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There’s now a way to make aged-style whiskey in under 24 hours

From barrel aged to lab made: aged whiskey without the wait

SAN FRANCISCO — A startup in San Francisco is trying to make an aged whiskey that’s never seen the inside of a barrel and can be produced in about 24 hours.

The first bottles of the result — a product called Glyph, billed as the world’s first molecular whiskey — recently hit shelves, retailing for around $35 each.

Videos by VICE

Endless West, which manufactures Glyph, begins the process by studying existing popular aged whiskeys at the molecular level, to understand and map the flavor profiles. Endless West then builds Glyph from scratch by adding a plethora of different chemicals to medical-grade alcohol. The entire process is completed overnight.

VICE News took a tour of the lab where the alchemy happens, and had an exclusive tasting before Glyph went to market.

This segment originally aired November 21, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.