Proof: The Science of Booze

Drinking gets a lot more interesting when you know what’s actually inside your glass of microbrewed ale, single-malt whisky, or Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. All of them begin with fermentation, where a fungus called yeast binges on sugar molecules and poops out ethanol. Humans have been drinking the results for 10,000 years. Distillation is a 2,000- year-old technology—invented by a woman—that we’re still perfecting today. And the molecular codes of alcoholic flavors remain a mystery pursued by …