Topic · Drinks
Drinks
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Fermented drinks made from honey, apples, malt, and tea, with grape wine treated separately.
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In this chapter
- Beer — A malt beverage: alcoholic fermentation of malted barley with hops in brewing water — not grape wine, not honey wine, not a soda.
- Cider — Apple (or pear) juice fermented to an alcoholic drink — U.S. fruit-wine identity may call it cider, and must if it lacks a vinous character.
- Kombucha — Sweetened tea fermented by a mixed culture of yeast and acetic acid bacteria; alcohol can cross the 0.5 percent U.S. threshold during or after bottling.
- Mead — Honey fermented to an alcoholic drink — U.S. wine identity calls it honey wine; the kitchen name is mead.
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Appears in Learn fermented drinks · Previous: Fermentation · Next: Honey
Drinks here are alcoholic ferments whose identity is not grape wine. Wine stays grapes: class 1 wine under U.S. labeling is juice of sound, ripe grapes 1. Honey becomes Mead (honey wine). Apples can become Cider. Malted barley with hops becomes Beer. Tea fermented with a SCOBY is Kombucha — it belongs with drinks because alcohol can form, not because it is beer. The shared biology is Fermentation — yeast on sugar.
U.S. class names describe how these drinks are defined for labeling. Fruit wine from apples may be designated cider; agricultural wine from honey is honey wine; a malt beverage is an infusion or decoction of malted barley with hops in brewing water 1 2. These definitions do not provide home formulas.
Taste alcohol, acid, and residual sweetness as structure, the same way wine tasting does. Beer foam has its own texture; grape tannin does not describe it.
For a guided sequence through these drinks, follow Learn fermented drinks.
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Cited in this article
- 27 CFR 4.21 — The standards of identity — U.S. National Archives (via Cornell LII) — TTB wine class and type: grape wine (class 1); fruit wine including cider from apples (class 5); honey wine as agricultural wine (class 6).
- 27 CFR 7.1 — Definitions (malt beverage) — U.S. National Archives (via Cornell LII) — FAA Act malt beverage: alcoholic fermentation of malted barley with hops in brewing water. Labeling identity, not a home-brew recipe.
Updated 2026-09-03. gg:topic:drinks · CC BY 4.0
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