Abstract
Whiskey production originated in Scotland in the 15th century and was based on malted barley. As Scotch-Irish settlers came into the Ohio river valley, they began fermenting and distilling the primary grain of North America, maize. These earlier settlers started a heritage; they created American Whiskey. The bourbon industry in Kentucky had tremendous growth in the last 20 years, and currently, distilleries have a broad increase in product innovation, new raw materials, improved sustainability, efficient processes, and product diversification. Our study presents a new lab-scale method for new-make bourbon whiskey production. It was developed to mimic distilleries’ processes; therefore, results can be extrapolated and adopted by commercial distilleries. The method focused on reproducibility with consistency from batch to batch when handled by an operator or small crew in a university lab. The method consisted of a first cooking step to make a “mash”, a fermentation phase of 96 h, a first distillation accomplished with a copper pot still to obtain the “low wines” and a second distillation carried out with an air still to collect the “hearts”. The method produced a final distillate of 500–700 mL for further sensory analysis and tasting. This lab-scale method showed consistency between samples in the different parameters quantified and will be also used to train students in fermentation and distillation studies.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 457 |
Journal | Foods |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 by the authors.
Keywords
- bourbon
- cereals
- distillation
- fermentation
- maize
- new-make whiskey
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Food Science
- Microbiology
- Health(social science)
- Health Professions (miscellaneous)
- Plant Science