PopSci reported earlier today that food science researchers at the University of California at Davis have been studying different whiskies to determine whether they can tell them apart, scientifically. Though determining the difference between a Scotch and Irish whiskey isn't as easy as determining the difference between Scottish and American English accents, the university's research director Thomas Collins explained today at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting that they're well on their way.As reported by PopSci, Collins said, "Right now, we can do a pretty good job of separating, for example, Scotch whiskies from bourbons and other American whiskeys and also Canadian and Irish whiskeys. When you narrow it down into whiskeys from a particular region, the process gets a little more difficult because they're more similar to each other," Collins explained during the talk which was recorded by the American Chemical Society.
In the future, Collins hopes that he and his team can relay to distillers best practices that make for the best whiskey. Right now, distinguishing one whiskey from another is all about chemical reactions! The major chemicals that Collins' team uses to tell whiskeys apart include some that come from grain, some from the fermentation process and some from the wood barrel in which whiskey ages.
To find out how many concentrated chemicals are used to determine any two given whiskeys from one another or to figure out how many whiskeys Collins and his team analyzed, read the full PopSci report.
