Posted on 09/11/2015 11:47:10 AM PDT by BenLurkin
This past week, four tasters at the Ardbeg Distillery in Islay, Scotland drank samples of whiskey that had aged for nearly three years aboard the International Space Station. They compared the samples to whiskey that had matured in a similar way here on Earth. The team said the space samples were completely unlike anything they had ever tasted before; something about the space environment had a distinct effect on the alcoholic beverage. "It was the most unusual tasting we’d ever done," Dr. Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whiskey creation at the Glenmorangie Company, told The Verge. "I was amazed at how different the samples were."
Lumsden hopes the test will help him learn more about the whiskey maturation process, but overall he prefers his whiskey aged on Earth. The space whiskey had a much smokier quality, with flavors akin to cherries, prunes, raisins, and cinnamon, he said. He also noted that the whiskey's aftertaste was "pungent, intense, and long, with hints of wood, antiseptic lozenges, and rubbery smoke." This was in contrast to the Earth-aged whiskey, which had richer flavors more characteristic of whiskey drinks. The space whiskey still had strong flavor, but they were strange, Lumsden said — and not particularly good. He still has yet to figure out why. "That I haven’t been able to work out yet," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
Bite your tongue, sir!
Indeed - that’s why a wee splash of local well water is just the thing. lol
Then there’s Bunnahabain
Damn. Now I’ll have to reach the top shelf and pull down the Talisker.
You’re evil men, the lot of you. I’m in good company.
L
Aye, you have the right of it, sir. We’ll all raise a glass to the living and to the departed. And to the road that lies ahead.
To resistance.
To restoration.
To retribution.
Roger that.
Yep, the briney taste you get from a bloody tongue is in the stuff too, under the "burning hospital" flavor profile. ;-)
Oh, I enjoy a glass every now and then - mostly in the winter, when the fireplace is crackling. For the most part, though, the "peat monsters" last me a good long time.
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