Read it for yourself (from the now hidden ADI distillation manual):
Here's the deal. The American Distilling Institute is a commercial venture, offering "Expos", training, equipment, set-up assistance, certification, a magazine, media and website assistance, craft "certification", business management assistance, distilling workshops, consulting and the like. They'll help set you up up with bottle design, a Vendome still, marketing and advertising,et al. Any monkey with the dream of leaving the zoo and quickly becoming a successful distiller (quickly before the money starts to run out) now has the vehicle.SIZE OF BARREL
'All of the prior discussion on barrel aging and its associated properties has been based
on aging spirits in a standard 53-gallon distillery barrel. For example, a top-quality bourbon is aged until it’s ready. Because bourbon, like all American straight whiskies, is aged in new charred oak barrels, there’s a point in the aging process when the oak contribution can go too far, and the whiskey takes on a cloying, overpowering astringency. This is why bourbon distilleries monitor the taste of their aging whiskies frequently past a certain point to determine when it’s “ready.” And, this point tends to fall between six and eight years in the barrel. With bourbon, the saying “the older, the better” simply doesn’t apply.
However, this six-to-eight-years applies to 53-gallon barrels.
If a different sized barrel is used then the dynamics change, and values like length of time in the barrel, the rate at which lignin and vanillins are extracted, etc are completely different. The reason for this is volume increases by a power of 3 relative to the dimensions, while surface area only increases by a power of 2 relative to the dimensions. That is to say, the amount of surface area of wood per gallon of spirit is greater in a smaller barrel and less in a bigger barrel. So, if a distiller aged his/her whiskey in 5-gallon barrels rather than 53-gallon ones, there would be a considerably greater surface area of wood exposed to a gallon of spirit than in a 53-gallon barrel. And, the whiskey ages much faster.
Smaller barrels age the whiskey faster and impart lignin and vanillin, and also tannin, faster as well. And, a good-quality bourbon can be aged out in only three to six months in a 5-gallon barrel. In fact, any longer and the whiskey would go over the top and become astringent and bitter. It’s important to note that the flavor profile is a little different for a whiskey aged in a smaller barrel, but not a difference that is necessarily inferior or superior. Also, the angels’ share is greater for a smaller barrel, but this is amply mitigated by the dramatically shorter aging time.
Smaller barrels are much more expensive and take up more space in the warehousethan larger ones per unit capacity. For example, ten 5-gallon barrels would take up a lot more warehouse space than one 53-gallon barrel, and they would cost a lot more. However, there’s an increasing trend among small, start-up whiskey distilleries to use smaller barrels while they are getting established in the market place due to the fast turnaround on aging. The one aspect of starting up a new whiskey distillery that impedes most entrepreneurs is the long aging period of six to eight years before being able to start selling their product.
Even the minimum of two years predicated by law is too long for most start-ups, and after only two years of aging, the product would be substandard and not likely to market well anyway. However, with small barrels turning out an excellent product in only three to six months, starting up a whiskey distillery is feasible. And, after a distillery is well established, it makes sense to go to the standard 53-gallon barrel to realize the economies of scale."
This whole of it seems quite the moneymaker, which works on just one siimple key premise, namely: by using ADI's well-promoted small barrel "fast aging" scheme, you no longer have to tie up backbreaking amounts of cash for 8 years before knowing whether your product and its marketing is even viable. Nope, in just 3 to 6 months you can be competing with say fine aged bourbons of 6 to 10 years. Fast aging, fast turnover, early profits. Simple, eh?
Example:
Need equipment? No problems. Set-up? You're covered. It's easy and it's fast. In a mere 5 days, you're ready to fire it up. You too can be the next Phil Prichard or Charbay. And if you need even faster turnover, check out Bearmark and his independent review of Cleveland Whisky - the posterboy for superfast everything who went the ADI one better: nope, not 6 years, nope not 6 months, but - ohmigod! - aged bourbon in just 6 days!"This hands-on class covers the fundamentals of grain-to-bottle whiskey production and business concerns in starting a distilled spirits plant.
Participants will be able to smell and taste new make spirit as it is being distilled. Topics covered in this class include mash preparation, basics of fermentation and wash production, anatomy of a still, mechanics of distillation (stripping & spirit runs), “making the cuts,” barrel maturation, proofing, and bottling. Sensory evaluation instruction includes traditional philosophies and methods of blending whiskey, practical applications of blending, selecting and balancing the proper components to achieve a targeted flavor profile, and the impact of spirit and wood on flavor.
Additional presentations for the start-up distiller include licensing, still design, record keeping, package design, formula and label approval, and marketing spirits. Accommodations for five nights at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center, Holland MI. Your reservations will be made & confirmed for you at time of registration.
Costs: $3,500 fee includes instruction, 5 nights in hotel, airport shuttles, tastings and most meals."
And it tasted every bit of that...
Bottom Line:
1. There is no such thing as "fast aging". There is such a thing as incomplete aging.
2. There are no lack of suckers with unrealistic hopes and dreams who will respond to anyone who convincingly tells them what they want to hear: "It's easy, it's fast, we'll show you how, and you'll be selling your own fine bourbon and brown spirits in just a few months".
3. Assuming you have enough short term money to make that bet.
At one time the ADI published their entire distiller's manual; however, after small barrel fast aging was outed by Chuck Cowdery and many others the manual seems to have been removed from the site. Fortunately for us, it's hard to remove all traces of such posts, which manage to be copied and posted elsewhere, from whence the above was cited.
Best of all, they said it, not me...
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http://distilling.com/
