Video produced by Hailey Mahan Animation by Next Media
Annie Matheson explains the process of distilling whiskey at Koval Distillery in Andersonville.
BY HAILEY M. MAHAN
MAY 28, 2013
Whiskey undeniably has been becoming more popular for the past few years. The National Restaurant Association has named it one of the Top Five Spirits Trends for 2013. The American version of this spirit has traditionally been made in Kentucky and Tennessee, but is now increasingly being distilled around the country.
While the popularity of whiskey may be national, the way that it is made in Chicago is distinct to this city. From the grains used, to the water used in the mash, Koval is doing whiskey differently.
While most brands of whiskey use a blend of grains, Koval uses a single grain for most of its whiskeys. They are made from either oat, spelt, millet, rye and wheat.
“Single grains are quite special,” said Kristine Sherred, a Koval brand manager “Nobody has distilled with oats in the United States before and nobody else is using millet,” she added.
What is more of a difference from most whiskeys is Koval’s use of Lake Michigan water instead of the spring water used in other American whiskeys as well as in Irish whiskey and scotch.
Spring water was used in the first few batches, which caused a lot of “waste in terms of plastic,” said Sherred. She added the spring water also left calcium deposits on the neck of the bottles, so a switch to Lake Michigan water was good for cosmetic reasons.
“Chicago has one of the cleanest water systems,” she said. It is also “so much more sustainable,” to use the local water instead of shipping in spring water. But although it is more sustainable, there isn’t much of a difference between the taste of whiskey that uses spring water and whiskey that uses Lake Michigan water.
“With a distilled spirit, it doesn’t make a huge difference,” she said.
But the aging process does make a difference to the taste of whiskey. Both the toasted and the dark whiskeys are barrel aged.
Barrel aging works by putting the clear distillate product into a barrel and leaving it to sit for a certain amount of time. What kind of barrel and how long it sits depend on what kind of whiskey it is.
For example, the Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits mandates that bourbon must be aged in new, charred-oak barrels.
“Basically the aging cycle consists of the whiskey warming up by very small amounts and expanding, and then it passes through the layers of the wood,” explained Annie Matheson, an event coordinator at Koval. The whiskey then cools down and contracts. The expanding and contracting is what makes the whiskey age and also gives the whiskey its distinct brown color.
Whiskey doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Chris Morris, the Master Distiller for Kentucky-based Woodford Reserve said that “other spirit types don’t seem to have the resonance with the consumer that whiskey does.”
“Whiskey is the most versatile spirit,” he added.
While it might be a change from the illegally made whiskey of Prohibition, the whiskey now has been brought around because of its versatility and a resurgence of focus on classic cocktails.
“A lot of passionate people got nerdy about classic cocktails,” said Sherred. It is whiskey’s versatility that makes it a perfect fit for this trend of classic cocktails.
“For the first time, we have whiskey access everywhere.”