Caramel in Whisk(e)y? What is Caramel colouring anyway?!

What is the Caramel colouring in Whisky? Why is there caramel colouring in Whisky? anyways? You always hear about the E150a in Scotch. Is E150a a Caramel colouring? What is the Caramel Colouring in Whisky? The answer to this questions...

How do we smell and taste whisky?

I have been looking for some actual science that explains how we smell and taste whisky. How do whisky-chemicals interact with you brain.? I say brain because your brain is the end point. ps: if you replace whisky by whiskey,...

OCTOMORE OBA CONCEPT OBA/C_0.1, first tasting notes

I was reminding the Feis Ile 2016 Masterclass when Octomore Black Art was first presented. If you missed the introduction you can look at it here If you have not seen the introduction. Please take 10 minutes to watch the...

Preoccupied

Ever since the COVID-19 pandem I have been preoccupied with that. It started when I went to Italy back in February 9th for work. This was before the travel restrictions were needed or even put in place. Since the first...

Patent: Ageing Whisky on a plane …..

So I keep track of science stuff related to whisky. One in a while there is a patent that is popping up in my searches. Today a particular interesting patent popped up. Screen capture from patent US 2020/0056133 A1, image...

Terroir: How Sensory Destructive is Distillation?

"Generally, sensory compounds present in the colorless, unaged whiskies are also present in their barrel aged counterparts. Those sensory compounds are a product of mashing and fermentation and have the stability to withstand the distillation process. Compounds appearing in the barrel aged whiskies, which were not present in the unaged counterparts, are the product of barrel aging. Also, the total number of sensory compounds present in barrel aged whiskies generally increases with residence time spent in barrels."

An Ode to Bruichladdich

People that know my whisky portfolio know I have a serious weak spot for Bruichladdich Whisky. But why is that so? Do other distilleries not offer the same opportunities? Is this all coincidence? The honest answer is that I don’t...

Brexit effect: UK law on Scotch Whisky in 2020

Well, I wanted to see what the good people of the UK lawmakers are up to after Brexit. In particular what are the UK lawmakers doing to the UK laws that govern the definitions of what makes “Scotch Whisky” Scotch?...

Brexit effect: Protected status of “Scotch Whisky” is “in Doubt”

I have been writing blogs about the effect of Brexit on the legal status of “Scotch Whisky” around the world, in the UK and in Europe. This week a paper was published which investigates all UK “GI’s” and I must...

Kew, et al. about “Whisky Terroir”

I have been reading much of the papers that have been published by Will Kew et al. which deal with Whisky. You will find multiple blogs on my website from this scientist. This Scientist has been investigating the component parts...

Same WATERFORD Spirit in 4 different Wood Type Casks

I have been wondering for a long time what the effects would be of putting the same spirit in different kinds of wooden Casks. That is why I have been keeping track of "The Funnies" which have been maturing over...

Terroir Research Update December 2019

Just some links to Terroir related Research. PS: I keep track of all research published anywhere. I will not mention all the research with a terroir link since that would result in over 2840 papers for 2019 alone. If you...