Beverages and the sources

The names of some beverages are determined by the source of the material fermented. In general, a beverage fermented from a starch-heavy source (grain or potato), in which the starch must first be broken down into sugars (by malting, for example), will be called a beer; if the mash is distilled, the end product is a spirit. Wine is made from fermented grapes.

Grains

Source	Name of fermented beverage	Name of distilled beverage
barley	beer, ale, barley wine	Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, shōchū (mugijōchū) (Japan)
rye	rye beer, kvass	rye whiskey, vodka (Poland), Roggenkorn (type of Korn, from Germany)
corn	chicha, corn beer	bourbon whiskey, vodka (only a few, like Tito's from Texas)
sorghum	burukutu (Nigeria), pito (Ghana), merisa (southern Sudan), bilibili (Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon)	maotai, gaoliang, certain other types of baijiu (China).
wheat	wheat beer	vodka, wheat whisky, Weizenkorn (type of Korn, from Germany)
rice	Ruou gao (Vietnam), huangjiu, choujiu (China), sake (Japan), sonti (India), makgeolli (Korea), tuak (Borneo Island), thwon (Nepal)	rice baijiu (China), shōchū (komejōchū) and awamori (Japan), soju (Korea) (some soju also made from potatoes),
millet	millet beer (sub-saharan Africa), tongba (Tibet)
buckwheat		shōchū (sobajōchū) (Japan)

Juice of fruits

Source	Name of fermented beverage	Name of distilled beverage
juice of grapes,	wine	brandy, Cognac (France), Vermouth, Armagnac (France), Branntwein (Germany), pisco (Chile & Perú), Rakia also Rakiya, Rakija, Rakı (The Balkans, Turkey), singani (Bolivia), Arak (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan)
juice of apples	cider (US: 'Hard Cider'), apfelwein	applejack (or apple brandy), calvados, cider
juice of pears	perry, or pear cider; poire (France)	pear brandy, Eau-de-vie (France), pálinka (Hungary)
juice of plums	plum wine	slivovitz, tzuica, palinca, umeshu, pálinka
juice of pineapples	tepache (Mexico)
bananas or plantains	Chuoi hot (Viet Nam), urgwagwa (Uganda, Rwanda), mbege (with millet malt; Tanzania), kasikisi (with sorghum malt; Democratic Republic of the Congo)
gouqi	gouqi jiu (China)	gouqi jiu (China)
ginger with sugar, ginger with raisins	ginger ale, ginger beer and ginger wine
Myrica rubra	yangmei jiu (China)	yangmei jiu (China)
pomace	pomace wine	Raki (Turkey) tsipouro, tsikoudia (Greece), grappa (Italy), Trester (Germany), marc (France), zivania (Cyprus), aguardente (Portugal), tescovină (Romania), Arak (Iraq)

Vegetables

Source	Name of fermented beverage	Name of distilled beverage
juice of ginger root	ginger beer (Botswana)
potato and/or grain	potato beer	vodka: potato mostly used in Poland and Germany, otherwise grain or potato. A strong drink called aquavit or brännvin in Sweden, akvavit in Denmark and akevitt in Norway, and brennivín in (Iceland) is made from potato or grain. Actually, vodka is Russian for "little water" and can be done out of almost anything. - In Ireland, Poitín (or poteen) is a recently legalised drink made from potatoes.
sweet potato		shōchū (imojōchū) (Japan)
cassava/manioc/yuca	nihamanchi (South America), kasiri (sub-saharan Africa), chicha (Ecuador) Can be fermented from 3 to 10 days for strength)
juice of sugarcane, or molasses	basi, betsa-betsa (regional)	rum (Caribbean), pinga or cachaça (Brasil), aguardiente, guaro
juice of agave	pulque	tequila, mezcal, raicilla

Other

Source	Name of fermented beverage	Name of distilled beverage
sap of palm	coyol wine (Central America), tembo (sub-saharan Africa), toddy (Indian subcontinent)
honey	mead (Poland), teg (Ethiopia)	distilled mead (mead brandy or honey brandy)
milk	kumis, kefir, blaand	Araka
sugar	kilju (Finland)	shōchū (kokutō shōchū): made from brown sugar (Japan) Courtsey and more information: http://en.wikipedia.org

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