14 DAY TRIAL // Let's face it, there are few people in this world who can afford to serve their guests the absolute best whiskey ever to come out of a barrel. Hence, loads of people would love it if they could play Harry Potter and make cheap whiskey taste super awesome and freakishly expensive.
One can only assume that this is why a Portland-based company was oddly successful in raising tens of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter just to introduce the world to some oak sticks whose makers claim can turn nasty whiskey into a dreamy liquor.
How do these sticks work?
Writing on Kickstarter, the folks behind Portland-based company Time & Oak explain that fine whiskey tastes as good as it does and sells for about half a liver and an arm per bottle because its makers age it in high-quality oak barrels.
They go on to detail that, by filtering impurities and infusing the liquor with wood flavor, their oak sticks can forever change the taste of cheap whiskey if emerged in liquor even for a very short while.
By the looks of it, this is precisely what the oak barrels used by whiskey manufacturers do. The only difference is that, unlike these containers, the sticks only need a few hours to work their magic and make whiskey totally delish.
“After a year of development, 6 patents filed, hundreds of samples tested, 3 ovens destroyed and a couple of nights we don’t really remember, you can now get 3 years of aging ‘effects’ (time travel not included) in just 24 hours, and have complete control of the flavor.”
“This is the taste of tradition combined with the spark of innovation to create an efficient aging method for whiskey,” the whiskey enthusiasts who designed and developed the oak sticks explain on fundraising website Kickstarter.
The folks at Time & Oak claim that, having carried out a series of experiments, they found that the cheap whiskey treated using their sticks chemically resembles the expensive liquor that people in the booze industry keep in barrels for years on end.
Interestingly enough, the sticks come in a variety of flavors such as vanilla and maple. The people who developed them claim that these flavors are not chemically induced, but infused naturally in the wood.
The Kickstarter campaign
As of now, the campaign Time & Oak launched on Kickstarter looking to obtain the money needed to introduce their oak sticks to the world has raised over $178,000 (nearly €140,000). Just to put things into perspective, it need be said that the campaign had a goal of just $18,000 (about €14,000).
The campaign will end in just a few hours, but given its success, it's safe to say that it is probably only a matter of time until such oak sticks hit the market. When this happens, you can be sure that you will learn about it here.