Favorite Whiskey?

It's no placebo. Every time you open the bottle and expose the whiskey to air the alcohol begins to evaporate which ever so slightly lowers the proof and the whiskey starts to oxidize. You'll notice some last/age better than others. I've noticed the higher proof bottlings tend to last longer, but it's also how many times you access the bottle and introduce more air.

If you're keeping some really nice bottles for long periods of time you can buy cans of compressed argon (a neutral gas) you can spray into the bottle to keep it from oxidizing. They do the same thing with wine, or move it into smaller containers to keep the amount of air in the bottle to a minimum.

That's what I did to save the last couple ounces of my 43yr.

 

Looks great!

 

It's why some of them taste different if you switch them over and store them in a decanter, too.

 

Only about one pour left...

 

The last Evan Williams black bottle I had, I noticed a big change with the last pour or two(lower proof). I really didn't like it. Haven't bought a bottle since.
I'm definitely gravitating towards the higher proof stuff now.

Makes me less interested in an infinity bottle also.

 

Yep. No sip will taste quite like the first one of a freshly opened bottle. Which is why you need to be really wary of trying stuff in bars. You have no idea how long it's been sitting on their shelf. Might taste totally different than it would have fresh. Got to try the last of a 1988 balvenie in a bar once. Tasted like moldy shoes in a dank cellar... Very disappointing

 

I ordered a Macallan 18 at a holiday party in NY a few years ago, and when the glass arrived it was full of fruit flies. Turns out somebody hadn't capped it completely after they opened it. What a waste.

 

I bet those flies died happy

 

Probably.

During the summer I set fruit fly traps in the kitchen using beer and a drop of dish soap (no surface tension on the beer that way)

 

OMG same thing happened to me at their airport. I the nicest thing they had which was a Glenfiddich 18 and they had one of those pour spouts on it. I guess they just left it on and never fully sealed the bottle because there were gnats in my glass after they pour it...into a shot glass...

 

I hate it when I get whisky in a shot glass, though thankfully I haven't gotten flies yet...

 

I was bummed. The next nicest thing they had was Dewar's White Label. Not a bad scotch, but not even in the same ballpark as an 18YO Macallan. And when the company's buying...

 

With all of this, I'm assuming a well sealed bottle, not what could happen with a poorly stored bottle at the bar or a decanter with a bad seal.

I do agree on the alcohol evaporation part with each opening. The oxidation part seems to have some conflict between "conventional wisdom" and the science behind it. From what I've read, whiskey is too high in alcohol content to be affected by oxidation to a perceptible degree (if at all).

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/lif...last-once-the-bottles-opened/article16932092/

http://whisky.buzz/blog/once-opened-does-whisky-change-in-the-bottle

There are others suggesting very similar.

Now, that said, I keep a can of

$12 Private Preserve Wine Preservation System | 100% Green Gas Based | Suitable for all Wine, Port, Sake, Cognac, Whiskey, Fine Oil and Vinegar

Private Preserve on hand all of the time and use it on ALL of my bottles that might take a little while to finish. I don't think that oxidization is happening to the whiskey, but I'm willing to make a Pascal's Wager of sorts and go ahead and displaced the oxygen in the bottle anyways. Cheap, easy, and makes me look like a super snob when someone sees me do it .

My experience with some whiskies, though, tells me that something is happening. Is it the evaporation? Objectively that could be a factor. The bottle doesn't spend too much time open, though. Maybe, after having tried the whiskey, my palate is primed for what to expect. There are no surprises at that point, so a flavor that seemed bold the first time you tried it might come across as being more subtle when you know it's coming. That said, I have a bottle of Correyvreckan that I've used to demonstrate a smokey smell in scotch. People smelling it for the first time now are less blown away than first timers from some months back. Could be just a difference in people's noses, but the trend among unbiased folks suggests to me it is mellowing. Smells that way to me, too.

I feel like it happens the most in high-proof whiskies and very smokey whiskies. For the high-proof, it seems to me that it loses a little bit of initial bite after about a month or so, but I don't notice any appreciable difference after that. For the smokey stuff, it seems like a gradual loss of that big, bold smokey hit on the nose. The palate doesn't come across as affected, but a little. I don't notice most of the standard ABV and conventional flavor profile stuff changing much (at all?).

Mind you, this is ALL anecdotal for me. I have zero objective evidence to back up what I'm experiencing and zero reason to dispute what someone else gets from their whiskey sometime after first opening. Fun to discuss, though! Now I need a drink....

 

What a friggin' awful experience. Shame on any bar that doesn't take a little pride in their product. You don't have to be super high-class, but at least have the decency to offer your supply in an acceptable manner. How'd it even make it to your table after they poured it? Do they not even see that there are BUGS IN THE GLASS?!?!?

Same here. Why they think I'm some bro who wants to shoot a single malt like it is Fireball, I'll never understand. Time to start travelling with my own glencairn.

Talking about going from the penthouse to the outhouse.

 

You should go to the government and get a grant to study this.

 

Probably not. We had two bartenders running drinks for probably 150 people, in the tire industry. We were keeping them busy, lol. But yeah, whoever failed to recork it properly definitely had no pride of ownership. Probably using one of those speed pour caps, and didn't put the rubber back on.

 

They're too busy to notice. I once had a draft beer served to me with a used coaster "glued" to the inner wall of the glass. I'm assuming it stuck to the bottom of another glass when they were clearing the table & stacked them up. The automated dishwasher wasn't powerful enough to dislodge it. There had to be at least 4 people who handled that glass, none spotted it.

 

If it's not oxidation then I don't know what it is but I'm 100% with you. Something is happening. I'm doing an expirement right now actually. I have a little bit left of the Aultmore 12 that has already turned south in my mind. I'm going to buy a fresh bottle and do a side by side. But I'll be waiting a couple more months for good measure .

 

So I have 2-3 Dozen of the glasses on order. So as soon as we get the yay or nay on using TW and the logo is decided on we can get this going.

 

Awwww yeah!