Researchers have analyzed the vanishing patterns left behind by several distilled spirits to understand the key differences between American whiskey and Scottish whisky and create a reproducible “fingerprint” of the spirits.
Researchers at University of Louisville in Kentucky have analyzed the vanishing patterns left behind by several distilled spirits to understand the key differences between American whiskey and Scottish whisky and create a reproducible “fingerprint” of the spirits.
The study discovered that American whiskey, which is aged in new, charred-oak barrels, leaves a characteristic web-like pattern, unlike Scottish whisky that is aged in often recycled barrels.
According to an article published in Physics.org, Stuart Williams and colleagues at the University of Louisville in Kentucky—a state with twice as many barrels of aging whiskey as residents—has discovered a behavior unique to American whiskey that could lead to analytical tools for probing its Chemistry.
When evaporating from a surface, American whiskey leaves web-like patterns that aren’t observed with other liquors, it said.