Cedar???

[Oldvine Zin]

A friend of mine is working on his startup artisan meat processing business. One of his products is a PNW variation on Black Forest Ham, smoked with Port Orford Cedar instead of the usual juniper bush. I'm not a big fan of cedar but tasting this was like wow!! So of course the conversation turned to cedar infused spirits If you are not familiar with Port Orford Cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) it's a white cedar with great overtones of spicy ginger on its nose.

So what the hell, I had 3 liters of neutral sitting around so time for some experiments.

All jars 600 ml at 60 ABV:
1- Cedar shavings
2- Cedar sticks
3- Toasted cedar shavings
4- Toasted cedar sticks
5- Toasted and charred cedar sticks

Might be good, might be bad only time will tell


OVZ

[Badmotivator]

Bravo! I'm stoked to hear your thoughts on the results.

[Oldvine Zin]

Too early to tell anything but sniffing the jars gave way to a lot of cedar goodness.

OVZ

[HDNB]

not an exhaustive research on my part, but you may want to look up your tree before consuming the beverage.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... -toxicity/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[nerdybrewer]

My personal experience with cedar is that it is an exceedingly oily and pungent wood.
White and yellow varieties are less than the red varieties.
I'm very interested to hear about your experience with this wood.

[Oldvine Zin]

some of my research was from this:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15501613" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

the Native Americans have been smoking fish with this wood for century's

OVZ

[Oldvine Zin]

not an exhaustive research on my part, but you may want to look up your tree before consuming the beverage.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... -toxicity/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

That database also has oak as toxic

OVZ

[Oldvine Zin]

Its been a little over a month of ageing on the cedar. Did some tastings, while I'm not a great fan of cedar anything - 4 out of 5 sucked. I tempered them all down to 40 ABV and was not too impressed with any of them but the toasted only chunks had some cool chocolate hints that I liked. Sent some samples off to the friend that started this experiment, so far I'm not a believer.

OVZ

[BoisBlancBoy]

Sounds interesting. I wouldn't give up on them yet. I've had at the 4-6 month stage with whiskey on oak taste like dog do-do, but then between 10-12 months it was wonderful.

[Oldvine Zin]

Yea but that nasty cedar flavor that I don't like ...

[BoisBlancBoy]

Yea but that nasty cedar flavor that I don't like ...

I can understand that. Being this is the first attempt at it I would still give it more time. The cedar flavor may not change but the "undertones" may be quiet a bit different. Time will tell and I'd keep having your friends sample it too. Even if it turns out to be something you can't stand at least you learned something. Good luck! Keep us posted.

[Oldvine Zin]

It's been 9 months since I started this cedar experiment, finally got my unbiased friends together to taste the samples
The two raw cedar (shavings and chunks) were not so pleasant, the toasted shavings had big vanilla notes and pretty good, toasted chunks had a good balance of vanilla with great hints of cedar, and the toasted and charred tasted like bad medicine.

Going to do some more toasted chunks

OVZ

[OtisT]

I'll vouch for the light toast batch tasting and smelling good. OVZ gave me a small bottle of this last month and it is yummy. Shared with friends who also enjoyed the unique scent and flavor.

OVZ, What temp did you toast the cedar at? I've been learning how different temps bring out different characteristics and think my last few toastings at 400 F were done too hot. My oven may be running hot too, so I plan to use an internal thermometer next batch to help dial this in.

[Oldvine Zin]

OVZ, What temp did you toast the cedar at? I've been learning how different temps bring out different characteristics and think my last few toastings at 400 F were done too hot. My oven may be running hot too, so I plan to use an internal thermometer next batch to help dial this in.

375 F in the convection oven, I didn't time it - went by smell and color.

OVZ

[BDF]

Interesting thread for sure. Thanks for the update.

[OtisT]

Hi OVZ. I finally picked up some POC today to try your aging process. Forgive my endless questions, but about how long did you age on the cedar for? I think you said 6 months, December to July.

I toasted a handful of 3/4" x 3/4" x 5" sticks in a convection oven at 375 deg F, trying for a light toast. I'm not overly experienced at toasting, and I pulled some at 22 min, some at 26 min and some at 32 min. I think the 22 and 26 are light, while the 32 is pushing medium. (just a guess on toast levels.). I could not detect a transition of scent during the toasting that you mentioned, though I did notice a light smoke up front that eventually slowed/stopped just before I pulled the first sticks at 22 min. ( moisture escaping?).

I had three small unaged jars of my Bourbrum (Rum) available, so one stick of each toast level went into each jar. My Bourbrum is a molasses/sugar rum made with the backset and feints from a batch of honey bear Bourbon. I'm hoping the Bourbrum's hot buttered popcorn scent will go well with POC treatment. Time will tell, and I'll be sure to save you a taste.

Otis