Is the Secret to Great Whiskey Actually Music?
Would you prefer the grunge metal whiskey or the 1990s pop whiskey?
Music is such an integral part of human nature. We've been making music since the beginning of our existence. It can be used to create a mood, celebrate a moment, motivate us to work, stir up old memories or even create new ones. I believe that music is the one thing that makes us unique, but also binds us together.
And now, it makes some pretty good whiskey apparently.
According to ABC 7 News in Northern California, a local distillery is using music to age its whiskey. Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol has been rigging iPods and speakers to their whiskey barrels. Seems like a "put it in rice disaster" waiting to happen. However, their reasoning behind it seems pretty convincing.
The flavor of whiskey comes from the wood barrels it ages in. How the whiskey interacts with that wood (usually oak) is what they wanted to change. The beat of the music creates vibrations in the wood which creates a unique interaction with the whiskey. Different music, creates different interactions.
From what co-owner Timo Marshall says, taste tests show a positive result.
Could you imagine the marketing that could come from this? You could literally make whiskey for every artist and song out there... And the funny thing is that people would buy it! I could easily see myself purchasing a bottle of Frank Sinatra-aged whiskey.