Whiskey, brandy, red wine, why do they all need to be aged in "oak barrels"?

Isn't this an interesting question?

Whenever we talk about "spirit" at the table, we can't get away from the topic of "oak barrels".

"Smell this glass of red wine, is there a very obvious oak toasted, smoky aroma?"

"This brand of whiskey is aged in sherry oak barrels, so the flavor is very special!"

"Brandy ah, the longer it is aged in oak barrels, the better it is, look at the Remy Martin XO, there is still over a hundred years of history in it!"

But by the time you get to the point where you're chatting up a storm, there's always someone who pops up, full of questions, and asks.

"Why is it that wine, whiskey, and brandy are all aged in oak barrels?"

You are at once baffled, can not answer, and even think the other side, this is trying to give me a hard time!

In fact, not really, the other side did not mean to pick a fight.

It's because this is a question that bothers a lot of people

Then I kept researching wine, whiskey, brandy, the stories and history behind them and finally came up with the answer.

1.Use oak barrels, it's a historical choice

The oak barrel is actually quite proud of itself.

Because its importance is not self-appointed, it is the choice of history and the people.

Let me start by asking you a question, if you're European, what container would you choose for your wine once it's made?

Leather bag?

Come on, the skin will rot after a long time.

If the brandy, want to put a three years and five years, the old early leakage, and so you find when, can only cry on the side.

Copper, silver, metal containers, big glass bottles?

How rich must you Europeans be, when the metal smelting technology is so developed?

Well, what other containers can you think of?

Not really!

It would have to be a wooden barrel.

Easy to get material, around everywhere, cheap, easy to make, efficient, a barrel maker can do a few a day.

And, because of the good quality of oak, hard texture, toughness, Europeans and chose to use oak to make barrels, loaded with wine to transport wine.

Previously, the emperor of France, but also take oak barrels loaded with gold coins it!

At the same time, the service life of oak barrels is also long, each oak barrel can be used almost 60, 70 years.

For example, France's Remy Martin XO, this pursuit of old wine flavor cognac brandy, the original wine need to store a 50 years, 100 years, but also can only be used in oak barrels, otherwise, how to store so long.

So, someone at the dinner table asks why Europeans have to use oak barrels for their wine.

You can give them a little insight.

Of course, you think you can still tell the story in detail, then tell the following two reasons.

2.Oak barrels, "settling" flavors

Red wine, whiskey, brandy, these are spirits that need to be aged for a while after they are made and distilled.

It's not like a dish that's just cooked, served and eaten while it's hot.

Only put on some time, so that the flavor substances, flavor components, precipitation, tend to stabilize, so that the wine, only good to drink, there are a variety of people "surprise again and again" taste.

If you have the opportunity to travel to the winery, you may want to drink their freshly brewed red wine, it is certainly the taste "rough", tannins "difficult" to make you close your mouth, and that "closed and dull "Aroma flavor.

But when the red wine into the oak barrels, a month, half a year, a year later, the liquid wine in the various components, in the mutual collision, fusion with each other, re-assembled into a new flavor material.

Thus, many wine connoisseurs think it is a good wine flavor characteristics, slowly came out, such as "full and rich", "good structure", "layered sense of obvious", "Complexity" and so on.

Winemakers also like to use the word "maturation" to describe the aging of wine in oak barrels, which is quite apt!

Ripening, ripening, the wine has matured and is no longer young.

Of course, you can also use another analogy to explain to the other person.

"It's like cooking rice, if you simmer it for a while after it's done, it's going to be fluffy and tasty. So, red wine should also be 'smothered' in oak barrels, yo!"

Whiskey, brandy, it means the same thing.

Just distilled liquor, flavor "high and low rugged" "uneven", but with the change of time, gradually be "filled" "bad real The first time, it was "spicy and flavorful".

The whisky that was "spicy" at the beginning, after a year in oak barrels, began to become "smooth", that is because time has smoothed out its "edges".

Of course, oak barrels also help the wine, filtering out quite a few impurities, making the wine clearer and purer.

You are at the table, you should see some old vintage red wine, poured in the glass, there are small strips and small pieces of sediment appeared, which is the dregs of wine, however, this is the normal phenomenon of red wine.

In fact, the oak barrels have helped red wine, precipitate off more wine impurities, otherwise, what you see will be more.

So, you drink the red wine, so delicious, oak barrels have made a lot of effort ah!

And that's not all!

3.Oak barrels, other flavors

Just like close to the vermilion is red, close to the ink is black, the people and circles you come into contact with, affect your future development.

Oak barrels are the same, ah, the liquor stayed in it for a long time, slowly also have the smell of oak barrels.

At this point, you might as well tell a story about Scotch whisky.

In fact, the early Scotch whisky, is not stored in oak barrels for a long time.

In those days, oak barrels were only used as containers to carry whisky.

Later, the King of England, eyeing the fat meat of whisky, increased the tax collection, almost forcing the Scots to hide inside the mountains and make whisky.

At the same time, the King of England sent out tax collectors, but also in the Scottish cities to patrol around, to see where the whisky did not pay the tax.

There is a family, the family collected a lot of whisky liquid, heard the taxman immediately to come to his home after the news of random checks, hurry to whisky, poured into the home of the red wine in the old oak barrels, hide.

The tax collector came, naturally, and found nothing.

In a few days, when the man drew the whiskey liquid from the barrel, he tasted it carefully and found that it tasted delicious.

The original thousand and one, only alcohol flavor of the whiskey, a lot more baked, smoky, creamy peculiar flavor.

Thus, the Scots have begun to imitate, the freshly distilled whisky, into the red wine oak barrels, to draw a different flavor.

Later on, port wine barrels, sherry barrels, and bourbon barrels were used to give the whiskey a variety of distinctive flavor factors.

The many different barrel flavors have become unique selling points for whiskeys, so keep an eye out for them the next time you drink whiskey.

Of course, the barrels also add a different color to the spirit as it ages.

The original brandy was as clear and colorless as water, but you've never seen brandy like this!

Blue Ribbon Martell, Remy Martin XO, are not all yellowish, brownish?

It's all about the oak barrels!

The longer the barrels are aged, the deeper the "yellow" color becomes!

The longer the brandy, the smoother and sweeter the flavor, with a hint of oak!

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