BESPOKEN SPIRITS
Two Guys in a Hurry to Grow Old
AGING WHISKEY in charred oak barrels is a fickle pursuit, full of unforeseen variations that can turn a batch from superior to swill without warning. Three years ago, materials scientist Martin Janousek became convinced there was a better way. With colleague Stu Aaron, and investors including Derek Jeter, he set out to devise a method that could be repeated and measured to ensure accuracy. The result is Bespoken Spirits, a company that claims to be able to create 17 billion unique combinations of flavor and aroma in whiskeys (and other spirits). The process involves toasting and charring microstaves, essentially a barrel that’s deconstructed into toothpick-like pieces, then adding those to whiskey in what the company calls its Activator (a portmanteau of aroma, color, and taste). In the machine, Bespoken controls temperature, pressure, and churn rate, among other variables, to produce the equivalent of a decade-old whiskey in just 72 hours.