Almost 9 out of 10 adult experimentation with alcohol , but some of them are doing it on an entirely unlike level . The multitude make it for your uptake are never satisfied and constantly polish their ancient methods to flawlessness … most of the meter . Once in a while they chuck all that out the window and assay something completely new . The distillers below did just that to present you with whisky ( or whisky if you ’re Scotch ) like you ’ve never had it before .
Sending it to space
distance : the macrocosm ’s Deepfreeze . And just like your freezer , material that sits in it too long starts to sample like “ antiseptic smoke [ and ] condom . ” Also , like your deep freezer , hooch gets stash away there .
See , the last step of distillation is maturation : when that preciouswhite dogages in a cask until it is golden and beautiful and quick to be booze . Unless it ’s finger adventurous . Then it flies to eternity … and back ! Because infinity and beyond is a scary proposal .
( Although if we ’re being good , the whisky is entirely amber after six month , while the flavor develops for years . Nevertheless ! )
Dan Evans/Thrillist
In 2011 Scotland ’s Ardberg Distillery sent a small-scale vial of whiskey up to old age on the International Space Station , which – through the power of relativity – it did , slenderly slower than its same - batch counterpart on ground . Miraculously , the space sample distribution elude imbibery by strong drink - deprived spaceman for three age , in all probability thanks to the extreme discipline and focus it takes to be a part of the space plan .
Upon its return to Earth , the cosmic whisky reunite with its sibling , and the two dram were see for comparison of their terpene . Although “ terpene ” sounds like a Scottish insult , they are in fact biosynthetic compounds .
These terp - a - derps are why beer and whisky taste so good . And the fine folks at Ardberg wanted to know what happens to them in microgravity . How does it affect tone ? Will it gratify unknowable alien intelligence if consumed by their endless hungriness ? These are the questions , people .
Space Whisky X , as society does n’t call it but should , is technically not bilk , which must be wholly mature in Scotland . Sorry astro - tipplers , but passing over the highlands 15 meter a daytime does n’t count . But it is reasonably closelipped to the real matter , since it was packed into MixStix with shave of the same oak tree barrel that put up the earthbound scotch .
The termination : a whisky that pull out less of the wood ’s centre but breaks down more of its tannins . The scent and flavors that Space Whisky X elicit in a taste tester are brainsick , include ( but not restrain to ): smoked fish , black lead , vanilla extract , bitch , hickory ham actor , and antiseptic lozenges . Coincidentally , those are the component for the world ’s bad sweet talker , but reports are that this space - scotch ( spatch ? ) ai n’t forged … just rum .
Aging it with a vacuum
The ISS may miss soberness , but thanks to the efforts of Bowie - strum cosmonaut Commander Chris Hadfield ( and a desire not to blow up its residents ) , it is under pressure . To test whisky in a vacuum , become your Earthman oculus to Cleveland , OH – as in , “ OH ! There are a disproportionate number of cosmonaut from Ohio ! ”
Perhaps because of Buckeye State resident physician ’ solace with a pestilent vacancy , it ’s home to the humans ’s first pressure - pump whisky . See , the golden liquidity is really popular right now : so darn popular so that traditional yield ca n’t keep up . Are we fate to be in a humankind where whisky is the privilege of tech billionaires and oak barons ?
Well Tom Lix , owner of Cleveland Whiskey , looked into that future and said , “ No , that just wo n’t do . ” His company developed equipment to age the whiskey in one day at various gamey and small pressures , forcing that beautiful spirit through the Sir Henry Wood several times .
He also has a phonation made for baseball commentary .
Lix ’s outgrowth allows from some really cool innovation . A lot of woods make for tremendous barrels ; they ’re just too porous . But they do make for great flavor . infer who has the machinery that can “ squeeze the woodwind like a sponger ” and extract previously untouched flavor ? Cleveland Whiskey . Lix points out that “ 85 % of the flavor comes from the woodwind instrument ! ”
Of naturally , he has catch flak from whiskey purists , but do you think Tom Lix cares ? Tom Lix does not manage . His Twitter bio proudly gas the label “ industry # heretic . ” And why should n’t he ? The world is already drink as much whisky as it perchance can , and he ’s keep that number up . As long as the toper feel the conclusion mathematical product is of good calibre , and the product play all the requirements , the method acting should be irrelevant .
Cleveland Whiskey sped up a process from three years ( or 18 if you want to hit the ideal maturation ) to three mealtime . Imagine any other field where an groundbreaker is criticize for increasing productiveness by 11,000 % . You ca n’t , because you ’re a realist , and not a dogmatical quibbler who ’s no fun to drink with .
Even if this bottle is n’t to your taste , it should n’t gravel you that other people bask it . Traditional whiskeys are n’t buy the farm anywhere ; they just sit on the ledge next to fresh and exciting settlements on the taste sensible horizon , thanks to Lix and Cleveland Whiskey .
Partner Content From
Pepsi 1893 is cola made the old - fashioned way , with real saccharide , kola nut extract , aromatic bitter , and sparkling water . Mix it with your favorite feel and reflect on the undecomposed times past .
Turning health food into whiskey
Are you eating quinoa ? You should be eat quinoa . Quinoa is a all over protein , a superfood that will prevent you from ever dying . It ’s a great way to eat up grains , max gainz , and have pain , as you poop a brick composed of this aurora ’s loving cup of quinoa . But bro : PROTEIN ! And it does taste pretty good , until you discover the randomly gritty sharpness in every serving .
Corsair Distillery retrieve a better , crunchless role for the Peruvian superfood , plus some other grain you may not have heard of . The Kentucky - based job was trying to develop a bio - Rudolf Diesel method acting , but the great power of Kentucky overcame them , and abruptly everything was whiskey .
Now they ’re a widely hailed , advanced mark that just loves to make whiskey out of any grain they can find . Yes , even pseudocereals like quinoa and amaranth . These hombre wrotethe literal bookon wringing whiskey out of non - traditional metric grain .
Pepsi
See , most every whisky maker likes a mash of malted barley . Or rye . Whatever crops you ’ve got lie around . But quinoa ? That poppycock ’s expensive . Oats ? sure as shooting , they make a few whiskeys out of that . Wheat ? Kind of rarefied , but no problem . Buckwheat ? You know it , and that’snot even a real caryopsis !
They ’ve also made whisky from drear corn , millet , Elmer Rice , and sorghum . But their most obscure distillation is probably derived from triticale , a wheat berry - rye hybrid created in the nineteenth hundred by a Scottish botanist who thought it would be uproarious to trick residents of 21st century Los Angeles into eating gluten .
To top it off , they combined all those into the Voltron of whiskey : mad in the Grain , a 12 - texture bourbon . Now that ’s a healthy sports stadium of cereal .
Dan Evans/Thrillist
Giving it sea legs
Tipplers make love the years of a whisky show in the legs : those trace that run down the side of the chalk . Viscosity demand metre to learn ; whiskey does n’t become full - bodied in a twenty-four hour period ; the intoxicant and lucre have to invent together . While this is pass off , distillers often turn the barrels so that every in of wood interacts with the spirit .
Enter Trey Zoeller . Whiskey runs so deep in his vena that his multiply - great - grandma gotbusted for illegal distillingin the 18th century ( and yet it was effectual to work a baby 11 hours a day in the mines . Get your antecedence straight , colonials ) .
Zoeller catch the smart idea to age his whisky on a gravy holder . slop it around at sea for over three years ( and 10,000 naut mi ) under char sky and salty osmosis produce a whisky weathered like an ancient tar . But with zero notes of dead mollymawk .
Dan Evans/Thrillist
Jefferson ’s Bourbon is back under yield , and guide unlike sea itinerary to buckle under varying smack from the same batch of spirit as it ages .
Rocking it to sleep
In its sign of the zodiac in Gardiner , malt whisky rocks dreaming .
Tuthilltown Spirits kicked off the resurrection of guile whisky in the NE , thanks in part to New York state ’s relaxation of fees for small-scale raft yield . To do so , they had to innovate .
As with Zoeller ’s sea whiskey , the gold potion that would become Tuthilltown ’s Hudson Whiskey bloodline needed to be become to help with the ontogenesis outgrowth . The more the whiskey is in contact with the wood , the more it draws from its vanillins and tannic acid . But the distillery was a modest operation , and nobody had time for that . Far better to eddy the whiskey and leave the barrel intact . If only there were a way …
And that ’s when the crew at Tuthilltown had a brilliant musical theme : sonic maturation .
You see , Hudson Whiskey is all about that basso . By blasting their cask with hip - hop , they agitate the liquor via soundwaves . The stuff HUA in the oak , and comes to fruition faster and better . How nerveless is that ? And how have they not capitalized on a partnership with 50 Cent ? The ad transcript write itself ! “ mature for three long time to Fiddy ’s deep tone , this whisky got plentiful and you ’ll buy the farm to test it . ”
Hanging it from the ceiling
At last , the whiskey is ready for bottle ! Or , in the case of those distilleries that supported an IndieGoGo campaign by Angels ’ Share Glass : capsulize .
As you might order from the name , the Scotland - based glassblowers are tightly restrain to its whisky marketplace , create all manner of accessories for the whisky aficionado , equipment for distillers , and custom pieces commission by major scotch labels like Johnnie Walker and The Macallan .
Their signature tune piece is an angel filled with whisky . How do they fill molten chicken feed with high proof alcoholic drink and not light the whole works ablaze ? Nobody knows ! It ’s a trade mystery . All we can say for sure is they ’ve give way wonderful new meaning to the phrase “ holy spirit . ”
To call forth money for a fresh studio , Angels ’ Share Glass offered backers tradition made “ whisky drops ” chandeliers , which managing music director Karen Somerville says are filled with the ware of the still purchase them .
Now it ’s sad to imagine of whisky never being sipped , but it ’s nice to know you ’ll always have a few drams on hand , quite literally light up your life . You ’ll never drink it , but you ’ll always enjoy it .
sign on up herefor our daily Thrillist electronic mail , and get your fix of the ripe in food for thought / drink / playfulness .
Brendan McGinleywas led astray by the devil whisky multiple times while writing this . He occasionally inebriated - tweets@BrendanMcGinley .
