What? Wait…Bourbon is like art?!? Really? Yes. At least I think so. Here’s how I got there.
Photography (all art for that matter) and bourbon are similar (with the exception that you need a license to distill spirits, so let’s set that part aside). So, here’s my analogy.
The camera’s you can buy today are fantastic pieces of technological advancement. You can get a 50 mega-pixel Digital Single Lens Reflector (DSLR) and a nice lens or two for under $1000. Take a few online classes or do some research on the photography and the camera you just bought and within a few hours you can be taking photo’s that look great.
The camera can do all the adjustments for you if you want. But often you can set it up so you can manually do the adjustments. However, just because you now have a great camera and can take really good pictures, doesn’t mean you are Ansel Adams. There’s lots of things to think about and prepare for when taking great, stunning photographs. Whiskey is very similar.
Anyone can go out and buy a still (you may need a license). All that shiny copper is very sexy. If you have the money, you can even make it automated, but often times, when starting out, a person is doing it by hand. The ingredients are easy to find, you can pick up a book and learn how to distill or watch a few videos on YouTube and in no time, you can be making whiskey. And just like that, you are like one of the master distillers from long ago. Or are you?
Just like in photography, where you have to consider composition, lighting, time of day, lens choices, depth of field, aperture, shutter, etc. there are similar things to think about when making whiskey. Ingredients, when to make your cuts for the Heads, Hearts and Tails, fermentation time, and....how long it sits in the barrel. Not to mention the whole decision on where in the rickhouse it sits, and do you move it around while it's maturing. And just like photography (or any art) it’s not a clear-cut answer. It’s subjective and can take years of practice to truly get it right and produce something that people say, wow, that’s great. And even then, there is always someone or more than one someone's who doesn’t like it.
It’s subjective. It's personal. What you like, someone else might not. While you get to look at art and admire it, with Whiskey, you get to drink it and experience it, and decide if it's something you like, or something you don't
A photographer may wait hours or days for everything to align just the way he or she wants it to look in the frame. And even then, when they are processing the picture, they may take forever to tweak all the details. Artist's can take quite a bit of time getting it just right before they put it out for you to give your opinion. Distillers do much the same thing.
Ask a master distiller how long fermentation takes and they will give you a range of days. It’s not set in stone. How long it sits in a barrel before it’s ready is another big question and not set in stone. It takes experience, knowledge and practicing their craft to get it right.
So yes, I think bourbon is like art. The bottles grace my shelves and add to my décor, and I get to personally interact with the spirit the distiller put together by drinking it.
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