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Hi all,
Newbie to the forum, but figured I will call in the help from the experts.
Earlier this year (12 January to be exact) I bought a bottle of Ardbeg 10 year. I've poured from the bottle a couple of times, but the bottle was at least 2/3 full. Last night, I poured myself a dram, and immediately realized something is wrong: the whisky was cloudy. Upon tasting, the whisky tasted watery and weak. Intrigued, I decided to measure the ABV (luckily I have a hydrometer) and there is was: 25% instead of the 46% it should be.
I've read stories online of non-chill filtered whiskies becoming cloudy on its own due to high ambient humidity, but this seems a bit excessive. I live close to the coast and we had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks, so the humidity is quite high. The whisky was also on a shelf the last couple of weeks that gets some late sun.
Have any of you ever experienced something similar? I am really upset. My initial impression was that someone drank some of my whisky and topped it up with water, hoping I wouldn't notice. But, before jumping to conclusions, I need to know if any of you ever had something similar happen to a whisky in your collection.
Thanks in advance.
@Rikus Check your cork to see if its damaged. Is it possible the bottle sat uncorked for a period of time? If you ever leave a glass of whisky uncovered overnight and look at it in the morning, this is basically what you get. Cloudy, bitter, watered down version of what you poured the night before. It sounds like your bottle got over exposed to air somehow.
“I’m a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men, enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four.”
~Joel Rosenburg
@Rikus
Has never happened to me. Don't think a hole in the cork would lead to results to this.
@Rikus
Never happened to me either, and I live in a place that topped 45 ºC 2 months ago.
I don't know where you are from, but here in Portugal is not unfrequent to hear stories from house maids that enjoy themselves some of the available ammenities, if you know what I mean.
1. Gin - my boss used to have some pretty decent open gin bottle in the house. One day, suspecting that the bottle level was dropping too fast, he made a test and marked the bottle. Proved it was the house maid.
2. Juice boxes - a dear friend of mine noted that the number of juice boxes were lowering too fast. One day he made the test, counting before and after the cleaning. Proved it was the house maid.
So… If it is a ghost, it has definitely good taste.
You can make a test. Don't mention anything, open a new bottle, check the ABV and keep a sample. And wait for developments.
Regards,
Vasco
@Rikus I just opened a fresh bottle of Ardbeg 10 and it tastes very different from what I remember. There is barely any peat and it weak, almost flat.
I think there may be a bad batch going around. Can’t explain why this is so different.
Rikus' problem was slightly different.
In your situation, you had a bad/abnormal dram from the start.
Regards,
Vasco