Sour mash

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about something called sour mash. You know how when you bake a cake, you use a little bit of starter dough to help the other ingredients grow and rise? Well, sour mash is kind of like that, but for making adult drinks like whiskey.

So when people make whiskey, they start by mixing grains like corn, wheat, and barley with water to make a mash. They let this mix ferment, which means they let it sit and bubble for a while so that the yeast in the grains can eat up the sugars in the mix and turn them into alcohol. This is what gives whiskey its kick!

Now, the problem with letting the mash ferment on its own is that sometimes it can go bad. Bad yeast or bacteria can grow in it and give it a really sour, gross taste. Nobody wants that!

That's where sour mash comes in. When people make sour mash, they take a small amount of old, fermented mash -- sort of like leftover starter dough -- and mix it in with their fresh mash. The old mash has enough good yeast and bacteria in it to help prevent any bad stuff from growing and give the new mix a good flavor.

So just like adding a little bit of starter dough to a cake mix can help it rise and taste good, using sour mash to make whiskey helps it stay healthy and taste great!