Heads & Tails Over Time...

[donpelon]

Hi all,

I recently completed a new distillation of some smokey, peatey Scotch which is now aging in mason jars with a bunch of second-use cubes previously used for an older Bourbon that I had saved for this very purpose It's already taking on a nice golden, yellow color.

However, when I made my cuts after smelling and tasting, I thought I had a good hearts cut of 62% abv that was suitable for aging. At the time, it smelled fine, and I put it on the oak. Now, after a few weeks, I watered down a shot for sampling and I got a good whiff of some funky, mildew-like tails coming through. Honestly, the Scotch is already tasting pretty good (possibly my best yet)- a nice balance of grain and smokey peat. It seems like it has some potential there. But the Tails-like smell is off-putting and makes think my nose was completely off base or stuffed up when I blended it. I like a funky Laphroiag or Lagavulin, but I think I went far too deep into my cuts...

Did I completely screw up here? Or, as some have commented here on the forum, the Heads and Tails will dissipate over time, leaving a nice complexity to the aged Whiskey?

[cranky]

Let it age and see what happens, time is your friend.

[LWTCS]

Let it age and see what happens, time is your friend.

Sometimes if you blend too quickly after distillation, you can get tricked into thinking that jar closer to the tails side of the line up is all hearts.

Allowing enough airing time after distilling can help you evaluate your jars with a bit more precision.

On the other hand, my friend Usge says "if you want good whisky ya got to put it up dirty".

[BaxtersDad]

In fact, at dinner last Sunday, Odin made basically the same remark. He said you don't want your whiskey cuts too tight, the flavor and complexity comes over time from haveing a bit of both heads and tails. If he reads this, maybe Odin could explain a little bit.

[raketemensch]

This is exactly what my struggle is. My cuts are WAY too tight, there's very little flavor, other than a couple of nice high notes -- no midrange, and no bass.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm just getting rolling, and I'm trying to come up with stuff to drink NOW, which works with tight cuts. But I really need to start allowing more through and being more patient.

It's all about building up that stock...

[cranky]

I like to do really small cuts on tails because when I blend I wind up skipping jars but still going pretty deep into the tails just with jars skipped over and I think I do pretty well.

[buflowing]

Dirty is good, just take it easy on the wood. Less wood for longer time. Patience. And blend. You'd be surprised what a bunch of "crap" mixed together can become.

[LWTCS]

This conversation is another example of how cyclical some topics have been over the years.

Tight cuts are initially employed to insure a palatable spirit is produced. Also tight cuts are talked about so frequently that one is almost convinced that anything other than dead nuts hearts is not good,,,,,or something like that.....
Then eventually One becomes unsatisfied with insipid spirits and starts to dip their toe into the deeper side of the jars on the far right and far left of the hearts jars as well as experimenting with various run speeds, etc.......

It's all part of the evolution of our experience.

[rager]

i dig really deep into tails. for me this is where the flavor is. hearts come out clean and nice but the right cuts are where the flavor gets good during aging

[Monkeyman88]

i dig really deep into tails. for me this is where the flavor is. hearts come out clean and nice but the right cuts are where the flavor gets good during aging

+1
My final cuts are sometimes cloudy from adding in certain tails jars. Clears up after some time on wood and tastes amazing.

[Truckinbutch]

i dig really deep into tails. for me this is where the flavor is. hearts come out clean and nice but the right cuts are where the flavor gets good during aging

+2 That gen 5 UJ everybody brags up so much ; I had a jar of deep tails that , at the time , tasted good to me . I dumped it in and then JUST KNEW I had fucked the whole run up . Turned out not to be so from what folks are sayin .