Castle & Cairn

Whiskey is not just a great drink, it's a solution... perhaps to not all of your problems, but chemically. In chemistry, a solution is a substance with another substance homogenously (somewhat evenly) distributed throughout it. Within a glass of your favorite brown fluid, there are a wide variety of flavoring molecules, each with its own multifaceted impact on flavor and satisfaction. Below we will explore the major families involved in the whiskey flavor trade both from a chemical and experiential perspective. Major Flavoring Compounds in Whiskey Flavors in whiskey can come from the different grains in the mash, type of yeast used, additives, and the wood in which it is aged. While the exact percentage is tough to pinpoint, sources cite that between 50% and 75% of a whiskey's palate flavor comes from the wood barrel and aging process. At the same time, the NIH and others say that aromas primarily come from the grain carbohydrates subjected to fermentation and then concentrated...

 Every now and then, I get acquisition fever and go scroll amazon looking at whiskey glasses, bar accessories, and grilling paraphernalia, none of which I need. I'm always intrigued by the concept of whiskey stones. It sounds like a great idea: put these little fellas in your cup to cool it without watering down the good juice. But do whiskey stones work? I decided to pull out the spreadsheet and some high school physics to find out.  The Contestants A la Jeff Bezos, I grabbed four of the more popular material options from Amazon. In general, individual stones seem to be around 28grams though the bullets are a bit larger and the relative weight of the filled stainless steel cubes a bit lighter. Overly Simplified Science  Heat is a form of energy that can transfer from one object to another due to a temperature difference (yes even cold things have heat energy). Specific heat is a material property that tells you how much heat energy is required to raise the temperatu...