You like whisky. You looooove good whisky. You can’t afford to drop hundreds of dollars on high-end bottle. You stick with rotgut, right? Nope. There’s a new process of hyper-aging booze that apparently turns run-of-the-mill whisky into dark and delicious firewater of the gods.
The process is called TerrePure, and it was dreamt up by a retired chemist named Orville Tyler. It involves pumping the whisky through oxygenated chambers, which “[subject it] to high-intensity ultrasonic energy”, which in turn trigger esterification, the process that creates flavour-imparting lactones in whiskey as it’s dehydrated.
According to someone who’s tasted a processed sample, the resulting whisky is a good bit less harsh, and the flavour is easier to take in. It’s a cool bit of boozehacking, but it’ll have to be pretty amazing to justify shipping off all your whiskey to South Carolina. [Terressentia via Popular Science]
maddogeco
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:11 PMWork of the devil!!!. Whiskey needs to age in fired oak barrels in cold places. the charcoal absorbs the nasties as it passes through on the way to the oak. where flavor is imparted on it. and the seasonal temps rise and fall through the years the whiskey goes in and out of the wood. so you drink 21 years of history. That is why its expensive to give you time to appreciate it
Fredericka
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 3:02 PMAlas, not enough people care what they drink. Hence the rise and rise of the premixed canned/bottled drink (alcoholic lolly water).
vin
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 4:04 PMwhilst i can definitely appreciate the ideals behind traditional brewing, i definitely think there will be a day when people look back and laugh at how humans used to sit and wait 18-21 years for a whisky to mature in a barrel…
WTF
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:04 PMHome distilling. I can make an exact replica of Johnnie Walker Blue Label for $3.60 a bottle. Plus, it’s hangover free.
Not to mention vodka, bourbon, gin, rum,tequila, schnapps, liquers of all sorts. Even absinthe at 80% alcohol for around $9 a bottle.
Look up “turbo 500″ on youtube for a simple instructional video. Not the still I have, but it’s better and easier.
smurfydog
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:04 PMPerhaps they’ll laugh, or perhaps they’ll appreciate all the more the products of their replicators knowing how much effort we put into getting it just right.
I’m only in my mid thirties, and already there are foods where I miss the effort that used to be put into them. Perhaps that’s because I don’t have access to a perfect reproduction, perhaps it’s nostalgia.