Chill-filtration experiment

[JohnM]

Interesting

http://www.maltmaniacs.net/E-pistles/Ma ... ration.pdf

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Sounds to me that the Chill Filtration takes out undesirable taste profiles ...

Just goes to show how the Irish had it right all along to create a better whiskey

Just being flippant.

Obviously this is not a truly scientific experiment and he probably cannot replicate chill filtration as done by the big whisk(e)y companies. So can he be sure that the taste profile is hugely changed when done on a commercial scale.

I personally don't think Chill Filtration should affect your enjoyment of a whiskey. And it is the way to go for mass produced whiskey. Small batch I don't see the need but it is fine either way to me.

However I do believe it is done simply for cosmetic reasons. The general whiskey Joe soap still does not fully understand whiskey so if he gets a globby bottle of whiskey it will freak him.

For me you either like it or you don't ... why have a constant question mark in the back of your mind annoying you and saying ... this whiskey could be better if it was not chill filtered. I think the same about caramel colouring. If it's good it's good and I think this experiment should show that. So what if it is slightly different does this expermint not prove that the whiskey is better for it????

I think as whiskey nerds we sometimes think too much about it and we should just drink it.

However he has to be commended for being totally honest and doing such an interesting write up. Well done I say.

[JohnM]

Yeah, not all that scientific, but interesting nonetheless.

I plan one day to do a statistical analysis of whisky scoring. No time at the moment.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Just had a read of Olivers there and I do think he makes a good point about the nose of a whiskey which is a lot of the enjoyment.


Interesting and don't get me wrong I think it's great these guys do this sort of stuff ... it's all about learning.

Now, when will you get to the scoring

[bredman]

I personally don't think Chill Filtration should affect your enjoyment of a whiskey. And it is the way to go for mass produced whiskey. Small batch I don't see the need but it is fine either way to me.

I couldn't agree more. I'll always moan about added colour, but the issue of chill-filtration isn't that important. Cloudy whisky doesn't bother me, but i did have a whisky turn almost milky white when i added some water once - not cool.

These experiments are small scale, but large scale cf removes 2% of the total volume, it would be interesting to stick a glass into a bucketful of the filtered residue and taste it (as long as it doesn't kill ya ).

Also, the MMs seem to garner a lot of old whisky samples, i wonder sometimes if they have trained themselves to recognise the characteristics of 'old' whisk(e)y (i.e. smoothness, roundedness, more easygoing, etc.) as being superior. And they collectively train themselves to appreciate those qualities with higher scores. It is possible that 'cf' smoothes off a whisk(e)y's characteristics. I do like young whiskies at times and i dont agree that older whiskies are inherently better, more likely that they are 'better' simply because 'off' casks are not kept for so long and have been weeded out over the years.

I have a very bad flu and struggling to concentrate, but i think that makes sense.