Flavoring whiskey

[shizam]

I just recently started distilling. My first batch far exceeded my expectations. The only problem I have with it is that it's a little to "smokey." I attribute this to using to much heavily chard American oak. With my newly finished second batch I am using some lightly roasted French and Hungarian oak with the hope of blending the two with my first batch. This got me thinking about how I can control and change the flavor.

I have been contemplating adding a little honey to sweeten it. It's already surprisingly smooth given that it's my first batch. But I feel that my friends and family who don't have the same pallet as me, may appreciate a little sweet touch. However, it almost seems like sacrilege to add flavoring (besides oak) after the distillation. At some point it would stop being whiskey and start being something else right? So I guess my question is, how far is to far?

I remember seeing some "essence of whiskey" at my local brew shop. To which I thought, "if you need to add essence of whiskey, than it's not really whiskey." Adding honey may be an easy way to cover up any imperfections in my whiskey and to make it more palatable to a wider audience. But if it's quick and easy than you aren't doing it right. Am I the only one who is struggling with this? Where should one draw the line? Is there even a line to be crossed?


On a side note. I typed all of this on my cell phone.

[OlympicMtDoo]

I'll give you my opinion shizam, I tried a little honey early on and personally wouldn't do it ever again. I would try less oak or toasted rather than charred or any one of several variations rather than honey. I also tried the whiskey flavor, again early on and yuk!!! ya might as well try to make a pancake flavored 2x4 and try eating than. Oak is great but there are many other woods to experiment with as well, I have not found a need to use any other wood but oak but I will at some point. Good Luck

[rad14701]

The phrase commonly used around here is "less oak longer"... You might be pleasantly surprised by simply leaving the spirits on oak a while longer so the magic can happen...

[Fastill]

If you want to sweeten it up early on try just a touch of real maple syrup. It might just help you make young likker more palateable, but like Rad said, Let the spirits sit on wood longer. You won't regret it.

[FullySilenced]

or Nuke it and drink it now....

THEN Puts some on oak for a drink a year from now....

happy stillin

FS

[shizam]

I was thinking of adding a little maple to the mix. Where should I get the maple and how should I treat it? Would a peace from my local hardware store suffice?

I am also curious about how flavor is effected by pre-distillation versus post distillation. That is to say, does the whiskey get most of its flavor from the grain, yeast, and still. Or does it have more to do with what you do to it after?

As I have been reading I up on the subject of distillation I have found that I made a big mistake in mashing. In that I really didn't do any. I would just put a bunch or corn and barley directly into my fermentation tank along with some sugar. This is probably why I had to keep adding more and more sugar since the grain wasn't contributing as much as it could. What effect will this have on flavor?

on my second batch (I have only done three) I tried adding some Coopers beer kit. My thinking being that it's high in sugar. Unfortunately I failed to recognize the fact that it was infused with hops... Ooops.

My latest batch is fermenting on just grain alone. I used about 25 pounds of milled corn, 8 pounds of malted barley from the brew shop, along with 4 pounds of wheat. I use a 25 gallon fermentation tank.

[bellybuster]

your latest... did you mash the grains or just add to the fermenter? makes a huge difference. without mashing the grains are adding little to your mash/wash. there are no sugars available to ferment

[Dan P.]

Don't add honey or maple syrup if you want whiskey. Those flavours do not belong in whiskey. What you can add is caramel, easily made at home. Use very small amounts. It is used in almost all brown spirits except US Whiskies. Brandy, Scotch, rum, most have it. It is pretty good to pep up a spirit. Adds nice colour, a little sweetness, a nice little bit of bitterness, depending on how far you brown the sugar.
Yes, it's cheating, but in my opinion adding oak is cheating. And, my God! if people knew the shit that went into even very top-shelf spirits! Cheat-o-rama! But why worry about it? It's like those people who frown on adding milk or sugar to coffee.

[Dan P.]

PS +1 on both the less oak for longer, and the toast rather than char (you can always bring the char later if that's what you really want).

[shizam]

Bellybuster, this latest batch I definitely mashed before putting it in the fermenter. I kept it at 150-170 degrees for an hour and a half.

Speaking of "cheating," I heard that some Scotch Whiskey distillers have been importing Bourbon and blending it into their product.

[Dan P.]

Speaking of "cheating," I heard that some Scotch Whiskey distillers have been importing Bourbon and blending it into their product.

Check this out (great blog), about a third of the way down the page, where you see the picture of a bearded man with the word "NIKKA";

http://whiskyscience.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... tment.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[DAD300]

When you start adding things to your hard earned liquor for flavoring, do so very sparingly. Think drops, not spoons or ounces.

A few raisins, dried cherries while oaking make a big difference. A few drops of sherry or brandy in a gallon of rum is very nice.

I've been in the lab of a few commercial operations and they ALL added things before bottling. Even if it was just a drop of glycerin. I was shocked...