People, Place, and Produce — How Agriculture, Secondary Ingredients, and Trade Routes Define Spirits’ Identities
Wood is also an agricultural ingredient that imbues flavor into a spirit and tells a story that is crucial to the idea of place, even if it’s rarely thought of that way. With whiskey, wood is often spoken about in terms of prestige, age, or how the spirit is finished—but we can also reconceptualize it as evidence of environment, agriculture, and community connections.Miles Munroe, master distiller and blender at U.S. single-malt producer Westward Whiskey, defines the ingredients in whiskey as grain, water, yeast, wood, and time.