🥃 Percolation
An extraction method in which alcohol slowly passes through a layer of herbs, roots or coffee and takes up flavour; faster than maceration, but less selective.
Percolation works much like a coffee percolator, only with strong alcohol: a solvent (strong alcohol or a mix of alcohol and water) passes through a layer of plant material and draws flavour out of it. It is faster than maceration but less selective. This is how infusions for liqueurs, bitters and herbal drinks are made.
How it works. According to reference books, herbs lie in the upper part of the apparatus and alcohol sits in the lower part, and a pump lifts it over the herbs. The liquid takes up oils, resins and colours and drips down, and it is then circulated again. In WSET study materials the alcohol is called a solvent that washes solid pieces many times.
What is percolated. The method suits hard, dense materials: roots, bark, cinnamon and coffee beans. For delicate flowers and fresh berries, maceration, the cold steeping described in the Oxford Companion, is more common. Difford's Guide notes that Bols percolates cocoa and coffee beans for liqueurs for several days.
After extraction. The infusion is filtered and mixed with sugar, water or another spirit. It can become the base of a liqueur, a bitter drink or concentrated cocktail bitters. It is not distillation: distillation gives clear essences, while percolation gives a coloured infusion.
Why it matters to you. The word «infusion» on a label does not make the drink a medicine: health claims on drinks above 1.2% ABV are banned in the EU. Scent and colour come from the plants, but the alcohol remains. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
Facts
| Raw material | strong alcohol as the solvent; dry herbs, roots, bark, spices, coffee |
|---|---|
| Distillation method | not distillation; extraction with a flowing solvent |
How it connects to Spirits
🥃 Percolation → then → 🍸 Liqueurs → kind of → 🥃 Spirits
Links
- Next step
- 🍸 Liqueurs, 🍸 Bitter (bitter-tasting spirit drink), 🥃 Cocktail bitters
- What it yields
- 🥃 Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin
- Protects from
- 🍷 Alcohol and health, 🍷 Drunk driving
- Part of
- ⚗️ How spirits are made
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Maceration, 🥃 Mizunara, 🥃 Mizunara
Frequently asked questions
Is percolation the same as distillation?
No. Distillation heats the liquid and collects the vapour, while percolation simply passes the solvent through the material and takes up the extract.
What is the difference between percolation and maceration?
Maceration is slow steeping in a still solvent; percolation is a continuous flow through a layer of material. It is faster but less selective.
Which ingredients are most often percolated?
Hard and dense ones: roots, bark, cinnamon, coffee beans and other dry spices.
Where is percolation used in drinks?
In making liqueurs, bitters, herbal infusions and extracts, including coffee extracts.
What happens to the infusion after percolation?
It is filtered, mixed with sugar, water or another spirit, and bottled as a liqueur, bitter or concentrate.
What to read next
- 🍷 Alcohol and health — Alcohol in any drink is harmful in large amounts, and the risks grow with the quantity.
- 🍸 Bitter (bitter-tasting spirit drink) — Bitter is a spirit drink with a predominantly bitter taste: flavoured alcohol or distillate from 15% ABV (EU category 30). Rheinberger Kräuter (Underberg) is the best-known protected name; many bitters are legally liqueurs.
- 🥃 Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin — Ethyl alcohol made only from agricultural raw materials such as grain, potatoes, molasses or grapes; under EU law at least 96% ABV with strict limits on impurities. The EU term for the neutral spirit behind vodka, gin and liqueurs.
- 🥃 Mizunara — Mizunara is Japanese Quercus crispula oak from Hokkaido, used for Japanese whisky casks: sandalwood, coconut and incense. The tree grows slowly, and the casks are complex and costly.
- 🍷 Drunk driving — Never drive after drinking wine: alcohol slows your reactions.
Similar
🥃 Infusion · 🥃 Mashing · 🍷 Cold maceration · 🍷 Skin contact · 🍷 Oak chips · 🍷 Fortification
Sources
- WSET-style study guide, Liqueurs: Definitions, Production Methods & Styles — percolation: spirit pumped repeatedly through a packed botanical bed, suited to hard, dense materials such as roots and cinnamon; compared with maceration, infusion and distillation
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, entry 'maceration': extraction of oils and flavour compounds from herbs and spices in a solvent such as alcohol; the percolator as an early pharmacists' apparatus for precise maceration
- Difford's Guide: How Bols liqueurs are made — tinctures made by steeping or percolating natural ingredients; distillation gives essences
- WHO/Europe: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (04.01.2023)