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How to Make Booze Better
Some booze is best served in a saucer, in the garden, as slug bait. Other alcoholic beverages are best served at particular temperatures, in particular glassware, revealing their full palette of flavors. Then there is booze that could be better, and therein lies today’s tale.
Whilst serving deep in the heart of Texas, I happened upon Ranger Creek, a “brewstillery.” This neologism denotes a craft brewery that also has a license to distill alcohol. The brewery piece is a source of steady income, with quick conversion of ingredients into beer ready to be poured. The distillery side can be as efficient, or even more so, if you stick to un-aged clear spirits: vodka, gin, white whiskey, white rum, blanco tequila.
The moment you venture into whiskeys, whether you call them whiskey, rye, Scotch, or bourbon, the rules change. All of these require years of aging in oak barrels. Indeed, bourbon may not be sold as such without at least 2 years of barrel aging. So, if you want to get into the whiskey making business, you are committing to a minimum of two years lag time, two years of illiquid liquid inventory.
Ranger Creek found a mitigation strategy. In addition to steady income from beer, the distillery portion of the business was jump-started by small-barrel aging. The smaller the barrel, the more surface area, relative to volume of liquid. The more surface area, relative to volume of liquid, the faster acting the “aging” process. So, Ranger Creek was able to bottle and sell small batch small barrel whiskey “in the style of” the three recipes being slowly aged in the big barrels.
Along with beer—which had the same ingredients as whiskey, plus hops—and the small barrel whiskey batches, they offered 750 ml bottles of un-aged, white whiskey. This got me thinking. Could I turn white whiskey into a drinkable aged whiskey?
A little poking around the internet revealed that I could get a 2 liter charred oak barrel, shipped from the Texas side in the Rio Grande Valley. The barrel arrived at my temporary Texas address with clear instructions. Fill it up with warm water and set it in a sink or container where it can leak until the staves swell up and seal themselves. The barrel was properly constructed and did seal itself after two days. I rinsed the barrel thoroughly of wood chips, then poured in the white whiskey from Ranger Creek.
Now, the instructions gave a range of weeks per barrel size. I made the mistake of waiting 4 weeks, the maximum recommended for the 2 liter barrel. When I decanted the whiskey into bottles, it was very oaky, a bitter, biting, “hot” flavor. However, cutting the booze, with 1 part water to 5 parts whiskey, smoothed out the flavor nicely and resulted in a very drinkable product.
Encouraged, I decided to take it to the next level. Many whiskey makers age their product in barrels previously used for other spirits, adding some of that other spirit’s flavor profile to the whiskey. I decided to fill the barrel with a jug of cheap but drinkable port.
The immediate result was supposed to be an improved port. I am not a regular drinker of port, so am no expert. I did not notice a significant improvement after 4 weeks, but the barrel aging at least did no harm. This second run was noticeably less aggressive than the first use, as the barrel’s char was slowly being worn down.
The next run of white whiskey was excellent, in the neighborhood of a middle shelf professionally produced whiskey. It was reminiscent of some Scotch whiskeys. This took 5 weeks, so you can see a trend in the barrel aging effectiveness.
The barrel sat empty for a while, so I had to rewet the staves. They sealed back up nicely in a day. Then I went for something different.
Years before, I had been introduced to a great extra anejo tequila. This style of tequila is aged three years in oak barrels, like bourbon, so picks up flavor that is much smoother, to my taste than the clear, blanco tequila. The first such tequila I had sampled in a Mexican restaurant was aged in bourbon barrels, so that had me thinking.
My experiment turned out well, yielding a small barrel equivalent of extra anejo, with the port and whiskey traces deep in the barrel surface nicely mellowing the blanco tequila into an amber colored, refined spirit. I made one more batch, taking 6 weeks to get results, then retired the barrel. It made a fine addition to a back yard fire pit, the fragrant, infused oak smoke wafting up in the desert night.
If you do not partake, or do not care to fiddle with making better booze, the same barrels are sold and used to age vinegars. That is a story someone else can tell.
Published in Group Writing
Interesting stuff.
My family were never big drinkers, so I have never really been part of booze culture. It’s interesting what people do for it and to achieve results.
Likewise. I found myself making my own beer back in the 1990s to enjoy a “real” Bavarian brew on the weekend. The barrel-aging hobby started for me in 2016 and lasted through 2017, unless I decide to go another cycle with a new barrel.
A limiting factor has been the ridiculous price charged for most white whiskey, as it became a hipster thing. Factor in the cost of the barrel over 4-6 runs and it can become a hobby but not so economically advantageous, compared to buying a professionally produced equivalent.
More generally, alcohol, itself, has an unpleasant odor and taste, so you definitely have to do something to make it more than slug bait or antiseptic/anesthesia.
Yeah, that may be part of why my family doesn’t drink much. I know that I’m a supertaster, and others in the family may be as well. When everything tastes stronger, and it’s easier to detect the smell and taste of alcohol, drinking a lot may not be for you.
Three years? Who has that kind of time? Doc, Mr. Roberts, and Ens. Pulver made Scotch in less than 4 minutes!
https://youtu.be/e4QNBypC9vs
Very interesting. Do you know how much you lost to evaporation?
The first company I worked for was about a mile down the road from a distillery (Bowman’s) and I went on a tour one time. The warehouse where they aged the bourbon was a huge barn like structure with very large beams and row after row of barrels. The atmosphere was probably the equivalent of a stiff drink – they said they lost a large percentage (I remember 40%, but that may be high) to evaporation and it seems the beams in the barn took in all the evaporation. It was a great place to visit and probably a better place to nap.
The distillery was started in 1934 on the day after prohibition was repealed. The Bowman family owned the 7,200 acre farm that eventually became Reston Va. In 1988, they moved to Spotslyvania County. It was probably the last company that actually made something tangible in Reston which is now a software/paper pushing city.
This is a barrell made in the small town where Nicki Haley grew up in South Carolina by the name of Bamberg. Its made by Black Water Barrell Co. The one pictured is a “leaker” which I bought for a bird cage stand. I like to kid that this is how I bought my wine before I quit drinking. I toured the production plant. It was very interesting. They sell all the barrells they can make. Not only do you have to age the wine or wiskey but the oak to make the barrells needs aged for three years. Damm this process is worse tha aging cheese.
Just out of curiosity, @cliffordbrown, did you try a taste of the “white dog” before filling it into the barrels? I’ve heard it usually tastes pretty vile.
The amount lost to evaporation depends on the temperature and humidity of the place in which the barrel is stored. Surface area to volume ratio likely also matters. Controlling for all that, the shorter time in small barrels means less loss. I did not keep close track, but would estimate 10-15% over the course of 4-6 weeks. I was not tracking the specific gravity, so cannot say if the alcohol percent by volume increased or decreased.
You are correct.
Sounds like A Man in a Hurry.
When people ask me what Scotch tastes like, iodine is my go to answer. Naturally, most people say, “ick”. Then I say, “Yes, but it’s much smoother because it’s a twelve year old iodine.”
I prefer my white lightning to be good corn squeezings- made by my relations in the GSM and used by my grandfather to “supplement” his income in the 1960s and late 1990s (yes, here was a hiatus from the 70s to 90s)
I’ve written about alcohol and tobacco. I’m not completing the trifecta, so someone else can do the firearms “how do you make that” post.
This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the February 2019 Theme Writing: How Do You Make That? There are plenty of dates still available. Tell us about anything from knitting a sweater to building a mega-structure. Share your proudest success or most memorable failure (how not to make that). Do you agree with Arahants’ General Theory of Creativity? “Mostly it was knowing a few techniques, having the right tools, and having a love for building and creating whatever it was.” Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
I will post March’s theme mid month.
This is actually incorrect. Bourbon (the only whisky whose definition is actually delineated in federal law, and which is considered the only whisky indigenous to the US) need not be aged for very long at all.
To be called “Straight Bourbon” (that is a legally defined term), bourbon needs to be aged at least 2 years. But anything that’s been aged for less than that may still be called bourbon.
Bourbon has other requirements:
Its mash has to be a certain percentage of corn (it being a corn whisky, which is also why it is sweet – note that Jack Daniels is also a corn whisky, but it fails the rest of the requirements).
During distillation, it can only be drawn off at a certain temperature (I’d have to look up the exact number), a temp which is far lower than most whiskies are drawn at.
The distillation draw also makes for a lower alcohol % per gallon than other whiskies.
Bourbon must be aged in new white-oak barrels, which have been charred inside (the charcoal interior gives it its color, the white oak imparts the vanillin flavonoids). Old barrels may not be re-used for bourbon (but can be resold to other distillers for other whiskies – they’re popular for brandies, scotches, and other aged spirits, as well as beer).
Lastly, bourbon can only be casked at a certain proof level (it is frequently watered down for sale to the more normal 80-90 proof range during bottling).
If you meet all of these requirements, you can call it bourbon. Otherwise it is legally something else (say, Jack Daniels).
There is a micro-distillery here in Columbus, Ohio, which makes bourbon. They do not age it a full 2 years, so they cannot sell it as “straight bourbon”, but it’s still bourbon. However, due to the short aging (about a year-ish), it is a bit on the harsh side.
Thanks for the correction. I’ll need to sort out where I picked up the 3 year number.
The tour guides at the Jim Beam distillery are very thorough and knowledgeable. The guide I had when there was the daughter of one of the distillers at Jack Daniels, and knew the industry well.
I only have two rules.
One: Never bet money you don’t have on a dog race with an ex-girlfriend who happens to be a stripper.
Two: No bourbon. Ever.
I think this requires its own post.
Or one on life rules in general.
Yeah, but I want to know exactly how he came by this bit of wisdom personally.
Yeah, I picked up on the specificity.
Just to be thorough, here are the relevant rules: 27 CFR § 5.22 – The standards of identity [emphasis added]:
Nifty! Thanks for digging that out!