. If you put it back in lockdown and the yeast are still working a bit it should be just fine. I have went months on some washes and they came out just fine. Hope it goes well. Sure it will. If it aint fitting give it to the drunks down at the local watering hole. You would be surprised at what folks will trade for that stuff.

[SwollenGoat23]

Rhymes with pooch.

Ooo, Ooo, Ooo....PICK ME (hand waving) PICK ME!....I KNOW THIS ONE! !

[still_stirrin]

Rhymes with pooch.

Ooo, Ooo, Ooo....PICK ME (hand waving) PICK ME!....I KNOW THIS ONE! !

Grog???

[SwollenGoat23]

Rhymes with pooch.

Ooo, Ooo, Ooo....PICK ME (hand waving) PICK ME!....I KNOW THIS ONE! !

Grog???

Ooo, Ooo, Ooo (squriming in seat)...PLEASE! AW MAN! PICK ME! PICK ME! I REALLY KNOW THIS ONE I PROMISE! Ooo, Ooo.....mmmmm....

[bluefish_dist]

Officially it is probably rum if it’s made from sugarcane and nothing else. As a home distiller, you can call it whatever you want. On the commercial side, anything not in a defined class/type is a distilled spirit specialty and have a note on the front saying distilled from xxxx

[thecroweater]

Sugar Shine is not rum
Ok I'm going to wade in here and correct some misinformation. Sugar shine is not light rum, pseudo rum or really in any way related to rum any more than any other spirit. All alcohol is made from sugar in one form or another and fully refined white sugar is mainly glucose and fruticose common to whisky brandy and about everything else. Rum is a product of the stuff that is not in white sugar, the stuff that was removed so if you are making sugar shine and you think it has some similarity to rum that similarity is alcohol and nothing more unless you think your refined sugar is somehow not refined.
I see this horse shit bandied around from time to time that if it has sugar in it your spirit is rum or somehow rum related. News flash: if you have alcohol then your ferment had sugar in it weather you added it directly or it was in the ingredients you added and it is that logical.
There is not a lot of flavour to plain old white sugar and that is why it has so many uses. So if your sugar shine has a distinguishable flavour then it is esters produced by an interaction of your given yeast and nutrients which is pretty unlikely to be rum like unless your nutrients are derived from sugar cane ( like say molasses) in which case and the only way you do in fact have a light rum.

[nateboussad]

It dont bother me a bit to run cloudy stuff but I aint as picky as some. As thin as that wash bound to be with sugar water and nutes..cant envision the murkiness being much of an issue. If you put it back in lockdown and the yeast are still working a bit it should be just fine. I have went months on some washes and they came out just fine. Hope it goes well. Sure it will

[Birrofilo]

It's a DOFS, Distillate of Fermented Sucrose.

If you make if from dextrose, it's a DOFD.

In Italy it would be "acquavite di zucchero".

There is no way you can make give such a drink a name giving it personality, it's a white slate where you write your poems

[cayars]

Anyone have any input? I kind of like just calling it a sugar wash spirit, but I will probably use it to make a macerated liqueur or something. Then it can be called a liqueur, problem solved.

How about just calling it Moonshine?

[Durhommer]

So I can keep calling my spirits "Buffalo piss" all I want to

[kimbodious]

Yeah I give my spirits and liqueurs unique names. Yes some are comparable in flavour and application to store-bought but different enough not to bother with direct comparisons.
Anise based liqueur - Pimpinella
Cinnamon based liqueur - Qinnamon
Orange and lemon myrtle based liqueur - O’sec
Lemon myrtle flavoured neutral - Citral
Wheat-bran based spirit - Lyburn

[Teddysad]

Just call it what it is. ...a solution!

[Desvio]

I generally call my stuff homebrew (beer), beer (whiskey), cider (brandy), rice wine (baijiu), Koolaid (sugar wash based stuff). Those who know I distill know what I'm talking about and know to keep their traps shut, those who don't have no idea I distill and think it's what I called it.

[Greenhorse]

Wouldn’t it be a Vodka?

[Yummyrum]

Well I still make a lot of sugar wash which is refluxed into a Neutral . I have no shame in saying I buy essences from the HBS and make Gin and Brown Stuff . Brown stuff is what my mrs calls it . Could be Whiskey , Whisky or Rum ( puke) ... she drinks it all . I even have a joke with the HBS owner everytime I go in for “Brown Stuff “

Lol ... I think he gets it now he’s making all grain Whisky

[G8keeper]

How about just calling it Moonshine?

That's what I call my sugar washes