Incidentally, I have been doing this for making bitters for years. I have an ultrasonic cleaner and I fill it with a warm water. Then I put liquor and flavorings in a jar - sometimes grain alcohol, sometimes 151, sometimes strong bourbon, depending on the intended result - and hit it with ultrasound for about 30 minutes at 100F. I make about 2-3 fluid ounces at a time and it works great. Not sure I'd call it (Aging), but it certainly does infuse things well. for certain things, like fresh rosemary, you can see the oils separating from the leaves as soon as the ultrasonic starts. it is nearly instantaneous.
I suspect that the time is a function of surface area. If instead of wood chips they used shavings, I'd bet that they could take the time down even further.
This reminds me of some of the goofy aging snake-oil techniques that audiophile-type guitarists try on their guitars. Putting them in vibrating jigs and stuff. That said, if there's a way to significantly tighten / age / enhance the density or resonance of wood using some kind of technique, that's pretty awesome. Then drink aged liquor before playing on aged guitar. Win-win.
I've heard from several musicians that say that it genuinely works. I've also witnessed first hand the "breaking in" process with an instrument that results in a better sound after being played a lot. Note that an old instrument doesn't break in - it is the playing.
I've also heard, from Ed Maday - http://www.edmaday.com - that the vibrations are why he says away from power machinery in his craft - he believes that the use of that machinery might damage the potential tone of the wood. I am skeptical, but if there is a mechanical process involved, then maybe he's not wrong.
Aged liquors aren't speaker cables. You can get before/after and old-wood/new-wood flights from distillers to see the difference: age makes a huge difference, and cask type makes a huge difference --- as, apparently, does cask size, according to Chuck Cowdery.
I'm curious, it doesn't mention anything about oxidisation, which I thought was pretty important in ageing in casks and I think may be hard to emulate.
Edit: It does mention about acetic acid increasing though interestingly.
According to wikipedia "Ethanol can be oxidized to acetaldehyde and further oxidized to acetic acid", so I'd be interested to know more about how it is formed in this case.
It does seem like there are lots of other by-products of oxidation though:
This reminds me of something I encountered when I used to work in a wine store, which was a sort of copper wand that you would place in a glass of wine and it would "age" the wine. At first I assumed this was snake oil bullshit, but after some research, it turned out there was actually a well documented reaction whereby (IIRC) copper catalyzes the conversion of alcohols into certain ketones and aldehydes, mimicking part of the natural oxidation process.
If you really care about fine nuances of taste, drinking almost anything from metal cups has pretty clear effects. Not aluminum, but things like brass or even various iron alloys. Especially if the drink is slightly acidic.
Regular "food" and "drinks" tend to be pretty complex chemical cocktails, so no wonder they have strange reactions with anything even remotely inclined to react chemically.
Now I wonder if the taste of the original Turkish coffee is related in small part to the usage of tiny copper pots for making it.
Not sure if the tech is the same but Cleveland Whiskey does something similar and is already on the market. Disclaimer: I invested through YC company Wefunder.
Stranahan's did the same thing for a while when they were first starting out too. For me, it tasted kinda 'egg-y' and I hated it. Now that they have been out for a few years, their whiskeys are lot better. Something is lost in that 'accelerated' process that makes it taste not so good to me at least.
The TV show Moonshiners has been dealing with accelerated aging processes recently. The method used by a pair of the moonshiners was to highly electrically charge charred wood immersed in the alcohol.
At least according to the show, the two "inventors" had a patent on their method. They were allegedly getting two years of aging in two days.
I wouldn't imagine so. The mechanism of action for spirits here is that the ultrasound extracts the various flavor compounds from the wood much quicker than it normally takes the alcohol solution to without ultrasound. But aged cheese's flavor mostly comes from the action of mold and/or bacteria chemically altering the cheese. I can't imagine that blasting ultrasound into the cheese would accelerate this process, sadly.
And the next question: Can you do it yourself? The shops where I get my cheese from all seem to be afraid that properly aged cheese might explode when they switch the light on.
Amusing observation. Having had 10, 15, 20, and 100-year-old scotch, I must admit, I couldn't really tell the difference, other than price. Yeah, they tasted a bit different, but so do Aberfeldy and Ardbeg. I wouldn't say one is any better than the other though; unless you really like the smokey taste of old pianos, then Ardbeg is definitely the best.
If this had been a conclusion reached as a result of careful analysis, then I'd be interested. Relying on people to taste-test a difference is just a broadly pointless exercise I think, and doesn't really prove the conclusion the headline is selling.
"If this had been a conclusion reached as a result of careful analysis, then I'd be interested"
Ironically, we could say the same about your post ;-)
The following is only a link away:
"[..] This way, the results show that higher powers of ultrasound, of nearly 40 W/L, in addition with the movement of the spirit, improve the extraction of phenolic compounds in a 33.94%, after seven days of ageing. Then, applying Youden and Steiner’s experimental design, eight experiments of ageing were performed, and the samples obtained by this new method were analysed to obtain information related to their physicochemical and oenological characterisation in order to determine the experimental conditions that produce the best ageing results.[..]"
Since good taste is the goal, how else would you evaluate the results? As long as the taste testing was carried out properly (i.e. blinded, randomized), it's fine.
There's an ISO standard for conducting these kinds of tests, and they apparently followed it. It's easy to think of perceptual tests that mitigate your concerns: for instance, you can triangle test.
[+] [-] abakker|9 years ago|reply
I suspect that the time is a function of surface area. If instead of wood chips they used shavings, I'd bet that they could take the time down even further.
[+] [-] nickff|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 6stringmerc|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abakker|9 years ago|reply
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/technology/05tonerite.html https://www.tonerite.com
I've heard from several musicians that say that it genuinely works. I've also witnessed first hand the "breaking in" process with an instrument that results in a better sound after being played a lot. Note that an old instrument doesn't break in - it is the playing.
I've also heard, from Ed Maday - http://www.edmaday.com - that the vibrations are why he says away from power machinery in his craft - he believes that the use of that machinery might damage the potential tone of the wood. I am skeptical, but if there is a mechanical process involved, then maybe he's not wrong.
[+] [-] tptacek|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kibwen|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bubblesocks|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mixologic|9 years ago|reply
Disclaimer: I've purchased some of their Navy Strength rum, and it was incredible. Aging liquor may become a thing of the past.
[+] [-] koolba|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anfractuosity|9 years ago|reply
Edit: It does mention about acetic acid increasing though interestingly.
According to wikipedia "Ethanol can be oxidized to acetaldehyde and further oxidized to acetic acid", so I'd be interested to know more about how it is formed in this case.
It does seem like there are lots of other by-products of oxidation though:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23143031_Isolation_...
[+] [-] massaman_yams|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beagle3|9 years ago|reply
[0] http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/technology/ultrasonic-dryer/
[+] [-] staticautomatic|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Florin_Andrei|9 years ago|reply
Regular "food" and "drinks" tend to be pretty complex chemical cocktails, so no wonder they have strange reactions with anything even remotely inclined to react chemically.
Now I wonder if the taste of the original Turkish coffee is related in small part to the usage of tiny copper pots for making it.
[+] [-] baccredited|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ridgeguy|9 years ago|reply
The technique reported in the NPR article uses ultrasound, apparently at ordinary pressure. The original journal article (pdf) is open sourced at [2].
[1] https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/the-pressure-aged-cle...
[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350417716...
[+] [-] dman|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ubercore|9 years ago|reply
I've had it, and it's very convincing. I'm not an expert by any means, but I doubt I would be able to tell it apart from truly aged whiskey.
[+] [-] Balgair|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] james_pm|9 years ago|reply
At least according to the show, the two "inventors" had a patent on their method. They were allegedly getting two years of aging in two days.
[+] [-] ape4|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitJericho|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psadri|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] luminiferous|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dghughes|9 years ago|reply
http://www.wineandcheesemap.com/
News articles about it:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/wine-cheese-pairing-ap...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38333693
[+] [-] tempodox|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] innocentoldguy|9 years ago|reply
Oh, wait. This is just based on subjective taste? Well, everyone knows that people, in general, don't have any...
[+] [-] mikeash|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bubblesocks|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vacri|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsiegel2275|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CodeWriter23|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] M_Grey|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RobertoG|9 years ago|reply
Ironically, we could say the same about your post ;-)
The following is only a link away:
"[..] This way, the results show that higher powers of ultrasound, of nearly 40 W/L, in addition with the movement of the spirit, improve the extraction of phenolic compounds in a 33.94%, after seven days of ageing. Then, applying Youden and Steiner’s experimental design, eight experiments of ageing were performed, and the samples obtained by this new method were analysed to obtain information related to their physicochemical and oenological characterisation in order to determine the experimental conditions that produce the best ageing results.[..]"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350417716...
[+] [-] mikeash|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shkkmo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tptacek|9 years ago|reply
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1350417716304187/1-s2.0-S135041771630...
There's an ISO standard for conducting these kinds of tests, and they apparently followed it. It's easy to think of perceptual tests that mitigate your concerns: for instance, you can triangle test.