Oak
Oak is the hardwood of trees in the genus Quercus. In beverages it is used mainly as barrels, casks, staves, and chips that store, ferment, or mature drinks. Its tannins, aromatic compounds, and slight porosity change a drink's color, flavor, texture, and rate of maturation. The roasted acorn has also been brewed as a coffee substitute.
How oak is prepared
Oak is used as fermentation and aging barrels for wine, beer, cider, vinegar, and spirits, and as chips, staves, or spirals added to neutral tanks for faster oak character. It supplies seasoned or charred casks, including reused casks passed between drink categories. In the no- and low-alcohol field, it appears in dealcoholized wines and beers first matured in oak, in barrel-aged sodas, shrubs, and vinegars, and as wood extracts or toasted-wood infusions that give non-alcoholic spirit alternatives an aged character. Roasted acorns have also been brewed as a caffeine-free coffee substitute.
A general process that transfers soluble flavor and aroma compounds from a source material into a liquid extract.
EPICONE uses Extraction on Oak for Oak Wood Extract in AIR.[5]
Service signal Works as a liquid component.
EPICONE uses Extraction on Oak for Oak Wood Extract in FIRE.[5]
Service signal Works as a liquid component.
Other preparations
FERAL uses Black Pepper, Thyme, Oak and Chili Extract in N°3 Red Beet Pepper Thyme Oak: a botanical extract of black pepper, thyme, oak and chili pepper. No oak origin, toasting method or extraction technique is specified here.[6]
In depth
Oak and European Wine
Oak entered widespread winemaking use during the Roman Empire. At first it was valued for durability and portability. Winemakers later noticed that wine held in oak became rounder and often more pleasant to drink. The porous wood lets a little liquid evaporate and admits small amounts of oxygen, which softens tannins and concentrates flavor. Over the centuries, European wine regions developed strong preferences for particular sources. French coopers favored sessile and pedunculate oak from forests such as Limousin, Tronçais, Allier, Nevers, and Vosges. Italian producers traditionally used large casks of Slavonian oak. Before the upheavals of the twentieth century, slow-grown oak from Hungary's Zemplén Mountains was highly prized in France. American white oak later became a bolder, more vanilla-scented alternative. It is notably favored in Rioja and for many New World reds.[1]
Iberia: Sherry and the Solera
Around Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, wine has been made since Phoenician times. The region's fortified wines became renowned across Europe by the sixteenth century. Sherry is matured in large oak butts, traditionally of North American oak. The butts are left partly empty so that a film of flor yeast can form on some wines while others age oxidatively. These casks are arranged in the solera, a system of fractional blending in which wine is drawn in stages from older to younger barrels. The result is a consistent house style with a gradually rising average age. The solera spread to other fortified wines, vinegars, brandies, and rums. The seasoned sherry casks themselves became valuable to whisky makers, who use them to add dried-fruit and nutty character.[2]
Spirits in Scotland and France
When distilling took hold in Scotland from the late fifteenth century, oak casks became central to whisky's character. Modern Scotch must mature for at least three years in oak casks of no more than 700 liters. It is often aged in barrels that previously held bourbon, sherry, or port, and many whiskies are 'finished' in a second type of cask. In western France, cognac must be twice distilled and then aged in French oak, chiefly from Limousin and Tronçais. The spirit loses a small fraction of its volume to evaporation each year, a loss known as the 'angels' share'. Its color and much of its vanilla, spice, and dried-fruit character come from long contact with the wood.[3]
North America: Charred New Oak and Bourbon
Settlers brought distilling to Kentucky and the surrounding region in the late eighteenth century. Over the following century, corn whiskey stored in charred oak developed into bourbon. Charring barrel interiors was already known in Europe. In the United States it became a legal requirement: bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak containers, typically American white oak. The char and fresh wood give the spirit its copper color and sweet notes of caramel and vanilla. Because each barrel can be used only once for bourbon, vast numbers of used American oak casks flow abroad. They mature Scotch and other whiskies, rums, and tequilas, and increasingly beers and other drinks.[4]
East Asia and Local Oaks
Oak is not the traditional wood everywhere. Japanese sake was historically stored in casks of aromatic Japanese cedar rather than oak. In the twentieth century, Japanese whisky makers turned to native mizunara oak (Quercus crispula) for casks. The wood is difficult to work but valued for delicate aromas often described as incense- or sandalwood-like. Elsewhere, producers have experimented with other regional oaks, including Oregon white oak in the United States, Russian oak from the Black Sea region, and Canadian oak, as alternatives to the classic French and American woods.[1]
References
- [1]EncyclopediaOak (wine) — Wikipedia↑§1↑§5
- [2]EncyclopediaSherry — Wikipedia↑§2
- [3]EncyclopediaScotch whisky — Wikipedia↑§3
- [4]EncyclopediaBourbon whiskey — Wikipedia↑§4
- [5]Producerepicone.life↑prepared↑prepared
- [6]Product informationN°3 Red beet Pepper Thyme Oak↑prepared