Sweet Tooth Dept: Glycerine vs Sugar

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Capn Jimbo
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Sweet Tooth Dept: Glycerine vs Sugar

Post by Capn Jimbo »

What's the deal with glycerine and why now?


You see, it all started when a guy at Rum Ratings posted a public question to me. Like so many rum buyers, this poster was in the habit of checking the Master Sugar List to avoid the phonied up sugar bombs. He'd noted there were two postings for Bermudez: the Pirate at 0g of sugar, and moi at 26g!

This was indeed significant.

So I immediately posted that I'd contact Wes, the Pirate, and suggested we both retest the Bermudez. I did, and again confirmed the 26g reading; meanwhile the Pirate advised me that he too had seen the difference, had retested and he too again got, yup, 0g of sugar.


WTF?

Of course this is huge difference. I suggested to Wes that this might be the first proof that certain distillers "adjust" their rums differently for different markets. The Pirate is UK based, while I of course live not under gray skies but in the Paradise of South Florida. The American sweet tooth is well known.

Wes then stated that he believed that the distillers were now keenly aware of the sugar issue, and were substituting glycerine. The assumption is that glycerine evades the common hydro test, and further, that glycerine is not tested for by governments.


A dilemma?

Which is it: different amounts of sugar for different markets, or the substitution of glycerine? Or both? I had to know. Natch, I contacted Richard Seale, who advised the following:
"Glycerine has been used for years in spirits for its sweetness and effect on mouth feel. I am quite sure you will find it in many vodkas.

It is used in rum as well. There are tests available on the internet showing it in Angostura and Don Papa.

Glycerine has about 2/3rds of the sweetness of sugar but its generally used in very small amounts - less than 1g/l. So it would not affect the hydrometer nor create the syrup like effect of large amounts of sugar. But it does seem to have a noticeable effect on mouth feel even at very low doses. Hence its popularity in vodka.

Note, some sherries like oloroso sherry have large amounts of glycerine (helps explain why oloroso tastes quite sweet despite the low sugar) and rums/whiskies could end up with trace amounts of glycerine if aged in these casks. I have seen a test result of a reputable Scotch Whisky with a trace amount of glycerine which almost certainly came from the sherry cask. Seems being very non volatile it will remain in an empty cask and find its way to the newly filled spirit."
Addenda, 12/4: Richard added...

"Note, glycerine is a fermentation by product and present naturally in all wines. The high level in oloroso sherry is natural and particular to that fermentation. It is not added."



So what to think?

Wes/Pirate position is clear and this is surely possible, but only if very large amounts of glycerin is added. For now I'm going to take the position that sugaring varies by market, and here's why...

1. Seales seems to be saying that glycerine is used in very small amounts (say 1g or less). He believes that small amounts of glycerine may transfer for those very, very few rums that use ex-oloroso sherry barrels.

2. These small amounts - while very effective at creating "smoothness"/mouth feel - would add almost no sweetness, assuming that Seales is correct in that glycerin is but 2/3rd's as sweet as sugar.

3. All of my initial research indicates that glycerine's primary effect - even in small quantities - is to improve mouth feel. Apparently glycerine also increases density and "thickness". Thus it is commonly used as a thickener.

And that is the rub. Can glycerin enough to substitute for sugar's sweetness, not also result in excessive density/thickness? For now, I do not believe glycerin is used to replace sugar, but your opinions are welcome...




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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol
http://homedistiller.org/aging/aging
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Mon Dec 05, 2016 7:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

For the number crunchers...


In accord with my endless endeavor for truth and mythbusting, rather than speculate I decided to actually add some glycerin to a known rum and see if indeed one could beat the hydro test by adding glycerin instead of the usual sugar.

It so happened I had some leftovers from previous tasting (used for cooking and parties), and just happened to have a bottle of pure (99.5%) glycerin.


A first take...

1. Tested the rum leftovers at 6g of sugar

2. Added 1 teaspoon (5ml) of glycerin to total 5 ounces of altered rum. At 1.26g/cc, that's about 6.3g of glycerin, or 42g/l.

3. The hydro test with the added glycerin indicated the equivalent of an additional 23g of sugar, for a total sugar equivalent of 6 + 23 = 29g of sugar.

It is interesting to note that Seales and other sources reckon that glycerol is about 60% or so, as sweet as sugar. That would mean that the 42g of glycerin added would be the rough equivalent of about 25g of sugar - and that coincidentally, was close to the 23g of additional "sugar" found by the hydro test.


Flat Ass Bottom Line

By test, glycerin was detected by the hydro test to be in rough equivalence to the amount of sweetness added - thus, a distiller would have little incentive to try to substitute glycerin for sugar, especially because glycerine seems MUCH more expensive (est $6500/ton vs sugar at $300), and more is needed to achieve the same effect.

For now, I believe that the substitution of glycerin for sugar (to avoid the hydro test) is not likely. As always, I welcome any corrections or additional viewpoints...




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http://sbioinformatics.com/design_thesi ... s&uses.pdf
JaRiMi
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Post by JaRiMi »

I think other sweeteners are in consideration, but the use of sugars as a sweetener is an established process - takes a while to replace this, no doubt. BTW many (like Zacapa) combine both glycerine and sugar already.

There's a lot of BS flying around as the rum producers attempt to confuse the topic. Caramel (as a term), molasses-treated casks, whatnot...Ambassadors are trying to come up with new answers to ever louder questions on why is their rum full of sugar.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Interesting J...


I do agree with this proviso: while many distillers, including Zacapa, were already using both sugar and glycerine, it is well to note that sugar is the main culprit. Relatively large amounts of sugar (or fructose in the case of Zacapa) are secretly added to both smooth and sweeten the rum, while very small amounts (say 1g/l) of glycerine is added (for mouthfeel).

Because glycerine is MUCH more expensive than cheap sugar, and requires more to achieve the same level of sweetness, the notion that glycerine may be added to replace sugar is not likely.

OTOH, Zacapa was found to substitute fructose (an alternate sweetener to sugar/sucrose) as less is needed, and allows them to claim they add "less sugar". A farce...
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