Scientists create ‘brandy’ in three days

Researchers in Spain have produced a grape spirit with the characteristics of an aged brandy in just three days by using ultrasound technology.

Scientists flowed wine distillate through a bed of American oak chips, and applied ultrasound energy

To create the liquid – which cannot legally be called brandy in Europe as regulations require that the spirit be aged in oak casks – scientists flowed wine distillate through a bed of American oak chips, and applied ultrasound energy to the set-up for three days.

An abstract from the study reads: “During the ageing of brandies, many physicochemical processes take place involving the distilled spirit and the wood of the casks.

“Because of these reactions, the polyphenolic content of brandies and their content of organic acids increase with the ageing. These reactions are slow, and the ageing of high-quality brandies takes several years.

“The use of this new method for the accelerated continuous ageing of wine spirits by applying ultrasound energy allows us to get spirits with characteristics of aged spirits by traditional methods in only three days.”

To achieve the most comprehensive outcome the team altered a number of variables, including the temperature, amount of oak chips, abv, power of ultrasound waves, amount of oxygen and level of light.

As a final experiment, the team applied this ageing method to five varietal spirits, and enlisted a panel of experts to rate their quality. The aged spirits were given better ratings than the initial distilled wine.

Detailed findings for the study will be published in May in the journal Ultrasonics Sonochemistry.