  thumb|a display of spirits in a supermarket a distilled beverage, spirit, liquor, or hard liquor is an alcoholic beverage produced by distillation of a mixture produced from alcoholic fermentation, such as wine. this process purifies it and removes diluting components like water, for the purpose of increasing its proportion of alcohol content (commonly known as alcohol by volume, abv).britannica online encyclopedia: distilled spirit/distilled liquor as distilled beverages contain more alcohol they are considered "harder" â in north america, the term hard liquor is used to distinguish distilled beverages from undistilled ones, which are implicitly weaker. as examples, this does not include beverages such as beer, wine, and cider, as they are fermented but not distilled. these all have relatively low alcohol content, typically less than 10%. however, brandy is a spirit, is distinct as a drink from wine (due to distillation), and has an abv over 35%. other examples of common distilled beverages include vodka, gin, tequila, rum, whisky, as well as eau de vie (fruit brandy or schnapps), baijiu, soju, aguardiente, pÃ¡linka, fernet, and slivovitz. ==nomenclature== the term spirit refers to a distilled beverage that contains no added sugar and has at least 20% alcohol by volume (abv). popular spirits include brandy, fruit brandy (also known as eau de vie or schnapps), gin, rum, tequila, vodka, baijiu and whisky. distilled beverages bottled with added sugar and added flavorings, such as grand marnier, frangelico, and american schnapps, are known instead as liqueurs. in common usage, the distinction between spirits and liqueurs is widely unknown or ignored; as a consequence, in general, all alcoholic beverages other than beer and wine are referred to as spirits. beer and wine, which are not distilled beverages, are limited to a maximum alcohol content of about 20% abv, as most yeasts cannot reproduce when the concentration of alcohol is above this level; as a consequence, fermentation ceases at that point. ==etymology== the origin of "liquor" and its close relative "liquid" was the latin verb liquere, meaning "to be fluid". according to the oxford english dictionary, an early use of the word in the english language, meaning simply "a liquid", can be dated to 1225. the first use the oed mentions of its meaning "a liquid for drinking" occurred in the 14th century. its use as 
Alcohol Distillation Distilled_beverages