What is Chill Filtering?

Chill filtered.

Sounds grand right? But what exactly does it mean?

Chill filtered means the whisky is chilled to near 0°C and then filtered through a very fine filter. Beer is cold filtered in the exact same way (not surprising, since they are cousins) and the purpose is to clarify the beer. It’s meant to make it look clearer and cleaner, removing haziness.

The reason why it’s use a lot in beer is because it shortens the production time. If you don’t chill filter, you have to wait until the particles settle. By chill filtering, you don’t have to wait.

It comes at a cost though, it removes a lot of the stuff that add flavor and body to both beer and whisky, which is why many people don’t like chill filtering.

Is there a difference? Chemically yes, but can your palate detect it? Perhaps… just an excuse to sample more whisky! 🙂

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