Atlantic article on aging experimentation

[cas]

The Atlantic had an article focused on experimentation with aging bourbon in their November issue:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-new-science-of-old-whiskey/309522/

Not a lot of new information, talks about barrels, the tornado bourbon, single oak bourbon, that sort of thing - an interesting read.

Craig

[Gillman]

Good article. I don't think any of the innovations will improve on fine bourbon as we know it, but part of the fun is trying.

Gary

[Old Lamplighter]

I'm waiting on 'Orbit' or 'No Gravity' aged bourbon from the ISS.

[MyOldKyDram]

Wasn't there some kid making beer in space?

[Paddy]

I think I see a future BT "Lake Cumberland houseboat aged rye" release coming...

[squire]

Apparently there's some validity to which part of the tree contributes the staves.

[Gillman]

Well, they have to be as non-sappy as possible which I think excludes the core.

Also, it should be noted (and was years ago here) that bourbon and rye were regularly shipped out on clippers to divers parts including South America and Germany, sometimes to be drained by foreign admirers of America's native drinks, sometimes to be returned in a new and improved condition to the Yankee (sorry) hearth. It wasn't just rum that was so treated (sorry again). There was a tradition, probably deriving from Madeira shipments, of doing ditto with some Scotch whisky as well.

I am sure our polymath appreciator of world drinks, Bruce, and perhaps others here have tried Linie acquavit, a Norwegian firewater which gains its distinction by being shipped across the equator before being trundled back to its far northern home for a swish packaging and sale. I have some somewhere and it is a good drink, winter drink to my way of thinking but having absorbed exotic hints from fragrant-scented seas a world away.

Come to this, they used to put kegs of 'shine in the trunks of roadsters in the 20's and knew that rocketing around the countryside got that likker into a dandy shape.

It seems that rough treatment in these various ways did tame a young spirit in ways found beneficent, so perhaps the current stratagems to do something similar will work. On verra.

Gary

[squire]

It was one of the Masters (Harlen I believe) who was commenting on their single tree stave experiments who said something along the lines that staves from the lower half of the tree contributed more caramel and dark fruit essence while the top half contributes coconut and lighter spice notes.

So I'm thinking rye recipe whisky aged in the Southern half of the tree and wheat recipe for the taller half. Of course then we get into age of the tree, growth ring count, wood grain density, soil conditions, average rainfall, latitude, elevation and whether the tree was grown on the North or South facing slope.

[Flyfish]

And whether the staves from the top and bottom were intermingled or kept segregated when the coopers put the barrels together. When you consider all the variables that go into making bourbon, it is a miracle it ever gets made at all. Yes, sir. It's a miracle.

[squire]

Yes, it is a miracle to which I pay homage and hold a silent devotional each morning when I pour some Barton in my coffee.

[tanstaafl2]

I am sure our polymath appreciator of world drinks, Bruce, and perhaps others here have tried Linie acquavit, a Norwegian firewater which gains its distinction by being shipped across the equator before being trundled back to its far northern home for a swish packaging and sale. I have some somewhere and it is a good drink, winter drink to my way of thinking but having absorbed exotic hints from fragrant-scented seas a world away.

Gary

Indeed I have enjoyed the particular delight that is Linie (and tend to keep a bottle around) and I suppose as a result was not as skeptical of experiments like the generally panned Jeff Ocean.

[gblick]

Apparently there's some validity to which part of the tree contributes the staves.

Well, they have to be as non-sappy as possible which I think excludes the core..

Gary

The 'sapwood' is in the outer layers of the tree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapwood_(wood)#Heartwood_and_sapwood

Edited December 8, 2013 by gblick

[Gillman]

Well, they have a way to exclude the sap, I think (further pondering) it has to do with when the trees are cut down, the season.

Gary