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Amusingly tax policy also allegedly gave us brandy. When you're taxed by volume (such as by the cask or barrel of wine) you may wish to dodge some taxes by dist

Amusingly tax policy also allegedly gave us brandy. When you're taxed by volume (such as by the cask or barrel of wine) you may wish to dodge some taxes by distilling your wine product into brandy ("burned wine") to concentrate the volume, with the aim of re-constituting it with water for consumption, later. Then of course you find out the reconstitution tastes nothing like the original wine, and you also may discover that leaving it in the wooden casks makes a pleasant drink on its own...

tptacek 7y ago
This is also a reason not to drink cask-strength whiskey straight: to wit, you're not meant to; you buy cask-strength so you're paying for less water, since you can provide that yourself.
- klyrs 7y ago
  Unless you enjoy the strong flavor. I don't drink alcohol but I do drink espresso: ristretto, no adulterants (except the occasional mandarin peel -- I'm not above a little variety). I dislike americanos almost as much as I hate long pulls. The intensity is a significant component of my enjoyment (same with blue cheese, hot sauce, etc.) and if I drank, I'm positive that I'd find cask strength to be the best strength.
  - tptacek 7y ago
    An expert argument against drinking cask straight, one I'm not qualified to evaluate but can repeat here, is that high-proof alcohol actually impedes your ability to perceive the characteristics of the spirit itself. If you just like the taste of very strong alcohol, dilute some Everclear down; don't waste money on cask whiskey (for the most part, the only whiskeys sold at cask strength are expensive, premium expressions). I sometimes drink Four Roses cask-strength straight, because I'm lazy, but also cask-strength Four Roses is not all that high-proof. But I wouldn't drink Thomas Handy straight; it would be a waste.
  - stock_toaster 7y ago
    To build on what tptacek said. If the flavor you are going for is "burn", then high proof will certainly get you there. However if you want more nuanced flavors, at high proofs some the taste buds actually become numb (or overloaded) and you will taste some flavors less, not to mention that at very high proofs many of the molecules that provide taste are "locked up" by the alcohol, and the addition of some water can free them for you to actually taste them more. I believe it is common practice for masters blenders, such as when selecting casks for blending, actually dilute things down quite a bit, so their taste buds don't become "exhausted" and they can pick out more nuance.
- stock_toaster 7y ago
  I believe addition of water (especially at higher proofs) also creates short term reactions with the alcohol and amphipathic molecules (such as guaiacol for Islas) in suspension, before finding a new equilibrium -- bringing them to the surface of the liquid and creating more flavor/aroma. ref: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06423-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06423-5
blang 7y ago
Taxes give us a lot of things, like the Snuggie: https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14638104/snuggie-is-officially-a-blanket-not-clothes https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14638104/snuggie-is-offic...

tptacek 7y ago

This is also a reason not to drink cask-strength whiskey straight: to wit, you're not meant to; you buy cask-strength so you're paying for less water, since you can provide that yourself.

klyrs 7y ago
Unless you enjoy the strong flavor. I don't drink alcohol but I do drink espresso: ristretto, no adulterants (except the occasional mandarin peel -- I'm not above a little variety). I dislike americanos almost as much as I hate long pulls. The intensity is a significant component of my enjoyment (same with blue cheese, hot sauce, etc.) and if I drank, I'm positive that I'd find cask strength to be the best strength.
- tptacek 7y ago
  An expert argument against drinking cask straight, one I'm not qualified to evaluate but can repeat here, is that high-proof alcohol actually impedes your ability to perceive the characteristics of the spirit itself. If you just like the taste of very strong alcohol, dilute some Everclear down; don't waste money on cask whiskey (for the most part, the only whiskeys sold at cask strength are expensive, premium expressions). I sometimes drink Four Roses cask-strength straight, because I'm lazy, but also cask-strength Four Roses is not all that high-proof. But I wouldn't drink Thomas Handy straight; it would be a waste.
- stock_toaster 7y ago
  To build on what tptacek said. If the flavor you are going for is "burn", then high proof will certainly get you there. However if you want more nuanced flavors, at high proofs some the taste buds actually become numb (or overloaded) and you will taste some flavors less, not to mention that at very high proofs many of the molecules that provide taste are "locked up" by the alcohol, and the addition of some water can free them for you to actually taste them more. I believe it is common practice for masters blenders, such as when selecting casks for blending, actually dilute things down quite a bit, so their taste buds don't become "exhausted" and they can pick out more nuance.
stock_toaster 7y ago
I believe addition of water (especially at higher proofs) also creates short term reactions with the alcohol and amphipathic molecules (such as guaiacol for Islas) in suspension, before finding a new equilibrium -- bringing them to the surface of the liquid and creating more flavor/aroma. ref: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06423-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06423-5

blang 7y ago

Taxes give us a lot of things, like the Snuggie: https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14638104/snuggie-is-officially-a-blanket-not-clothes https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14638104/snuggie-is-offic...