Why Japanese Whisky Is So Good and So Hard to Find
I have a strong skepticism towards aged spirits of any kind due to the traditionalist nature of their production, as well as due to the inherent biases involved in anything food or drink (e.g. wine tasting [1]). Aging is solely a factor of temperature, pressure, and time. Rum aged in the Bahamas ages quicker (by years) than that aged in cooler climates. Likewise, spirits aged at, say, 0C will age very slow, if at all. It&#x27;s like making tea, where you can steep in cold water, but hot water expedites the process significantly. So why don&#x27;t any of these spirit producers use a heated pressure chamber with some wood thrown in to &quot;age&quot; their spirits in hours instead of years? The answer is because many countries impose regulatory mandates that for X spirit to be labeled as such, it must be aged a minimum Y time. This minimum can be years for some spirits. Thus producers are forced to age traditionally regardless of the efficiency of their process. And you can&#x27;t sell your pressure-aged spirit as &quot;120 Years&quot; despite the chemical processes involved being identical to traditional aging. Consumers might also perceive such process as of lesser quality. It&#x27;s a sham, and the value of supposed quality spirits is artificially inflated by their arbitrary and involved production process, as well as by consumer bias.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Blind_wine_tasting" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Blind_wine_tasting</a>