WSET Level 2 Spirits Questions And Answers

What is Slouching? - Answer- When a spirit (mostly aniseed) turns opaque and cloudy when water is added What does Water white appearance describe? - Answer- Used mostly for vodkas What does an Opaque appearance describe? - Answer- Cream liqueurs that cannot be seen through at all What does Out of condition refer to? - Answer- Most commonly encountered fault of a Spirit, from being open too long What are the Tongues' five tastes? - Answer- Sweet, Sour, Salt, Bitter, and Umami What are the Tastes relevant to spirits? - Answer- Sweet and bitter How do you describe a newly made spirit right off the still? - Answer- Dry What does off dry mean? - Answer- When only a very small amount of sugar is added after distillation, i.e. Cognac What does a Medium spirit mean? - Answer- Describes a Spirit that clearly has a sweet taste but the sweetness is not the defining characteristic, i.e. Rum What are Sweet Spirits? - Answer- Reserved for liqueurs and some flavored spirits i.e. pastis which contain a very high level of sweetness What are the 4 key stages during production? - Answer- Raw Materials, fermentation, distillation, and post distillation What is the Base of every raw material? - Answer- Carbohydrates, and the aim is to use these to create a sugary liquid When does alcohol fermentation start? - Answer- When yeast is added to the sugary liquid, and the yeast eats the sugars to produce alcohols around 10%abv What is the Post distillation objective? - Answer- To ensure that when a Spirit is out on sale it has the correct colour, aroma, sweetness, and alcoholic strength. What are Congeners? - Answer- Substances, other than the desired type of alcohol, ethanol, produced during fermentation. They are the compounds that are responsible for flavors When does fermentation end? - Answer- When all the sugar has been converted into alcohol