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our spirit is aging every second of every day. Yes, higher I met him this spring he said that most people understand aging alcohol makes it more stable, but there may be more going a wine enhances flavor development, but that because spirits
on in your booze than you would expect. Flavors are forming, are more stable it is even more important and takes more time. chemical chains are bonding, then breaking apart, making new In the video he describes one of the most important processes complex formations, and oxygen is breathing maturity and finesse in flavor development, the fact that ethanol molecules grab onto into your booze. You can use this as a tool and let nature do the and break off of one another, creating long chain fatty acids that heavy lifting to create complexity and depth in your spirit with no create mouthfeel, concentration of flavor and complexity. This all added fancy or expensive equipment.
happens as a spirit sits in a neutral container post distillation.
Resting or ripening are terms used to describe spirit maturing Distillation is in fact this violent process of taking wash and low as it rests in a neutral vessel. This concept is second nature to wine, ripping them molecule from molecule, suspending them European distillers, especially in the eau de vie country of South in air and bringing it back whole again. As a spirit rests after Germany and Austria. Their centuries upon centuries of artisan this process slowly but surely new molecular shapes are created, distilling holds this fact to be as obvious as the world being changing the character of your spirit. The higher the proof the round. Conversely, in the United States the type of aging we most slower this, and the process of oxidation, occur. He holds any often think about is oak aging, but oak flavor and maturity are spirit he produces a minimum of three months, but some of two very different things. When I throw out words like ‘ripening’ his finest brandies he will rest for up to 5 years to foster the or ‘resting’ I’m often met with doubt in our burgeoning craft character he desires. scene. The presence of oxidation, esterfication and long chain
I was really inspired yes, but I also needed to be a believer.
molecular flavor formation are all happening whether or not the I had already implemented protocols resting our spirit about 6 oak is present, so let’s start the conversation about the life of weeks from distilling to bottling and we already were proofing spirits and how they age in a tank, in a demijohn, or in a bottle.
in small steps with resting in between, but this would be a whole new layer to our production. It required setting timing
THE CHEMISTRY
and production schedules to allow spirits a bit more rest time
I was exposed to ideas of resting spirits through a few different in tank before bottling. However, the payoff was huge. Flavors distilleries over the past 10 years. Some distillers here in the US transformed from the primary flavors of fresh raw distillate (clean were very aware that after proofing, pumping or agitating a spirit white apple flesh) to tertiary flavors (golden dried apple peel) in it would taste ‘hotter’ than a spirit that was allowed to rest, but just a matter of a few extra weeks. Finally we found a place where chalked it up to intuition. Hubert Germain-Robin talks about the our spirit seemed to reach it’s ideal expression and slow down cognac concept of ‘tumult,’ that a spirit will need to calm down in its production enough that we were ready to bottle, which after any process and that doing too much to a spirit in quick happened to be at about 3 months. Slowly we are transferring secession could bind up flavor and create off, ‘upset’ flavors. our standards to reflect this time and reserved tank space. It I had heard the term resting from a few European eau de vie costs us nothing but a little forward planning and a few weeks makers, but that’s a hard culture to connect with in our bourbon of holding to up our game immensely. Discovering that it tastes centric nation. It was, in fact, someone from the incredible better means I can never go back. eau de vie distilling heritage of Southern Germany who finally impressed the importance of ripening to me and gave me the concepts to make it all click.
THE ALCHEMY Elevage is a concept I am passionate about and bring to
It was a simple short internet video titled Stählemühle—The everything, especially my spirits. Elevage means the raising, the Art of Master Distiller Christoph Keller and it gave me facts and rearing of something as though it is a child. I get to know each inspiration to truly understand ripening or resting a spirit. It finally batch, its quirks, its character and I give it everything I can to clicked. In the video he can be seen in a cellar resting many care for it so I can send it out into the world to reflect what I hope spirits in glass demijohns, treating them almost as wines. When I have instilled in it. This idea inherently applies to resting and
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