In the spring, i made some of NChooch 's bourbon. I put it in a 1 gallon barrel 6 months ago, and just opened it tonight. Boy is it good! You can see it in the photo - the 2 bottles to the right.
I also made a batch of piggyback using the spent grains and a sugar head. I put that in an identical barrel and aged it for 6 months. As you can see from the 2 bottles on the left, it came out extremely dark. I have never had results like this before, and i wonder if anyone has seen this. The flavor is ok; but no where near as good as the bourbon.
Provence of the barrels is they were purchased new from milehi ($$$) couple years ago and have at least 3 batches that have aged through them.
I’m thinking those two “identical” barrels are not the same. Either they were not the same wood/toast/char level before first use, or possibly they were the same before first use and had different products put in them resulting in what you see.
Could be different finishes on the wood. Toast level and/or char level.
One barrel may have had more color sucked out of it, maybe over a longer time or because the product was a different ABV.
I guess it could also be added color from a product that was last in the barrel.
" had different products put in " is definitely correct, unfortunately, i didn't track it, so i don't really know what has been in each barrel. I am just surpised at HOW dark the piggybak is; its like coffee stout dark.
