I want to age some bourbon and tequila! Any advice?

[DJSkopes]

I've been looking around and I think I'm going to jump into aging some liquor at home. I think I'm going to get a 1L for aging tequila and a 5L to age some bourbon.

If anyone has done this, I'd love some input. How long? What brand of liquor are you using?

 

[Xavier Dredo]

Once liquor has been bottled it doesn't really age anymore. A bottle of 20 year old Scotch was bottled after it was in the barrel for 20 years. 10 years later it's still a 20 year old Scotch. Unless you're talking about putting 5 liters of Bourbon back into a 5l barrel...then I guess you could age it.

 

[jeffturneraz]

Once liquor has been bottled it doesn't really age anymore. A bottle of 20 year old Scotch was bottled after it was in the barrel for 20 years. 10 years later it's still a 20 year old Scotch. Unless you're talking about putting 5 liters of Bourbon back into a 5l barrel...then I guess you could age it.

I think he is referring to the aging kits you can buy.

If so, as far as Bourbon goes you will want white bourbon such as Buffalo Trace White Dog. ----> HERE

 

[jeffturneraz]

Example of an aging kit

 

[Sirspanksalot]

Does that actually work well jeff? Seems like something cool to try just to see how it'd affect the taste.

 

[hogfarmer]

These do work. I have some Woodinville from a couple years ago that is remarkably good. Got the kit for christmas. The small barrel seems to work faster than a full barrel does.

 

[jeffturneraz]

Does that actually work well jeff? Seems like something cool to try just to see how it'd affect the taste.

I have never done it but knowing bourbon it definitely would work.

Because the barrel is much smaller, it ages much faster, you could pull it for drinking after probably 3 months or you could wait more.

Here is a short video on the kit I posted above.


[video=youtube;AMqAunLew2w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqAunLew2w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqAunLew2w[/video]

 

[Martin3203]

You guys are killing me. I'm not a big bourbon drinker but it would be cool to do this and see the difference as it ages.

 

[Sirspanksalot]

Bourbon isn't my thing either, but I'll be drinking for science lol

 

[Cigary43]

How about just buying the aged libation...am I underthinking this? I like a lot of different spirits...tequila, bourbon, scotch, gin, etc. and I've had spirits that were really aged and some that weren't. I can attest to the aging process and how much better it tastes but my wallet tends to whine like a beotch...

 

[DJSkopes]

Bourbon isn't my thing either, but I'll be drinking for science lol

Well for the good of science....I'm going to try it!

Good to know about the larger barrels. Maybe I'll start small.

 

[javajunkie]

realistically, wouldn't lack of exposure to the elements really limit how these age? rack houses are really just big damn secure sheds, and the summer and winter conditions, how it heats and cools, expanding into and washing out of the wood grain, the location within the rack house, airflow through the facility, all affect the final product. having tasted from barrels, same age and spirit, from differing parts of the aging warehouse, it can and will make a difference.

and NOT trying to diminish this, it sounds cool as shit! there are just more factors involved than "set it and forget it". maybe drop one in the attic, one on the basement, and compare at a set time?

 

[MoldMan]

The surface contact on a small barrel is larger per volume than a larger barrel. The staves of the smaller barrel are also thinner than a larger barrel so air transfer is faster and the barrel breaths more causing oxidation. Evaporation is faster (angels share) due to the thinner staves as well. All this means is that ageing is faster in a smaller barrel as the toast level, oxidation and evaporation impact flavor faster than the big boys. In a 1 to 5 liter barrel I would be hesitant to try long term ageing due to losses from evaporation and over oaking. It would be a fun project though.

 

[javajunkie]

cool! still think doing a matched pair, stored in different locations, would yeild interesting results, but i never really factored the reduced size fully into the equation.

 

[Hoshneer]

I know it helps a lot when you distill your own alcohol. I am not sure how it helps with already aged alcohol. Give us some input when you do it.

 

[sean]

My buddy tossed Old Grandad in one of those for six months. Came out drinkable.

Edit: and I don't like bourbon one bit. Too sugary. I can only seem to enjoy Irish whiskey and Scotch.

 

[d-boy]

My partner in my development gives those things out to his clients all the time. I'll see if I can grab a few from him and share them with my "clients" lol.

 

[Jfire]

I was bored one night and did some reading on some of the major bourbon online communities. Saying that anything below the 55 gallon has been tried by a few of the major distilleries. And after 12-18 months the barrels were no longer palatable.... They even tried a 30 gallon barrel and still had poor results..... That's at least what I read. Can u drink the stuff? Sure but I'd rather pay 20-30 for a ton of others. Than stomach thru this "project" bourbon.....

 

[UnBanded]

Any updates? I'm going to try this a Fall using an uncut grape base spirit.

 

[DJSkopes]

Update: It's a fun experiment. But the effort may not be worth it for some. The char on the inside of the smaller barrels imparts a heavy smoke flavor pretty quickly. Leaving the bourbon in the casks for 2-3 weeks turned up the smokiness quite a bit. I have been reading that many guys will use a few runs of lower quality bourbon to "wash" some of that smoke out in order to get the caramel and vanilla to impart easier. I am still planning on mixing my own Pappy. Just have to get my hands on some Antique!