(Newser)
– Most people want to go back in time. Among whiskey makers, a mission to accelerate it has evolved. Last fall, Silicon Valley’s new company, Bespoken Spirits, hit headlines by raising $ 2.6 million in seed funding to introduce a rapid aging process that shouldn’t have ripened the whiskey in barrels, which usually takes at least three years. It’s an evolution that Bespoken claimed could raise $ 20 billion a year for the whiskey industry, according to Phys.org. “It’s an accelerated 2.0 maturation,” co-founder Stuart Aaron said at the time. Now, the New York News closely analyzes Bespoken and other companies like this, the history of whiskey aging and the technology they use now to achieve a virtually nocturnal process. Whiskey is usually found in oak barrels for a few years to a few decades, and as the seasons change and temperatures rise and fall, whiskey is introduced into and out of the barrel wood, which increases. the taste and color of the liquid. .
Whiskey makers are now coming out of this longer process. Bespoken, for example, throws small pieces of wood called “micro-bars,” made of various species of wood (i.e., not just oak) into a steel tank, along with unripe whiskey. Workers increase and decrease the heat and pressure inside the tank, achieving the same “aging” effect in a fraction of the time. Other manufacturers exploit light in wood to affect its molecular structure or “reverse engineer” the process using natural sources such as yeasts and plants. One company, Endless West, says it can create a copy of the 30-year-old Balvenie single malt Scotch, which sells for about $ 1,300 and can sell for about $ 40. Connoisseurs say that fast-aging whiskeys are not at the same level as traditionally aged whiskeys, but that may not matter. “A whiskey like Bespoken doesn’t have to have the best bourbon flavor to be successful,” he said. Time notes. “It just has to be better than the worst, at a competitive price.” (Read more whiskey stories.)