Hop Scotch

I mentioned yesterday that Ennie and I went to the Hop Scotch beer and Scotch festival down in Fremont.I understand some (admittedly not all) of the chemistry behind the fermentation of sugars into alcohol and then the subsequent distillation and aging of that magical elixer into whisky.The amazing thing in this is that roughly the same ingredients with a few minor tweaks can produce the broad range of flavors that exist in the world of whisky. Sure, the grain can be swapped out -- wheat, barley, corn to name a few. The underlying chemistry doesn't really change, though the resultant flavors are quite unique and distinct. It's cool to think about.Then you get into aging. A 21 year-old scotch cam from water that was used to start the process when I was 18 years old. I have a bottle that I'm saving for a special day that went into the cask in 1981 -- I was eight; my brother was 2.Once you drink it, it's gone. The ephemeral drinking of time.Beer works like that too, though not as long-term. The same basic set of ingredients... but through the magic of yeast and variations in processing you can get a whole gamut of outcomes ranging from a stout to a Pilsner.The mind boggles.