Dipso Facto ScapeGoat Ink: Booze Wizards Save Whiskey Using Near-Infrared Analysis

Dipso Facto Scapegoat Ink

Booze Wizards Save Whiskey Using Near-Infrared Analysis

My knowledge of how protective whiskey drinkers and makers of scotch are became very apparent after I wrote about ArKay Beverages creating a bastardized version of "whiskey" that is apparently non-alcoholic (read: pointless). To read my post about the whiskey/non-whiskey debate, click here. Of course, something as notable as a company making a non-alcoholic, whiskey-flavored drink wasn't just going to disappear from the news. It turns out that whiskey actually has a couple of crime-fighting groups, which were established to uphold the honor of whiskey and prevent companies like ArKay Beverages from crapping on that legacy. The two groups previously mentioned, European Union (EU) and Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), were possibly going to take legal action against the beverage makers because they deemed it illegal to use the good name of whiskey to peddle the non-alcoholic swill. Read about it here.

In addition to having two hyper-vigilante groups protecting the name of whiskey, I just read an article from The Engineer, a UK publication, about a new practice being put into place that will eventually be able to detect counterfeit whiskey. Hey, if they can do it with money, why not with booze, right? The article, "Near-infrared Analysis Method Detects Counterfeit Whisky," written by Stuart Nathan, explains that researchers from St. Andrew's University (the oldest university in Scotland) were working on a device that pinpoints which whiskey the sample is from. These guys are like whiskey wizards with their magical detection devices. Before this article, I was unaware that counterfeit whiskey was even a concern, let alone a problem. However, I guess there have been issues primarily with counterfeit branded single-malt scotch.

According to the article, "The St. Andrews researchers, led by Prof Kishan Dholakia, use laser-based near-infrared spectroscopy to analyse samples—generally biological—using a microfluidic device that guides the laser into the sample through an optical fibre. Another fibre collects light scattered from the sample and takes it to an analyser." I'm always amazed at how far technology has come since the day's of grade school when I was playing Number Munchers on an early Apple computer to now using high-tech devices on something I love almost as much as life itself—booze.

Apparently the detection system was initially used to determine the alcohol content of a sample, which is an indicator of true whiskey or fake whiskey. The article explains that since the results were so accurate this technique was able to detect other compounds, which could pinpoint the type of brewing process used and how long the spirit remained in wooden casks, which "have a very large influence on the taste, colour and texture of the drink." This is huge because, in addition to being able to detect whether a whiskey is counterfeit, it can also be used by distillers for quality control in the manufacturing and bottling process. Today, we salute science, technology, and most of all whiskey wizards for protecting us against drinking non-alcoholic swill and fake booze. Cheers!

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