Anyone else read this article?

[FarmerTan]

Read a really interesting article in Popular Mechanics this Summer. I am too shtoopid to figure out how to link, so if someone would like to find it, and the Mods are good with it, and it's even possible: please do.

"Bourbon vs Bourbon: did whiskey really taste better in the 1800's?"

As you all know, I'm as close as you can be to computer illiterate as a gold fish, so bear or bare? with me and read the article.
I understood so much of it I felt smart!

 

[Esox]

As you wish!

Bourbon Vs. Bourbon: Did Whiskey Really Taste Better in the 1800s? - https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/food-drink/a21272152/jeffersons-whiskey-experiment/

Now to read it.

 

[FarmerTan]

Esox is da man! Am I ashamed of my lack of skills? Yes, yes I am.

But on the bright side: my weakness lets others shine!

 

[FL shaver]

Very interesting! TY!

 

[Esox]

Interesting article, but I really think theres only one way to test the idea...

If you want to post a link, right click on the address bar at the top of your browser and "Copy"

Then in your forum post, click the chain link marked in red.

Then, right click where it says URL and "Paste"

Then carry on with your post. You can even, if you're up to a more advanced lesson and really want to shine,



left click and hold the button down and highlight a word or sentence then click that button and the link will go in the text. Its like magic or something.

 

[brandaves]

An interesting read. Bourbon gets all of its color and flavor from the vessel but tends to be more affected by fluctuations in temperature (forces of nature that cause the wood and the liquid inside to expand and contract) these forces pull the bourbon into the wood of the barrel and then push it out again over and over as through the seasons. I would be interested to know the temperature fluctuations that this journey barrel was subject to. Jefferson's Ocean operates on the same concept as this "Journey" bottle, so he isn't describing something new.

 

[Lightcs1776]

The article is quite interesting. It would be great to taste the Journey bourbon, shipped like it was years ago. However, the special shipping would add significantly to the cost.

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[FarmerTan]

@Esox : I have a terrific headache now...

 

[RayClem]

There are two ways of distilling whiskey (or whisky depending upon your preference). One is to use pot stills. The other is to use modern continuous distillation stills. All Single malt whisky is distilled in pot stills. However, blended whisky also contains whisky from continuous stills. Some whiskey producers in the USA use traditional pot stills. Makers Mark is one such distillery. Larger distilleries like Jack Daniels use continuous stills. Of course, Jack Daniels is a Tennessee whiskey rather than a Kentucky straight bourbon.

There have been all kinds of "innovations" in an attempt to speed up the aging process of whiskey. One is to add wood chips to the barrel similar to the Krausening process used for beer. Budweiser is "beechwood aged" which means chips of beech wood are added to the aging barrels. Something similar can be done with whiskey. Since the temperature cycles throughout the year cause the whiskey to penetrate in and out of the charred oak barrels, some distilleries have experimented with using various methods such as heated and cooled warehouses to cycle the temperature from hot to cold more often than nature. Others have used ultrasonic technology to rapidly age the whiskey. Early Times, one of the cheapest whiskeys on the market does some of the aging in used barrels rather than the new charred oak barrels required of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, so it has to be sold just as Kentucky whiskey. Using old barrels is not necessarily a bad thing; traditionally Scotch is aged in barrels previously used to age bourbon, cognac, port, wine, etc.

 

[emwolf]

I'm not a drinker but the missus has been a fan of Jefferson's Ocean for years. I should surprise her with Journey.

 

[The Knize]

My now long deceased Father told me that pre-prohibition bourbon--he actually might have said whisky/ey--was much stronger and better flavored than post-prohibition versions, and he had certainly drunk both. He said that the later versions seemed watered down.

 

[FarmerTan]

That article online is, if I'm not mistaken, is missing some of the print version. If I can find it I will check.

My wife thinks I'm nuts because I'd like to learn to distill. I don't even drink the stuff; the chemistry intrigues me.

 

[Lightcs1776]

That article online is, if I'm not mistaken, is missing some of the print version. If I can find it I will check.

My wife thinks I'm nuts because I'd like to learn to distill. I don't even drink the stuff; the chemistry intrigues me.

You follow a shaving forum ... of course you're nuts.

I wanted to learn to brew beer, but cut out beer due to the carbs.

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[Bakker1964]

There is only one "good" way to age whisky, and that is one day at a time. Every newfangled gimmick that has been tried always ends up with a substandard taste profile, imo. You cannot speed up Mother Nature.

As pointed out above, there is something about the osmosis process of drawing distillate into the wood during dry winter months, and forcing it out again during a humid spring and summer. The need to find an equilibrium (the name for the process escapes me at the moment) in terms of saturation plays into it, too.

Above all else is the wood. Bourbon's requirement for new oak presents opportunity, both in char level and strain of oak used. The char acting as a filtration device for fusel oils and other undesirables, and the massive influx of flavor through the breaking down of the lignin molecules in the wood itself.

That's it . . . I'm drinking some Longbranch tonight.