Why Does Chill-Filtration Get The Cold Shoulder From American Whiskey Fans?
January 9, 2020 –––––– Tony Sachs
“Non-chill filtered” is a big selling point for American whiskey, a point of pride that's emblazoned on many a bottle of bourbon, rye, and American single malt. Private single-barrel picks and other exclusive whiskeys are almost always bottled at high strength without chill-filtration, and many drinkers take it for granted that a high-quality whiskey will not be chill-filtered. In fact, the practice of chill-filtering is often regarded negatively.But why is it bad? What does chill-filtration actually do to a whiskey? Are whiskeys that are not chill-filtered automatically superior to those that are? Whiskey makers are best positioned to answer these questions, but even among distillers, there's less consensus than you might think. And some of the whiskeys you like the most—well, they may just be chill-filtered.
How Chill-Filtration Works
All whiskey is filtered before bottling to remove particulate matter from the barrel. Chill-filtration is a more meticulous refining process, usually performed to remove chemical compounds like fatty acids that can clump together at low temperatures, creating a cloudiness or haze in the whiskey. This clumping (called flocculation, or floc) generally occurs only in whiskeys that are below 46% ABV (the “floc point”), although some brands, like Jim Beam, chill-filter up to 50% ABV in order to play it safe. The whiskey is chilled, and then run through a series of filters that eliminate these particles. Filters can be made of anything from paper to metal to earth; the type used is proprietary information and generally not disclosed by the distilleries.Everything You Need to Know About Chill Filtered Whiskey
While chill-filtering prevents unsightly haze, many distillers don't like it because long-chain esters—large molecules which contribute to a whiskey's flavor and mouthfeel—are also filtered out in the process. At the same time, they don't want to put a cloudy whiskey on the shelf. (Floccing often occurs during transport, when bottles can be exposed to low temperatures.) Paul Hletko, founder of FEW Spirits in Illinois, says that's why his bourbons and ryes are all bottled above 46% ABV. “There are multiple reasons why we bottle our whiskey at a relatively high proof, and our lack of chill-filtration is one of them,” he explains. “We don't get haze because we're above that floc point. But I'll tell you, if we were selling our stuff at 80 proof, we would chill-filter.”If we were selling our stuff at 80 proof, we would chill-filter. —Paul Hletko, FEW SpiritsHletko admits to being biased against chill-filtration. But when he launched FEW's first whiskeys, he did experiment with it. “I took the literal same thing—it was the same barrel, everything was identical except for our filtration techniques. We did five different filtration techniques, and I pulled together a group of tasters. It was a blind test—all they knew was that it was liquid that I made. With chill-filtration…it lost some of that soul. And that's not something I want to do with my products.” John Little, whose Smooth Ambler brand offers only non-chill filtered whiskey, is similarly dismissive of the practice, arguing that even more than flavor, chill-filtration “takes away mouthfeel, which is very important to our senses and our reaction when tasting.”