Research question

[mawhinney]

In the Concise Ulster Dictionary, published by Oxford University Press in 1996, there is the entry:
skink, skeenk verb test the strength of whiskey by pouring it from a height to produce bubbles. The longer they last,the weaker it is.
Two questions: Have you ever come across, or heard, the term being used in ( North of) Ireland? Is the observation is true and, if so, what is the scientific rationale for it?
With many thanks.
K.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

I have came across the process before. I'm not aware of the word.

I remember talking to Fred Noe about it when he was in Dublin for WhiskyLive 2012. He said there was some truth in it. I thought it was the longer the bubbles lasted the stronger, but I had some on board at the time.
I think he called it proofing.

I think they used it in "Moonshiners" too.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

I got out the chemistry books to do some research.

I was wrong about the bubbles lasting longer if the alcohol was higher. The reason they last longer is cohesion. The water molecules are better at sticking to each other and can hold a bubble together longer. It because the hydrogen bonds in the H2O molecule. Ethanol molecules are not as good at sticking to each other and therefore pop faster. The stronger the alcohol the faster they pop.

[Fionnán]

i've also heard of the process before (especially among irish poitin makers and american moonshiners) but never heard the words...

[mawhinney]

Many thanks.
Your Moonshiners reference led me to "moonshine" in Wikipedia, where I learned that a quick estimate of the alcoholic strength, or proof of the distillate, is often obtained by shaking a clear container containing the distillate. Large bubbles with a short duration indicate a higher alcoholic content, while a smaller bubbles that
disappear more slowly indicate lower alcoholic content.
Putting all the pieces together, I now postulate that in nineteenth-century Ulster, when I was buying my poitin from a supplier, I would skink the liquid to test that it was not (too) watered. Clear glass containers would not have been easily acquired then and, of course, to be found with such an item in my possession could betray what I was up to!
Cheers!

[charleymcguffin]

I think that the process is nicely illustrated in the documentary " The Last Run" available on you Tube
http://youtu.be/Yp56sT66D1U Check at 1.20.58 for proofing operation. A sour note ..Popcorn Sutton later took his own life when ordered to serve a prison sentence for his activities,