Feb

25

Aged spirits.

Filed Under Food & Drink | Leave a Comment

I think I first recognized just how much significance the process of aging has when I sampled a beaujolais nouveau oh so many years ago. You can taste the green, and you cannot taste the barrel.

The impact became even more pronounced and obvious with the mainstreamization of white whiskey (or, if you prefer, whisky). Aged for just a smidgen of time, this whiskey has none of the usual characteristic color or flavor, and instead reminds of silver tequila, only without the agave. Strange and different. Aging affects.

Even stronger evidence is the completely different character my homemade beer has two weeks after bottling and two months after bottling. The former–at least when it comes to the latest, a nut brown ale–is fuzzy, slightly sweet, yeasty, and unctuous. The latter lets the floral hops come through, has very little residual sugar, but has better blended carbonation so that it doesn’t overwhelm the glass. And it simply goes down smoother. Aging rules!


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