Just because something contains natural sugars, this doesn’t mean that throwing some yeast at it will automatically produce a substantive volume of alcohol. Whilst some foods will readily ferment – and indeed others containing microflora and bacteria may spontaneously ferment – no matter the source of the sugar, the creation of alcohol necessitates that an enzymatic conversion process has taken place. Not every food source naturally contains enough of those enzymes for its sugars to become susceptible to this transformation – known as saccharification. But that doesn’t mean that all is lost. Whilst a fair number of categories of spirit (including Scotch malt whisky) prohibit the inclusion of extra enzymes as part of the production process – for others, these adjuncts (additions) are fundamentally necessary. Case in point – Suntory’s Essence of Suntory Volume 4 Rice Whisky – which despite being categorised (more on that later) as rice whisky, also contains a malt component – to achieve proper saccharification and a consistent ferment.