Hey there twsmith79! As you know through PMs, I have been looking more into this for you. I consulted with an expert in this area and this is what I learned:
If you're using a new wood cask, we're told that 6 months is far too long and will spoil the whisky. For example, the Laphroaig ¼ Cask. A ¼ cask holds around 125 to 135 litres and even with that size you have to be very careful about how long the whisky carries on maturing and for a small cask [say 2 or 3 bottle size], we were informed that it's recommended you start start testing after 2 weeks.
The best bottle would be glass, definitely not a plastic bottle unless it’s one specially manufactured for spirits, and should be sealed with a cork or the ROPP cap that belongs to the bottle. Rubber contains aromatics from the vulcanising that turns latex into rubber that will contaminate the whisky, evaporating spirit in the neck of the bottle will extract them even without being in contact, even if the rubber’s soaked in spirit for months to condition it there’s still pickup. The big problem with using non specialised plastic bottles is that the whisky will extract a carcinogen and that’s not advisable. Back in the early 70’s even fruit juices were banned from being sold in plastic bottles for this reason.
The big problem with any JD is the quantity of flavours that are left in the spirit, (our contact tells us...) personally I think that even with JD Black the wood would overpower the whisky flavour very quickly. He’d be better using a full bourbon, say Makers Mark or something of that style that has a lot of flavour." If he reckons it smells smoother then it will most likely be the vanillin extraction from the wood but the taste may be too “oaky.
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I hope this helps! Tell us more about the barrel you're using.
