Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauli
Hi , I have had a 50l American oak barrel made by a local cooper , he has toasted the inside of it for me. |
Does the 50l above = 50 litre size barrel?
If so, buying 50 litres of a current single malt to fill the barrel and
aging it for 40 years may result in some minor disappointment.
Filling it with something that has a "reasonable cost per litre" would
probably not "ages [it] into something far more valuable". First off
you have to subtract the
Angel's Share - the loss to evaporation
during aging (which can be anywhere from 2 - 10% depending on
various factors.) So at the end of your aging you're already at
less that 50 litres. Depending on now long you decide to (re)age it,
the remaining liquid could be significantly less that the initial 50 litres.
If, over the 40 years, you decide to subtract a bottle to sample
(say on the fill date anniversary) your loss might not seem so
noticeable and you would have the added benefit of comparing
the contents "through the years", even stopping the project if
you happen to hit upon an especially nice tasting year.
I have done home barrel projects with 2 litre barrels filled with
various White Dogs but nothing aged over 6 months. Larger
barrels are better over time but I don't know that I'd wanna
chance spending that much up front (unless money is no object
and you go into the project aware of the "risks") in hopes of a
sweeter barrel at the end of it all.