A warm welcome to our new series, ‘Whisky Fact Check’!

Does this sound familiar? When reading books or magazines about our favourite subject, whisky, we repeatedly come across statements that sound logical and are often repeated – but are rarely questioned or scientifically explained. They’re simply left hanging in the air. And have been for years.

A typical example is the charring of oak casks: the inside of the cask is directly burnt, creating a layer of black carbon. This is said to act as a natural filter, removing unripe, off-putting metallic or unpleasant sulphurous flavours from the new make spirit. This is what we read time and again – and often take for granted. Full stop. But how does this layer of activated carbon actually ‘know’ which flavours are good and which are not?

Or take bourbon: compared to Scotch whisky, its aroma is often described as ‘glue-like’. With wheated bourbon, this impression is much less common. Why is that?

And what really lies behind the often cited phrase ‘both art and science’ when it comes to blending and marrying whiskies? Concrete, in-depth explanations of this are rarely to be found.

Questions upon questions – and that’s exactly what we want to get to the bottom of. In this series, I’ll be taking a scientific look at statements like these. Together, we’ll delve into the physics and chemistry behind them and explain why things are described in this way – or why they might actually work differently. Along the way, we might even come across a myth or two. Who knows?

Stay tuned and join me on an enjoyable journey of discovery to where whisky meets science.

Part 1 - The layer of coal – the supposedly clever bouncer in the cask

Part 2 - Tangible chemistry – why tannins in whisky make the mouth feel 'dry'