Bottle 18: Whiskey Jypsi Tribute Double Barreled Bourbon
Whiskey Jypsi Tribute Double Barreled Bourbon
Distillery: Sourced from undisclosed Kentucky and Tennessee distilleries
Region/Country: Nashville, Tennessee
Age: 4 years
ABV: 43%
Cask type(s): new charred oak, finished in a second new oak barrel.
Grain Bill: 80% corn (includes Cherokee White Corn), 10% rye, 10% malted barley
Tasting Notes
- Nose: Caramel, toasted vanilla, ripe cherry, baking spices, light oak, honeycomb, char influence.
- Palate: Rich caramel, dark chocolate, vanilla bean, cinnamon, dried apricot, roasted nuts, tobacco, and leather.
- Finish: Long and warm with toasted oak, brown sugar, dark fruit, and lingering spice.
What makes a whisk(e)y?
Whiskey is roughly ~40% alcohol, and ~60% water. But as anyone who has drank Hawkeye Vodka understands1, alcohol and water don’t taste like whiskey. So what are we tasting?
| Functional group | Peak area % |
|---|---|
| Alcohol | 91.40 |
| Acid | 2.93 |
| Ester | 2.31 |
| Aldehyde | 0.61 |
| Ketone | 0.25 |
| Lactone | 0.14 |
| Phenol | 0.10 |
| Alkane | 0.09 |
| Furan | 0.08 |
| Alkene | 0.03 |
The table above from Oxford Indicies is a chromatogram measurement of a Taiwanese whisky (Kavalan single malt), which can give us an idea of relative abundance. Oxford Indices took the same measurement, and looked more closely at the ten compounds at lowest abundance, totalling only 0.019% of the compounds:
| Compound | Peak area % | Functional group | Flavour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyclohexanone | 0.035 | Ketone | Minty |
| Phenol, 2-methoxy- | 0.027 | Phenol | Woody, savoury, smoky |
| Acetic acid, 2-phenylethyl ester | 0.025 | Acid | Sweet, floral, rosy |
| Butyrolactone | 0.024 | Lactone | Milky, peachy |
| 2-Furancarboxaldehyde, 5-methyl- | 0.019 | Aldehyde | Caramellic, maple-like |
| Benzaldehyde | 0.017 | Aldehyde | Cherry, nutty, woody |
| Butanedioic acid, hydroxy-, diethyl ester | 0.014 | Acid | Sweet, fruity, herbal |
| 1-Octanol | 0.014 | Alcohol | Waxy, orange, fruity |
| 3-Octen-1-ol, (Z)- | 0.006 | Alcohol | Fruity, herbal, earthy |
| 2-Methoxy-4-vinylphenol | 0.006 | Phenol | Spicy, woody, balsamic |
What makes a whisky a whisky is only a very small portion of what’s in the bottle. Some of this comes from the ingredients used, some come from the fermentation by yeast, and a lot comes from the barrel aging process2
Advent Reflection
Life is Full of Joy and Grief
Find your way over to inAllThings and take some time to read Dr. Gayle Doornbos’s advent reflection on lament and hope.
A Blessing for Opening to Grace and Truth
by Kate Bowler
Jesus, bless the hearts we have,
for we are troubled by many things.
Hearts that are hard like flint,
or melting like wax at the way things are in the world.
Bless these troubled, flinty, melty hearts.
We open them to you.Jesus, there’s freedom in this,
in realizing that you are there
at the very center of things.
Holding our trouble and our fears
and also our joy and excitement.You are there,
hands cupped around our contradictions.
You are the home we always wanted.For your truth is unfailingly gracious,
and your grace is unfailingly true.
Come, Lord Jesus.