Whiskey webs: Microscale “fingerprints” of bourbon whiskey

This paper is associated with a poster winner of a 2018 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original poster is available online at the Gallery of Fluid Motion, https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2018.GFM.P0002

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Figure 1

The resulting evaporation patterns associated with evaporating a drop of diluted Rabbit $\mathrm{Hol}{\mathrm{e}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ bourbon whiskey. The poster associated with this image is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2018.GFM.P0002

Figure 2

SEM image of a single web structure (coated with a thin layer of gold to enhance image features). The poster associated with this image is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2018.GFM.P0002

Figure 3

The resulting whiskey web patterns are unique to each sample of tested American whiskey. These images include diluted samples from (a) Four $\mathrm{Rose}{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 22.5% ABV, (b) Heaven $\mathrm{Hil}{\mathrm{l}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 22.5% ABV, (c) Maker's Mark Cask $\mathrm{Strengt}{\mathrm{h}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 22.5% ABV, (d) Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel $\mathrm{Proo}{\mathrm{f}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 25% ABV, (e) Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23 $\mathrm{Yea}{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 25% ABV, and (f) Woodford Reserve Double $\mathrm{Oa}{\mathrm{k}}^{\mathrm{TM}}$ at 25% ABV. The poster associated with this image is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2018.GFM.P0002