DailyDirt: Drink No Wine Before It's Time?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, May 1st 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Some folks are really into aged spirits -- as in old alcohol, not ancient ghosts. But if we can't really trust our tastebuds, will anyone really know if an aged wine is really aged? More importantly, though, does it really matter if no one can taste the difference between a day-old beverage and one that's 15 years old? Maybe some wine/scotch snobs will care, but most drinkers probably won't.

Chemistry can make a 6-day old rum taste like one that is 20 years old. The method is patented, but knockoffs are springing up -- and presumably, almost "anyone can do it" (well, if anyone really wants to make their own rum, that is). [url]
Making pear-in-the bottle brandy is a tradition that dates back to the 1700s. It takes a few months for a tiny pear to grow inside a clear glass bottle, and then the fruit is cut from the tree, washed and covered with year-old brandy. It might be difficult to get this process done more quickly. [url]
The scotch industry has previously marketed its products based on prominent years of aging -- even though age is an imprecise measure of quality. To keep up with demand, more and more scotch makers are selling no-age (or age-free) products that try to promote quality over age. [url]

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Filed Under: alcohol, beverages, brandy, drinks, rum, scotch, taste

11 Comments

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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2015 @ 6:02pm

Marketing Liquor
There are actually some pear brandies that are bottled in bottles that have false bottoms where a whole fully grown pear is inserted in the bottle, which is then sealed at the bottom, and then filled with the brandy. This was pointed out to me once when I had what I thought was the real thing, and the bottom was shown to have been sealed. The ones where the bottle is hung from the tree tend to have a slight thicker neck (wider opening at the top), at least some of the time.

On the question of ageing scotch, and other whiskeys, it depends greatly on what country it is marketed in, and what the local labeling laws entail. For example, a blended scotch in the US only has to be 95% the age that the label claims. If the word blended does not appear on the label, then the contents must be 100% what the label claims. The act of blending allows the maker to create a consistent product year after year whereas a non blended scotch may have some differences, though small, from year to year. There is also the aspect that the only un-blended scotches come from Scotland, and if it doesn't come from Scotland and is un-blended, then it should be called something other than un-blended scotch. Point is, read your labels.

Then of course, I have had some scotches that were aged in old port barrels, which gave them a unique and interesting both sweet and savory aspect. Glenmornagie if I remember and spell it correctly.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2015 @ 6:34pm

Wines
Oh, I meant to mention wine. Most wine is sold long before it has been properly aged, due mostly to the cost of holding it (called cellaring in the trade and requires consistent temperature and humidity), and then the risk of not selling it within the window of being 'ripe'.

You can taste this in any wine you drink. If the front of your tongue has a stronger sensation than the middle or back of your tongue the wine is young. If the back of your tongue has a stronger sensation than the front or middle, the wine is past its 'time' and well on its way to vinegar. If the middle of your tongue is the strongest sensation (or if you will, the front and back are equal), then it is well balanced and 'ripe' for drinking. Front acidic, back acerbic. Not being 'ripe' does not mean the wine is bad or that you are being ripped off in any way, but as ones gets to know more and more about wines, tasting a young wine that you like in a restaurant might just send you to a wine merchant with the intent of buying several bottles, or a case, or several cases to hold for its time (some people open one bottle per year until it is ready, wish I had that kind of money).

Different wines have different expected longevity. I have had 35 year old Bordeaux's and Burgundies that were just fabulous. They were red wines and produced in a manner expected to gently appreciate to their proper state after many years in proper conditions. White wines tend to have a shorter life span, as well as some reds. I have not had an opportunity to taste older (meant to be older) American wines, though they do exist and command a high price, though that price is a function of the cost of ageing and what the market will bear.

Those old wines I had opportunity to taste...I did not pay for, they were part of a very special tasting I was a participant of.
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msmolly (profile), 2 May 2015 @ 4:21am

Grammar, please!
Title should be "before its time" not "it's" which is "it is."
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Gwiz (profile), 2 May 2015 @ 6:26am

Re: Grammar, please!
Title should be "before its time" not "it's" which is "it is."

I took the title as a bit of a pun myself. "Drink no wine before it is time" works perfectly in the context of an article that is talking about the age of wines.

Lighten up.
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msmolly (profile), 2 May 2015 @ 10:19am

Re: Re: Grammar, please!
Yeah, but...it is such a common mistake -- shoving an apostrophe every time a word ends in "s" that I think it is misguided here. And the "[something]before (or ahead of) its time" is a pretty well known construct, making this look like an error. I hate to see it in a headline.

And yeah, I am kinda a grammar nerd.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2015 @ 2:40pm

Re: Marketing Liquor
The distiller you wanted is Glenmorangie distillery
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El Mariachi (profile), 2 May 2015 @ 6:11pm

Re: Grammar, please!
It’s correct either way, and carries an identical meaning:

“Drink no wine before [it is time to drink that particular wine.]”
“Drink no wine before [that wine’s time has arrived.]”
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ryuugami, 3 May 2015 @ 6:42am

Re: Re: Re: Grammar, please!
And yeah, I am kinda a grammar nerd.

On the interwebs, we call those "Grammar Nazi" :)

(Also, shouldn't that be "I am a kind of a grammar nerd"? :P )
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John Fenderson (profile), 4 May 2015 @ 8:16am

Re: Re: Re: Grammar, please!
When I first read it, I took it as a pun.
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John Fenderson (profile), 5 May 2015 @ 7:53am

Re: Re: Grammar, please!
Spoilsport.
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John Watkims, 5 May 2015 @ 4:23pm

Method not patented...yet.
The method to make rum taste "more aged" is not patented yet. The link provided is only an international published patent application (a PCT application). A non-provisional application has not yet been filed in the United States. I assume that they will file in the United States, soon though. If anyone knows of super-relevant prior art, you can send it to me at john.watkins@mail.com. If it's applicable, I'll submit it to the Patent Office once they file a U.S. application.
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