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As brandies age, chemical interactions between the spirits and the wood casks they mature in grant them their distinctive hues, scents and tastes. These reactions are slow, and aging high-quality brandy currently takes several years.
Previous research found that ultrasound waves can help extract chemicals from plant tissues. Ultrasounds are pressure waves that cause tissues to rupture, releasing bioactive compounds stored within cells at a higher rate. As such, researchers wanted to see if ultrasound waves could help accelerate the aging of brandy.
The scientists flowed distilled wine through American oak chips. As the wine seeped past the wooden chips, the researchers blasted it with ultrasound waves. The researchers found that after only three days of ultrasound treatment, they produced spirits that were similar to brandies aged for years. The scientists will detail their findings in the May issue of the journal Ultrasonics Sonochemistry.
"Obtaining, in three days, a spirit with characteristics near to two-years-aged brandies was something really unexpected for us," says study co-author Valme García, a professor at the University of Cádiz in Spain.
Eight trained judges, including some of the researchers, deemed the resulting spirits nearly as good as traditional brandies. "They tasted surprisingly well, with good fruity and sweet flavors and a high aromatic intensity," García said.
Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/02/03/ultrasound-waves-wine-brandy/
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 06 2017, @04:49AM
I think I'll try the method on my glass of dark Havana club with a few coffee beans to soak in (while jazz is playing at nights with 35C+ temp).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 06 2017, @02:01PM
An Italian brewery tried that trick a decade back, they wanted an aged barley wine feel without having to wait for it. As a huge fan of slowly-aged barley wines (yes, I have half of a crate of 2006 /Thomas Hardy/ in my cellar, and I crack open one bottle per year...), I was very interested to see how it would turn out, and I was very impressed. https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/baladin-xyauyu-etichetta-argento-silver-label/107790/51287/ . Alas, the process still took years, but it was quicker than it would have been without the oxygen.
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