Off-topic kind of - can you age store bought booze?

[WCG]

Hey Guys,

Little off topic question, but was curious on something, if one was to take a store bought bottle of booze, say whisky, what would happen if you added directly to the bottle a couple chips of toasted oak. Would this accomplish anything if you stored it this way for months or years?

I know you can re-cask it in a barrel, but was more curious about just popping directly into the bottle


Regards,
WCG

[WCG]

I assume oxygen plays a role in aging espeically with a cask, if this is true, to throw another variable in this question of mine, could you substitute a screw top with a cork as I know there is an age long debate about how much a cork breathes in wine and aging and what role it plays.

[goose eye]

what proof that likker. you get it in the 80s an leave the plug out of the jug an it gonna go away.
when they agein likker they got somethin call barrel proof.

noed a ole man that use to say that agein means they wont able to sale it the year before

so im tole

[LWTCS]

My homemade gets better with some headspace in the jug. With a third to a quarter remaining it is very very good.
I'm unqualified to comment on how any peticular abv can specifically influence the out come of your drink.

[junkyard dawg]

Are you wanting to play around with new flavors like the scotch makers do? They are always combining different used barrels to influence the flavor of the scotch.
http://www.5min.com/Video/Learn-about-t ... y-91877168

If you just toss a couple of chips into a bottle you will get more oak. Choose the wood to get the flavor you want... I found this kind of thing to work best with white rum. Add wood to the bottle, sometimes using honey and vanilla beans, coffee beans... cinnamon... You can make some tasty sipping drinks. Adding wood to something already aged in wood... be real careful to not over oak it.

[WCG]

Thanks guys.

But mainly was curious as notice couple times at the liquor store they had these little wood barrel you could buy to further age...sales pitch of "throw some cheap booze to make top shelf', etc...So was curious if same thing could be accomplished by just throwing few chips into a bottle to age further on its own.

[junkyard dawg]

Well, then the short answer is no... It doesn't really work like that.

You can age anything with out any special barrel or chips... But barrels and chips are about flavoring, not ageing... Cheap store bought likker is not going to transform into top shelf because you put it into a barrel for a while. It will change the flavor, but maybe not in a good way.

A purpose built quality barrel made by Gibbs or Barrel mill or a few others is one thing... A decorative, wax filled cheap barrel built from used pallets and scrap wood from the old factory across town is something else altogether. I would save my money...

That said, try it! If you have chips and some likker then play around with it. Remember, you are going to be adding flavor. Age is something that just happens... let us know how it goes...

[WeeStiller]

I did this several times:

- Buy two bottles of whisk(e)y
- Put an opened bottle in a water bath at 50*C for two hours (distress aging)
- Let cool over night in the bath
- Compare distressed aged bottle with unprocessed bottle

Notice the difference.....

[LWTCS]

You know we get a question like this maybe 2-3 times a year.

Seems like aging is just the wrong adjective to use more often than not
Snobs would certainly not consider a month a goodly amount of aging time. But with strictly stilled likker, we can certainly make some perty good stuff (relatively speaking) in a short period of time.
Seems like "polishing" is a much better word to describe what we resort to in order to get our likker to smooth out.......cept for Blanik and Dunder,,,,,damn it.

[WCG]

Weestiller, was curious what were the results from your comparison?

[blanikdog]

I've not made anything for quite a few months now Larry, but last week I bought 25litres of Molasses cos I've run out of Rum My honey likker from 2009 is coming along nicely. I added some honey to boost the flavour another month or two and she'll be a bewdy

[tafinaf]

There definitely is a difference between 12 and 17 years old whisky. Aging is not a myth. However, oaking with chips in the bottle is not the same as aging. Flavouring, maybe. Cheap, internally waxed and externally varnished small decorative barrels do not provide even that. You might be better off in glass, if a bit less classy looking.

Aging in barrels is a complex process, but the three most important elements that are specific to wooden barrels are: tannin infusion, evaporation and micro-oxidation. Its rate and quality depends on many factors. The barrel size, to start with. Small barrels have bigger surface to volume ratio and drinks in them age more quickly. The next is the type of wood. There is a difference between oak and cherry, for example. Heck, there is a difference between French and American oak, believe it or not. Then there is the climate. Temperature affects the rate of evaporation, humidity the composition: it's not just alcohol and other volatiles that evaporate, it's water too, and humidity affects the water to volatiles ratio.

To answer the original question, can you age store bought booze, I would say yes. But is it worth it? Perhaps not. To buy some cheap booze and put it in an expensive oak barrel for a few years - I'd say it is cheaper to buy the real stuff.

[blanikdog]

The way I understand it is that a bottle of spirits bottled at say five years, will be five year old spirits after a hundred years in bottle. I have been wrong before though ...

[tafinaf]

No, blanikdog, you are right. You can in theory age it by pouring it out of the bottle and into a small wooden cask. But the chances are it won't do much good.

[blanikdog]

Phew. I was a bit worried then.

[LWTCS]

My honey likker from 2009 is coming along nicely.

Had to throw that in my face

[rad14701]

I've not made anything for quite a few months now Larry, but last week I bought 25litres of Molasses cos I've run out of Rum My honey likker from 2009 is coming along nicely. I added some honey to boost the flavour another month or two and she'll be a bewdy

blanikdog, is your sphincter finally relaxing after your recent string of unfortunate events...???

[blanikdog]

Yairs Rad. The cops went around to the complainers and told them that they are wankers and if they try anything like that againthey will regret it. All complaints were immediately withdrawn. I must say that the old sphincter is still a bit sore. Nothing like seeing a cop walking up the drive and hoping that the dogs don't bite him, to tighten a sphincter.

[WeeStiller]

Weestiller, was curious what were the results from your comparison?

The harshness of cheap whisk(e)y disappears a bit and the sweet tones come out better. As one of the experienced guys here said in another thread, you basically drive off some of the heads the industrial distillers leave in the liquor.