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[DIGEST: Washington Post, The Guardian, IFL Science]
On the rocks, neat, with a splash of water. How do you drink your whiskey? Well, turns out if you drink it neat, you’re doing it wrong.
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A study published in the journal </span><a href="http://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/scientists-have-figured-out-exactly-why-whisky-tastes-better-with-water/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scientific Reports</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> last month proved that adding water boosts the concentration of flavor compounds at the surface of the whiskey, improving the aroma and taste. </span></p><p><div id="insticator-container" class="embedid-ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"><div id="div-insticator-ad-1"></div><div id="insticator-embed"></div><div id="div-insticator-ad-2"></div><script data-cfasync="false" type="text/javascript">Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-1");Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-2");Insticator.load("em",{id : "ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"})</script></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To investigate why adding water improves flavor, the study’s authors, Bj</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ö</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">rn Karlsson and Ran Friedman, developed a computational model looking at the interactions of water, ethanol and a flavor compound called </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">guaiacol</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Guaiacol is responsible for that smoky, peaty flavor and aroma found in whiskey. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The interplay of the various chemicals in whiskey is actually </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">quite complex</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. One end of the ethanol molecule is attracted to water, while the other end is repelled by it. At low concentrations, the ethanol gathers at the surface, with the water-repelling side facing toward the air. At higher concentrations, the ethanol can’t all fit at the surface, so it sinks into the rest of the liquid in clusters. </span></p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The guaiacol is more strongly attracted to the ethanol molecules than the water molecules, and can become trapped in ethanol clusters. When the ethanol concentration is too high, and therefore not at the surface of the drink, the tasty, aroma-filled guaiacol molecules are not at the surface either. This impacts the aroma of the alcohol, and in turn, the taste. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s how it breaks down. In the distillery, whiskey can be more than 60 percent alcohol by volume, but is typically distilled to 40-45 percent. At these concentrations, the ethanol (and guaiacol too) sinks. When the whiskey is distilled to </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">27 percent</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the ethanol spreads more uniformly, and the density of guaiacol at the surface is raised by more than a third. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Put simply: “What came out from our study is that adding water to whiskey should make it taste better,” said </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Karlsson</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Adding water has the added effect of preventing that overwhelming taste of alcohol sometimes present in whiskeys, allowing some of the more delicate flavors to come forward. “The other factor is . . . reducing the alcohol sensation on the nose and tongue,” said </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">David Williamson</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of the Scotch Whiskey Association.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So why not just bottle the whiskey at 27 percent? </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“By bottling at higher concentrations, you get less deterioration of taste,” explained </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/08/17/the-best-way-to-drink-whiskey-according-to-science/?utm_term=.ce2dd3b97447"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daniel Lacks</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, who conducts similar modeling experiments at Case Western University. Bottling at a higher concentration also prevents flavor compounds from </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">escaping</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> when the bottle is opened. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The big question: did the study change how the authors drink their whiskey? Well, it turns out that neither of them are big whiskey drinkers and haven’t yet put their research to the test. But </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/whisky-and-water-galore-scientists-conclude-dilution-enhances-flavour"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Karlsson concedes</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “after this attention we’ve got, it seems like I’m more or less forced to drink it.”</span></p>
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