I had a rare opportunity two weeks ago to see the impact of age on an open bottle. Two years ago, my daughter and son-in-law gave me a bottle of Blanton’s bottled in 2019. They purchased a bottle at the same time from the same barrel (it was a store pick). They opened theirs immediately and drank half in the last two years. We were visiting them and opened mine two weeks ago and could compare them side by side. Dramatic difference. The long opened bottle had lost a lot of what it originally was.
I'm 65 years old and my grandfather made his own whiskey and as he drank his he would replace what he would drink it he would drop cleaned marbles into the jug to displace the empty part, from what I learned I started to do the same thing with the whiskey I was buying. Most of the time each shot I took 5 marbles would cover the liquid that was taken from the bottle and it worked,, looked pretty cool too if you used mixed colored marbles. Hey just passing along a moonshiners trick. He told me a good river rock boiled in clean water with a little oak that had been burns a little worked good too and would brown the shine almost like store whiskey. Oh he also showed me how to add different things for different flavors like candies and fruits and also putting nuts like pistachios and walnuts. But I digress.
I use wine preserver on bottles I don't drink often and have had great success. One spray and a layer is blocking the oxygen for the spirit. Results- Cheap bottle of wine in perfect condition 3 weeks later. Twenty one year old Balvenie scotch purchased in 2022 still going strong 1/3 left.
I have a Blantons from 2015 (opened about 7 years ago) that only has 1/4 left in it. I don't think that my pallet is refined enough to taste that small of a difference. I also suspect a lot of other average whiskey folk would not detect any difference either. Just my guess...
Try a blind taste. I did one with two identical Bowmore 18 year old. One opened for 1.5 years (1/3 left), and the other just opened for comparison. The blind tasting was eye-opening. They were two different whiskies. Although I enjoyed both, the older one was definitely tasting "flat." I have since transfer to 1/2 then to 1/4 bottle as I drain the whiskies, especially the top-shelf ones.
Man I really enjoy your channel... I watch all the other guys and you are by far my top watch. You give more content and leave out all of the silliness. Great job dude!!! Keep up the great work.
I didn't read through all the comments, so someone may have already mentioned this, but an infinity bottle can also be an effective and fun way to deal with bottles that get low. I bought a fancy decanter on Amazon, and a nice leatherbound logbook. When I add whiskey to my bottle, I record what it was, the date, how much I added, and the proof. This is typically the whiskey I use for cocktails. The bottle started with a bottom shelfer (Old Grandad). Typically, whiskies I didn't care for much get added much sooner than ones I liked and drank down farther. It's fun to sip some once in awhile and look at what's in there.
Makes perfect sense (and possibly explain the neck-pour variability theory!) It would be very interesting to test and compare the proof of both bottles!! 🤔🤔
I'm a big fan of going to 375ml or 200 ml bottles once you get past half way. Plus it saves a lot of shelf space. Just remember to label them. If you are storing an open bottle with a cork for more than a few months, it's also a good habit to either parafilm or masking tape the seal. The more airtight you can make that seal, the better.
Definitely a video for me and others like me who buy em, try em and hide em like only to circle back after a dry phase of nothing new that peaks interest to buy 🥃
My oldest bottle is ECBP C921, I couldn't tell you if it tastes different today than it did the day I opened it, I just know it is amazing. It probably has changed, but as long as it still tastes good, I don't really care. Good whiskey is probably always going to taste good as long as you store it properly.
Great video! Coincidentally was sipping a b520 which is my favorite as well. Had been nursing my last bottle, but found 2 more sitting in a store over the weekend
Nice find! I also have found a couple B520’s in past 3 months. Very strange that it’s the only older batch I’ve found recently, I think they put out more of them than other batches.
@@venomous1071 good call. About a year ago I found 3 at a Kroger grocery store priced at the old price here of $59.99 and I passed on it because I was in a rush and it was behind a locked cabinet. Went back the next day and they were gone. Oops
Great video.. I have about 75 open bottles and def have some of my favs open for years and really have never had any problems. Slight changes but nothing bad.
This was one of our favorites videos Jason. Such good content. I used to make fun of my husband for worrying about having too many bottles open. Now we know how to protect the whiskey. Cheers 🥃
Jason is flat wrong here that alcohol is decreasing in that liquid to any significant degree. Lobe this channel but I’m not going to accept such a theory that defies logic of liquid to gas and volume properties. No the bourbon isn’t even losing 1 point of proof unless your cork is leaking air
Fascinating stuff. Things I never really thought about, but have been in recesses of my mind, nonetheless. Might explain why there have been instances where I loved a first pour, but was not sure why I loved it so much once I poured it again some time later. But we're not talking years... more like weeks - months, at most.
I just obtained 13 bottles of a mix of non age stated, 8 and 10 year Jim Beam decanter bottles dated between 1975-1982. (the glass ones, not the ceramic) Most had been opened for what looked like many years but were still almost full. I decanted each one to inspect. 2 were cloudy which meant they were NG. The rest, to my surprise, were not only very clear with very little evaporation but the best part is that upon tasting, they were simply bursting with flavor!
depends on the cork, but if you really concerned that special bottle does not go bad, you can use Parafilm around the cork to help seal it up air tight. Apply the parafilm by lightly stretching it around the cork to make air tight seal.
Unless the cork is defective the bottle is airtight, if not the bourbon would ruin in a day. Try this, leave a pour of bourbon out for about 12-16 hours and tell me what happens
In almost every whiskey I ever had, can taste a big difference in a bottle, even after a just a cpl weeks. Mostly that it lost a lot of kick/bite/spice that I really like. So, whenever I open a new bottle, it immediately gets poured into a bunch of smaller bottles of different sizes (50-375mL). The bottles have air tight screw caps, which are much better for keeping whiskey than a cork. Corks are porous, so even your new bottle with a sealed top, will change, though a lot more slowly. If you want to preserve your whiskey's original taste, when you get it home, immediately transfer it to a bottle with a screw top.
Great video! Makes a lot of sense to me! I don’t have any cool empty bottles for display but If I did I would just fill it up with an inexpensive bottle and keep on display.
Great video Jason. I found single malt scotch especially sherry bombs like my favorite Glendronach changes in about 7-8 months. Loses ABV and the loses some sherry favor.
if i got something i want to save i just go with the putting it in smaller bottles it's always worked just fine for me but honestly probably 90% of my open bottles i usually drink within 6 months or less if i notice a particular bottle is getting low i just finish it off usually with the help of some friends. Occasionally if a got a few low bottles i invite people over for a bottle kill night and polish of several in a evening . if it a bottle i know i probably can't ever realistically replace i put some in a smaller bottle and set it aside for a special occasion.
I once saw a TH-camr add marbles to their whiskey bottle that was less than 50% full. The idea was to add volume and limit open space/oxygen while keeping the same bottle. Seemed pretty silly to me but I guess it would work? Moving the whiskey to a smaller bottle seems more practical.
Great video and it re enforces what I've heard before. And of course the gems will be from the subscribers below on the comment section. Experience speaks. I like the "drink it and share it". Cheers.
Gassing really good bottles with nitrogen once they go below half full works great. When it's just a daily drinker, finish the bottle faster. I also do things like keep a forever handle of Wild Turkey 101 for cocktails. Once a bottle gets below a third full, it gets dumped into the handle.
I had a house warming in '83 and bought a load of drinks including a bottle of Jim Beam. Not much of this was drunk and afterwards I very rarely drank it, preferring Scotch. Eventually it got drunk, the last taste being 4 years ago when it was 36 years old. To my taste it had altered very little.
I've been gassing my bottles with 100% Argon for three years now and with stellar results. They stay fresh and it does not change the flavor whatsoever. What i will say though is, if you forget to gas a bottle once after its been gassed for a long period, the whiskey changes as fast as it does in a glass it seems. So i highly recommend it as long as you stay consistent with it.
@@jasono.1629 I've been doing the exact same thing as Matt for a few years using the gas shown in the video. I start adding gas at 50% using the instructions on the back of the gas container. I do it only when I pour from the bottle. Once the bottle gets past approx the 1/6 full mark, I really try to finish it within a month. The gas helps, but it isn't a miracle worker when the bottle is near empty.
Alcohol evaporates pretty quickly. So it's reasonable to keep the bottle sealed as much as possible and to have as less as possible empty space in a bottle, so alcohol wouldn't have anywhere to evaporate. My long living bottles are all nearly 60% ABV, therefore I don't care for a little loss of alcohol content. If it's really that important, keep your long living bottle in a set of smaller bottles once you opened it. That should keep it alive till the very end. Also proper storage helps. Although a result of inappropriate storage can surprise you. For example if you like roasted popcorn with honey, leave a Maker's Mark in a trunk of your car for a couple months on a hot summer. I do it every year 8)))
Awesome video and info Jay!!! My EC C919 I've been taking short pours cuz it's my favorite😂 and for some reason I can't find them😂😂... Cheers Jay!!! Ohhh our birthday coming bro... I'm July 8✌
When you transfer the whiskey to a new bottle it can become aerated introducing oxygen and reducing the alcohol content. It is better to not let the bourbon glug...glug into the smaller bottle, but rather gently flow by tilting the both bottles.
Good tips! For my most prized opened bottles that I want to prolong, I use argon gas with paraffin tape around the stopper. I also keep them all in cool, dark storage even before they're opened!
I love that Elijah Craig! One of my favs for making an old fashioned!!!! First time watching your channel... thanks for the content and I look forward to more content!!!! What about making an Infinity Bottle????
100% agree, and im pretty sure that storage temperature is going to effect it quite a bit even if it doesnt explode as it would change how much moisture/alcohol/VOC's would be evaporated into the head space that gets released on opening. id be curious to see someone actually capture the vapor and test it to see what its composition is and which vocs are there and which non volatiles are staying suspended in the liquid.
My only experience of gassing alcohol was a Coravin which is supposed to be the best way of sampling wine without opening it. Rules for storing whiskey and wine are nearly the same except for bottle orientation of a wine stoppered with a cork. However once the cork is pierced/bottle opened oxygen will find a way in and it is a race between drinking it and it going off. Gassing it just slows this down, hopefully enough to enjoy with friends over the next year or so, I also saw a whiskey collection in Edinburgh that all bottles were supposedly still sealed but there still was volume loss in many bottles to the point that you thought the collector had been tasting his collection.
I have all of my bourbon up in my room. It gets a bit warm in there during the summer but I've never noticed a difference as I keep the bottles out of direct sunlight. I feel the bottles and they tend to get warm to but not hot. I tend to flip the 40 some bottles I have to wet the cork and (hopefully) suck whatever is in that headspace back into the whiskey. Hopefully my efforts aren't futile
I was recently thinking about this. I have a few opened bottles: Johnnie Walker Black: opened 2017 Johnnie Walker Blue: opened 2016 Glenlivet 18 year: opened 2014 Can't really say I notice much difference if any. I would like to open new bottles of the same, but who knows how long they'll be open for before I get to them...
What’s your opinion of flipping bottles periodically to moisten the cork? I’m talking about once or twice a year for a few minutes. I’ve seen a lot of old still-sealed bottles where much of the whiskey has evaporated. I’m assuming that’s due to the cork shrinking and letting air in.
Yeah I do like to flip my bottle for barrel proof to let anything that may have settled to the bottom work it's way through the rest of the bottle. I honestly don't know if it does anything but my brain thinks it does. Lol.
The inert wine preserver gas works just fine. I have 300 ish bottles and they are fine. Once they are down to 3/4th then better to consume within a year. I also put a parafilm around the cork to make it air tight, just what they do on new bottles.
2 short stories. First bottle of Laphroaig I ever bought did not taste good to me at all. I put it away after 1 taste and did not revisit it for 5 years. It was better but still not my preference. 5 more years and I loved it. So did the bottle change or my pallet? Told my best drinking buddy about this and he had a fresh bottle, it tasted exactly like my 10 year old bottle. So properly stored and with minimal air space the whisky was unchanged. Second, I bought an open bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch when they still had the 12 year age statement on the label from my niece. Used it to compare with the non-age statement ECSB. Unfortunately, let it sit too low for too long and the cork shrank letting in even more air. It turned a bad color, had sediment and smelled awful. I didn't even taste it, drain pour. Should have decanted into a small bottle. I've used both argon for a relatively full bottle and decanting into a smaller bottle with great success.
My house doesn't have central air so i worry about the summer heat. i'm thinking about moving my really good bottles to a better location or all of them not sure. Great video thanks!
If you are worried about evaporated alcohol escaping, can't you just flip the bottle upside down to reincorporate the evaporated alcohol into the liquid before pulling out the cork?
Hey Jason, Thanks for discussing open bottle storage - very relevant to many of us. I take issue with 2 (okay, maybe 3) things you said- 1. Your discussion was not very technical or scientific (where is the chemistry/ chemical analysis data) to back up your assertions of alcohol loss vs. oxidative/ hydrolytic degradation, or the interplay of the two to change the organoleptic properties of the bottle contents. 2. Just b/c the barrel is highly oxidized, doesnt mean the extracted compounds in the bottled whiskey cant continue to oxidize further when in contact with air/ O2. 3. You state that the main thing is alcohol loss, but then allude to other potential changes as real too. & you used a good test, but a small sample size (relative to your collection😀) & subjective taste and smell test to back up your hypothesis. However, Even the bottle change-over solution affects or addresses both degradation mechanisms. I think there are both short term and long term changes to whiskey, with multiple degradation pathways, but alas i don’t own a LC-MS. Please talk to some of the Master distillers and whiskey chemists you may have been introduced to over the years, and invite them to do a deep dive (And REALLY NERD-Out) on your show to share what they know about the whiskey aging process and chemistry of whiskey degradation. ATB,
yeah I did ALOT of research. the point about barrel char and oxidation and the other points of possible points if oxidizing did come from a master distiller. I can probably do an episode for 45 minutes on this subject but like everything else ..there are varying opinions. I can only tell you what's worked for me and what I've experienced.
@@TheMashandDrum master distillers are likely chemical engineers, or process engineers, but not usually chemists. I thought there were a few who were also whiskey chemists by training, e.g. John Rempe, and perhaps one of the women MD for a big name brand like Michter’s, or other (i forgot). Oh, bet Nancy Freely knows the chemical details of her art, too! Check with those guys if it’s ever something you want to do another video on again, in any case.
Interesting. My Old Carter got better after 8 months on the shelf after opening, but I’m more of a Wheater, so I didn’t miss the burn at all. I’ll have to be careful when my open bottles approach a year. 👍
@@henrycervantezzz5566 😅😅😂…whelp. Here is where you are super wrong. Had a number of bottles. Great when they age sources high age product. Now, they just overcharge for a NAS product that is blended like anyone else. Except, suckers are willing to fork over 60-70.00 a year for it. 😅😅😂😂😂😅😅….no sir. Not me. I stand by my statement. Decent wwwwaaaaayyyy overpriced juice at best. But hey, some ppl like to get taken advantage of so they can flex on the gram to non-educated ppl. To each their own
@@grc2158 - Putting whiskey in smaller bottles as the bottle gets low in the original bottle is the answer to the first part . Soaking your corks is where a select group of this community thinks it is necessary to lay their bottles on their sides and let the whiskey soak into the cork for many hours . I have even seen people do this for days at a time . As Jason mentioned , this is a very bad idea . Can ruin your cork and your whiskey all at the same time .
thanks for the video :) I just ordered a 12 pack of boston round 8 oz bottles for 20 bucks. I'ma start a sample bottle collection and its gunna look all handlabeled and shitty and old timey. Preserve the whisky, and also have a collection for A/B comparisons with future purchases n whatnot
If the problem is alcohol vapors leaving when you open the bottle, could the degradation be partially prevented with a little roll around of the bottle before opening to remix things?
Gassing won’t hurt the flavor of the whisky. I have been using it in wine and whisky for years. The nitrogen and argon are inert. They won’t react with the whisky.
I love that small bottle idea. I've got a couple unicorns I got in a raffle that I drink very sparingly since I'll likely never get them again (until the bubble finally bursts). And since they're in my basement hidden storage it doesn't matter what container they're in.
It still matters even if stored in dark cool place. Like he said, the alcohol evaporates and fills the empty space. So just because its stored in a cool dark place, doesnt mean its not still evaporating. Just not as much as if on a shelf or something that gets sunlight in a warm room. Your best bet is to transfer to smaller bottles
I much prefer the gas method to moving the whisky to a smaller bottle. Gas won’t make it bulletproof, but it does make a very noticeable difference. The gas method is also used by winemakers in production. The gasses are lighter than the wine but heavier than air, so they will pump the gas into the tank near the bottom, and it will rise through the wine and form a blanket on top of the wine, which forms a barrier between the wine and oxygen. Moving whisky into a smaller bottle certainly achieves the desired effect, but the issue arises with the transfer itself. You create a lot of unnecessary exposure to oxygen when you decant from one bottle to another. Though it is a short amount of time, the amount of surface area exposed to oxygen during that process is massive.
I prefer it over pouring into another bottle but technically gasses mix regardless of density which is why putting other gases in the bottle is not bulletproof.
Awesome video. I haven't searched through all the comments, but has anyone tried a wine preserver top that allows you to pull the air out of the bottle sealing it up? This would have less oxygen in the bottle to interact with the whiskey. They are also pretty cheap and available. Thanks!
Not good for long-term whisky storage. The rubber stoppers will eventually leak and break the vacuum. So unless you want to re-pump them every couple weeks, they aren’t a good solution.
Mine lasts depending on the day I open it...if I open it Friday or Saturday, it last until Sunday...if I open it Monday...it lasts until Monday even...
I had a rare opportunity two weeks ago to see the impact of age on an open bottle. Two years ago, my daughter and son-in-law gave me a bottle of Blanton’s bottled in 2019. They purchased a bottle at the same time from the same barrel (it was a store pick). They opened theirs immediately and drank half in the last two years. We were visiting them and opened mine two weeks ago and could compare them side by side. Dramatic difference. The long opened bottle had lost a lot of what it originally was.
I've noticed that Blanton's changes its flavor for the negative after 8-10 months opened.
I'm 65 years old and my grandfather made his own whiskey and as he drank his he would replace what he would drink it he would drop cleaned marbles into the jug to displace the empty part, from what I learned I started to do the same thing with the whiskey I was buying. Most of the time each shot I took 5 marbles would cover the liquid that was taken from the bottle and it worked,, looked pretty cool too if you used mixed colored marbles. Hey just passing along a moonshiners trick. He told me a good river rock boiled in clean water with a little oak that had been burns a little worked good too and would brown the shine almost like store whiskey. Oh he also showed me how to add different things for different flavors like candies and fruits and also putting nuts like pistachios and walnuts. But I digress.
WHAT?!!!!🤯🤯🤯
Bourbon at it's core is good materials sourcing and good chemistry. Love this episode!
I use wine preserver on bottles I don't drink often and have had great success. One spray and a layer is blocking the oxygen for the spirit.
Results- Cheap bottle of wine in perfect condition 3 weeks later. Twenty one year old Balvenie scotch purchased in 2022 still going strong 1/3 left.
I have a Blantons from 2015 (opened about 7 years ago) that only has 1/4 left in it. I don't think that my pallet is refined enough to taste that small of a difference. I also suspect a lot of other average whiskey folk would not detect any difference either. Just my guess...
Try a blind taste. I did one with two identical Bowmore 18 year old. One opened for 1.5 years (1/3 left), and the other just opened for comparison. The blind tasting was eye-opening. They were two different whiskies. Although I enjoyed both, the older one was definitely tasting "flat."
I have since transfer to 1/2 then to 1/4 bottle as I drain the whiskies, especially the top-shelf ones.
At last count I have 153 bottles on the shelf and all but about 10 of them are open, so this was reasonably encouraging. Thanks Jason!
How many do you have in your Ferrari?
@@FakingANerve One in the Ferrari, three in the Lamborghini. Lol.
Man I really enjoy your channel... I watch all the other guys and you are by far my top watch. You give more content and leave out all of the silliness. Great job dude!!! Keep up the great work.
Appreciate that man. Cheers!
I didn't read through all the comments, so someone may have already mentioned this, but an infinity bottle can also be an effective and fun way to deal with bottles that get low. I bought a fancy decanter on Amazon, and a nice leatherbound logbook. When I add whiskey to my bottle, I record what it was, the date, how much I added, and the proof. This is typically the whiskey I use for cocktails. The bottle started with a bottom shelfer (Old Grandad). Typically, whiskies I didn't care for much get added much sooner than ones I liked and drank down farther. It's fun to sip some once in awhile and look at what's in there.
Makes perfect sense (and possibly explain the neck-pour variability theory!) It would be very interesting to test and compare the proof of both bottles!! 🤔🤔
As always… straight to the point and a lot of valuable information. Thanks, my friend.
Out of all the various Bourbon and Scotch Whiskey channels, Jason wins the Bloodhound nose award hands down.
I'm a big fan of going to 375ml or 200 ml bottles once you get past half way. Plus it saves a lot of shelf space. Just remember to label them.
If you are storing an open bottle with a cork for more than a few months, it's also a good habit to either parafilm or masking tape the seal. The more airtight you can make that seal, the better.
Yep, I have 2oz bottles that I’ll put the remainder in, but I’m thinking of going 4oz bottles or bigger.
4 days !! 😅😅😊
Definitely a video for me and others like me who buy em, try em and hide em like only to circle back after a dry phase of nothing new that peaks interest to buy 🥃
My oldest bottle is ECBP C921, I couldn't tell you if it tastes different today than it did the day I opened it, I just know it is amazing. It probably has changed, but as long as it still tastes good, I don't really care.
Good whiskey is probably always going to taste good as long as you store it properly.
Great video! Coincidentally was sipping a b520 which is my favorite as well. Had been nursing my last bottle, but found 2 more sitting in a store over the weekend
B520 is one of my favorite whiskies ever. Glad to have two bunkered away. Haven’t seen it since
Nice find! I also have found a couple B520’s in past 3 months. Very strange that it’s the only older batch I’ve found recently, I think they put out more of them than other batches.
Had 3 bunkered found 4 sitting full of dust at a liquor store .I couldn’t bare seeing all dusty 😂 so I gave them a new home
@@venomous1071 good call. About a year ago I found 3 at a Kroger grocery store priced at the old price here of $59.99 and I passed on it because I was in a rush and it was behind a locked cabinet. Went back the next day and they were gone. Oops
Great video.. I have about 75 open bottles and def have some of my favs open for years and really have never had any problems. Slight changes but nothing bad.
Wow... 75 open bottles! I'd love to help you finish some up so they don't go bad 😉.
I haven't had a bottle last 2 months, let alone 2 years but I love the info. Thanks
This was one of our favorites videos Jason. Such good content. I used to make fun of my husband for worrying about having too many bottles open. Now we know how to protect the whiskey. Cheers 🥃
Jason is flat wrong here that alcohol is decreasing in that liquid to any significant degree. Lobe this channel but I’m not going to accept such a theory that defies logic of liquid to gas and volume properties. No the bourbon isn’t even losing 1 point of proof unless your cork is leaking air
This video has made me feel much better, thank you 😊
ECBP B520...by far the best Whiskey over bottled. I have been screaming this for a couple of years.
Fascinating stuff. Things I never really thought about, but have been in recesses of my mind, nonetheless. Might explain why there have been instances where I loved a first pour, but was not sure why I loved it so much once I poured it again some time later. But we're not talking years... more like weeks - months, at most.
I just obtained 13 bottles of a mix of non age stated, 8 and 10 year Jim Beam decanter bottles dated between 1975-1982. (the glass ones, not the ceramic) Most had been opened for what looked like many years but were still almost full. I decanted each one to inspect. 2 were cloudy which meant they were NG. The rest, to my surprise, were not only very clear with very little evaporation but the best part is that upon tasting, they were simply bursting with flavor!
those mid 70s to mid 80s bourbons from beam are magical.
Paint my curiosity bright, this sounds really neat! If it isn't an industry secret, I would love to hear how this came about. Either way, cheers!
this video was not meant for me,that said ,it was one of your best and enjoyable
Thanks Jason. Great video and info
depends on the cork, but if you really concerned that special bottle does not go bad, you can use Parafilm around the cork to help seal it up air tight. Apply the parafilm by lightly stretching it around the cork to make air tight seal.
Unless the cork is defective the bottle is airtight, if not the bourbon would ruin in a day. Try this, leave a pour of bourbon out for about 12-16 hours and tell me what happens
Nice job Jay!
Great video. Awesome job Jason
I was honestly thinking about this very issue today. Thanks for the great info, Jason. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the tips
Great video! I'll now have the lobby song stuck in my head the rest of the day 🤣🥃
Extremely interesting. Thanks.
In almost every whiskey I ever had, can taste a big difference in a bottle, even after a just a cpl weeks. Mostly that it lost a lot of kick/bite/spice that I really like. So, whenever I open a new bottle, it immediately gets poured into a bunch of smaller bottles of different sizes (50-375mL). The bottles have air tight screw caps, which are much better for keeping whiskey than a cork. Corks are porous, so even your new bottle with a sealed top, will change, though a lot more slowly. If you want to preserve your whiskey's original taste, when you get it home, immediately transfer it to a bottle with a screw top.
Great job J. Cheers!
Great job! Thank you very much!
Great video! Makes a lot of sense to me! I don’t have any cool empty bottles for display but If I did I would just fill it up with an inexpensive bottle and keep on display.
As someone who really savours hard to find (in U.K.) bottles this was very useful, thank you
6:30 glad you caught that because I paused for a sec and thought “did he just say ‘three yezz’?” 😂
hahaha.
Excellent topic that needed to be addressed! Great job as always!
Thanks for this video, it's something a lot of us probably don't think about. I'm still holding on to the last of my B520 as well (no backup bottle)
I’m stoked I grabbed a back up of B520. Still my favorite pour I’ve had to this day :)
Great info
Great video could all that explain the neck pour
You are killing me with the first 2 bottles. Those are favorites of mine. Cheers!
Great video Jason. I found single malt scotch especially sherry bombs like my favorite Glendronach changes in about 7-8 months. Loses ABV and the loses some sherry favor.
Great video. Thanks so much for this
Si, great content as always!
if i got something i want to save i just go with the putting it in smaller bottles it's always worked just fine for me but honestly probably 90% of my open bottles i usually drink within 6 months or less if i notice a particular bottle is getting low i just finish it off usually with the help of some friends. Occasionally if a got a few low bottles i invite people over for a bottle kill night and polish of several in a evening . if it a bottle i know i probably can't ever realistically replace i put some in a smaller bottle and set it aside for a special occasion.
Very informative, thank you
I once saw a TH-camr add marbles to their whiskey bottle that was less than 50% full. The idea was to add volume and limit open space/oxygen while keeping the same bottle. Seemed pretty silly to me but I guess it would work? Moving the whiskey to a smaller bottle seems more practical.
Finally, a reasonable use for whiskey stones?
@@coby3357 those Whiskey stones suck. I was so unhappy the first time I used them I took them back and I almost never return anything
That is a Tequila trick
Awesome video. Thanks for bringing a reasonable explanation to how bottles “open up”.
Great video and it re enforces what I've heard before. And of course the gems will be from the subscribers below on the comment section. Experience speaks. I like the "drink it and share it". Cheers.
Another great video. Once again this really helps me.. help customers. Thanks
Nice video cheers!
Appreciate this video.
What about a bourbon infinity bottle?
I've got 2 different blends and both taste great.
that's a great way to save some bourbon as well. especially if you're not crazy about it.
lol..great video...informational...humorous....👍
if you would...check out Rough Rider " the happy warrior " bourbon from Long Island Spirits distillery....114 proof..great flavors
Gassing really good bottles with nitrogen once they go below half full works great. When it's just a daily drinker, finish the bottle faster. I also do things like keep a forever handle of Wild Turkey 101 for cocktails. Once a bottle gets below a third full, it gets dumped into the handle.
I had a house warming in '83 and bought a load of drinks including a bottle of Jim Beam. Not much of this was drunk and afterwards I very rarely drank it, preferring Scotch. Eventually it got drunk, the last taste being 4 years ago when it was 36 years old. To my taste it had altered very little.
Jim Beam merely went from generic to mey, in the 36 years. So, yah, it probably didn't make much difference. 😂
Great video Jason🥃
Nice music my friend!! Good video too, Ha!!
I've been gassing my bottles with 100% Argon for three years now and with stellar results. They stay fresh and it does not change the flavor whatsoever. What i will say though is, if you forget to gas a bottle once after its been gassed for a long period, the whiskey changes as fast as it does in a glass it seems. So i highly recommend it as long as you stay consistent with it.
thanks for the info. I will have to try it over a long period of time to see how it works.
@@TheMashandDrum i use ArT Wine Preserver. Super cheap and effective.
@@DMBVR4 thanks for the info again. I may order some. Thanks for the comment and being helpful to other comment readers. Cheers!
How often do you suggest gassing a bottle that’s 1/2 full? Just whenever you open it to drink from? Or more often? Thank you for sharing.
@@jasono.1629 I've been doing the exact same thing as Matt for a few years using the gas shown in the video. I start adding gas at 50% using the instructions on the back of the gas container. I do it only when I pour from the bottle. Once the bottle gets past approx the 1/6 full mark, I really try to finish it within a month. The gas helps, but it isn't a miracle worker when the bottle is near empty.
I stole dads open 78’ bib Jim beam in 1993 for New Year’s Eve and it was wonderful 👍
Thank you so much for this video! Very informative and needed.Cheers!
Drink your whiskey, and wear your watches.
I use clear glass 1/2 inch marbles to take up the space in the bottle maintaining the head space in the neck.
so yes ..I heard about this solution in the comments. going to try it out.
Alcohol evaporates pretty quickly. So it's reasonable to keep the bottle sealed as much as possible and to have as less as possible empty space in a bottle, so alcohol wouldn't have anywhere to evaporate.
My long living bottles are all nearly 60% ABV, therefore I don't care for a little loss of alcohol content. If it's really that important, keep your long living bottle in a set of smaller bottles once you opened it. That should keep it alive till the very end.
Also proper storage helps. Although a result of inappropriate storage can surprise you. For example if you like roasted popcorn with honey, leave a Maker's Mark in a trunk of your car for a couple months on a hot summer. I do it every year 8)))
Great video!
Awesome video and info Jay!!!
My EC C919 I've been taking short pours cuz it's my favorite😂 and for some reason I can't find them😂😂... Cheers Jay!!!
Ohhh our birthday coming bro... I'm July 8✌
When you transfer the whiskey to a new bottle it can become aerated introducing oxygen and reducing the alcohol content. It is better to not let the bourbon glug...glug into the smaller bottle, but rather gently flow by tilting the both bottles.
If you try it both ways, side by side, you will NOT detect a difference.
@@utoobia Initially you might not, but over time you WILL. Its a combination of oxidation and the amount of alcohol that escapes in the process.
Good tips! For my most prized opened bottles that I want to prolong, I use argon gas with paraffin tape around the stopper. I also keep them all in cool, dark storage even before they're opened!
I love that Elijah Craig! One of my favs for making an old fashioned!!!! First time watching your channel... thanks for the content and I look forward to more content!!!! What about making an Infinity Bottle????
100% agree, and im pretty sure that storage temperature is going to effect it quite a bit even if it doesnt explode as it would change how much moisture/alcohol/VOC's would be evaporated into the head space that gets released on opening.
id be curious to see someone actually capture the vapor and test it to see what its composition is and which vocs are there and which non volatiles are staying suspended in the liquid.
@mywhiskeylab we need you!
Love the subtle mastodon reference
Exactly
Can take the Jason out of New York, but you can't take the New York out of Jason!
My only experience of gassing alcohol was a Coravin which is supposed to be the best way of sampling wine without opening it. Rules for storing whiskey and wine are nearly the same except for bottle orientation of a wine stoppered with a cork. However once the cork is pierced/bottle opened oxygen will find a way in and it is a race between drinking it and it going off. Gassing it just slows this down, hopefully enough to enjoy with friends over the next year or so,
I also saw a whiskey collection in Edinburgh that all bottles were supposedly still sealed but there still was volume loss in many bottles to the point that you thought the collector had been tasting his collection.
I have all of my bourbon up in my room. It gets a bit warm in there during the summer but I've never noticed a difference as I keep the bottles out of direct sunlight. I feel the bottles and they tend to get warm to but not hot. I tend to flip the 40 some bottles I have to wet the cork and (hopefully) suck whatever is in that headspace back into the whiskey. Hopefully my efforts aren't futile
Love that hat! are you in Atlanta? cheers
I was recently thinking about this. I have a few opened bottles:
Johnnie Walker Black: opened 2017
Johnnie Walker Blue: opened 2016
Glenlivet 18 year: opened 2014
Can't really say I notice much difference if any. I would like to open new bottles of the same, but who knows how long they'll be open for before I get to them...
What’s your opinion of flipping bottles periodically to moisten the cork? I’m talking about once or twice a year for a few minutes. I’ve seen a lot of old still-sealed bottles where much of the whiskey has evaporated. I’m assuming that’s due to the cork shrinking and letting air in.
Yeah I do like to flip my bottle for barrel proof to let anything that may have settled to the bottom work it's way through the rest of the bottle. I honestly don't know if it does anything but my brain thinks it does. Lol.
The inert wine preserver gas works just fine. I have 300 ish bottles and they are fine. Once they are down to 3/4th then better to consume within a year. I also put a parafilm around the cork to make it air tight, just what they do on new bottles.
2 short stories. First bottle of Laphroaig I ever bought did not taste good to me at all. I put it away after 1 taste and did not revisit it for 5 years. It was better but still not my preference. 5 more years and I loved it. So did the bottle change or my pallet? Told my best drinking buddy about this and he had a fresh bottle, it tasted exactly like my 10 year old bottle. So properly stored and with minimal air space the whisky was unchanged. Second, I bought an open bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch when they still had the 12 year age statement on the label from my niece. Used it to compare with the non-age statement ECSB. Unfortunately, let it sit too low for too long and the cork shrank letting in even more air. It turned a bad color, had sediment and smelled awful. I didn't even taste it, drain pour. Should have decanted into a small bottle.
I've used both argon for a relatively full bottle and decanting into a smaller bottle with great success.
My house doesn't have central air so i worry about the summer heat. i'm thinking about moving my really good bottles to a better location or all of them not sure. Great video thanks!
If you are worried about evaporated alcohol escaping, can't you just flip the bottle upside down to reincorporate the evaporated alcohol into the liquid before pulling out the cork?
Hey Jason,
Thanks for discussing open bottle storage - very relevant to many of us. I take issue with 2 (okay, maybe 3) things you said- 1. Your discussion was not very technical or scientific (where is the chemistry/ chemical analysis data) to back up your assertions of alcohol loss vs. oxidative/ hydrolytic degradation, or the interplay of the two to change the organoleptic properties of the bottle contents.
2. Just b/c the barrel is highly oxidized, doesnt mean the extracted compounds in the bottled whiskey cant continue to oxidize further when in contact with air/ O2. 3. You state that the main thing is alcohol loss, but then allude to other potential changes as real too. & you used a good test, but a small sample size (relative to your collection😀) & subjective taste and smell test to back up your hypothesis. However, Even the bottle change-over solution affects or addresses both degradation mechanisms.
I think there are both short term and long term changes to whiskey, with multiple degradation pathways, but alas i don’t own a LC-MS. Please talk to some of the Master distillers and whiskey chemists you may have been introduced to over the years, and invite them to do a deep dive (And REALLY NERD-Out) on your show to share what they know about the whiskey aging process and chemistry of whiskey degradation. ATB,
yeah I did ALOT of research. the point about barrel char and oxidation and the other points of possible points if oxidizing did come from a master distiller. I can probably do an episode for 45 minutes on this subject but like everything else ..there are varying opinions. I can only tell you what's worked for me and what I've experienced.
@@TheMashandDrum master distillers are likely chemical engineers, or process engineers, but not usually chemists. I thought there were a few who were also whiskey chemists by training, e.g. John Rempe, and perhaps one of the women MD for a big name brand like Michter’s, or other (i forgot). Oh, bet Nancy Freely knows the chemical details of her art, too! Check with those guys if it’s ever something you want to do another video on again, in any case.
I had a bottle of Old Carter I opened a year ago. It has definitely changed over the course of that year. It definitely got a little skunky/musty.
Interesting. My Old Carter got better after 8 months on the shelf after opening, but I’m more of a Wheater, so I didn’t miss the burn at all. I’ll have to be careful when my open bottles approach a year. 👍
That’s cause old Carter whiskey sucks
@@blakeanderson1214 … to each his own, but your palate is definitely in the minority. C’est la vie!
@@blakeanderson1214 this is something people who can't get it say 😂
@@henrycervantezzz5566 😅😅😂…whelp. Here is where you are super wrong. Had a number of bottles. Great when they age sources high age product. Now, they just overcharge for a NAS product that is blended like anyone else. Except, suckers are willing to fork over 60-70.00 a year for it. 😅😅😂😂😂😅😅….no sir. Not me. I stand by my statement. Decent wwwwaaaaayyyy overpriced juice at best. But hey, some ppl like to get taken advantage of so they can flex on the gram to non-educated ppl. To each their own
Good stuff Jason . I do the small bottle thing as well . And people , please stop soaking your corks !
what does that mean?
@@grc2158 - Putting whiskey in smaller bottles as the bottle gets low in the original bottle is the answer to the first part . Soaking your corks is where a select group of this community thinks it is necessary to lay their bottles on their sides and let the whiskey soak into the cork for many hours . I have even seen people do this for days at a time .
As Jason mentioned , this is a very bad idea . Can ruin your cork and your whiskey all at the same time .
Curious, does adding a splash of argon gas aid in further oxidized ?
I’m assuming based on what you said about gasses escaping using a wine preserver cork that vacuumes the air out of the bottle isn’t gonna work
can you add an inert gas like argon?
thanks for the video :) I just ordered a 12 pack of boston round 8 oz bottles for 20 bucks. I'ma start a sample bottle collection and its gunna look all handlabeled and shitty and old timey. Preserve the whisky, and also have a collection for A/B comparisons with future purchases n whatnot
If the problem is alcohol vapors leaving when you open the bottle, could the degradation be partially prevented with a little roll around of the bottle before opening to remix things?
Gassing won’t hurt the flavor of the whisky. I have been using it in wine and whisky for years. The nitrogen and argon are inert. They won’t react with the whisky.
I love that small bottle idea. I've got a couple unicorns I got in a raffle that I drink very sparingly since I'll likely never get them again (until the bubble finally bursts). And since they're in my basement hidden storage it doesn't matter what container they're in.
It still matters even if stored in dark cool place. Like he said, the alcohol evaporates and fills the empty space. So just because its stored in a cool dark place, doesnt mean its not still evaporating. Just not as much as if on a shelf or something that gets sunlight in a warm room. Your best bet is to transfer to smaller bottles
How about couple years old bottle never open? Is anything different? Because you compared older but open. Thanks
I much prefer the gas method to moving the whisky to a smaller bottle. Gas won’t make it bulletproof, but it does make a very noticeable difference. The gas method is also used by winemakers in production. The gasses are lighter than the wine but heavier than air, so they will pump the gas into the tank near the bottom, and it will rise through the wine and form a blanket on top of the wine, which forms a barrier between the wine and oxygen.
Moving whisky into a smaller bottle certainly achieves the desired effect, but the issue arises with the transfer itself. You create a lot of unnecessary exposure to oxygen when you decant from one bottle to another. Though it is a short amount of time, the amount of surface area exposed to oxygen during that process is massive.
I prefer it over pouring into another bottle but technically gasses mix regardless of density which is why putting other gases in the bottle is not bulletproof.
Awesome video. I haven't searched through all the comments, but has anyone tried a wine preserver top that allows you to pull the air out of the bottle sealing it up? This would have less oxygen in the bottle to interact with the whiskey. They are also pretty cheap and available. Thanks!
Not good for long-term whisky storage. The rubber stoppers will eventually leak and break the vacuum. So unless you want to re-pump them every couple weeks, they aren’t a good solution.
Your usually the history guy not the science guy!!!
Haha great video as always Jason!! Cheers!
ive had a bottle of stagg jr. b.12 open for 3+ years and still tastes like it should, great.
Mine lasts depending on the day I open it...if I open it Friday or Saturday, it last until Sunday...if I open it Monday...it lasts until Monday even...