Whiskey aging

Aging practices differ somewhat. British custom is to store the whiskey in uncharred oak barrels while American whiskies, both Rye and Bourbon, are stored in charred barrels. The color and solids of whiskey aged in uncharred packages are much smaller in amount and more water soluble than those of whiskey stored in charred packages. The charring also results in a bead of oilier consistency and greater permanence than the uncharred barrel imparts. 

Canadian. By government regulation, Canadian whiskeys contain no distilled spidts less than three years old. They are usually blended products and are often up to six years of age. Canadian whisky tends to be light bodied and deHcate in flavor. The Canadian government sets no limitations as to mashing formulas, distilling proofs, or types of cooperage used in maturation. 

The grain whiskeys used in Scotch blends are produced using com, rye, and barley malt and are distilled using a continuous multicolumn stiU at 180—186° proof (90—93%). Grain whiskeys are aged in used oak barrels of 190 Hter capacities. The used barrels are often purchased in the United States from bourbon distilleries. 

Irish Whiskey. Irish whiskeys are blends of grain and malt spirits three or more years of age that are produced in either the RepubHc of Ireland or Northern Ireland and comply with the respective laws regulating their manufacture. Since no peat is used in the malting process, Irish whiskey lacks the smokey character of Scotch. In the manufacturing process, the malt is soaked in water and milled to produce the wort. The fermentation usually takes about 60 hours. The first distillation in a pot stiU yields a 22—23% alcohol product. A second pot stiU distiUation produces a product that is 45—46% alcohol. This is foUowed by a third distiUation in another pot stiU to yield the Irish whiskey of about 68—70% alcohol. 

Much work has been reported and summarized ia the Hterature on the matufing of various whiskeys ia charred or uncharred white-oak barrels (4—7). The early Hterature iadicates that total acids, aldehydes, esters, soHds, and color iacreased with aging time and that their concentrations were iaversely proportional to proof. Thus aging at higher proofs (over 127°) yields less color and flavor. The maximum allowable entry proof for straight whiskeys was iacreased from 110° to 125° by the U.S. Treasury Department ia 1962. 

Consider the information given about tritium in Problem 33. Estimate the age of a sample of Scotch whiskey that has a tritium content three-fifths that of the water in the area where the whiskey was produced. 

In the US, more than 80% of caramel is used to color drinks such as colas and beers. Another important application is the coloring of blended whiskeys produced by mixing straight whiskeys with neutral spirits. The addition of neutral spirits to the straight whiskey produces a loss of color that can be compensated by the addition of caramel. Straight whiskeys are colored during aging for 2 yr in freshly charred oak barrels and contain furfural and 5-HMF in a ratio of 2 to 2.6 1, while the ratio... 

The chronic effects of alcohol consumption are also highly varied. Flemingl3 cites the case of a man who died at the age of 93, having drunk a quart of Scotch whiskey every day for the last sixty years of his life, all the while managing a successful business. This individual was evidently highly resistant to the toxic effect of alcohol. At the other extreme are alcoholics who sometimes drink themselves to death in their thirties. The compulsion to drink as well as the tolerance for alcohol varies greatly with individuals, and all kinds of psychoses may develop as a direct result of alcohol consumption in individuals whose make-up predisposes them. 14,15... 

These results indicate that compounds with malty (3-methylbutanal), sulfurus (methional), coconut-like (whiskey lactone) and phenolic (ethylguaiacol, guaiacol) odor qualities contribute to the overall flavor of barrel aged wines. 

PROP Light yellow-amber liquid. Pleasant to fruity odor. D 0.923-0.935 15.56° 47-53% of ethanol, by volume, flash p 80.0°F (CC). Made by distillation of fermented malted grains, e.g., corn, rye, or barley. After distillation, whiskey is aged in wooden containers for up to several years. The aging extracts such components as acids and esters from the wood and promotes oxidation of components of raw whiskey and some reactions between organic components to form new flavors. 

Chronic alcoholism is the major cause of folate deficiency in the United States. Alcoholics generally have poor diets — for example, one liter of whiskey per day. It is not dear if the alcohol induces metabolic defects that interfere with the metabolism and function of folate. Beer docs contain folate, as this product is brewed with yeast, an organism containing high levels tif the vitamin. Wine and hard liquors, on the other hand, contain little or no folate. The elderly may also be at risk for folate deficiency. It is thought that in the elderly the deficiency is due to poor diets rather than age-related defects in the absorption and utilization of folate. 

Whiskeys Grains brewed with water to form a beer of 5%-10% alcohol. Beer is distilled and aged in new or used charred oak barrels for two to eight years before blending. 40-50... 

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