. Don't try to say that three times fast. Especially after you've been drinking whiskey. Actually Whiskey Disks are a new product designed to give spirits fans the best possible sipping experience ever.
I first heard about them on one of my favorite local food/drink blogs, Erin's Food Files, where Erin and her husband Nathan often share their favorite drinks and meals from around town. Not only are they both fun, engaging young people, but I find we tend to share similar tastes in food and drink. And I seem to run into them frequently in restaurants and liquor stores.
When I saw their review of Whiskey Disks, I immediately reached out the the manufacturers to see if I could try some out for myself. Luckily, they quickly obliged, since I usually enjoy at least one glass of bourbon every night after dinner to take the edge off a hard day of eating and writing about it. I normally enjoy my brown liquors on the rocks with a splash of water, but this can be problematic.
Why drink whiskey on the rocks? And why the splash? Most scotches and whiskeys benefit from being served slightly chilled, but not to the same degree as vodka or gin, which many people store in their freezers. Straight up is certainly an option, and it certainly avoids the possibility of melting ice diluting your Pappy Van Winkle. Alcohol melts ice quickly, so it's a given that mixing them will eventually lower the proof of the contents of your glass. But if you're going to drink whiskey at room temperature, you might as well serve it in a shot glass. Around 50 degrees Fahrenheit is about right if you're looking to maximize your drinking pleasure.
Many people think the reason you add a splash of water is to dilute the drink and ease the burn of the alcohol, but distillers already add water to their barrel-strength spirits to achieve the proof level they find most desirable. I trust their titration skills more than mine.
Warning: SCIENCE CONTENT! — Alcohol molecules have a tendency to clump together due to hydrogen bonds that form between charged hydrogen and oxygen atoms. These clumps can actually contain the esters that represent the aromas and flavors of whiskey or scotch. Adding just a splash of water can serve to break these bonds and release the wonderful flavor esters. The result is you can better enjoy the smell and taste of your highball.
So the best of both worlds is to find a solution that cools your alcohol without ice, allowing you to add only a small splash of H2O to open up the flavors, thus limiting dilution. That's where Whiskey Disks come in.
