Whiskey, vodka, gin or rum…or tequila or brandy…made from wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, rye, sugarcane or any number of fruits—whatever the booze, Americans, the dominant drinkers of hard liquor worldwide, will go for it. But America’s love of hootch pales in comparison to its love of another drink: coffee. A new process that ferments liquor from used coffee grounds, then, may be just what the country is after. 
 
 Reporting on a new study for Science, Nisha Giridharan details how to make what could soon be your new favorite drink: 
 
 The scientists first collected from a Portuguese coffee roasting company and dried it. Then they heated the powder in water at 163°C for 45 minutes, separated out the liquid, and added sugar. Next, the team mixed in yeast cells, let the concoction ferment, and concentrated the sample to get a higher alcohol content. (A similar process is used to produce other distilled beverages such as whiskey and rum from wheat and molasses.) And voilà! Used coffee grounds produced a new alcoholic beverage with 40% ethanol. 
 
 Microbrewers often flavor their beers with coffee, and caffeine-liquor mixes, from the classic rum and coke to the infamous Four Loko, are nothing new. But the new booze is different. The scientists say that their new “Spent Coffee Ground spirit” smells and tastes like coffee and “was considered as having features of a pleasant beverage.” 
 
 Plus, the potentially dangerous mix of caffeine and alcohol that gives boozy energy drinks a bad rap should be absent here: most of the caffeine, says Giridharan, “disappears in the brewing process.” 
 
 More from Smithsonian.com: 
 
 In Texas, a Locavore’s Liquor 
 
 Booze Cruise: The Best Local Liquors to Try While Traveling 
 
 Pick Your Poison: A Diet Mixer Could Make You Get Drunk Faster ||||| Now you can get a new kind of buzz from coffee. Researchers have found a way to turn used coffee grounds into an alcoholic beverage. In recent years, the industry of distilled spirits has put out a call for new beverages with different flavors created from unusual raw materials. To answer this call, some scientists examined the potential of used coffee grounds. The scientists first collected this raw material from a Portuguese coffee roasting company and dried it. Then they heated the powder in water at 163°C for 45 minutes, separated out the liquid, and added sugar. Next, the team mixed in yeast cells, let the concoction ferment, and concentrated the sample to get a higher alcohol content. (A similar process is used to produce other distilled beverages such as whiskey and rum from wheat and molasses.) And voilà! Used coffee grounds produced a new alcoholic beverage with 40% ethanol, comparable to other hard liquor such as vodka and tequila, researchers will report in the September issue of LWT - Food Science and Technology. To evaluate the product, eight trained taste testers were brought in and rated the intensity of different smells and flavors in the alcohol. The judges described the drink as smelling like coffee and tasting bitter and pungent. Researchers noted that the taste could be improved with age and concluded that the quality was good enough for consumption. Don’t count on the caffeine to keep you awake, however; most of it disappears in the brewing process. ||||| Ed. Note: There's been a lot of buzz online recently about the recipe for the White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter, including a popular petition on We the People, the White House's online petition platform. 
 
 With public excitement about White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it. 
 
 Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen. After the few first drafts we landed on some great recipes that came from a local brew shop. We received some tips from a couple of home brewers who work in the White House who helped us amend it and make it our own. To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before. 
 
 As far as we know the White House Honey Brown Ale is the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds. George Washington brewed beer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson made wine but there's no evidence that any beer has been brewed in the White House. (Although we do know there was some drinking during prohibition…) 
 
 Since our first batch of White House Honey Brown Ale, we've added the Honey Porter and have gone even further to add a Honey Blonde this past summer. Like many home brewers who add secret ingredients to make their beer unique, all of our brews have honey that we tapped from the first ever bee-hive on the South Lawn. The honey gives the beer a rich aroma and a nice finish but it doesn't sweeten it. 
 
 If you want a behind the scenes look at our home-brewing process, this video offers some proof. 
 
 So without any further ado, America – this one's for you: 
 
 Download a printable PDF of both recipes. 
 
 White House Honey Porter 
 
 Ingredients 
 
 2 (3.3 lb) cans light unhopped malt extract 
 
 3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked) 
 
 1 lb crystal 20 malt (cracked) 
 
 6 oz black malt (cracked) 
 
 3 oz chocolate malt (cracked) 
 
 1 lb White House Honey 
 
 10 HBUs bittering hops 
 
 1/2 oz Hallertaur Aroma hops 
 
 1 pkg Nottingham dry yeast 
 
 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling 
 
 Directions 
 
 In a 6 qt pot, add grains to 2.25 qts of 168˚ water. Mix well to bring temp down to 155˚. Steep on stovetop at 155˚ for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 2 gallons of water to 165˚ in a 12 qt pot. Place strainer over, then pour and spoon all the grains and liquid in. Rinse with 2 gallons of 165˚ water. Let liquid drain through. Discard the grains and bring the liquid to a boil. Set aside. Add the 2 cans of malt extract and honey into the pot. Stir well. Boil for an hour. Add half of the bittering hops at the 15 minute mark, the other half at 30 minute mark, then the aroma hops at the 60 minute mark. Set aside and let stand for 15 minutes. Place 2 gallons of chilled water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons if necessary. Place into an ice bath to cool down to 70-80˚. Activate dry yeast in 1 cup of sterilized water at 75-90˚ for fifteen minutes. Pitch yeast into the fermenter. Fill airlock halfway with water. Ferment at room temp (64-68˚) for 3-4 days. Siphon over to a secondary glass fermenter for another 4-7 days. To bottle, make a priming syrup on the stove with 1 cup sterile water and 3/4 cup priming sugar, bring to a boil for five minutes. Pour the mixture into an empty bottling bucket. Siphon the beer from the fermenter over it. Distribute priming sugar evenly. Siphon into bottles and cap. Let sit for 1-2 weeks at 75˚. 
 
 White House Honey Ale 
 
 Ingredients 
 
 2 (3.3 lb) cans light malt extract 
 
 1 lb light dried malt extract 
 
 12 oz crushed amber crystal malt 
 
 8 oz Biscuit Malt 
 
 1 lb White House Honey 
 
 1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 
 
 1 1/2 oz Fuggles Hop pellets 
 
 2 tsp gypsum 
 
 1 pkg Windsor dry ale yeast 
 
 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming 
 
 Directions
– Soon you may no longer have to choose between treating your hangover with coffee or the hair of the dog. Science reports that scientists have successfully spun used coffee grounds into booze, in a process that sounds relatively straightforward. They dried the spent grounds (which, in this case, came from a Portuguese roaster) then added water and cooked the mixture at 163°C for 45 minutes. The liquid was pulled out, dosed with sugar and yeast, and given time to ferment. In order to make it boozier—read, 40% ethanol—the result was concentrated in a process Science likens to that of distilling spirits. But what would such a discovery be without a taste test? The eight "trained" testers who sampled it reported coffee aromas and a bitter taste. They thought age would actually improve it, but ranked it as palatable. (Smithsonian adds that the scientists described it "as having features of a pleasant beverage.") What it's not: Caffeinated. Most is eliminated as the drink is brewed.