In the world of professional spirits reviews, “smooth” is something of a dirty word. Consumers, on the other hand, absolutely love to use it.

The implication of “smooth” is simple; it suggests a product doesn’t hurt when you drink it. It’s such a sought-after quality that the distilling industry will do just about anything to achieve it. Some methods are respectable, like aging a whiskey for 15 years to file down its rough edges. Some are less so, like dumping in loads of chemical additives . Some are more successful than others, but none can completely eliminate that burning sensation in your mouth.

But it wasn’t until Joana Montenegro and Martin Enriquez, the spousal founders of Voodoo Scientific , that anyone really asked: Why does alcohol burn, anyway? And, most importantly, is

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