What % effects flavor

[Bushman]

Found the following chart on Distillery Trails webpage: According to their research talking to Master Distillers this is the following chart shows the amount each area effects the flavor profile in whiskey. Their pallets must be better than mine as I probably wouldn't of been able to come up with this division but in looking at it probably pretty close to what I would guess.

[raketemensch]

I wonder if they're including yeast environment in "yeast strain." Seems to me to be a pretty huge factor, although maybe moreso to the hobbyist who doesn't have pro equipment managing it.

[der wo]

I think distillation is 100%, because you could do it so bad, that it's 0% whiskey.
And grains are 100% too, if you use 100% rice you will get 0% whiskey.
And maturation also is 100%.
And what about mashing? Is that 0%?

[bearriver]

I think distillation is 100%, because you could do it so bad, that it's 0% whiskey.
And grains are 100% too, if you use 100% rice you will get 0% whiskey.
And maturation also is 100%.
And what about mashing? Is that 0%?

[Odin]

I think they forgot fermentation ...

Odin.

[der wo]

And some whiskeys are 100% marketing.

[thecroweater]

I would assume they (the head distillers) were given these 4 choices and asked out of them what % is what to make up 100% otherwise yes there are many factors and many variables within those factors that could make a massive difference

[der wo]

I think, such a chart is marketing: "Look, what all we have to do for this splendid drink and how exactly everything is balanced by our master distillers for your pleasure..." Imagine, someone had asked Beethoven, how much % are the notes, the intervalls, the rhythm and the tempo.

Jack Daniels: Mostly maturation, because of the filtering.
Woodford: More than 15% distillation. Particulary, if it's your first potstilled bourbon.
My bourbon: 100% positive thinking

[woodshed]

Opinions given within a rigid set of parameters really do not mean much.

[still_stirrin]

I believe the 4 categories captured are quite appropriate, although I can't corroborate the weighting.

Yeast really includes all the yeast associated processes, ie - strain, temperatures, population, nutrients, fermentation, water and conditioning, areation, flocculation and by-product production such as acetyls, sulfurs, esters, etc. These are all flavor contributors.

Grains obviously includes recipe (grainbill), mash process, enzymes and protein/starch content and conversion, etc.

Maturation is a biggie because it includes the aging processes, woods and temperature management. It also includes time (we all know that patience is a part of the key to success, right?).

And distillation includes the equipment and processes used, including processes management of the equipment during the distillation process. Continuous line distillatations will always taste different than true "small batch" proccessed products. And a key part of the distillation processes includes cuts and how those are made (if at all).

So, I believe that the four "buckets" in the chart Bushman presented to be essentially inclusive, especially if you consider the "expanded term" definitions outlined here. How these "buckets" are measured, however, is a subject for much discussion and debate.

Personally, I believe the first (yeast strain) is under-rated and the maturation "bucket" is over-rated. I believe that we (hobbiests) value each of the quadrants equitably, or nearly so...at least I place equal importance on the contributions of each category towards the taste of my whiskeys.
ss

[Monkeyman88]

And grains are 100% too, if you use 100% rice you will get 0% whiskey.

Wrong. Whiskey is made from grains. Rice is a grain. You have rice whiskey.

[Odin]

May there be a question underlining this? The more I read about how the big boys (Jim, Jack, Buffalo) think about it ... well, it all boils down to barrel ageing. Percentages of the barrel's part of flavour used to be 50 to 55%. Nowadays the big boys easily say 70 to 80%.

Did barrel ageing innovate? Or did the white whiskey become tasteless? From a first point persepctive, and after having tasted the white dog of the big boys ... it is the new make whiskey that became tasteles. Pretty much tasteless. So the barrels take care of taste.

I do not like that.

I feel the only correct definition of a whiskey is (to me!): "A spirit where you can taste the grain it is made from.". Amen to that. In my products and in my perception this means simply the following: you need to be able to taste the grain. So grain has to be >50%. Peat and wood only help bring out the grain's character.

If it is the other way around (and most of the times it is, nowadays), I end up with drinking a whiskey I don't like.

Odin.

[jedneck]

I feel the only correct definition of a whiskey is (to me!): "A spirit where you can taste the grain it is made from.". Amen to that. In my products and in my perception this means simply the following: you need to be able to taste the grain. So grain has to be >50%. Peat and wood only help bring out the grain's character.

If it is the other way around (and most of the times it is, nowadays), I end up with drinking a whiskey I don't like.

Odin.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

[Jimbo]

I posted on HD a while back an experiment where I aged vodka on oak for several months. The result was as you might expect, thin simple and oaky. Just like Jack. I agree the big boys are running way too clean, and then in TN cleaning it further with charcoal. I don't get it. Mass appeal I guess. Us hooch heads that appreciate flavor are a rare breed apparently

[bitter]

I posted on HD a while back an experiment where I aged vodka on oak for several months. The result was as you might expect, thin simple and oaky. Just like Jack. I agree the big boys are running way too clean, and then in TN cleaning it further with charcoal. I don't get it. Mass appeal I guess. Us hooch heads that appreciate flavor are a rare breed apparently

Well said Jimbo.. Sorta like those that brew there own beer like micro brewy stuff better on often become hopheads.

I'm a bit of a hophead myself hence the name on the site bitter lol

B

[thecroweater]

I think you guys are inpart right but something from the wash is coming through. Jimmy and some even worse have got something going on that shit wood could do to even a bad vodka (sorry to JB fans but it tastes like burnt cockroach to me)