Several grades of ethyl alcohol are available in the marketplace today. They differ primarily in the amount of impurities present. Generally, as you move down the chain to a lower quality ethanol, higher amounts of impurities are present.

The highest level of ethanol purity is “ENA” or Extra Neutral Alcohol for High quality beverages and liquor. This is only domestically produced from fermentation Sugar Cane sources,. Based on the type of Sugar cane processed and the enzymes used to break starch down to sugar, different quantities and types of impurities are produced. In addition to meeting all of the quality requirements for USP, NF and FCC grade materials, ENA beverage alcohol must pass stringent organoleptic analysis for taste and odor. Even in this day of modern technology and sophisticated analytical equipment and techniques, the human senses are able to detect impurity levels beyond the detection limits of the equipment. Since ENA is intended for human consumption, this test is the most important screening tool.