Homemade & Commercial

Wine, Beer, Spirits, Cider & Mead Guides

Alcoholic beverages; most commonly beer and wines made at home. Brews made from brewing kits purchased at shops specialized in spirits. The Beer Pirate features homebrew recipes, equipment requirements, and commercial productions information; and all the best practices needed to make that perfect batch!

There are only two colors in wine-red and white.

Any wine containing the slightest tinge of red is a red wine.

White wines range from the very palest straw-color to deep, dark brown.

There is no wine that is absolutely colorless.

Red wines are generally dry. (Exceptions are Port and Port-type wines, some Italian and one or two Hungarian table wines, and, of course, kosher wines.)

White wines vary in sweetness, from the extreme dryness of a Manzanilla to the rich sweet lusciousness of a Tokay Eszencia.

The word “dry” is used in the wine trade to describe the opposite of sweet. Literally, it means lacking in sugar.

Four Main Classifications of Wines

Light Beverage (Natural still wines) – Red and white Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian, Rhine, Moselle, Alsatian, Tokay, Hungarian table wines, American, California, etc. Alcoholic content 14% or less.

Sparkling – Champagne, sparkling Burgundy, Asti Spumante, sparkling Moselle, etc. Alcoholic content 14% or less.

Fortified – Sherry, Port, Madeira, Marsala, Malaga, etc. Alcoholic content 16% to 23%.

Aromatized – Vermouth, both Italian and French, quinined wines, etc. Alcoholic content 15% to 20%.

Wines with less than 14% alcohol will improve after bottling. Fortified and aromatized wines will improve very little or not at all, with the exception of Vintage Ports.