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‘Rapid ageing’ spirits tech receives patents
Lost Spirits, the US-based inventor of ‘fast-ageing’ technology for spirits, has been awarded two patents for its “revolutionary” processes.
Lost Spirits will now be able to commercialise its “revolutionary” technology after receiving two patents
Since 2010, US-based Lost Spirits Distillery has been refining a process that rapidly accelerates the ageing process of spirits such as whiskey, rum and Tequila.
Co-founded by Bryan Davis, Lost Spirits publicly unveiled its Thea One reactor in 2015. The technology forces a chemical composition within new make liquid that it is near identical to that of an aged variety.
As such, Lost Spirits claims it is able to produce a liquid with the same molecular structure as a 20-year-old rum in under a week.
“We haven’t made something approximating the flavour of an aged rum – we actually made an aged rum,” Davis told The Spirits Business last year. “Our technology is the only one that can stand up to forensic chemistry as there’s a big difference between just replacing parts of the process with creating a molecule-by-molecule map.”
Now, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company key patents governing its maturation process associated with Thea One.
According to Lost Spirits, the patents “describe processes for maturing distilled spirits involving heat driven esterification and photocatalytic polymer degradation of oak barrel staves”.
This step will allow Lost Spirits to “commercialise, protect and further develop” its technology and as such create a “new spirits growth platform”.
Lost Spirits Technology is the Intellectual Property licensing unit of Lost Spirits Distillery, which is principally engaged with research, design, and development of fast-ageing spirits technology.
Davis previously told The Spirits Business that his company has research contracts with “most large spirits companies around the world”.
Lost Spirits initially planned to lease its technology to distilleries under license, but last year announced a change of direction and will now partner with only select producers. In addition to allowing distillers to save time and money, Lost Spirits says its technology gives them “ultimate control” over spirits maturation.