What falls under other spirits?

Other spirits is the group for bottles that have no shelf of their own in the shop, from pineau des charentes to pure alcohol.

In Bathmen it comes down to a handful of types side by side:

• Pineau des charentes: French vin de liqueur made from grape must and cognac
• Sake: Japanese rice drink, brewed and not distilled
• Shochu: Japanese spirit made from grain, tubers or rice
• Pisco: grape eau-de-vie from Peru and Chile
• Absinthe and pastis: aniseed spirits from France
• Amaro and boonekamp: herbal bitters
• Aperitivos: lighter aperitif drinks
• Boerenjongens and boerenmeisjes: raisins and apricots on brandy
• Pure alcohol and fruit-preserving brandy: for steeping your own fruit

Sake is brewed, not distilled, and strictly speaking does not belong with spirits.

The Japanese trade organisation JSS describes the brewing of sake as multiple parallel fermentation: the conversion of starch into sugar takes place in the same vat as the conversion of sugar into alcohol. That occurs in no other drink. In our shop sake is in this group because there is no separate shelf for two bottles, not because it would be a distilled drink.

A vin de liqueur is grape must to which eau-de-vie has been added before fermentation gets going.

For pineau des charentes this is done with cognac of at least 60 percent alcohol; according to the cahier des charges the end product is 16 to 22 percent. That is too strong for the wine shelf and too weak for the spirits, so pineau stands in this group. The same goes for the aperitif drinks of around 15 to 17 percent.

Everything that has its own shelf in the shop falls outside this group.

Whisky, rum, gin, jenever, vodka, tequila, cognac, armagnac, calvados, grappa, liqueur, bitter, vermouth, port, sherry and madeira each have their own page with their own questions. If you are looking for one of those types, start there. Other spirits is meant as a safety net, not as a main entrance.

The alcohol percentage in this group varies more widely than on any other shelf: from a light aperitivo of a few percent to pure alcohol of 96 percent.

Pure alcohol of 96 percent is defined in Regulation (EU) 2019/787 as ethyl alcohol from agricultural products and is not meant to be drunk neat, but for steeping fruit or making liqueur yourself. At 5 to 17 percent, aperitif drinks are in fact below the strength of wine. So always check the label before you pour.

Via the filter page for other spirits you can search by country, strength and price.

If the bottle you are looking for is not there, call 0570 541 278 or drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen. We stock hundreds of bottles that are hardly listed online anywhere else in the Netherlands, and what is not in stock we can often order.