For A Better Bourbon Experience Grab A Tiny Gadget You Might Already Own

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If you enjoy making lattes at home, there's a good chance you've got everything you need to make bourbon taste better. Over the past few years, there's been growing talk about how milk frothers — those small, handheld wands you can get from Amazon for under $10 — are a secret weapon to improving alcohol. The idea is to froth your bourbon for a few seconds, aggressively introducing more air into the liquor as an express way to let it breathe and develop better flavors.

Speaking with Mashed in 2020, Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Distilling Practice Paul Hughes explained that letting your whiskey breathe allows clumped alcohol molecules in the beverage to disperse, which in turn lets more of the liquid's flavors peek through. The agitation from the milk frother can speed up this process, and do it much more thoroughly than simply letting your glass sit for half an hour.

Frothing your bourbon introduces more oxygen into the beverage. Oxidation can mellow the tannins in the bourbon, making it smoother to drink and letting otherwise overpowered flavors shine. Keep in mind, however, that too much oxidation can also degrade these flavor compounds, which is why some bourbons develop off-flavors at some point after opening the bottle. A quick blitz with a milk frother should theoretically be all you need to get the benefits of oxidation without letting it go far enough to ruin your drink.

Before you pick a good bourbon to aerate with your milk frother, you should know that the effects are a mixed bag based on which bourbon you use. In a YouTube video, Whiskey Tribe found that Buffalo Trace's woody notes ended up being more prominent, while Wild Turkey Rare Breed developed a livelier nose. Generally, the results were unpredictable, making frothing an exciting way to explore bourbon's different aspects. In a similar YouTube video, SLB Drinks found that frothing improved Buffalo Trace, but didn't improve Wild Turkey 101.

These findings appear to be supported by experiences shared on Reddit. One user found that frothing was hit or miss with bourbon, making some much better and others worse. Another said that the trick works on some, but not all whiskeys, and is better with freshly opened bottles. Given that other commenters tend to disagree on whether or not frothing makes any meaningful change in bourbon, it's likely some bourbons just froth better. In any case, testing multiple bourbons to see which ones improve with frothing sounds like a pretty fun way to spend an evening.

If you'd rather not roll the dice on your straight bourbon, you can also use your milk frother to make a variety of bourbon cocktails. This classic whiskey sour recipe, for example, calls for agitating egg whites in a cocktail shaker to create the drink's texture and topping. Using a milk frother instead of the shaker is easier and could get you quicker results.