THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITS

Scientists have largely kept quiet while acclaimed scotch critics, authors, evaluators, and mavens swear by the salty smell of scotches aged close to the coast of Islay, Jura, Skye, and Arran. They credit salty sea air for salty aroma characteristics. Marketing again executes a twisted falsehood as science fails to push back to debunk misleading information.

TRUTH OR MYTH: Salty Aromas of Seaside Distilled Scotch

By George Manska, CSO, CR&D, Arsilica, Inc., sensory researcher, inventor, entrepreneur

The Truth: Salt has no smell.

Placing saltwater on the tongue reveals salt as a taste, not a scent. Scotch whisky distilled and barrel-aged near the coast may have been produced in an atmosphere of salt spray, but how could salt get in a sealed barrel? If salt could get in, scotch could get out, leaking or quickly evaporating (some evaporate “angel’s share”). Sorry, but salt stays outside the barrel, and scotch reviewers never discuss how salt gets in the whisky (because it doesn’t).

Was the spirit made with salty water, the barrel washed with saline water, or was salt added to the barrel? A good distiller would never do that, much less admit it.

Some Islay-grown barley is used in Islay scotch. Suppose there were salt deposits on the barley. Could it have survived processing and cleaning and the distillation

(high-temperature evaporation) process to be detectable on the tongue in the final product? All highly unlikely. Modern barley processing through soaking, screening, shuttles, and milling minimizes any possible trace of salt; only 20% of husks (popular milling mix) would have eliminated 80% of even the slight possibility of husk salt.

Seaspray (spume) is a natural product of violent waves and wind. Called SSA (sea salt aerosol), sea spray bubbles burst at the interface of water and air, rising from crashing waves, commonly leaving light salt deposits on the pier, docks, and buildings close to wave action and weather.

During severe and prolonged cold fall and winter storm conditions, sea spray travels as much as 25km within the atmospheric boundary layer. Still, jet droplets and spumes from normal wave action throughout the year travel only about

20cm above the water surface and may travel a horizontal distance of 100 feet. Seaspray consists of 60-90% DOC (dissolved organic carbon), and an additional percentage of dead algal cells, the product of algae blooms. Does any critic ever discuss the latent aromas of rotting fish and dead algae? Not that we can find. In the aftermath of most storms, subsequent rain washes salts and DOCs to the ground, and salt crystallizes. Inside sheltered storage facilities, atmosphere salt levels are extremely lower than outside.

In a tightly constructed barrel, air can slowly permeate the wood, but the probability of salt migrating through the wood membranes or tightly swollen stave seams is unlikely, if not impossible. If salt crystals reached the barrel, they would leave a tiny white line at every leaky seam. The probability is higher that microbial bacteria permeate a seam than crystallized salt.

The test:

We prepared a saline solution of .05% NaCl (table salt) as tested by a calibrated and verified salinometer. Washing the salinometer after each test, we tested several Islay scotches described as “sea salty” for salinity. They all tested 0.00% salinity. How could salt have been in the aroma if salt wasn’t in the liquid? Among four experienced tasters, none could distinguish (blind) taste or smell differences between .05% and 0.00% NaCl water.

Reviewers believe the reference to salty aromas is obligatory in notes on island/ Islay scotches due to their proximity to the sea. They know in advance what scotch they are tasting and fear omission of ocean flavors would be considered an unforgivable oversight, as “It ought to be there.” If there were nearby sewage treatment plants or fertilizer factories, they would surely ignore that description. If there were a rose garden or pine forest nearby, they would surely describe the enticing floral and woodsy notes. Brand marketers support the myth to enhance diversification from other scotches. Perhaps the critics believe their followers will applaud their exceptional sensory prowess in salt detection when no one else can detect it. Until now, it was an unchallengeable opportunity to enhance the taster’s mystique, especially if other reviewers haven’t noted salt in the same spirit; flagrant one-upmanship, “My nose is better than yours.”

Unbiased testing:

Taste scotch double blind (no peek label/ bottle), in flights mixed with reviewed “sea salty” spirit samples. Salty air comments appear when a taster knows the brand/label/ bottle shape, or through surreptitious hints that high phenol peat smells (usually made near the ocean) are being tasted. Until “sea salty” shows up in professional sensory evaluations, it is not a proven attribute of spirits made/aged near the sea. The dead algae smell also never makes it into a bottle of scotch. So much for romantic BS.

Chief of Research and Development, Arsilica, Inc., engineer, inventor of the NEAT glass, and sensory science researcher.

Mission: Replace misinformation with scientific truth through consumer education.

Contact Information:

Phone: 702.332.7305

Email: george@arsilica.com

Business mailing address: 452 Silverado Ranch Blvd, Ste #222, Las Vegas, NV, 89183.