Oak versus Cherry Ageing

[Mr_Beer]

This post is intended to outline my experience with cheery wood versus white oak wood used during ageing.

To try something new or different takes time to determine the result -- at least 18 months of ageing. Possibly this post will be of interest to folks who do not like waiting that long.

Let’s set the background…
• Newbie with about two years of experience.
• That means that my oldest distillate has had at least 18 to 24 months to age
• I have an ample supply of white oak and cheery. All of the wood is aged and seasoned for at least two years, some longer.
• I have toasted the white oak – see the extensive thread by OtisT (viewtopic.php?p=7755435&hilit=otis+agei ... d#p7755435) regarding toasting. That definitely helps the flavor profile.
• My cheery wood is not toasted. Some threads indicate that toasting will ‘improve’ the flavor. (viewtopic.php?p=7822223&hilit=wood+toasting#p7822223)
• My ageing protocol uses mason jars with sticks of toasted and charred wood.

Recently I was able to do a side by side analysis of untoasted cheery wood aged distillate with toasted and charred white oak aged distillate – same distillate recipe and AGV, just different wood.

It is clear that the distillate aged with white oak has much more robust flavor profile.

The distillate aged with cheery is much softer and more subtle in flavor, as well as color. It can be characterized as slightly sweeter than the equivalent oak aged product. The color is very pale.

If I had more time, I would start to experiment with toasted cheery wood but the 18 month lag time makes that somewhat impractical for me.

[PalCabral]

Thanks again, for sharing your experiences, Mr_Beer! As usual you are very educative and thorough in your reports.

First if all, I know nothing of using cherry wood for Whiskey, but I do have access to it and use it for BBQ. But isn't it a bit unfair to compare an untoasted, and I assume an uncharred, cherry wood matured whiskey with a toasted and charred american oak aged whiskey? It's pretty obvious the flavors and colors will be in one corner and not in the other. Cherry wood should be used, speaking from my understanding and not own experience, be used as a finishing wood, probably for the same reason, able to add hints and character but not carry the load?

I will at some point give cherry wood a try. I have maple oak wood airing at the moment, I hope I can use both it and the cherry side by side.

However, when I do speak to you (sort of), check out your previous threads, will ya? There are questions and input in them that you could fill in on.

[wv_hillbilly]

I did a wood experiment years ago. I remember oak, cherry and mulberry. There were others but I’d have to look back at notes to remember them all. But I do remember coming out of it with the belief that oak was definitely the better primary aging wood. I distinctly remember liking the other two mentioned as stand alone woods but really preferred them as finishing woods as far as whiskey goes. Though I’ll still do some mulberry wood aged brandies from time to time.

[higgins]

Last year in May I made a Single Malt and put it in badmo clone with a head made from white oak and cherry staves.

I used 2 toasted white oak staves on either side of an untoasted cherry stave. When I charred it using a propane torch, I avoided the cherry. I decided to leave it untoasted/uncharred after reading Otis T's thread on Learning About Fruit Wood for Aging
Since it is new white oak this certainly won't be very scotch-like. I plan to sample it at 1 year.

[N00b]

I have a batch of brandy in a 6 gallon glass jug with a mix of cherry and white oak. It needs a lot more time, but I’m liking what I’m tasting so far.

A long time ago I aged a brandy on just cherry and it came out fruity and the grape flavors really shove through. This time around I’m trying the combination (about 50/50)

[OldBlastard]

I have some corn spirit sharing glass with a toasted cherry chunk. It has another few months to go, but it's a nice color -- more red in it -- and the taste is a hint at sweet.

Have some on toasted sugar maple as well.

[nzbourbonguy]

In the past, my experiments with cherry resulted in a crazy amount of floral notes in the aroma and palate. I have a piece of cherry air seasoning for about 24 months at this point. I plan to see how it compares to the original experiments.

[RBL]

I enjoy using charred and toasted cherry just as much as white oak. i have a few barrels always aging but use cheery for day to day drinking in between emptying the barrels. a half gallon jar with 130 proof and a 3/4"x3/4"x 4" deeply charred piece of cherry gets a great deep reddish color in about 3 to 4 months.