Correction: Bourbon will not be affected by global warming

Earlier I wrote about stretching the concern over global warming to cover bourbon. There was some fear among scientists that changes to Kentucky's climate would make it more difficult to age bourbon properly. I was a bit skeptical. Now the actual distillers have come out and said that the bourbon will be alright.


The expert distillers actually think they have had a number of good years, with perfect weather for aging their product. Many control their process and also seem to focus on taste not age, in this quote:

"Brown-Forman Corp. makes its own weather at its Old Forester and Woodford Reserve warehouses during the winter, using steam heat to raise the temperature of the whiskey to 85 degrees and hold it there for a week. Then the heat goes off, the doors and windows are opened and the whiskey is allowed to cool to 70 degrees.

...It's not about age, it's about the flavor for us," Morris said. "We know what Woodford Reserve is supposed to taste like and we know what Old Forester is supposed to taste like."

So the idea really is to understand and control your bourbon production and not just leave it up to the whims of nature. As I stated earlier, before we should worry about the bourbon we would have to:

"... believe the temperature rise... and that if anything changes that the whisky brewers won't change their tactics to continue to produce good whiskey..."

I guess that makes sense, but what do I know, I am just a chemical engineer.

Fark helped set them straight on this one.