chalk-soil wheat country around the French provincial town of Cognac began distilling the light white wine that they made from the grapes grown on the slopes too steep for their main crop The resulting brandy was loaded onto barges and floated down the sleepy Charente river to the ports of Tonnay-Charente and La Rochelle whence it would go to Amsterdam or London or other points north If through some magic of modern physics you were able to reach back to the 1560s to take Jehan Serazin a pioneer “marchand et faiseur d’eau de vie” (“merchant and maker of spirits”) from La Rochelle and yoink him through time to the present and then drop him in the middle of one of the massive warehouse complexes in the middle of Cognac he’d have a fusillade of questions: did the river silt up Did some plague exterminate all the English and the Dutch Denis is this ridiculous amount of inventory doing gathering dust in the warehouse To the seventeenth-century pioneers of Cognac distilling oak barrels were what they had always been ever since the Celts came up with them some 1500-odd years before: pure and simple The last thing you wanted was to leave product sitting around in them until they got old and dusty the grapes would be harvested in the fall and pressed into wine which would be distilled throughout the winter with the new spirit going right into barriques—the fairly small maneuverable 54-gallon barrel traditionally used for shipping Bordeaux wines having been returned from market for reuse They would be floated downriver on flatboats to Tonnay-Charente and then warehoused until the spring storms subsided in the Bay of Biscay at which point the Dutch and English customers arrived to roll them into their ships and take them home the genius of the wooden barrel can scarcely be overstated compared to the clay amphora against which it competed It’s strong (you just have to look at an amphora slantways and it will break) It will float when it’s empty and it will still float when it’s full which means you don’t even need a dock to get it on a boat (an amphora crabbing it along on the rim if it’s upright and rolling it along handily if it’s on its side pivoting it through the turns with no trouble at all that generally means the 110-gallon pipe and 220-gallon butt—are tougher to handle between distillation and landing in Amsterdam or London the new brandy would sit in those barriques for anything from three months for one that was distilled late and sold early Then it would remain in barrels until it was parceled out for retail although probably not the same ones: in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Dutch and English spirits-wholesalers pretty much blended colored and otherwise adulterated every drop of liquid that passed through their cellars the cumulative time in the barrel was long enough for another one of its properties to kick in we call it aging: the complex triple-whammy of extraction oxidation and concentration that turns raw firewater left in a wooden container into tawny These linked reactions are far too complex to explain here in any detail are both solvents; when you leave them in a barrel long enough they will leach out tannins—tangy and bitter—and other compounds from the wood including some that add vanilla notes and perceived sweetness But setting aside vodka and some kinds of white rum most spirits also contain significant amounts of “congeners”—compounds that pass through the still along with the aforementioned C2H5OH and H2O Some of these are more volatile than the alcohol and the water over time the more volatile ones will largely evaporate As they tend to be biting and hot and nasty-tasting But porousness is a two-way street: it also means that air gets into the barrel whereupon the oxygen reacts with some of the other the more of the alcohol and water in it evaporate (the so-called “Angels’ Share”) a lot of evaporation generally means a long time in the barrel so lots of extraction (depending on the newness of the barrel) and oxidation (that breaking apart and re-forming) but also a thickening of texture and a concentration of flavor from the higher concentration of heavier compounds left behind by the alcohol and water that have vamoosed to meet with the angels This process makes for a much richer spirit which nowadays you can sell for more money—if you’re smart (Distillers always complain about the percentage of their spirit which has evaporated but they never tell you the percent by which the price of what’s left has appreciated in the process.) it took a good while for people to appreciate the advantages of this aging in part because until the 1700s the stuff wasn’t kept in the barrels long enough to get full benefit (once it was those chalk-soiled wheat fields were almost all turned over to grapevines another spirit popular in the 1600s that spent a good deal longer in the barrel and brought much higher prices as it was known—built itself a fortified headquarters on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java for its holdings in the East Indies but also a large and industrious overseas Chinese community large quantities of a spirit from mold-inoculated rice cakes (a traditional Chinese fermentation starter) and palm wine they were also adding molasses from the new sugar-works that the Dutch had hired them to run The V.O.C took this “arrack”—the lingua franca name for spirit in Asia—and used it to provision their ships for the long return journey to Holland 150-gallon teak leggers rather than the ceramic jars traditionally used for storage and shipping in Asia Since the company’s fleets only sailed two or three times a year the barrels might have to sit in a warehouse for as long as six months before being loaded aboard they would hunker in the ship’s hold as it sailed through the Indian Ocean around the bottom of Africa and through the South Atlantic and much of the North Atlantic (crossing the Equator along the way) before hitting the English Channel and the bottom of the North Sea I’m convinced that one of the reasons for this is that when it was first available it was aged longer than anything on the market the difference between sitting in a barrel for nine months and 14 months isn’t all that much But the arrack wasn’t just sitting in a barrel it spent the days getting hotter and hotter as the tropical sun turned the hold into a wooden oven and the nights cooling as the ocean swells surrounded it The air that seeped into the barrels was sea air Adding energy to such things can speed them up: the heat of the tropical days supercharged the oxidation of the spirit and all that sloshing kept the molecules mixing and brought the spirit in and out of the wood more quickly as did the expansion and contraction brought on by the rapid temperature changes Even that smell of the sea would have to be marked as a factor influencing the final spirit: smells are molecules and the human nose is remarkably sensitive to them there to either break down and recombine or persist unchanged compared to a Cognac that spent at most eight or ten days at sea by the time it was hoisted onto the quay in Amsterdam this arrack was positively old Batavia arrack wasn’t the only spirit to spend significant time aging at sea Barbados and the other islands in the British Caribbean had its own voyage to make to reach the London docklands French and Portuguese tried to suppress rum-distilling and did not allow it to be exported until the nineteenth century) by the time rum started crossing the Atlantic the cat was out of the bag as far as aging was concerned producers in Cognac had learned to sit on their barrels for a year or two before shipping them off to market and London merchants were offering things such as “Old Cogneac [sic]—fit for drams.” As the London distiller Peter Shaw observed in 1731 by having long lain in an oaken Cask…becomes a dilute Tincture of Oak.” The same or one of the other woods used for maturation But while long aging in a cellar or rickhouse might get a spirit to roughly the same place as ocean aging it can never get it to exactly the same one: different conditions make for different chemical reactions Even Scotch and Irish whiskies used to spend time aging at sea at least when they were exported to America The barrel was the dominant shipping container until the end of the nineteenth century their time aging at sea was part of their DNA until well into the twentieth century Colonial powers preferred that all the value added to a product would be added at home country’s end where the spirit sails the seas in a barrel as some commodity rum is shipped—is pretty rare But Norway’s much-beloved Linie Aquavit has been doing it for ages (it was sold here as long ago as 1910) the old sherry barrels it’s aged in spend four months on the deck of a container ship going to Australia and back and thus crossing the Equator—the “Linie,” in Norwegian—twice along the way it makes ports of call all around the world The newest brand to turn to ocean aging is Jefferson’s Bourbon which in 2012 (after a fascinating experiment with multi-year aging at sea) began shipping some of its Kentucky-aged bourbon around the world In the six months or more it spends at sea it touches at five continents and crosses the equator four times not a lot of American whiskey was shipped abroad during the barrel age so you can’t really call this a traditional product But by turning to the very oldest tradition in the world’s international luxury spirit trade Jefferson’s Ocean makes a pretty good argument that sometimes it’s worth reaching beyond the narrowest traditions of the American whiskey industry Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here David Wondrich is The Daily Beast’s Senior Drinks Columnist and the James Beard Award-winning author of Imbibe! and Punch Noah Rothbaum is the former editor of The Daily Beast’s Half Full section the site won the 2018 and the 2020 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication He also hosted the podcast Life Behind Bars with legendary cocktail historian David Wondrich It won the 2018 and 2021 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Podcast Series and is “a perfect comfort listen for the curious drinker.”In addition Rothbaum is the author of the book The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation’s Most Storied Spirit through 100 Iconic Labels and the forthcoming The Whiskey Bible He is the associate editor of the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails The Business of Spirits: How Savvy Marketers Around 100 drivers who were travelling within the speed limit have been issued with fines because of a camera reportedly set to the wrong speed in Charente-Maritime The mistakes occurred on the RD 137 between Tonnay-Charente and Saintes, Sud Ouest reports A camera installed on the road at the beginning of September began to flash cars that were not going above the speed limit It appears that the camera had begun to catch vehicles which were travelling at any speed above 80km/h even though the speed limit in the area is 90km/h The speed limit changes from 80km/h to 90km/h just before the camera Le radar autonome de #TonnayCharente qui flashe PAR ERREUR dès 80km/h. (vitesse limitée à 90)Des usagers qui doivent se débrouiller pour contester, d'autres ont payé rapidement afin d'eviter l'amende forfaitaire. Il faut annuler tout ça rapidement ‼️@Prefet17 ???? pic.twitter.com/yozl0GBWwW Several drivers have taken to social media to complain about the loss of a licence point and €68 fine that they have wrongly received Read also: Six changes for drivers in France in 2023 There has been confusion over 80km/h and 90km/h speed limits in recent years the French government decided to reduce the limit from 90km/h to 80km/h over 400,000km of roads without a central reservation – mostly routes départementales – in an attempt to reduce the incidence rate of fatal car accidents this provoked significant opposition and in 2019 departments were given the power to return to 90km/h if they wished Read more: Speed limits switch back to 90km/h on more French roads Read also: Increase to 90km/h limit ruled illegal in north-west French department People who have already paid the fine relating to the RD 137 to avoid it being increased but who did not break the speed limit should be contacted by the Centre automatisé de constatation des infractions routières (CACIR) to cancel the penalty and arrange a reimbursement Drivers who have not yet paid the fine and who were not travelling at above 90km/h should receive an official letter cancelling the penalty French drivers plan legal challenge to ‘massive’ London zone penalties Northern French city to offer cash bonuses for carsharing on motorways Recent power cut in Spain and Portugal is warning to holidaymakers to ensure they are prepared for worst-case scenario The resort is set to remain open to the public and not only to professionals Storms from the weekend will persist across some areas Drivers in France are increasingly reporting issues with ‘toll-booth-free’ motorways including one who said they were fined €90 for failing to pay a 30 cent péage fee called ‘autoroutes à flux libre’ in French The free-flow system is intended to reduce traffic and make journeys faster and more environmentally friendly by asking drivers to pay at the start or end of their journeys rather than by stopping to pay along the route the roads have cameras equipped with number plate detection software to check who has paid and who has not Drivers can either pay for their travel on the motorway company’s website or at one of France's many tabac shops (for certain motorway operators) there are 16 payment booths at the border of the motorway enabling drivers to pay either by card or by coins Pierre Meau, client director for the Autoroutes-Paris-Rhin-Rhone (APRR), which completed the project, said in 2022: “Clients have 72 hours to pay for their journey [if not pre-paid].” The fine rises to €375 if it is not paid in 60 days APRR has access to European licence plate databases too so can track vehicles even if they are not registered in France This means that the drivers of foreign licenced vehicles are also expected to pay or risk a fine it is not known whether drivers with a vehicle registered in the UK have received fines in the UK which manages the free-flow system on the A13/14 told  The Connexion  in June that it could fine UK-based drivers but gave no details on how it acquires their home addresses.  Read more: LIST: where barrier-free motorway tolls are starting in France and when Some drivers have reported problems with the system Communication on how and where to pay is flawed one driver from Paris said that he was caught out on the A13 motorway between Paris and Normandy when it became a ‘free flow’ system (the A14 has also changed) ‘I did not see this new system at all on the way out, and only noticed it on the way back,” said Florent to La Dépêche He said that there was no payment terminal or barrier on the road which caused him to have to search for a way to pay.  Read also: Make sense of... Autoroutes and péages While Sanef is increasingly committed to the free-flow system - which is also championed by the transport ministry - not all companies are convinced Vinci Autoroutes said: “We believe that forcing customers to pay their tolls at a tabac shortly after their journey is a real step backwards and a major complication in terms of customer experience.” Read also: First barrier-free paying motorway to open in France today  Most motorways in France still use the regular toll booth system the motorways and tolls that have switched over to a free-flow’ system include: The A79 between Allier and Saône-et-Loire  The future (highly controversial) A69 road between Toulouse and Castres is also set to be booth-free.  Read also:  Thousands march against new motorway project in south-west France It comes as motorway companies warn that péage tariffs could rise by as much as 5% next year if a proposed infrastructure tax goes ahead (although the government has denied this) Read also: Why French motorway péage tariffs could be set to rise (a lot) The free-flow system is already in widespread use in other countries What was your experience of free-flow motorways in France? Was it easy to pay? Did you receive a fine? Let us know via feedback@connexionfrance.com The ‘best’ packages vary depending on how often you use the road The changes include péage increases and projected lower electricity charging bills Motorway toll and electricity prices are among items that are updating