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posted by cmn32480 on Monday February 06 2017, @03:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the drinkin'-the-good-stuff dept.

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/


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  • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Monday February 06 2017, @03:25PM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Monday February 06 2017, @03:25PM (#463449) Journal

    Says it is a single malt on the Kilbeggan website [kilbeggandistillingcompany.com]. I'll give it a shot. Many Irish whiskies disappointed me in the past (Most contained wheat. It took me quite some time to figure out that this is apparently what ruined it for me. After I started checking for pure malt whisky, I rarely had any actual disappointments, but by then I also already stopped buying any Irish whiskies.)

    Japanese: I agree. We bought one recently, and it's really great, although on the upper end of my usual price-range. I think it was from a Nikka [nikka.com] distillery, but don't have it at hand to check the exact product.

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