A Goan spirit with two major raw-material traditions: cashew apple and coconut-palm sap. Cashew examples can be vividly fruity and pungent; coconut-sap expressions have a different fermentation character and should not be expected to taste like sweet coconut cream.
A Filipino palm-sap spirit, most familiar internationally through coconut-nectar examples. Untreated expressions can be relatively restrained, with subtle fruit or fermentation character and a warming finish. Its raw material does not require an obvious confectionery coconut flavour.
A Korean spirit family encompassing restrained diluted-spirit expressions and more characterful grain distillates. It can be lightly sweet-seeming and delicate, or show pronounced rice, fermentation and maturation character. A single neutral profile would omit an important part of the category.
A broad family of distilled agave products whose identity is established by raw material and production, rather than a single protected regional name. Expressions can emphasize green vegetation, cooked plant, fruit, fermentation or wood. A restrained example is not necessarily less representative than an intensely aromatic one.
A Chiapan spirit whose identity begins with collected agave sap. It offers an important contrast to spirits made by cooking harvested agave hearts. Its character can be delicate or assertive, and fermentation and maturation choices require more attention than a simple assumption of roasted-agave flavour.
A western Mexican agave spirit with potentially vivid fruit, herbal, earthy and mineral-like impressions. Its range includes substantial differences among producers and regions. Smoke can be present, but it should not be used as the category's defining sensory requirement.
A highly rectified fruit-derived spirit with a generally restrained aroma and flavour. Its identity is technical rather than a promise of the rich fruit-and-oak character often associated with the everyday word brandy. The absence of pronounced fruit can be consistent with the intended production approach.
A clear fruit distillate intended to express the named fruit and its fermentation without an oak overlay. Pear, raspberry, cherry, plum and other fruits can produce very different aromatic signatures. A compelling example can smell richly fruity while tasting dry.
Unaged Fruit Brandy Read More »
A grape-derived distillate presented without oak maturation, allowing grape, floral and fermentation character to remain central. Depending on variety and distillation, it may be delicate and restrained or notably aromatic. It should not be judged as an unfinished version of an aged brandy.
Unaged Grape Brandy Read More »
A spirit whose fermentable origin is honey. Depending on honey source, fermentation and degree of rectification, it may be delicately floral and lightly waxy or comparatively neutral. A successful expression is clean and coherent; honey origin does not require the finished distillate to taste like liquid honey.
Somel (Honey Spirit) Read More »
