Liquor

Adding a drop or two of water to a glass of bourbon can open up the flavor profile, allowing you to experience different notes such as cherry and vanilla. It can also make the drink more intense on the first sip.
 
Transcript: "How does adding a drop or two of water? Change the flavor profile of a bourbon? Well, bourbon is a stable, compressed solution, full of different material and compounds. So when you add a drop or two of water into that stable solution, it a tend to break up. Those compounds that are tightly knitted together. Now, the water itself is an adding any flavor to the actual whiskey but sometimes it'll help open up that whiskey to give you different notes of cherry or vanilla and sometimes it can even make it a little bit more intense on the first sip. And that's mainly, because of the water-soluble is, will connect to the water while all your oils are insoluble objects, rise to the top, but it is a really fun experiment. Pour yourself. A glass of whiskey. Take a sip, wait, a few minutes, drop two, drops of still water into it and then take a sip and see how it changes for yourself."

The type of grain used in whiskey production can greatly affect the flavor of the whiskey. Corn is a relatively sweet and volatile grain that can bring heat to the whiskey, rye is known for its spicy and herbal qualities, wheat is a softer grain bringing subtle sweetness, and malted barley typically brings cereal notes and honey or hay flavors. Heirloom grains will have different protein compounds and oil structures than commodity grains which can provide unique and unexpected flavors.
 
Transcript: "How does the type of grain used impact or affect the flavor of the whiskey and affects it in a couple different ways? Let's start off by a sort of identifying, the main grains used in whiskey production, let's start with corn, corn is a relatively sweet grain, right? I'm sure we've pretty much all eaten Corner. Life's corn is pretty sweet so it's going to bring that sweetness into the flavor of the whiskey that said corn is also relatively volatile grain as well. So while it does bring the sweet I'd like to say that it also brings the heat. Now Rye is He's a known for being sort of a spicier grain and while it does, typically bring some of that black pepper spice or cinnamon spice. It can also bring some herbal qualities or grassy notes to your whiskey, and if done in the right way, I've also seen it bring a lot of beautiful stone fruit flavor, which I really enjoy and rye whiskey as well. Now wheat is also a sweeter grain but it's also it's a softer grain as well. It's going to bring some sweetness like corn, maybe a little bit more subtle, but it's way less volatile than not than either corn or rye. So it's not going to bring the same sort of heat that either. One of those grains are going to bring to your whiskey and then you've got malted barley. I would say that for most of the history of using malted barley and whiskey has been relatively low profile in terms of flavor, bring some cereal notes, some honey or hey kind of flavors and Aromas and definitely some multi qualities. But as people have been continuing to experiment with new kinds of malted roasting techniques. We're seeing a lot of new flavors coming in with those great with a multi barley and that can go across all different kinds of grains. We're seeing lots of new things with malted corn, Malta dry, malted wheat. And we're going to see a lot of really cool flavors coming out from all these grains that are unexpected. The other component thing to keep in mind is ours, are you using commodity grains versus heirloom grains, using heirloom varietals. They're going to have different protein compounds and oil structures. That's going to give you some really cool flavors. Commodity grains, are basically grown for yield and not so much for flavor."

Adding water to whiskey before bottling can help open up its aromas and flavors, but it can also dilute them if you add too much. It's a delicate balance between creating a complex and robust flavor while making it accessible to the everyday consumer.
 
Transcript: "How do different bottling proofs impact? The flavor and Aroma of whiskey. Great question whiskey is an incredibly robust and complex Spirit a lot of different Aromas and flavors going on coming from everything from the grains, the fermentation process, the distillation process and of course Barrel maturation. So we've got a lot of different points in which flavor and Aroma can be influenced within a whiskey. Now, when you're dealing with something that's a Ask strength, right? And theoretically, that means that it's coming out of that barrel. And it's not being proof down with water at all, you're going to have a very densely, you know, compact robust complex, whiskey. It also means that it's going to be pretty high, you know, ABV, which might make it a little bit more difficult for people to access. So, um, you know, they might be pretty robust in terms of Aroma and flavor, but if you decide, you want to add some water to it before you bottle it, that's Change the whiskey in a couple different ways. As I've mentioned on this platform, before water has a way of opening up, whiskey, the aroma and flavor compounds within a whiskey or very tightly bound to each other water molecules break those bonds which can release you know more complexity of Aroma and flavor. That being said, The more water that you add to your whiskey. The higher the water content becomes it's going to slowly start to dilute those Aromas and flavors as well. So it's a really fine balancing. Act between the sort of very robust complex flavors that are tightly bound within a cask strength, whiskey. Adding some water to try to release those Aromas and flavors. And also make it a little bit more palatable maybe to the everyday consumer and not wanting to over dilute Your Whiskey. Making it too soft, losing the mouthfeel on the texture that you want and losing out at all. Those flavors, you work so hard to create because you proved it down too much. It's an art, it's a science."

My favorite whiskey summer cocktail is The Scofflaw which is made with rye whiskey, dry vermouth, lemon juice, and grenadine. I recommend making your own grenadine for this drink as store bought versions can be overly sweet. Shake up the ingredients with some orange bitters and serve in an up glass over ice.
 
Transcript: "How do you approach creating whiskey cocktails for the summer months? This is a great question because I think a lot of people when they think about whiskey, you know, they think about it as sort of a heavier Spirit, you know, obviously they don't compare it to anything like a vodka or gin or something. You might recognize more commonly in a summery drink. I feel like people think about whiskey and they imagine old man, sitting in a leather chair in the back of a dark room, smoking a cigar, and that's a lovely way to drink whiskey. But whiskey can be super refreshing in a cocktail as well and there are a lot of Summer cocktails that I love with whiskey. Now, the important thing is that, you know, in a lot of Whiskey's, you can find sweeter notes, especially in American whiskeys, and that might come from something like the grain itself like corn, bring some sweetness might come from the yeast, like, you know, bring some stone fruit notes out, but you want to try to find some sort of quality within the whiskey that using to start with that you can build off of. Now, some of my Favorite whiskey summer. Cocktails are you know, basic whiskey sour. That's just going to be, you know, a couple ounces of whiskey, some lemon juice. Maybe some angostura, bitters, shake that up. You can put it over the Rocks, you could put it in an up glass. That's chilled my favorite summer. Whiskey cocktail is probably The Scofflaw. It's a really, really great cocktail and it's incredibly refreshing. It is about an ounce and a half of rye whiskey. I would use probably a lighter rye whiskey, I I would then use an ounce of dry vermouth. I would do a half an ounce of lemon juice and a quarter ounce of grenadine and if I was you I would make a homemade grenadine. I find most of the Grenadines on the shelves to be sickly sweet and contain no pomegranate whatsoever. So make a homemade grenadine, it's gonna have a beautiful color and it's going to bring a great quality to your cocktail. Shake that up with some orange bitters, port and up glass, that's nice and cool. Super refreshing. I hope you enjoy."

To identify the ghost haunting someone, look into the history of the area, try to think who might be haunting you and why, and consider using a Ouija board or other seance methods.
 
Transcript: "How does someone identify the ghost haunting them? I get why this is related to Spirits? Although I think we're in a slightly different realm in this question, but I'm going to give it my shot at it. Anyway, I've never really tried to identify the ghost haunting me, too. You know, too heavy to an extent, but I would say, maybe going to some, you know, records of who used to live in your house, or your office building or wherever being haunted. Perhaps the use of a Ouija board could be helpful. Awful. You know, I use those in college a little bit back in the day, I lived in a dorm room or a dorm building that was apparently haunted at NYU. So those are my four sort of, you know, initial tips. You know, look into the history of the area and try to think who might be haunting you and why, and maybe use a Ouija board. I'm sure there's some other sort of seance things you could do, but let me know how it goes. I'm excited to hear what you say."

Scotch parties are awesome. You don't need to worry too much about the glasses, but if you're doing a tasting then get tulip shaped glasses or brandy glasses. Otherwise, any old rocks glass will do.
 
Transcript: "I am hosting a scotch party. What kind of glasses should I buy for it? First of all, that's awesome. Congratulations on throwing a scotch party. I'm not entirely sure what that means. Is this a scotch tasting party where people are going to come by and taste the scotch or making it mixing it in the cocktails? Are we, you know, are we watching Braveheart? I want to know what the scotch party is. And, you know, if you throw another one, feel free to send me an invite, but I would say, don't worry too much. Each about buying new glasses. Obviously, if you're tasting the whiskey, you want to try to have something. That is sort of tulip shaped, something that has a bigger bulb towards the bottom and then becomes more narrow towards the top. That's going to help sort of, you know, Focus the Aromas within that class to the top. So that when you're nosing it, you're able to get a better profile of it. There's also the sort of a brandy glass which has a similar concept to it and of course, if you're just drinking scotch and having a fun time at your Or party. There's nothing wrong with just a basic rocks glass, you know, like a lowball glass or something like that. Really. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you guys are enjoying the scotch and less so about the vessel that it goes in. If it's glass, that's great. It's not glass clear plastic. If it's not clear plastic and it's a Solo Cup, I just hope that you have a great Scotch party."