overproof

Pluraloverproofs

Formsoverproofs, overproofing, overproofed

1. 1
   adjective

   Containing a higher proportion of alcohol than proof spirit, the benchmark strength for distilled liquor.

   The distillery bottles an overproof whiskey aimed at collectors.

   Overproof rums often exceed the strength of standard bottlings.

   Similarhigh-proof

   Oppositeunderproof

   Note

   Strength used to be reckoned upward from proof. A rum might be "eight or ten per cent. overproof," and Arnold James Cooley's Book of Useful Knowledge (1851) explains that the percentage told you how much water would bring the spirit back down to proof. Its opposite is underproof. In the kitchen the same spelling means something else entirely: see the baking verb, where the proof is dough rising.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A spirit that contains a higher proportion of alcohol than proof spirit.

   The blender prefers a high-strength overproof for fortifying the final mix.

   Caribbean overproofs are prized for their intensity in traditional cocktails.

   Note

   Here the adjective stands alone and names the drink itself. Dickens writes it with a hyphen in Barnaby Rudge (1841), where a customer demands "the over-proof that you keep for your own drinking." As a countable noun it takes a plural, so a bar can stock several overproofs. In this use the strength becomes the name of the bottle.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To allow dough containing yeast to rise for too long, beyond the proper proofing point.

   Bakers who overproof their loaves end up with a flat, dense crumb.

   She overproofed the dough and it collapsed when she scored it.

   Oppositeunderproof

   Note

   Bakers use it to name a fault, and its opposite is underproof. An overproofed loaf may collapse just from being moved, fails to rise or brown in the oven, tastes of alcohol and bakes with an open, irregular grain. The verb works both ways: you overproof the dough, or the dough overproofs if you miss its moment. Do not confuse it with the strong-spirits adjective, which has the same spelling but a different proof.

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