I acquired a still two years year and have been playing around with whiskey production ever since. Now, what I am saying here might be offensive to some, but, as the readership here is aware, offensive views sometimes spark conversation and wisdom.
I think that there is no damn difference at all in the fermentation feedstock. It doesn't matter if it hand-tassled artisan corn or the pineapple juice and sugar that Colonel Lang spoke of in a much-earlier post about Christmas celebrations with the unlikely vehicle of green and red tracers.
The overwhelming bulk of the flavor of whiskey is imbued by the oaking and casking. The feedstock alcohol, after it been at least double-distilled to get it up the 140 proof or greater is pretty damn taste-free. And the subtle tastes of the corn liquor is overwhelmed after a couple of months on oak.
Now, I will grant that there are taste differences between raw corn batches, but when one is sipping 100 proof firewater, subtle differences are pretty damn hard to tease out by a numbed tongue.
So, it is my take that if the whiskey you are drinking is clear and in a mason jar, and you bought it from a guy you know out of the back of his '74 charger, then you have a point. If you wandered down to the liquor store and bought a fancy bottle of brown happy sauce, then the subtle tastes that you want to tease out are hidden, like the flavor of the base chicken is hidden in the flavor of green curry served up in Isaan.
(Initially posted over at Sic Semper Tyrannis in an open thread)
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