Whisky Blending: The Art, AI and The Human Touch
- by Stéphane Pilon
At Diony Distillery, blending whisky is an art—a craft honed by instinct, experience, and a dash of creativity. Each cask tells its own story, and our job is to bring those stories together into something extraordinary. Recently, we joined an American Distilling Institute webinar that explored a new frontier in the whisky world—technology’s growing role in blending.
The idea of using AI to analyze flavors and predict combinations is fascinating. Imagine having a tool that can sift through mountains of data, suggesting blends we might never have thought of. Big names in whisky are already testing these waters, exploring how AI can help maintain consistency or uncover new profiles. Make no mistake, AI from some big distilleries have already released “AI blended whiskies”. Yet the final call or tweaks to making whisky remains human.
To some other whisky purists, whisky blending is about more than just data. It’s about that moment when you’re standing in front of a barrel, trusting your senses to guide you. Technology might point the way, but it’s the human touch that brings whisky to life. The human feeling and it’s sharp senses bring something together for someone on the other end to experience similar feelings and senses upon tasting the whisky. The whisky maker and the whisky enthusiast share a hard arduous road to arrive at appreciating a given whisky…it is years in the making.
At Diony, we know that while AI can assist, it’s the people behind the process who make our whisky truly unique. We’ll always lean on our intuition, passion, and the stories each cask tells us. So, as we navigate this blend of tradition and innovation, we remain dedicated to what matters most—the heart and soul behind every bottle.
Where do you see the future of whisky blending? Is there a perfect balance between art and technology?
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