Why Are Alcoholic Drinks Called Spirits?

The term spirits for distilled alcoholic drinks originates in the process of distillation. When a fermented liquid, such as wine or beer, is heated, its alcohol vaporizes before its water does. Early distillers regarded this vapor as the “spirit” of the liquid—its purest and most vital essence—and condensed it back into liquid form.

During the Middle Ages this concentrated alcohol was often referred to as aqua vitae, Latin for “water of life,” and it was prized both as a medicinal remedy and as a source of intoxication. Alchemists and physicians alike described it as capturing the “soul” of the drink, reflecting the mystical associations of the time. Over centuries, the term spirits passed into everyday language as the standard word for beverages produced by distillation, including whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, and vodka.

Spirits achieve a much higher alcohol content than beer and wine—which contain alcohol created naturally through fermentation—because distillation concentrates the ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, in them. The word spirits still preserves this origin story—alcohol as the distilled essence, or spirit, of the drink.