The stereotyping of the region which grows the base grain for beginning the process has its balloon popped immediately by anyone who has farmed.
Each field is different from it's neighbor, with sandy vs. loamy areas, even in southern Minnesota and into Iowa and into Illinois where there is very little elevation change.
Having grown millions of pounds of corn, even within the same field there are dramatic variations in quality of the harvested grain, with low spots, if flooded by an early rain, or higher spots that even with irrigation may be somewhat sandier and drier in late filling of the kernels I'm almost laughing up my sleeve at the naivete of the people quoted in the article.How much was due to the variety of the grain planted (of which there are many)? How much was a 'good year' which we all know dramatically affects grapes.How much was the temperature at the time the grain goes from milk to more solid carbohydrate form?
It's my guess that the mystique and charm of the distillers has gotten in the way of countless other, major, factors that come into play, and to think one can repeatedly and dependably brew a consistent spirit from year to year is very doubtful.
I will grant you that grandma knew which part of the field to get the best sweet corn from, and where the better melons would be in the fall, but that was due to living on the land, next to the fields, and knowing just what the season's affect was on the end product. And tomatoes? Start with the variety.
Wouldn't they be more sure if they conducted blind tastings? It can be telling. I once had two fairly close vintages of the same wine, but was completely convinced when I tasted them that I could tell the difference between the two. But when I had my friend give me the glasses blind, I couldn't figure out which was which. And thus I was humbled.
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@Steve S A few decades ago, when there were various weekly variety shows on B&W television, a hilarious skit was done where two wine snobs were tasting and continually one-upped each other in detecting subtitles. It was long enough ago and too many other weighty facts in my brain to recall the players, but to paraphrase, one of them, after swirling, sniffing and tasting a new pour remarked that it was such and such a wine, of a certain year, from so and so region of France, and that the grape was squashed by the bare feet of an 18 y.o. vixen at 11 a.m. Now THAT is talent!
I’m extremely skeptical of the talk of vodka and terroir. Sure, wheat, corn, spelt, other will give you a slightly different product, but when you distill to 96% pure alcohol and then add gallons of water and a bit of glycerin, terroir doesn’t really stand a chance. Happy to be proven wrong here, but skeptical.
With whiskey it’s possible, but you have to redefine terroir more broadly than how it’s normally used. Terroir in wine is comparing the way the land affects the same grape. In this article it’s more about how different species of grains affect the resultant whiskey. Granted, Wigle is trying to say it’s region, but they didn’t isolate that. Grain type definitely makes a difference. And terroir matters a lot with oak too (e.g. Glenmorangie Original vs Astar). I’m excited to see what talented distillers figure out and really not looking forward to wading through the marketing.
Side note, if you want true terroir with a distilled spirit, drink mezcal.
True bourbon is only from Ky, y'all!
Without our delicious limestone filtered water, & the sweet bluegrass air, it isn't truly bourbon.
Everything else is just a wanna-be.
But bless their little hearts for trying.
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You might like to think so, but it certainly not a requirement. In addition, so much (not all but a huge amount) Kentucky bourbon is distilled in factories out of state then shipped to Ky. for barrel aging that you might be shocked. Look it up.
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@Rob
If it is distilled outside of Ky; it may legally call itself bourbon, but calling yourself something doesn't make it true - especially to those who know the difference.
And even yankees know that the majority bourbon is still distilled here, anyway. (Yes, even Colonel Google agrees.) Come on down to bourbon country & see for yourself.
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The terroir concept is a hot topic in the cider and craft beer world, too. Pittsburgh is fortunate to have not only Wigle Whiskey, but another Grelli venture: Threadbare Cider, with its local yeast lab. And Dennis Hock at Strange Roots (formerly Draai Laag), champion of open fermentation and locally sourced ingredients. How cool to go farm-to-bottle, and explore local variations! I'd much rather support a local business than some megacorp. Love our moms and pops!
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To all who endeavor to create new spirits that capture the natural uniqueness of different regions: Cheers!
Those who succeed will all possess the same key ingredient: Marketing!
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@Guido Malsh You are spot on re: marketing!
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Hard liquor having the taste of terror? In my view, this is nothing like commercial propaganda, superstition, and wishful imagination.
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Who the heck drinks all of this booze?
There are so many producers these days, and most make a nice profit.
It must be demand from China, Japan, Korean, and other Asian countries.
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No end to snob appeal, no?
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It all tastes terrible, and any honest person, or curious 12 year old, will agree.
But if you want to catch a buzz, I suppose you can feel sophisticated by pondering which ones are subtlety less terrible.
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I would ask the folks at Wigle if these releases are single barrel or blended. In my experience, identical mash bills, aged in a Rickhouse, side by side, produce very different flavors from barrel to barrel.
The Master Blender is tasked with making the final product. Typically, this would mean taking barrels from different Rickhouse levels and blending them to produce a consistent product.
Every true Single Barrel release will be unique.
The water and the yeast in the Mash will be the final arbiter for the flavor profile of the finished product over where the Mash came from.
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There is an emerging gin brand called Scottish Kings (www.scottishkings.com), built on this very notion that regional distillation methods and locally sourced botanicals might yield a spirit unique to its homeland. It took over two years for their master distillers to land on a recipe that captures both the character and the distinct "terroir" of the Scottish Highlands.
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Here in Kansas we have several new distilleries working on local and regional products. As a grain-growing state, we can tap into some immediate resources. I've recently tried a whiskey, vodka, and gin from https://highplainsinc.com/ with much pleasure. They're distinctive, well priced, and worthy entrants into the world of small markets.
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Ethanol is more popular than Methanol. My father was the engineer at an oil refinery. He routinely called the police to come and collect the consumer's corpses of fanatics who broke the valves to get their private reserve. The is lots of money being spent on Ethanol in various mixtures. The Magic is believing those mixtures are why we drink the stuff. Ethanol is a harmless component. More or less. Marketing often ignores the obvious.
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@endname
Ethanol is the alcohol in alcoholic beverages.
Methanol is also called "wood alcohol," and is highly toxic. Both ethanol and methanol are produced for use as industrial solvents. But only ethanol is potable.
Ethanol and methanol have distinctly different boiling points. Thus, if trace amounts of methanol are produced by the fermentation of mash (and I am not sure there are), the methanol can be removed in the distillation process.
I don't know what endname is taking about. Sure, you can get alcohol poisoning from ethanol. But in discrete amounts it has been shown to be salubrious.
There is nothing wrong with an occasional cocktail with Dean Martin.
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The methanol, which has a lower boiling point, comes out of the still first and is kept separate from the ethanol, the more desirable product.
Are we just going to skip over the fact that we've already known this for hundreds of years? That's why whiskey from different areas of Scotland taste so different. How is this a "new" discovery? Just go to Edinburgh and take the Scottish Whiskey Experience and you'll learn (and taste!) this exact thing...
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@Sam
Well said! My thoughts exactly.
Then again, perhaps there are no new ideas, only new marketing plans to reach the masses with time tested and proven results masquerading as new ideas. I'm guessing the writer Clay Risen has not had much real life experience with the world of Single Malt Scotch.
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Most Scottish distillers source all the same grain, so there’s no terroir there. There are some regional differences but those differences aren’t defined. Bruichladdich makes light whisky on Islay while Benriach is making heavily peated in Speyside. Most differences come from fermentation, still characteristics, and barrel. Look at Loch Lomond and they various whiskies. It has nothing to do with terroir and everything to do with having a variable still. Same goes for the fact that Hazleburn, Longrow, and Springbank all come from the same distillery but taste very different from each other. Regional differences can mostly be traced back to economic motivations rather than terroir. Phylloxera devastating brandy production in the late 1800’s was pretty good motivation for whisky makers in regions with easy export capabilities via rail (lowlands, Speyside) to produce a lighter, unpeated style of whisky. The terroir that matters in Scotch is the region the oak used for the barrel came from.
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When it comes to a great single malt whisky, it is all about the water and the peat. A connoisseur of single malts can taste the subtle differences. That and of course the generational handed down knowledge, combined with the well crafted art of distilling makes it all complete. Can you tell the difference between Highland Park and an Islay? Some of us actually can.
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A viniculturist in France not so long ago lamented that the increasing alcohol content in wine was detracting from the ability of drinkers to distiguish subtler flavor characteristics due to inebriation.
Promoters of higher alcohol beverages might want to reconsider.
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@ Brice C. Showell Philadelphia
"Promoters of higher alcohol beverages might want to reconsider" -- I bet, they won't: the greed of making profits by whatever kinds of untruths or lies is too strong
St. George Spirits of Alameda, California, makes a fantastic Terroir Gin using botanicals from nearby Mount Tamalpais. Would have been interesting to see distiller Lance Winters’s take on this subject.
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That’s a different topic, since adding botanicals to neutral spirit is different than the subtleties you get from different grains used to make each spirit. Terroir/agricultural variation in the botanical elements of gin is definitely a real thing. And that St. George Terroir is intense!
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What a racket. It’s all just ethanol with various chemical adulterants and additives.
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@ubique only the cheap stuff.
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Not at all. It is illegal to place any chemical additive in bourbon other than E150 which is a brown coloring.
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"No coloring, flavoring, or blending materials may be used in the production of spirits designated as “bourbon whisky” in accordance with § 5.22(b)(1)(i) or “straight” whisky in accordance with § 5.22(b)(1)(iii)" - TTB Ruling 2016-3
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