WASHINGTON 鈥� It may sound strange, but one local bar is changing the way whiskey tastes, and it鈥檚 doing so with the power of sound.
Chris Mendenhall, lead mixologist at , located inside The Ritz-Carlton on 22nd Street NW, stocks his bar with more than 150 whiskeys. And lately, he has noticed more customers ordering the brown liquor. (You can thank 鈥淢ad Men鈥� and the recent craft cocktail revolution for that, he said.)
But increased interest aside, not everyone can afford to taste the range of the spirit. The longer a whiskey is aged, the higher its price tag, with costing upward of $1,000.
But Mendenhall, along with a few others in the U.S., have discovered a hack-of-sorts to age whiskey without using time. Instead, they鈥檙e using sound waves to alter the flavor of the drink.
鈥淲hat [the sound waves do] is mimic time,鈥� Mendenhall said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 clone Father Time, but we can show you his younger brother who looks a lot like him.鈥�
Mendenhall discovered the technology while reading an article that examined the growing demand for whiskey and various ways to speed up the aging process in order to meet that demand.
鈥淲hiskey, unlike vodka or gin, it takes time to make. You know, your scotch styles are going to take at least 10 years for something good. Kentucky bourbon, by law, is four years,鈥� Mendenhall said.
And in this research, he discovered some industry professionals experimenting with everything from added pressure, to amplified sound to replace the aging process.
鈥淭here are distilleries that are putting speakers on barrels and they鈥檙e blasting heavy metal music, or they鈥檙e blasting Mozart, or they鈥檙e just amplifying things or they鈥檙e distorting it and letting the sound kind of shake it and see what happens,鈥� he said.
Now, a 鈥渘ook鈥� in the kitchen of Quadrant is dedicated to Mendenhall鈥檚 own experiments. Using various soaked woods and a homogenizer rod that dispenses about 20,000 pulses per second of amplified sound waves, he is transforming liters of 鈥渂ase鈥� whiskeys into products that taste like they鈥檝e been aged for decades. But really, all it takes is 30 minutes.
鈥淚t can鈥檛 replace time, itself, but what it can do is give people an idea of what time does,鈥� Mendenhall said about the end products.
So why aren鈥檛 more distilleries adopting this technology? According to Mendenhall, the method has a Cinderella effect. About a year after sound waves are applied, the spirit reverts to its original state.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just like milk. It鈥檚 got an expiration date. We鈥檙e going to try to make sure we use it, and if we don鈥檛, then we鈥檙e going to get rid of it,鈥� he said.
Mendenhall has been experimenting with sound-aged recipes and ratios for over a year. He makes it clear that Quadrant is not distilling anything, but rather adjusting the flavor profile of existing whiskeys already on the market.
Yes, he understands there are going to be skeptics, and because of that, he is pouring flights of each 鈥渂ase鈥� whiskey next to its 鈥渃hanged鈥� counterpart. (Currently Quadrant has four sound-aged spirits on its menu, with pairings ranging from $18 to $20. Expect more in the future.)
鈥淣ot everyone has the ability to go and enjoy a 25-year-old spirit or a 30-year-old spirit because the prices are getting聽exorbitant, so what we can do is show them this is what it鈥檚 like, and it鈥檚 not hundreds of dollars, and I think that鈥檚 fun,鈥� Mendenhall said.
鈥淎nd our hope is that we hit a few home runs and people come in and just order [the changed spirits] by itself.鈥�
The sound-aged spirits, part of Quadrant鈥檚 Traveler鈥檚 Journal menu, debut June 1.
