Ep. 137: Whiskey Jypsi Explorer with Ari Sussman

Exploring French and American Oak

Whiskey Jypsi's newest release - Explorer - seeks to show how the core identities of French and American oak species affect flavor in whiskey. They take the consumer on a world tour, stopping both in Eric Church's backyard (North Carolinian American white oak near to where Church grew up) and French oak from the Tronçais forest. 

Neither wood is entirely new to American whiskey drinkers (especially white oak...it's what almost everyone uses as a new cask, right?), and French oak has been used enough to have a passing familiarity.

The difference here is how Ari and the Whiskey Jypsi team use the wood - and, most importantly, the use of new French oak rather than ex-wine casks or other used cooperage. By toasting and charring staves and inserting them to finish the whiskey - using the entirety of the stave, not just the thin layer that's been charred on the inside of a cask - much more flavor is extracted. 

Note: I said flavor. Not oakiness. For all the wood exploration in this release, woodiness and tannins are not among the explorations. And thank heavens for that. 

The story is intriguing - blend the influence of Tronçais forest's wood, formerly overseen by the Duke of Bourbon and the origin point for the troubadour tradition, with American oak from the home of the country artist behind the blend. As a plus, at least in media kits, we got small pieces of each wood type to smell and see, a sensory experience that greatly helped me in discerning which note was from which wood. 

Ultimately, though, it comes down to the product at hand. After all, anyone can write a good story - it takes skill to translate that through the art of blending into a good whiskey. Enter: Ari Sussman, frequent friend of the podcast and all-around good source of whiskey knowledge. 

Thanks everyone for listening, and thank you to Ari for returning to the Whiskey Ring!

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