Ever wonder how alcohol gets into whiskey? The answer lies in ancient cooking methods that remain unchanged to this day. Yeast is used to create alcohol. Yes the same critters used in baking bread. The process is actually similar. Like bread, whiskey is made with some type of grain. Some of the grains that can be used are corn, wheat, rye, and barley. The first step in making whiskey is to grind the grain in a gristmill to produce grist. Water is added to the grist and the mixture is cooked to release the starches found in grain. Malt is added to turn the starches into sugar. Once this is done, the grist is strained off and the liquid left is called “wort”. At this point, when the wort is at the proper temperature, a cultured yeast is added. If the temperature is too high the yeast will die, and if the temperature is too cold the yeast will not be active. The yeast will feed on the sugar and will leave both carbon dioxide and alcohol as a byproduct of digestion. Since the wort is in a large pot, the gases can escape. This is fermentation. For bread we are interested in the gas to raise the bread and in whiskey we are interested in the alcohol. The type of yeast used in baking is not the same yeast used for brewing. Yeast is a living creature and has been bred over the centuries for different purposes. From this point the mixture, known as beer, is distilled to make a spirit. This is not the beer that you like to drink. The spirit is aged in wooden casks to form whiskey. The type of whiskey is determined by the barrels used in aging and the type of grain used.Still bored? Click to continue: Alaska Villages Outlaw Yeast, Sugar