WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:02.938 [SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever wondered how whiskey is really made? 00:03.159 --> 00:06.968 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of marketing bullshit out there when you start researching the subject. 00:06.988 --> 00:09.976 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's much a super long videos that you may not have the patience for. 00:10.377 --> 00:14.226 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you want to learn everything you need to know in just a few minutes, then stick around. 00:25.748 --> 00:30.235 [SPEAKER_01]: It's common production methods, there's definitely other production methods we're not going to get into. 00:30.255 --> 00:35.544 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about main ones and there is more than one correct way to make good whiskey. 00:35.664 --> 00:38.268 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not condemning anyone's practices that don't get mentioned. 00:38.889 --> 00:46.641 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you want to know how whiskey is bad, whiskey starts first with a mash bill and that mash bill has to consist of grains. 00:46.701 --> 00:48.364 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to call it bourbon, 00:48.344 --> 00:50.527 [SPEAKER_01]: It's got to be at least a majority of corn. 00:50.587 --> 00:53.030 [SPEAKER_01]: Corn provides a sweetness and a body. 00:53.891 --> 00:59.298 [SPEAKER_01]: Usually, there's a secondary grain and in bourbon whiskey, it's usually either rye or wheat. 00:59.458 --> 01:01.601 [SPEAKER_01]: Rye is going to add spice, think a rye bread. 01:02.321 --> 01:05.966 [SPEAKER_01]: Wheat is going to offer some softness and maybe some citrus notes. 01:06.026 --> 01:18.081 [SPEAKER_01]: And then a third ingredient that is common among almost all American whiskey is multi-barly because it contributes enzymes that help convert the complex carbohydrates and the other grains 01:18.061 --> 01:27.935 [SPEAKER_01]: Because the yeast cannot eat the cart complex carbohydrates to make it into ethanol, which is ultimately what you have to have if you want to make whisky, right? 01:27.955 --> 01:29.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Whisky is just ethanol. 01:29.818 --> 01:36.407 [SPEAKER_01]: So you start off with a grain and the combination of the grains that you're going to use and your recipe is called your mash bill. 01:36.387 --> 01:43.801 [SPEAKER_01]: Now you've got your mash bill, you're going to have to mill your grain, and there are two common methods for milling grain in the United States, especially for bourbon. 01:44.884 --> 01:51.557 [SPEAKER_01]: The most common method is a hammer mill, and if you were to look down into your garbage disposal, that's exactly what a hammer mill looks like. 01:51.597 --> 01:54.362 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a thing that spans, there's little hammers that spin around. 01:54.342 --> 02:14.443 [SPEAKER_01]: and there is something that looks like a collander that goes around the outside and the brain gets dropped in there and it gets knocked around by the hammer until it's broken into a piece that's small enough to fit through the collander hole and that way they know it's a very fine grain and they do that for most bourbons. 02:14.423 --> 02:24.907 [SPEAKER_01]: because they need to increase the surface area so that they can extract all of those sugars to make the whisky, but that's going to become significant later, so keep in mind. 02:25.268 --> 02:31.943 [SPEAKER_01]: You're talking about little vitty pieces that are basically flour and then the other main milling method is a roller mill. 02:31.923 --> 02:33.526 [SPEAKER_01]: and a roller mill works like this. 02:33.606 --> 02:35.068 [SPEAKER_01]: There's two rollers that are rolling. 02:35.108 --> 02:36.290 [SPEAKER_01]: You drop the grain in top. 02:36.711 --> 02:47.810 [SPEAKER_01]: The grain is too wide between the rollers, the roller grabs it and crushes it and spits it out at the bottom and so you have a more whole grain with the husk still involved. 02:47.870 --> 02:52.277 [SPEAKER_01]: But it is also still large enough that it could easily be filtered, which is going to become 02:52.257 --> 02:55.040 [SPEAKER_01]: an important characteristic that we're going to talk about later. 02:55.600 --> 03:22.264 [SPEAKER_01]: Now that you've got a grain that's been milled, you've got to talk about your water source and in Kentucky and in Tennessee they love to talk about their limestone filtered water and a lot of people believe that the limestone filtered water in Kentucky because it has a higher calcium level is one of the reasons why they have such amazing thoroughbred horses because the calcium is in the water helps make the horses 03:22.244 --> 03:47.560 [SPEAKER_01]: more muscle tissue and be able to run faster without having injuries and so they also believe that that is the main component for why the whiskey is so good from those areas but at the end of the day the reason my line of snow and filtration is important is because it removes iron and calcium is good for fermentation iron is bad for whiskey so water matters whenever you are 03:47.540 --> 04:02.562 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, whatever you are going to make your whiskey because you can create an environment that is hospital full for the yeast that do what it is that they're supposed to do if you have a good water source But it's very important to understand water gets added to whiskey at three stages in the process 04:02.542 --> 04:09.811 [SPEAKER_01]: Right now, we are talking about the first stage when you're adding water before you do your cook after you've done your milling. 04:09.971 --> 04:24.629 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is the only water that's going to touch the whiskey throughout the process that actually has other compounds in it that could influence the flavor in the process of making whiskey, which we're gonna talk about a little bit more later when we talk about the other times we add water. 04:25.090 --> 04:29.916 [SPEAKER_01]: Now we got water in our mash bill, everything's milled up, nice and good, we got to cook it. 04:29.896 --> 04:35.407 [SPEAKER_01]: And while you are cooking, you're your mixture, right? 04:35.847 --> 04:43.222 [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying to break things down so that you can convert those complex carbohydrates, because you're going to convert those with two things. 04:43.242 --> 04:46.327 [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to do it with heat, but you're also going to do it with enzymes. 04:46.368 --> 04:52.900 [SPEAKER_01]: And we've already mentioned that most mash bills include multi-barly because they have the enzyme in it necessary to remove 04:52.880 --> 05:00.414 [SPEAKER_01]: or to convert the carbohydrates in the other grains, but it is possible to do this with commercially produced enzymes. 05:01.076 --> 05:06.546 [SPEAKER_01]: And neither proaches is right or wrong, but it is a little fun thing, right? 05:06.606 --> 05:14.922 [SPEAKER_01]: Because if you have a mash bill that has 10 to 12% or more of multi-barley, you probably don't need nor do you probably use. 05:14.902 --> 05:39.373 [SPEAKER_01]: commercial enzymes, but if you have a mashbow that's less than that, then chances are very likely that they are using commercial enzymes in their processing and a lot of distilleries don't like to admit that because they want everyone to believe that their process is totally natural and they are worried that people find out that they're using enzymes that they'll be upset and so if you're ever on a distillerie tour and they disclose their mashbow and it's less than say 10% multi-barley. 05:39.353 --> 05:50.728 [SPEAKER_01]: Just raise your hand and say, I have a question, do you all use commercial enzymes when you're doing your process and a lot of times the person run in the tour will just lie to you. 05:50.748 --> 05:52.130 [SPEAKER_01]: So that makes it a little bit fun. 05:52.811 --> 05:57.838 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, when you're cooking your mash, there are two main types of cookers. 05:57.898 --> 06:01.583 [SPEAKER_01]: And now in the United States, we almost always use cereal cookers. 06:02.064 --> 06:05.428 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's because we most of make bourbon. 06:05.408 --> 06:12.220 [SPEAKER_01]: But overseas, when they're making whiskey out of multid barley, oh, and I skipped that part. 06:12.600 --> 06:17.769 [SPEAKER_01]: When we're talking about the different grains, the barley is typically multid. 06:17.789 --> 06:21.395 [SPEAKER_01]: And malting is where you get the grain wet, make it think it's going to grow into a plant. 06:21.856 --> 06:30.150 [SPEAKER_01]: Right as it starts to germinate, you stop and the reason why you do that is because that's what activates all of those enzymes that are going to convert the complex carbohydrates. 06:30.130 --> 06:40.275 [SPEAKER_01]: because right before our plant is going to grow from the seed, it needs a lot of those enzymes because it needs energy out of the grain, and so that's what makes that enzyme active. 06:40.496 --> 06:46.671 [SPEAKER_01]: So overseas, instead of using cereal cookers, they use lotter tons which basically have 06:46.651 --> 07:02.967 [SPEAKER_01]: a false bottom on there that's got a strainer and they are actually able to cook in their lotter ton and then they can separate the grain solids from, I believe they call it worst, they can separate the liquid, right? 07:03.627 --> 07:05.809 [SPEAKER_01]: And they separate their grain solids, right? 07:06.590 --> 07:13.857 [SPEAKER_01]: And we don't do that in our seal cookers and we couldn't if we wanted to because we've pounded our grain into flour. 07:13.837 --> 07:22.670 [SPEAKER_01]: But typically when you're using a lot or time, you're going to be using some sort of a roll-and-reel process that your grain solids are larger and they're easier to filter out. 07:22.870 --> 07:25.294 [SPEAKER_01]: After you've done your cook, you're going to go into fermentation. 07:25.514 --> 07:31.964 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's two main types of fermentation, sweet mash, which simply means we just start from scratch every batch. 07:32.565 --> 07:40.036 [SPEAKER_01]: And sour mash, which means we're going to take part of the spent grain from the previous fermentation process. 07:40.917 --> 07:42.780 [SPEAKER_01]: And this only applies 07:42.760 --> 07:49.112 [SPEAKER_01]: to a situation where you still have grain solids in your fermentation, right? 07:49.152 --> 08:02.256 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you filtered out your grain solids, then obviously you can't do a sour mash process, but you take the grain solids from a previous fermentation, which are their pH is such now that they actually taste sour. 08:02.276 --> 08:03.739 [SPEAKER_01]: That's why it's called a sour mash. 08:03.719 --> 08:06.182 [SPEAKER_01]: And you throw it into the next batch. 08:06.202 --> 08:09.166 [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why you do that is adjust the pH level. 08:09.706 --> 08:16.255 [SPEAKER_01]: And it actually gets the mash out of the danger zone where harmful pathogens are likely to grow. 08:16.515 --> 08:28.129 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you use a sweet mash process and you start from scratch every time, you might be able to develop more complex flavors because it takes longer to do the fermentation process and it will all the way through the pH levels. 08:28.590 --> 08:31.093 [SPEAKER_01]: And during that process, you're actually 08:31.073 --> 08:46.732 [SPEAKER_01]: potentially throwing off different congeners and flavor profiles that could possibly impact your whiskey, but it makes it dangerous because you might get something that grows in there that you didn't intend while it's in that PH range where it's possible and that could throw off flavors that could run your batch. 08:46.752 --> 08:52.238 [SPEAKER_01]: And so almost all large production facilities use a sour mass process that controls PH. 08:52.218 --> 08:54.521 [SPEAKER_01]: and helps create more consistency. 08:55.743 --> 09:03.693 [SPEAKER_01]: But some of the really amazing distilleries out there that are really focused on flavor still use a sweet match process, but that's all that means. 09:05.335 --> 09:07.498 [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to Pretentious Whiskey Reviews. 09:07.798 --> 09:11.223 [SPEAKER_02]: Today, we're evaluating the 1982 Happy Van Winkle. 09:12.364 --> 09:12.504 [SPEAKER_02]: Ooh. 09:13.986 --> 09:22.157 [SPEAKER_02]: Detecting a hint of Oliviaen virgin tears and East Indian, no, West Indian grasses. 09:22.677 --> 09:23.760 [SPEAKER_00]: y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all that crap. 09:24.101 --> 09:28.072 [SPEAKER_00]: All you need is an American whiskey rum look it from BourbonRollTalk.com. 09:28.092 --> 09:30.017 [SPEAKER_00]: Developing your palette is a learned skill. 09:30.779 --> 09:33.808 [SPEAKER_00]: Over time, you can train your taste buds without being a douchebag. 09:34.369 --> 09:36.696 [SPEAKER_00]: Get yours today at BourbonRollTalk.com. 09:36.716 --> 09:38.340 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm also getting into you, Nubmeg. 09:48.867 --> 09:54.819 [SPEAKER_01]: So once you're done with your fermentation, you're going to move over to distillation. 09:54.980 --> 09:58.527 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's two main styles of distillation here in the United States. 09:59.469 --> 10:02.916 [SPEAKER_01]: There are other types of stills, but we're just going to talk about the two main ones. 10:03.357 --> 10:05.121 [SPEAKER_01]: One is called a pot still. 10:05.101 --> 10:09.591 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what it kind of looks like an onion on the bottom and then there's the long thing that sticks up. 10:10.413 --> 10:11.936 [SPEAKER_01]: And those are running batches. 10:11.976 --> 10:13.861 [SPEAKER_01]: There's usually a hatch. 10:13.881 --> 10:14.622 [SPEAKER_01]: You open it up. 10:14.643 --> 10:17.950 [SPEAKER_01]: You put your fermented mash in there. 10:17.990 --> 10:19.473 [SPEAKER_01]: What they call distillers beer. 10:19.574 --> 10:21.979 [SPEAKER_01]: So after you've fermented, it's called distillers beer. 10:21.959 --> 10:28.968 [SPEAKER_01]: Because the only difference between beer and whiskey is whiskey is a beer that's been distilled, right? 10:29.549 --> 10:35.837 [SPEAKER_01]: And so you put your distillers beer in there, and you have your heat at the bottom of the still. 10:36.298 --> 10:50.717 [SPEAKER_01]: It's coming in contact with all of the liquid, and it's going to start to boil different temperatures, and that's how you're going to separate the different compounds that are in there, because ethanol boils in evaporates into different temperature, then water does. 10:50.697 --> 10:52.701 [SPEAKER_01]: Likewise, other compounds that are in there. 10:52.721 --> 10:58.612 [SPEAKER_01]: So you can isolate the compounds that you want based on the temperature that you're keeping in that still. 10:59.073 --> 11:04.884 [SPEAKER_01]: The problem with pot stills when it comes to bourbon is remember earlier, I said, we're going to pound our grain into flour. 11:05.505 --> 11:09.132 [SPEAKER_01]: And that flour is such a small particulate that we can't filter it out with a lot of time. 11:09.152 --> 11:11.997 [SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to have a grain solids going into your pot. 11:11.977 --> 11:22.718 [SPEAKER_01]: And when you put grain solids in a pot, the way that they're heated, it starts to caramelize those grain solids and that caramelization ends up adding different flavors to your whisky. 11:23.199 --> 11:29.631 [SPEAKER_01]: They're not common from whisky's that are made on the other popular type of still, which is called a column still. 11:29.611 --> 11:47.873 [SPEAKER_01]: And the way a column still works is it's this tall column and inside of it there's these restrictor plates and you've got steam that's rising up from the bottom and the closer you get to the steam source the hotter the temperature zones between the plates and the higher you get the cooler the temperature zones between the plates. 11:47.853 --> 11:54.099 [SPEAKER_01]: and they pour the distillers beer in the top, and as it goes through these plates, it's restricted because the plates have holes. 11:54.579 --> 12:03.127 [SPEAKER_01]: And as it drips through, it encounters these temperature zones and those temperature zones pull out different compounds that boil at that temperature range. 12:03.467 --> 12:07.951 [SPEAKER_01]: And by the time the mask gets all the way down to the bottom, there's nothing left. 12:07.971 --> 12:10.173 [SPEAKER_01]: They've extracted everything out of it. 12:10.193 --> 12:13.896 [SPEAKER_01]: And that process makes it so the grain solids never come in contact with a heat source. 12:14.297 --> 12:17.860 [SPEAKER_01]: And so column still distilled, 12:17.840 --> 12:22.044 [SPEAKER_01]: But virtually all major producers use column still. 12:22.485 --> 12:27.510 [SPEAKER_01]: The only major producer that claims to use a pot still is woodford and they are liars. 12:28.211 --> 12:46.210 [SPEAKER_01]: They're owned by ground form and they admit that they mix pot still and bourbon made on a column still together, but they will not tell anybody the percentage and the reason why they won't is because they like people of think that it is a pot still whiskey, but they know that if they knew the true percentage, they would feel like that wasn't a true statement. 12:46.190 --> 12:50.518 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they do disclose that it's a mixture of the tube, but they won't tell us how much. 12:50.578 --> 12:56.588 [SPEAKER_01]: So, generally speaking, if you want mass production consistent processing, you're going to use a column still. 12:56.688 --> 13:05.143 [SPEAKER_01]: So now that you've got your distillate, you will have distilled it to no more than 160 proof if you want to make bourbon in the United States. 13:05.123 --> 13:20.145 [SPEAKER_01]: But now you've got to put it in your barrel and this is going to be the second time that we add water to the process because we would have distilled on average somewhere around 140 proof coming off of the still for bourbon in the United States most people don't get closer to that 160 level. 13:20.125 --> 13:28.274 [SPEAKER_01]: because the distillation is purification and the higher you go in purity, the less flavor compound you're going to be retaining in that distillate. 13:28.454 --> 13:46.875 [SPEAKER_01]: So most people believe that the sweet spot for bourbon is 1355-145 proof and to that point if you go above 160 you can't call it bourbon you can still call it whiskey but you can't call it bourbon and if you go above 190 you can't even call 13:46.855 --> 13:53.285 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's a very important point, quick side note, all vodka's are molecularly the same. 13:53.305 --> 13:54.146 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no such thing. 13:54.166 --> 14:00.777 [SPEAKER_01]: It's premium vodka because vodka's what gets made when you push distillation technology to its limit and then you add water. 14:01.178 --> 14:07.868 [SPEAKER_01]: When you taste differences between two vodka's which are actually tasting is the cutting water differences, you know, actually tasting the product. 14:07.848 --> 14:12.454 [SPEAKER_01]: Good vodka's don't prevent hangovers and bad vodka's give you hangovers. 14:12.494 --> 14:18.042 [SPEAKER_01]: That's all not true Physics prevents any of that from being true never pay for premium vodka now. 14:18.062 --> 14:20.906 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go to barrel entry proof So now we've got a distillate. 14:20.926 --> 14:29.738 [SPEAKER_01]: It's 135 and 145 proof on average in the United States for bourbon We've got to add some water to it because you cannot put it in a barrel above 125 14:29.718 --> 14:39.110 [SPEAKER_01]: The lower you put it in, the more water you have in your distillate and water pools different flavor compounds out of oak, then ethanol does. 14:39.170 --> 14:43.595 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you want to row bus flavor, water is going to help you do that. 14:44.196 --> 14:52.807 [SPEAKER_01]: It also is going to mean that you're going to have to add less water later whenever you're bottling the product and more of what ends up in the bottle actually spit time in the barrel. 14:53.347 --> 14:57.953 [SPEAKER_01]: But when you add water, it increases your barrel storage costs significantly. 14:57.933 --> 15:10.245 [SPEAKER_01]: Because if you have, say, 25% more water in the barrel because you want to really low barrel entry proof you have to have 25% more aging facilities and 25% more barrels. 15:10.325 --> 15:11.045 [SPEAKER_01]: Does that make sense? 15:11.646 --> 15:16.230 [SPEAKER_01]: And so most major distilleries are going to go all the way up to the legal limit of 125 proof. 15:16.611 --> 15:25.459 [SPEAKER_01]: And anytime you see somebody who's barrel entry proof is below 125, that is a distillery that's so committed to flavor that they're willing to spend money to. 15:25.439 --> 15:25.760 [SPEAKER_01]: give it. 15:25.860 --> 15:28.826 [SPEAKER_01]: So that is a very interesting point. 15:29.688 --> 15:31.071 [SPEAKER_01]: But yes, we're going to have to add water. 15:31.091 --> 15:40.853 [SPEAKER_01]: But this water is not affected by limestone filtration because we're going to use reverse osmosis water that has literally had all impurities pulled out of it. 15:41.434 --> 15:43.178 [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why is 15:43.158 --> 15:46.968 [SPEAKER_01]: At this stage of the process, we've already gone through distillation. 15:47.248 --> 15:53.905 [SPEAKER_01]: And so anything that we add into this whiskey has the potential to impact its flavor and create secondary chemical reactions. 15:53.945 --> 15:55.890 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to use water that has nothing in it. 15:55.930 --> 15:58.517 [SPEAKER_01]: So there can't be a secondary chemical reaction. 15:58.497 --> 16:16.207 [SPEAKER_01]: And so this is reverse osmosis water and so anytime somebody starts talking about the value of the water and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you gotta give it a little bit of a- I'll take that with a grain of salt because the only water that could impact the flavors the fermentation and everything after that there is no flavor in the water. 16:17.049 --> 16:20.134 [SPEAKER_01]: So now you've proof down, you're going to put it in a barrel. 16:20.114 --> 16:26.669 [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're talking about barrels, there's a one main characteristic that you have to keep in mind in American whiskey. 16:27.030 --> 16:30.197 [SPEAKER_01]: The barrel has to be a charred oak barrel. 16:30.658 --> 16:32.442 [SPEAKER_01]: The oak doesn't have to be from the United States. 16:32.562 --> 16:33.324 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not true. 16:33.364 --> 16:36.992 [SPEAKER_01]: And until recently it didn't even have to be in the shape of a 16:36.972 --> 16:42.460 [SPEAKER_01]: barrel, but they did start to use barrel terminology in the regulations recently. 16:43.021 --> 16:48.690 [SPEAKER_01]: It used to say new charred oak container, but charring is the process, I'm going to make it easy for you. 16:48.710 --> 16:55.140 [SPEAKER_01]: There's charring and toasting, charring is grilling a steak, toasting is smoking a brisket. 16:55.641 --> 16:59.807 [SPEAKER_01]: One is slow and low, it's meant to break down 16:59.787 --> 17:05.214 [SPEAKER_01]: structures that are inside the wood just like you're trying to break down the connective tissue and a brisket when you slow smoke it. 17:05.735 --> 17:09.439 [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying to break down the connective tissue in the wood whenever you toast it. 17:10.621 --> 17:12.824 [SPEAKER_01]: Charine is just what you're thinking of in a steak. 17:12.844 --> 17:25.440 [SPEAKER_01]: You're just going to stare the outside but the inside is untouched or at least if you're cooking your steaks right and it'll talk to you well done people okay and so we're going to we have to charge the 17:25.420 --> 17:25.821 [SPEAKER_01]: right? 17:26.402 --> 17:31.551 [SPEAKER_01]: Or we could put the whiskey in a toast of barrel and then later put it in a char barrel or vice versa? 17:31.571 --> 17:33.174 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I think you'd have to do char at first. 17:33.655 --> 17:39.165 [SPEAKER_01]: But anyways, that it has to be in a char dok barrel at some point for it to be an American whiskey. 17:39.206 --> 17:45.437 [SPEAKER_01]: And certainly if it's going to be a 17:45.417 --> 17:48.261 [SPEAKER_01]: So now we've got our proof down whiskey. 17:48.381 --> 17:53.167 [SPEAKER_01]: It's in a barrel that's legally compliant and now we've got to put it in an aging environment. 17:53.708 --> 18:04.262 [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're talking about aging environments, you have highly insulated environments like brick facade buildings and then you have lower insulated environments like ironclad buildings. 18:04.342 --> 18:15.036 [SPEAKER_01]: And most of the buildings in Kentucky are ironclad and this is going to allow more temperature exchange from the atmosphere and the barrel. 18:15.016 --> 18:25.549 [SPEAKER_01]: changes affect the extraction, the rate at which the whiskey moves through the charlale layer into the wood and then back from the wood through the charlale or back into the barrel. 18:26.029 --> 18:31.336 [SPEAKER_01]: And each time it's going in and out through that charcoal layer, things are getting filtered out, okay? 18:31.616 --> 18:44.972 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is why aging a whiskey can mellow it and it's why it can add complex flavors because it is pulling things out of the barrel as well and those flavors are sometimes flavor compounds 18:44.952 --> 18:55.736 [SPEAKER_01]: And also, keep in mind, a lot of people don't know this, whiskey is absolutely clear as water and the only color that you find in a whiskey comes from the aging in the barrel. 18:56.317 --> 19:01.729 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, your aging in the barrel is going to, in the environment, it's going to affect. 19:01.709 --> 19:04.633 [SPEAKER_01]: the rate at which the whiskey changes in the barrel. 19:04.713 --> 19:10.960 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have a high humidity environment, less water is going to be able to evaporate outside of the barrel. 19:11.561 --> 19:21.053 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're humidity's high enough, the barrel actually drink water out of the air, pull it all the way down into the whiskey, and it will proof itself down as it ages. 19:21.173 --> 19:27.801 [SPEAKER_01]: But most aging environments are low humidity environments, and the barrel gives water to the environment around it. 19:27.781 --> 19:36.249 [SPEAKER_01]: and that causes water to go down but ethanol to stay the same because ethanol tends to evaporate with time, water tends to evaporate with temperature changes. 19:36.850 --> 19:44.197 [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you're in a low humidity environment, high temperature swing environment, you're going to have your proof going up as the barrel ages. 19:44.778 --> 19:48.582 [SPEAKER_01]: Now we also need to talk about when we're talking about environment is rickhouse placement. 19:48.902 --> 19:53.046 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's two main storage types for barrels. 19:53.026 --> 19:56.493 [SPEAKER_01]: You've got the kind where you store the barrel on its side in a Rick. 19:56.634 --> 19:58.838 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what that structure is called that holds the barrels. 19:59.259 --> 20:08.819 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you've got another type that's becoming popular called palletized return it on its end on a pallet and then you put a pallet on top of four barrels and you can put four more barrels on top and you just keep stacking them. 20:09.501 --> 20:10.663 [SPEAKER_01]: And so... 20:10.643 --> 20:18.454 [SPEAKER_01]: What you need to know is that when you have barrels that are stored higher, the heat rises. 20:18.714 --> 20:21.618 [SPEAKER_01]: And so those barrels are affected by temperature change quicker. 20:21.638 --> 20:29.129 [SPEAKER_01]: And those barrels are going to evaporate water, but water is heavier than atmospheric air, so it settles down in the warehouse. 20:29.630 --> 20:34.596 [SPEAKER_01]: And the barrels that are on the lower floors are more likely to drink water out of the environment and lose proof with age. 20:34.977 --> 20:39.283 [SPEAKER_01]: And the same is true with how close the barrel is to the outside of the warehouse. 20:39.263 --> 20:46.219 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you've got a barrel that's at the very top, at the very edge, those are going to experience the most temperature swing and each the fastest. 20:46.660 --> 20:56.884 [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a barrel that's in the very center at the very bottom, not only are all the barrels around it kind of insulation, but it's getting protection from all that temperature change, but it's also being exposed to. 20:56.864 --> 20:59.589 [SPEAKER_01]: all of the humidity from all the barrels that are above it. 21:00.270 --> 21:03.336 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Rick House Placement plays a huge role. 21:03.637 --> 21:05.440 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, our barrels are done aging. 21:05.500 --> 21:08.687 [SPEAKER_01]: We've tasted it, and it's time for to get ready to bottle it. 21:09.308 --> 21:14.738 [SPEAKER_01]: And the first thing we have to decide are we going to chill filter, or are we going to non chill filter this whiskey? 21:14.718 --> 21:22.614 [SPEAKER_01]: So a chill filtration whiskey, like most whiskey's are going to go through some filtration process because there's big chunks of char and things that fall off in there. 21:23.075 --> 21:26.141 [SPEAKER_01]: But what's also inside the whiskey are these fatty acids. 21:26.602 --> 21:31.933 [SPEAKER_01]: And what can happen is if you don't remove the fatty acids, then 21:31.913 --> 21:36.064 [SPEAKER_01]: your your bottle can become hazy if it's put in a cold environment. 21:36.084 --> 21:47.475 [SPEAKER_01]: So say you live in an upset you New York you had a bottle in your car you left it there overnight you come back it's probably not gonna freeze but when you look at it it can look all hazy like it it went bad. 21:47.455 --> 21:54.543 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they develop this chilled filtration process to prevent that from happening because it caused people to think they were quality issues when they're wired. 21:54.943 --> 21:57.546 [SPEAKER_01]: And just think of putting taco meat in your refrigerator. 21:57.947 --> 22:02.792 [SPEAKER_01]: You come back to the next day and there's that orange slick on top because all of the fats can yield from being cool. 22:03.353 --> 22:13.104 [SPEAKER_01]: While you chill the whiskey down to this extremely cold temperature and it causes all these fatty acids to can yield, then their large enough to be filtered out and then you have removed the fatty acids. 22:13.164 --> 22:16.247 [SPEAKER_01]: But a lot of people think that it affects the mouth fill of the whiskey. 22:16.227 --> 22:25.723 [SPEAKER_01]: So most whiskey enthusiasts prefer a non-chill filtered whiskey and if you're really in the know and you end up with a hazy bottle you know you just take it back to a warm environment and it'll fix itself with some time. 22:26.284 --> 22:33.156 [SPEAKER_01]: So after you've chill filtered or not chill filtered your bottle it's time to prove the whiskey down to your bottle entry proof. 22:33.136 --> 22:36.201 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, there are some whiskeys that don't get any proofing at this stage. 22:36.261 --> 22:39.946 [SPEAKER_01]: Those whiskeys are generally referred to as cash strength or barrel proof whiskeys. 22:40.727 --> 22:44.693 [SPEAKER_01]: Full proof is a completely different product, and we'll talk about that in a second. 22:45.034 --> 22:49.039 [SPEAKER_01]: If it's not a cash strength or a barrel proof was he, you're going to add some water at this stage. 22:49.059 --> 22:52.384 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, this is reverse osmosis, water that can't affect its flavor. 22:52.825 --> 22:55.549 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to decide what proof we want it to be at. 22:55.529 --> 23:04.240 [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of common American whiskeys are proofed at 90 proof, so when you get done aging, you might have something that's say it went in at 1.25 it might be 1.32 now, right? 23:04.260 --> 23:10.528 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to add enough water to raise it from 1.32 all the way down to that bottle entry proof of 90 proof. 23:11.049 --> 23:19.900 [SPEAKER_01]: A full proof is where we had the whisking and aging environment where the proof went up, but we're only going to lower it back down to what the barrel entry proof was. 23:19.920 --> 23:21.402 [SPEAKER_01]: So if we went in at 1.25, 23:21.382 --> 23:23.545 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to bring it back down to 125. 23:23.625 --> 23:33.721 [SPEAKER_01]: If we went in at 114, like we do with Weller antique, we're going to go right back down to that 114, and that's what the Weller full proof is, right? 23:33.821 --> 23:35.163 [SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully that makes sense to you. 23:36.345 --> 23:39.049 [SPEAKER_01]: But this is again, neutral water. 23:39.810 --> 23:43.896 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, your water sources are going to matter that much. 23:43.876 --> 23:55.212 [SPEAKER_01]: So, that is your whole process, at that point you're going to put the whiskey in the bottle, label it, get it out through distribution, it's going to go to a local bar restaurant or a retail facility and that's where you pick up your whiskey. 23:55.273 --> 24:10.795 [SPEAKER_01]: So, now you know, that is the bridge version of how whiskey is really made, no bullshit, no marketing hype, the actual truth about how whiskey's made, I hope you love this content, and now it's time for me to give away some whiskey, so I thought, 24:10.775 --> 24:17.206 [SPEAKER_01]: What would be fun would be to give away some iconic old brand whiskey that have been following this process for a long time. 24:17.707 --> 24:35.398 [SPEAKER_01]: One of my favorites is Colonel E. H. Taylor, and this is a single barrel that we picked for our whiskey club someone say whiskey, and then Jack Daniels, which is Tennessee whiskey, but I am actually a bigger fan of their 24:35.378 --> 24:37.241 [SPEAKER_01]: Although I do love the regular product. 24:37.261 --> 24:57.488 [SPEAKER_01]: So I got a Jack Daniel single barrel that I went down there and picked with Lexi This is a head distiller there and then another iconic distillery is heaven hill makes a Elijah Craig Which apparently was it was a huge miss that we forgot to put Elijah Craig in our Just whiskey and religion belong together episode 24:57.468 --> 25:16.177 [SPEAKER_01]: because Elijah Craig was a Baptist minister that was making whiskey in the 1800s, and he is attributed with the inventing the process of aging with seeing chart oak barrels, but that story is untrue, and you can check out some of the latter episodes to find out where chart oak barrels actually came from for whiskey. 25:16.578 --> 25:20.404 [SPEAKER_01]: And then another iconic distillery is 25:20.384 --> 25:26.152 [SPEAKER_01]: this 1792, it's actually a Barton 1792 distillery, but they make the 1792 bourbon. 25:26.593 --> 25:27.774 [SPEAKER_01]: So we've got four whiskeys up here. 25:27.794 --> 25:30.017 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to give away five one-out sample packs. 25:30.037 --> 25:31.960 [SPEAKER_01]: All you have to do it in a win is like this video. 25:31.980 --> 25:32.881 [SPEAKER_01]: Subscribe to the channel. 25:32.941 --> 25:33.963 [SPEAKER_01]: I suggest you ring the bell. 25:34.343 --> 25:34.864 [SPEAKER_01]: Ring the bell. 25:34.984 --> 25:38.629 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll notify you of future content pieces and future giveaways. 25:38.609 --> 25:54.829 [SPEAKER_01]: But most importantly, you got to go to the video description and click the link next to the capital word giveaway and fill out the web form give us your basic contact information And we'll run a randomized repost results publicly for accountability reach out to the winners get your address and ship your samples absolutely for free 25:54.809 --> 25:58.715 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you like this content, you want to support the channel. 25:59.036 --> 26:02.762 [SPEAKER_01]: You've heard about our philanthropy, you've heard about the ministries that we support. 26:03.102 --> 26:06.307 [SPEAKER_01]: You've heard about the suicide prevention work that we do, all that stuff you want to support. 26:06.367 --> 26:07.950 [SPEAKER_01]: A great way to do it is Patreon. 26:08.531 --> 26:11.235 [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's names are on the screen right now are contributing top-free levels. 26:11.275 --> 26:14.600 [SPEAKER_01]: And you should think one of them, because without them, this content would not be possible. 26:15.021 --> 26:18.266 [SPEAKER_01]: But you may be thinking in yourself, Randy, I can't afford to be one of those top-free levels. 26:18.286 --> 26:18.827 [SPEAKER_01]: That's fine. 26:18.887 --> 26:20.209 [SPEAKER_01]: We have a Patreon level for... 26:20.189 --> 26:22.793 [SPEAKER_01]: every budget and there's great benefits to be checked out out. 26:23.213 --> 26:24.696 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't want to join Patreon, it's fine. 26:24.716 --> 26:26.678 [SPEAKER_01]: You can check out our merch at bourbonwilltalk.com. 26:26.698 --> 26:30.123 [SPEAKER_01]: Whiskey people made this merchandise for other whisky people. 26:30.965 --> 26:33.568 [SPEAKER_01]: And the cool thing is a lot of it is customizable. 26:33.608 --> 26:34.850 [SPEAKER_01]: You can get your own logo on there. 26:34.890 --> 26:43.623 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you happen to run a whisky group or you have a following in some way, we can take your logo put it on our merch, set up a custom website for just your people. 26:43.663 --> 26:44.304 [SPEAKER_01]: They order it. 26:44.364 --> 26:47.749 [SPEAKER_01]: We drop ship it and we have a revenue share agreement to share that with you. 26:47.729 --> 26:50.032 [SPEAKER_01]: We'd love to talk with you about that last but not least. 26:50.072 --> 26:53.155 [SPEAKER_01]: I am a residential real estate agent in the Dallas and Houston metro areas. 26:53.656 --> 26:56.078 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you need services in either market, I'd love to talk with you. 26:56.098 --> 27:00.263 [SPEAKER_01]: And there are links for all three ways to support the channel in the video description below. 27:00.543 --> 27:03.366 [SPEAKER_01]: And if this year first time tuning in, we'd love to tell you why we do it. 27:03.386 --> 27:06.209 [SPEAKER_01]: We do, yes, we love whiskey, yes, we love whiskey education. 27:06.229 --> 27:07.010 [SPEAKER_01]: But you know what we love more? 27:07.351 --> 27:09.693 [SPEAKER_01]: We love you and we love people and we want connection. 27:10.154 --> 27:14.158 [SPEAKER_01]: And that became an important mission of mine when I lost the love on the suicide in 2014. 27:14.138 --> 27:23.438 [SPEAKER_01]: And I started to talk to his friends and I saw how he was losing connection and that maybe had led to his demise and I thought, I want to help people get connected. 27:23.558 --> 27:25.302 [SPEAKER_01]: So I created this channel. 27:25.502 --> 27:32.657 [SPEAKER_01]: We needed a way for people to communicate with each other, so we created a Bourbon Real Talk community which is a free Facebook community. 27:33.058 --> 27:34.341 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no troll but 27:34.321 --> 27:35.503 [SPEAKER_01]: behavior allowed in there. 27:36.365 --> 27:36.926 [SPEAKER_01]: Vibes are good. 27:36.966 --> 27:43.418 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, so good, we started a 501c3 suicide prevention in an intervention nonprofit called LivestayProject.org. 27:44.059 --> 27:55.080 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're out there and you work in this suicide prevention space and you know somebody who needs money that's a 501c3 in good art website and fill out a web form and request a grant because we do have a money to give away for where they cause is. 27:55.060 --> 28:18.402 [SPEAKER_01]: The other thing that we experienced as we went through this process and building this out was that we saw some negativity online and I observed how some of the visuals showed hate to people they didn't know online and it made me realize if they can hate someone online I can love someone online and that's why I end every episode the same way If you woke up this morning and you're unsure whether or not anyone loved you just know that I love you and I'll see you next time I'm vermin later