The " sweet spot " of a whiskey bottle

[Ruffinogold]

Ok , I dont know if this is something anyone pays attention to . Its something I noticed at some point after drinking vintage bourbon .

See , whiskey doesnt " age " in a sealed bottle . But if the bottle was say half full and then sat for 20 years or whatever .. thats another thing all together and its the difference of say Christina Hendricks wearing a nice dress and then in lingerie [ can you imagine ] . Anyway , theres a difference

So , what I do with whiskies Im interested in is ... I open the bottle and try it . its usually decent or good , I mean its whiskey . But its at its " freshest and brightest " . Once the bottle is about a quarter the way down , which could take about half an hour or a few weeks depending on how you attack [ drink ] it ..... close it up and let it sit for as long as you can stand [ lol ] . I can do this because I dont drink alot and I have other stuff open . If youre relying on the one bottle .. good luck

Anyway , as an example .. I purchased a bottle of George Dickel 9 year hand selected barrel a while back . I think it was around 30 bucks . Popped it when I got home and had a drink of it .... its good and I thought the flavors were interesting and figured Id do my " sweet spot " thing with it . I got it down almost a quarter way and closed it up now for a good while , only having a little from it monthly or so to see how it was doing . Im guessing about 6 months of having some air in it [ air is the thing , I believe ] , its really gotten to the sweet spot !
Its quite a bit smoother and the flavors are more pronounced and discernable .. generally just all around better by 100 % . It was good when first I popped it but now its really fantastic ! I do this process with OGD 114 , which at the sweet spot is a mind blower to me . This is right there with it and at the same price point

I once had a half full+ bottle of Jim Beams Choice that sat half full for 40 years [ I have about two shots left ] and its the best whisky Ive ever had . Its similar in flavor to Blantons but with more mojo and beyond smooth .

The cool thing about the sweet spot is .. once its there , it just gets better over time if you can not finish it off too soon

One day Ill finish my bar in the man cave building I have . Its just that I do that type work all the time and when I get home Im bored with wanting to think about that type of work . I need to take a month off ... during that month I could probably find the 5 days Id need to do it


Anyway , " sweet spot " its a thing and maybe whiskey people are all over this for their entire lives but its something Ive only been on to for about a decade or so . Im looking forward to having a nice amount of the George Dickel tonight and I dont have to wake up until 9am tomorrow , which is late for me , so the hammering Ill take tonight will have a bit of time to wear down with some extra sleep


Any of you guys do this ? If not , you might want to try it out . Im glad I did as it makes a damn good whiskey super outstanding

[Mr Beardsley]

I used to drink so much that a bottle would never have a chance to age. Nowadays they definitely get time to sit and stew. There's a half full bottle of Weller antique in my cupboard right now that got cracked open about 3 years ago

[Ruffinogold]

I used to drink so much that a bottle would never have a chance to age. Nowadays they definitely get time to sit and stew. There's a half full bottle of Weller antique in my cupboard right now that got cracked open about 3 years ago

Oh my lovely

[Piping Abe]

You are correct that it is air affecting the Whiskey. The first pour from a bottle (known as a neck pour) never tastes the same due to the air being present at the top.

I’ve never noticed too much of what your describing but I usually don’t keep bottles around too long. If I do, such as my favorite Eagle Rare, I wont drink it until I find another, to make sure I always have it.

The only bourbon i’ve had to rival Eagle Rare is Bib & Tucker. And that was just the 6 year, they have a 10 year.

I used to drink a lot more, almost daily, before kids. Not bragging, it was a stress reliver, never got out of hand. But what else would you do when you work 12+ hours a day in the NJ winter?

Now I make my own, not as often as I like, due to kids again, but I still appreciate my favorite store bought bottles.
About to dive into a freshly opened bottle of OGB Bonded tonight.

[Mr Beardsley]

You are correct that it is air affecting the Whiskey. The first pour from a bottle (known as a neck pour) never tastes the same due to the air being present at the top.

I’ve never noticed too much of what your describing but I usually don’t keep bottles around too long. If I do, such as my favorite Eagle Rare, I wont drink it until I find another, to make sure I always have it.

The only bourbon i’ve had to rival Eagle Rare is Bib & Tucker. And that was just the 6 year, they have a 10 year.

I used to drink a lot more, almost daily, before kids. Not bragging, it was a stress reliver, never got out of hand. But what else would you do when you work 12+ hours a day in the NJ winter?

Now I make my own, not as often as I like, due to kids again, but I still appreciate my favorite store bought bottles.
About to dive into a freshly opened bottle of OGB Bonded tonight.

Bib & Tucker is surprisingly good. We're going to need to have a conversation the next time you decide to build a batch of home brew!!!

[Piping Abe]

You are correct that it is air affecting the Whiskey. The first pour from a bottle (known as a neck pour) never tastes the same due to the air being present at the top.

I’ve never noticed too much of what your describing but I usually don’t keep bottles around too long. If I do, such as my favorite Eagle Rare, I wont drink it until I find another, to make sure I always have it.

The only bourbon i’ve had to rival Eagle Rare is Bib & Tucker. And that was just the 6 year, they have a 10 year.

I used to drink a lot more, almost daily, before kids. Not bragging, it was a stress reliver, never got out of hand. But what else would you do when you work 12+ hours a day in the NJ winter?

Now I make my own, not as often as I like, due to kids again, but I still appreciate my favorite store bought bottles.
About to dive into a freshly opened bottle of OGB Bonded tonight.

Bib & Tucker is surprisingly good. We're going to need to have a conversation the next time you decide to build a batch of home brew!!!

I got 2 gallons of Apple Pie I just made. First batch of the year. Last year I probably made about 30-40 gallons

[Mr Beardsley]

You are correct that it is air affecting the Whiskey. The first pour from a bottle (known as a neck pour) never tastes the same due to the air being present at the top.

I’ve never noticed too much of what your describing but I usually don’t keep bottles around too long. If I do, such as my favorite Eagle Rare, I wont drink it until I find another, to make sure I always have it.

The only bourbon i’ve had to rival Eagle Rare is Bib & Tucker. And that was just the 6 year, they have a 10 year.

I used to drink a lot more, almost daily, before kids. Not bragging, it was a stress reliver, never got out of hand. But what else would you do when you work 12+ hours a day in the NJ winter?

Now I make my own, not as often as I like, due to kids again, but I still appreciate my favorite store bought bottles.
About to dive into a freshly opened bottle of OGB Bonded tonight.

Bib & Tucker is surprisingly good. We're going to need to have a conversation the next time you decide to build a batch of home brew!!!

I got 2 gallons of Apple Pie I just made. First batch of the year. Last year I probably made about 30-40 gallons

If you need to dispose of any (in a perfectly legal manner, of course) my inbox is open

[Puff nstuff]

This is an interesting topic that I have never really considered before with bourbon. But I have noticed a similar phenomenon with agave distillates, particularly un-aged mezcals. We have quite a few bottles open. We've sipped one of our favorites very slowly after an initial infatuation wherein we downed half the bottle; I've noticed the flavor change markedly from a very sweet and vanilla flavor profile to something more vegetal with a sour undertone. Instead of improving the flavor, I get a sense of oxidation that makes it less appealing. It's still a great mezcal, but definitely not as lovely as when it was first opened.

[Mr Beardsley]

Off topic while managing to keep it on topic, am I the only one who's ever tried those "aging sticks" in some rotgut whiskey to see if they improved?

[Ronv69]

Yes, I have noticed that with bourbon it makes a difference for the better. I've been on the bottom 3rd of a bottle of Angel's Envy for 3 years now. It's so good I just drink it in tiny amounts.