Aging My Own Whiskey

Hello All,

I'm a newb to the whiskey life. I don't drink due to personal reasons, but I love the smell. I have what my family has labelled "the super sniffer". My ability to smell is ridiculously good. I'm guessing that whiskey taste is similar to the smell. The older the whiskey the better/smoother the smell is to me. I recently bought myself a brand new oak barrel. I like to buy the Jack Daniels black label and put it in the barrel to age. Every six months I take a fifth out and insert another. Adding a little each week as it evaporates. Though, I do have a couple of questions that maybe someone could help me with.

1) When I remove the whiskey from the barrel, what is the best bottle top to store it with? Should I use something with a wood cork? I have been using these glass bottles with rubber stoppers. They cork into the bottle like a wooden cork would, but they are made of rubber. It's a pretty tight seal. When I tip the bottle upside down nothing leaks out. My, know it all, friend says that I have to use a wood cork. Is this true?

2) This one is probably most important. My friend, the know it all, said that Jack Daniels wouldn't age in the barrel, no matter what I did or how long I kept it. He ages Evan Williams the same way I age JD. What makes his Evan Williams more "agable" than my JD? Is he right? Will my whiskey not age since it is already aged and then bottled? I can definately smell a difference in the whiskey from the day I put it in from the day I remove it from the barrel. I've never tasted it, but the smell is definately smoother.

I have really enjoyed aging the whiskey and would be sad to hear he is correct. I guess I could always take up baking. At least then I could taste the product. LOL.

[michael]

Welcome twsmith79!

Question:
How should I store my bottle of Single Malt Scotch Whisky?

Answer:
We recommend that you store your bottles of whisky out of the sunlight and in a cool and dry place. If you store your whisky in direct sunlight this can result in the whisky lightening in colour. Storing your whisky out of direct sunlight also prevents the label from fading. In much older bottlings of Malts, corks were not of the same quality that they are today and the corks sometimes deteriorated over time and spoiled the contents of the bottle. Due to the quality of corks used in today’s bottlings there should be no deterioration, and there should be no problem storing your bottle upright as the alcohol vapour in the bottle should be sufficient to keep the cork moist and prevent it from drying out.

Question:
How long can I keep a unopened bottle of Single Malt Scotch Whisky?

Answer:
If your bottle of Whisky is sealed and stored in a cool dry place you should be able to keep a single malt indefinitely. As we mentioned above, be aware that corks in very old bottles have a tendency to deteriorate.

Question:
How long can I keep a bottle of Single Malt Scotch Whisky once it has been opened?

Answer:
There is no exact answer to this. Once the bottle has been opened, the length of time the Whisky inside will retain its character all depends on how much air is in the bottle. The air in the bottle interacts with the remaining whisky and will start to alter its character. Therefore the more you drink from the bottle the faster the deterioration of the character of the remaining Whisky in the bottle. So if you have a bottle with just a little left for too long this will result in much faster deterioration.

http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/how-to-store.htm

[Arctic Wolf]

Wooden Corks will provide the best seal if they are allowed to remain wet and if they are in turn sealed with wax over the top to prevent air flow interaction. Synthetic seals are good but unproven over time. Alcohol will dissolve rubber, the exact consequences are unknown.

Everything ages in a barrel. Air flows between the fibers of the wood and the whisky causing aging. The real factor is the age of the wood and how long it has been used previously. JD barrels are used extensively to age rums to fantastic result, keep using them if you like the flavour and aroma they impart.

[sorren]

Your JD WILL age in the barrel, and as you are using a new barrel it will take on the oak and that is why you are getting a new smell, lots of vanilla and possibly toffee, there will be the oakiness and if the barrell was chared then you may pick out a little smoke, i do.. i too am ageing my whisky although i am finishing mine off with a oak barrel which has had port in, if you get as much enjoyment out of doing this as i do then just keep doing what you are doing.... Then go tell your friend that black is really white and for once he/she is sooooooooooooo wrong.....

Thanks you guys. This is really helpful. Sorren, I like your idea of how you age. Maybe when I get a little more knowledgable then I can get fancier. Thanks!

[Jojo]

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.