The Lost Spirits Distillery Reveals New Technology

I don`t usually post press releases on my blog, but here is one that might be of interest:

20 years in 6 days – the future of Aged spirits – California distillery unveils PROVEN disruptive new technology.

LOUISVILLE – KY, Lost Spirits LLC – California based Lost Spirits has built a new type of chemical reactor capable of making aged spirits with a near identical chemical signature to 20 year old barrel aged products. The new reactors are compact, portable, and will be deployed to 5 distilleries in a beta-test this summer. Currently, there are several patents pending that cover their approach.

While rapid aging of spirits is not a new idea, the Lost Spirits method is the first to accomplish a near identical chemical signature to a similar product aged conventionally for decades. The project has built on more than 5 years of research and investment to develop the approach that finally succeeded.

“Our compact reactors combine a series of alternative aging approaches, taking the best parts of each and then tuning them using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy to clone the natural effects of age on a spirit. The end result offers a 98%-99% percent reduction in evaporation losses and a near perfect match to the semi-volatile organic fingerprint of the traditionally aged product. The reactors offer an average 6-day turn around time from fresh white spirit to the shelf, and no chemical additives are involved in the process.”

“The new technology will allow us to reshape the industry. As a consequence, expect prices to fall and quality to rise dramatically.” Said Bryan Davis the inventor of the new technology.

After completing the beta-test cycle, the team anticipates being able to fabricate 50 reactors per year. Empirical evidence to support the claims was published this morning under the science heading at www.lostspirits.net. The results of the project were made public yesterday at the American Distilling Institute Conference, in Louisville KY.

End of Press release

So Bryan took me through a presentation of this and as usual as is with his presentations it required your full concentration and was quite mind blowing…..

And no this is not an april fools joke…despite the date of the day.

I`m not going to try to explain what he`s doing with all these chemical terms, there are others that does that better but in short – (taken from their web site)

THE MODEL 1 IS A CHEMICAL REACTOR CAPABLE OF CONVERTING FRESHLY DISTILLED SPIRITS INTO WORLD CLASS PRODUCTS WITH THE SAME SMVO CHEMICAL PROFILE AS A 20 YEAR OLD PRODUCT – VERIFIED BY GC/MS (FORENSIC CHEMISTRY). 

 THIS IS NOT SMALL BARRELS OR ULTRASOUND TRICKS. THIS IS THE THING WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. THE REACTOR RUNS USING ENERGY AND OAK. THERE ARE NO CHEMICALS ADDED TO THE SPIRIT.

THE MODEL 1 IS PROVEN TO BIND THE VOC RANGE ESTERS. IT ALSO PARTLY DISINTEGRATES POLYMERS IN THE OAK RELEASING PHENOLIC ACIDS AND ALDEHYDES ALONG WITH ADDITIONAL CARBOXYLIC ACIDS. IT THEN ESTERIFIES THE FREE CARBOXYLIC ACIDS AND PHENOLIC ACIDS EXTRACTED FROM THE OAK, FORMING BOTH SHORT AND LONG CHAINED ESTERS. 

WHILE WE ARE PLAYING COY WITH EXACTLY HOW THE PATENT PENDING PROCESS WORKS, IT HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY SHOWN TO MATCH THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF TRADITIONALLY AGED SPIRITS, UP TO 20 YEARS IN AGE.

IT DOES THIS BY FORCING ALL THE SAME REACTIONS TAKING PLACE IN THE BARREL IN THE CORRECT SEQUENCE – AN ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT HAS, TO OUR KNOWLEDGE, ELUDED INDUSTRY UNTIL NOW.

WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY

Also they are soon releasing a new rum that is called Prometheus Rum - Promotheus was a Greek mythology figure who stole fire and technology and gave it to the humans and Prometheus stands for “Human Invention” – quite a fitting name right?

According to Bryan the rum is 45% ABV something they haven`t released before since all of their rums have been high proof rums but there might be a higher proof single cask expression made of this rum as well. The Prometheus rum has a nose of barbequed caramel and it´s related to the Bounty Hunter rum (the Colonial Inspired) but with more taste notes of caramel and it´s also slightly sweeter. The espresso coffee notes from the Bounty Hunter is still there but less pronounced due to the lower proof.

The Prometheus rum will debut at the Miami Rum Renaissance in April 2015.

I`m really looking forward to try it (and especially the single cask if they make it) and then i`m looking forward with great interest to see what happens next…….

Here`s the link to the Lost Spirits Distillery website where you can download a PDF document called “Model One White Paper” to read more.