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Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

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Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#31

Post by sleavey »

tptacek wrote: post #27
gvb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whisky is diluted as part of the manufacturing process to the optimum(ish) level: 80 proof / 40% ABV. You are correct to not dilute it further. Ref: Whisky is distilled to around 70% alcohol by volume (vol-%) then diluted to about 40 vol-%, and often drunk after further slight dilution to enhance its taste.

It depends very much on the whiskey! Most whiskeys are somewhere in the 40-48 ABV band (they're definitely not all diluted to exactly 40%), but "cask strength" whiskeys go all the way up to the mid-60s (the idea of cask strength whiskey is that you're supposed to dilute it yourself; it's sold undiluted so that more of your money is going towards ethanol than water).

*Whisky ;-)

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#32

Post by ihartley »

sleavey wrote: post #31
tptacek wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends very much on the whiskey! Most whiskeys are somewhere in the 40-48 ABV band (they're definitely not all diluted to exactly 40%), but "cask strength" whiskeys go all the way up to the mid-60s (the idea of cask strength whiskey is that you're supposed to dilute it yourself; it's sold undiluted so that more of your money is going towards ethanol than water).

*Whisky ;-)

Only if he's talking about scotch. Pretty sure it applies to bourbon and other non-scotch whiskeys, too.

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#33

Post by tptacek »

ihartley wrote: post #32
sleavey wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*Whisky ;-)

Only if he's talking about scotch. Pretty sure it applies to bourbon and other non-scotch whiskeys, too.

This is truly the tabs-versus-spaces pointless debate of drinking culture.

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#34

Post by ythn »

tptacek wrote: post #33
ihartley wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if he's talking about scotch. Pretty sure it applies to bourbon and other non-scotch whiskeys, too.

This is truly the tabs-versus-spaces pointless debate of drinking culture.

People still use tabs? I thought tabs became obsolete the moment IDEs and text editors supported space-for-tabs with automatic column alignment.

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#35

Post by bmelton »

tptacek wrote: post #27
gvb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whisky is diluted as part of the manufacturing process to the optimum(ish) level: 80 proof / 40% ABV. You are correct to not dilute it further. Ref: Whisky is distilled to around 70% alcohol by volume (vol-%) then diluted to about 40 vol-%, and often drunk after further slight dilution to enhance its taste.

It depends very much on the whiskey! Most whiskeys are somewhere in the 40-48 ABV band (they're definitely not all diluted to exactly 40%), but "cask strength" whiskeys go all the way up to the mid-60s (the idea of cask strength whiskey is that you're supposed to dilute it yourself; it's sold undiluted so that more of your money is going towards ethanol than water).

The 2016 release of George T Stagg came out of the cask at 144 proof, or ~72%. You might want to recalibrate your high-water mark. ;-)

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#37

Post by tbrownaw »

ythn wrote: post #34
tptacek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is truly the tabs-versus-spaces pointless debate of drinking culture.

People still use tabs? I thought tabs became obsolete the moment IDEs and text editors supported space-for-tabs with automatic column alignment.

Tabs are semantic. Using spaces for indentation is like using tables for layout.

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#38

Post by CiaranMcNulty »

mirimir wrote: post #4

So guaiacol boils at 205°C. How does it end up in the whisky, after distillation? I mean, the water should come over before the guaiacol does.

Water boils at 100C, so shouldn't the guaiacol come over first? Or am I misunderstanding how distillation works?

Re: Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective

#40

Post by askvictor »

CiaranMcNulty wrote: post #38
mirimir wrote: post #4

So guaiacol boils at 205°C. How does it end up in the whisky, after distillation? I mean, the water should come over before the guaiacol does.

Water boils at 100C, so shouldn't the guaiacol come over first? Or am I misunderstanding how distillation works?

Nope, it will come out last.
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