California-based Lost Spirits LLC 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," says Bryan Davis the inventor of the new technology. He adds, "The end result offers a 98 percent to 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."Videos