mold

is a large family of multicellular fungi that produces challenges as well as, in some cases, opportunities for the distiller and the spirits producer. It is a distiller’s axiom that the flavor of mold is, along with that of smoke, one of two flavors that cannot be removed from a spirit by redistillation, filtration, maturation, or any other known process. In much of the world, raw materials that are moldy are therefore rigorously avoided.

East Asia, however, has traditionally used a different approach: taking advantage of the fact that some molds can break down starches into sugars, distillers in China and Japan and some associated areas have put mold at the center of their spirits-making. See Aspergillus oryzae; baijiu; koji; and qu.

Mold is also a byproduct of the maturation of spirits when it is fed by the “angel’s share,” the alcohol-rich vapor that rises from the casks. Makers of some spirits, such as scotch whisky and French brandies, not only boast of the vigorous growth of mold in and around their barrel-storage facilities but sometimes even insist that their spirits are favorably altered by the mold’s influence, or at least that it is a sign of the wholesomeness of their spirit.

See also Baudoinia compniacensis.

De-Wei, Li. Biology of Microfungi. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2016.

Moore, David, Geoffrey Robson, and Anthony Trinci. 21st Century Guidebook to Fungi. London: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

By: Doug FrostSee Aspergillus oryzae; baijiu; koji;, qu.See also Baudoinia compniacensis.