Home Distilling: Add Aroma and Flavour to Your Spirits with Essences

Distilling alcohol for yourself is an amazing process. You take several ingredients, which at first might seem random, and after a lengthy process, you turn them into a spirit. This distillation process has been perfected throughout the centuries, if not millennia, so it’s not something you can’t easily learn on your own. It’s not easy, though, but it is something you’re going to perfect on your own after a while. Before you know it, you’d have become a master distiller capable of distilling your spirits, such as bourbon, rum, or brandy. It’s a specific hobby that you’ll be enjoying its boons for years to come.

What Are Essences?

The essence of a drink is its basic flavour. When we think of a drink’s essence, we’re thinking about the main flavour, quality, and character of a drink, even though as a term, essence is mostly used in regards to spirits. Distilled alcohol on its own doesn’t have a taste. Adding taste takes a lot of time and effort, and the process can be extremely convoluted and require tonnes of materials that most people would not have. That’s where essences come in. If you want to add a specific flavour to a neutral spirit, all you have to do is add essence. Creating essence is quite difficult to achieve on your own, but it’s readily available to buy throughout Australia. So, for example, if you want to add a bourbon flavour to your spirit, all you have to do is use a bourbon essence, which is a very simple thing to do.

Why Even Use Essences?

Distilling alcohol isn’t hard. What’s difficult is brewing quality-grade spirits with the exact aroma that you want. Even the slightest mistake in the process can throw a wrench in the process, leaving you with a lot of alcohol that might potentially taste terrible. That is if you’re doing the entire process all on your own. For most beginner brewers, it’s always recommended to use an essence at first. That way you can find your bearing without having to worry about taste and character because you’re guaranteed that your spirit is going to taste good. Even if you’re a veteran at brewing, it’s always fun to mix and match with flavouring to discover new ways to get better at your hobby.

Whiskey/Bourbon Essences

Even though they can be quite different, a lot of people consider whiskey and bourbon to fall under the same category. That’s the main reason why you might find some essence under either label. Bourbon and whiskey might not be for everyone, but it’s one of the most popular drinks on the planet. It has a high degree of alcohol on its own and might potentially overwhelm somebody, but that’s why essences are so great to use. Adding bourbon essence to a spirit with a low degree of alcohol can make it better to enjoy the taste without being overwhelmed by the alcohol itself. You can easily customise your new spirit with pretty much all tastes you want. You can even mix and match your favourite ones to create something new. And all that with just a single bourbon distilling kit.

Rum Essences

A lot of people love rum. It’s one of those drinks that remind people of a cool summer breeze, an adventure, and lots of sun. Rum can be drunk on its own, but it’s also amazing for cocktails of all sorts. Rum is often considered one of the most popular Caribbean flavours, so it’s no surprise that rum essence is so popular among brewers. Similar to whiskey, you can also create a spirit with a low grade of alcohol with a rum essence to enjoy its taste, which is amazing once you realise that this new spirit can work wonders for creating wonderful cocktails. What’s even better is that since rum is often used to make all kinds of fancy desserts, you can easily brew your own spirit with rum flavouring which you’ll then use in your own dessert recipes.

Brandy Essences

Brandy is often considered a high-class drink, and for a good reason. It has an enduring legacy and popularity because of its unique taste, meaning brandy has enjoyed being one of the most popular drinks in the world. Its essence is similarly amazing because a lot of people tend to use it to create a spirit with brandy flavouring, and then leave it in a casket to further age to increase its aroma. You can easily experiment with more flavours to create something new and unique that completely represents your personality. Things like cherry and plum are fan-favourites, but you can always use something that completely suits your fancy.

How to Use Essences

Like we mentioned previously, using essences is very easy and simple. It’s one of the easiest things to do when you’re distilling spirits. All packages come with specific instructions on how to do add the essence, and it’s something that you’ll be able to do in no time. On top of that, you can also use essences on drinks that aren’t neutral spirits. You can easily take a store-bought drink and add your essence to it, which essentially creates an entirely new drink that’s up to your liking.