DURING ITS REST IN THE BARREL, THE WHISKEY DEVELOPS AROMAS AND NUANCES.
WOOD AND WHISKEY HAVE THIS NATURAL LINK THAT ONLY ENDS SO THAT WE CAN ENJOY IT.
We all take it for granted today that a good whiskey must have rested for a long period of time in oak barrels.
It is how we perceive a good quality whiskey: delicate or not so, complex, with personality and above all full of flavors and nuances.
But was it always like this?
THE HISTORY of distillation dates back to 4,000 years in ancient Mesopotamia. In the first century A.D., Alexander of Aphrodisias mentions distillation in ancient Greece.
But the one who really perfected and brought to Europe the first alembic is Abu Musa Jabir, who is credited with the paternity of a large number of laboratory instruments, one of them his great invention – the alembic.
The first written mention of whiskey in Scotland dates from 1494, very shortly after the discovery of America in 1492.
The first license to produce whiskey dates from 1608 and belongs to the Irish Bushmills Distillery.
18th century – Scottish moonshiners were illicitly distilling whiskey, trying to avoid paying the fees imposed by the British crown in 1725.
They were called moon-shiners (moon = luna / shine = brightness / light) because they distilled at night in the moonlight so that they could not be caught by the tax collectors.
In 1823 with the Excise Act – what today would be an amnesty for tax criminals, many distilleries began to produce whiskey legally.
But wood and whiskey were always together?
The answer is NO.
Wood and whiskey took almost 400 years to declare this mutual love.
And this happened in 1915 when during the First World War the law that restricted the consumption of immature alcohol came into force.
Alcohol ravaged British troops, freshly distilled whiskey (new-make) produced more damage than the war itself.
They had to take urgent measures, so with the excuse that all the freshly distilled alcohol was needed as raw material for explosives and other things, a total and absolute ban on consumption was imposed. From this point on, whiskey – by law – had to be aged for at least three years.
And why in wood?
Wood had previously been used as a means of transport by producers of wine, rum, brandy and cognac.
It also has the necessary porosity to allow oxygen to pass through and cause oxidative maturation – as it is known in the industry.
And why the Oak?
Here the conversation is very broad, but the reasons are clear. They could have chosen pine, chestnut, cedar, or even juniper.
But none have the necessary elasticity and strength to be molded into staves.
In addition, the oak is not affected by xylophagous insects that feed on the wood.
Whiskey is forged in wood.
The quality of the final product will depend on the quality of the wood used.
The incidence of wood in whiskey is tremendous. 60 to 80% of the whiskey’s aroma comes from the barrel that has been used. Can you believe it?
Famous Grouse Master Blender Gordon Motion said in an interview:
“If you are going to fill a low quality barrel with excellent distillate, you will get a mediocre whiskey.
But if you fill a good distillate in a barrel of excellent quality, you will get a tremendous whiskey! “
Types of oak for aging whiskey.
We will talk about the three main types of oak, according to their origin.
- Common oak or ash oak (Quercus robur)
- Sessile oak or winter oak (Quercus petraea)
- . American white oak (Quercus alba)
By far the most widely used oak in the Scotch whiskey industry is American white oak. And in particular the American white oak barrel that previously stored bourbon.
There are plenty of reasons to use this type of wood to age your freshly distilled ones.
American white oak has some vanillin content and gives off pleasant sweet, almost sweet notes, combined with rich aromas of tropical fruit such as banana and pineapple.
Well, to give it more mellow and creaminess, the barrels used in the bourbon industry are burned before being filled with the precious liquid.
In oak there is a sugar molecule called Xylosa that, when burned by fire, develops a caramel flavor in addition to slightly tinting the whiskey.
In Europe, the countries producing wines and derivatives use local oak to a greater extent, such as quercus robur and common oak.
Also, having a finer porosity, the passage of oxygen is much slower.
The nuances acquired by aging in this type of wood are more pronounced: nuts, spices and tannin.
Mostly, Scottish distilleries use barrels that have previously stored or fortified wines to refine (give a finish) to their whiskeys.
Types and sizes of whiskey barrels.
There are more than 10 known barrels sizes that vary in size depending on the provenance and type of alcoholic beverage you have stored.
The smallest ones have been designed for logistical purposes, mainly for horse transport.
These are:
- Blood tub of 40L. used mainly for beer.
- Octave of 65L. used for wine that are one-eighth of a thick wine cask.
- Quarter cask from 50L. to 125L. depending on the barrel that has been reduced to a quarter by removing part of the staves.
A. Barrels blood tub – octave – cuarter cask.
Then we have the two most used barrels today:
- ASB (American Standard Barrel) from 190 to 200 liters used in the American whiskey industry and then sent to Europe for its second or third use.
- 250L. Hogshead. – is the British standard barrel size for over 500 years. It is usually made of American white oak, but also reassembly to a 250 liter size of European and American staves.
B. Hogsheads barrels – American standard barrel.
And finally, we have the Jerez or similar boots from Porto, Madeira, etc.
- Butt – 500l boot. – used for the wines of Jerez, in the south of Spain.
- 550l Port Pipe. – American and Spanish oak used for Port wines.
- Madeira Drum of 650L. – made in French oak to give a more intense touch to the wines of the Portuguese island.
C. Sherry Butts, Porto and Madeira.
Add, of course, the French wine barrels (300 liters) and the cognac barrels (350 liters) made in Limousin or American oak.
Wonderful, right?
@WhiskeyClubMadrid
