
Clear Fruit Brandies Pack an Orchard into a Bottle - Mz
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/13/399348948/clear-fruit-brandies-pack-an-orchard-into-a-bottle
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tptacek
Does resting a distillate in glass or stainless really do anything to the
aroma or flavor?

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Mz
I assume you are asking about this passage:

 _After it distills down, it rests from six months to a year in stainless
steel or glass, with one exception: apple eau de vie, which is sometimes aged
in oak barrels, giving it a darker hue. As it rests, the brandy develops
character and aromas. Just before it 's bottled, it is typically cut with
spring water._

I have done a bit of searching and can't readily find a direct answer. I did
find a Wikipedia entry on the use of oak in making wine that talks a bit about
the converse:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_(wine)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_\(wine\))

I am not much of a drinker. At one time, my dad was a very heavy drinker. He
claimed that he could tell by taste alone whether a beer had been bottled in a
green bottle or a brown one. I have also been acquainted with a serious wine
connoisseur who said he could tell you all sorts of things about where it came
from and what not based on the flavor. I was recently reading a bit about
Chinese tea and a devoted connoisseur was going on at length about how the
source of the water, the type of pot it is boiled in, etc impact flavor of the
tea.

So, I think the short answer is that, to some degree, probably every step in
the process impacts aroma and flavor. But as a guess, I would assume that the
point of resting it in glass or stainless steel is to be a flavor neutral as
possible at that step in the process. Using oak is apparently done
specifically to impact flavor, color, etc. in the brewing/distiling process.

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kevinmchugh
> whether a beer had been bottled in a green bottle or a brown one

Most people should be capable of this with a little training. Green-bottled
beer becomes light-struck very quickly, and was especially common before beer
stores and beer bars began paying attention to the issue.

> the use of oak in making wine that talks a bit about the converse

The converse of resting in steel or glass is not oak, but not resting the
spirit at all.

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Mz
Thanks!

