The Double Malt Scotch Whisky, stupid year question

I apologize in advance for this question but i'm not an expert. I have found a ten years aged bottle of a double malt scotch whisky (caol ila and bowmore) and i am wondering how can i know the real year of production if nothing about that has been written on the bottle except the sentence 'aged 10 years'. I mean, next year this whisky will be aged 11 years, so somebody can explain me what is the criteria to discover the exact year of production?

Thanks to all,

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You can keep it in glass for the next 50 years, and it'll still be "aged

10 years". Aging happens in the barrels, and stops once the drink no longer has the contact with the charred oak and associated seasonal changes. Best case, it doesn't get any worse.
Reply to
Dave Hinz

: I have found a ten years aged bottle of a double malt scotch whisky (caol : ila and bowmore) and i am wondering how can i know the real year of : production if nothing about that has been written on the bottle except the : sentence 'aged 10 years'. : I mean, next year this whisky will be aged 11 years, so somebody can explain : me what is the criteria to discover the exact year of production?

Scotch does not "age" after it has been bottled. This is not to say it doesn't change, but the aging process which makes it into what we know and love ceases.

If it says "aged 10 years" then it was bottled after (at least) 10 years maturation in casks. It will "age" no more, no matter how long you let it sit around.

Justin

Reply to
Justin

You mention the scotch in a bottle no longer ages but that isn't to say it doesn't change. How might scotch in the bottle change over time if properly stored? Is there some proper way to store it over long periods? Anything to watch out for or avoid? Also, once a bottle is opened, can it still be successfully stored for a long time?

Willie

Reply to
William Saens

"William Saens" skrev i melding news:JZntf.85087$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews4.bellsouth.net...

In my opinion an unopened botlle should be kept away from sunlight and preferably stored standing up in an unheated, dark place. Wine should be laid down to keep corks moist but this doesn't apply to liquor with the higher alcohol content and screw caps (I'm a bit unsure with respect to those bottles with a cork stopper) I did revisit an opened half bottle of aquavit this Christmas, a leftover from the previous year, about one third full and it was definitely less good than a fresh opened bottle of the same brand, though it had indeed been stored in a dark and cool place (my wine cellar). So, an opened bottle of whisky should be used to fill up a number of small bottles (airline size :-) if you intend to keep that whisky for a long time in order to avoid the degradation brought about by oxygen. hth Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

: You mention the scotch in a bottle no longer ages but that isn't to say it : doesn't change. How might scotch in the bottle change over time if properly : stored? Is there some proper way to store it over long periods? Anything : to watch out for or avoid?

In truth let me clarify my comment: I would tentatively suggest that an unopened bottle of scotch, corked properly and stored at a cool temperature out of the light, will change very little over time. I admit that I am neither a chemist nor one who has stored an unopened bottle over a long time, so I don't quite know for sure, but this is what I've been led to believe.

On the other hand I would be concerned about the cork deteriorating and air getting in. Then all sorts of things can react with the scotch and all bets are off.

: Also, once a bottle is opened, can it still be successfully stored for a : long time?

I doubt it. In the summer of '04 I picked up a bottle of 16-year-old Double-Matured Lagavulin in England. I decided to have a small dram every two weeks and make it last until the summer of '05, when I'd be back and could pick up another. When I returned with the new bottle I opened it and did a side-by-side comparison of the two. The old one had undergone a very noticeable change in strength of flavor. It had become duller over the year.

This is not to say that there might be something specific and technical one can do to preserve open scotch, but I don't know it.

Justin

Reply to
Justin

Different contributors have posted different things over time. I recall one post suggesting that a bottle may go through a brief period of improvement because of the introduction to oxygen, as it would in a drinking glass. Then it begins to diminish in quality after a while. Another (or maybe the same) suggested that once a bottle is half empty (or full ... depends) the amount of air affects it more. I don't remember who posted these, but I do remember that I respected whomever they were. However, neither cited research of any kind.

My experience has been that the longer I hold onto an open bottle, the worse it gets, in SOME cases ... in others, it seems to stay the same. Another point is that while I "live with" a bottle of a new variety, my attitudes change as I become more familiar, like owning a car or having an erotic relationship with a supermodel (I've only experienced one of these two, not telling which). I've also noticed that no two bottles of SOME whiskies are the same, whereas in other cases I observe serious consistency.

In conclusion, I suspect that quality deteriorates with exposure, and I no longer open every bottle I own; I try to keep about five going. They last longer than I'd like this way. I can't have just one or two options, so it's a compromise, but they usually don't last two years at this rate. I guess the more you drink, the more you can have open without noticing problems. I don't drink a lot. If you're drunk all the time, perhaps one may not notice the low quality.

John

Reply to
John Derby

That has been the consensus when this topic has arisen here over the years. I seem to recall that the combination of six months after opening and a half empty bottle was thought to be the point beyond which you could not expect to maintain quality. But there was always anecdotal stuff to the contrary; some people noticed no deterioration and some thought at least some malts improved with exposure. It always comes down to individual taste, doesn't it?

There are several remedies that some of our old-timers used to suggest. One or two kept a stock of smaller bottles (and labels, of course) that held perhaps a quarter of a normal-sized liquor bottle. When they opened a new malt they would immediately decant it into the smaller bottles and cork them. That means only a quarter of a bottle -- the one in current use -- is exposed to the air at any time.

Another option was to keep a supply of glass marbles on hand and drop them into the bottle as the level of liquid falls, so that the bottle is always full to the neck and exposure to air is limited.

Some people acquired kits developed for wine drinkers that allow you to cork an opened bottle and pump in inert gas to replace the air, which again limits exposure.

And some of us thought the solution was to drink faster.

cheers.

bill

Reply to
bill van

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 23:59:00 GMT, bill van replied: [snip]

[snip]

I'm very curious about this storage method. Every time, no matter what I try, I attempt to remove a label, it ends in the destruction of the label. How do you remove labels without compromising the quality of the paper?

The Ranger

Reply to
The Ranger

We may be thinking of different things. The labels I was referring to are simply blank, glue-backed pieces of paper on which you write what you're decanting and which you stick on the bottle you're decanting into. It wouldn't work to soak off the original bottle's label because you'd need four of them, one for each smaller bottle.

bill

Reply to
bill van

Another thing worth mentioning is that, unlike wine, the scotch never really goes *bad*. At least, in my experience. It may not taste great anymore, but it won't taste so bad that you can't drink it. I recently tasted a half-empty bottle of Chivas Regal (hush! I didn't buy it, I wasn't even alive at the time!) that had first been opened sometime back in the early 70's. Still tasted like Chivas Regal and it didn't kill me.

Reply to
R

Yes. I had a bottle of Whyte & Mackay that I had bought while on a business trip with a friend in '72. He died the next year, and on the anniversary of his death I toasted him with a wee dram. Over the years, it took on a reddish hue and became sweeter, but I enjoyed ever drop to the end, four years ago. I toast ya tanight, Teddy, with a Bowmore 17.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot . . . "Fook yer old boots, chum!"

Reply to
n_cramerSPAM

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 03:19:31 -0500, R replied:

OTRequest: R, can you set your line-lengths to wrap at 66-68? It will make your posts easier to read.

OnTopic: Chivas isn't a good example of a quality whisky taking a beating over the years because it's meant to withstand such harsh treatment. The regular consumer that's purchasing Chivas isn't likely to care about where s/he stores the booze, whether volatile temperature swings are controlled, etc. The consumer that's purchasing Chivas is buying a mixer; something that s/he can bring out for the boss, hence it won't get used that often. A dear friend had a bottle of Chivas from the late-sixties or early-seventies stored over the refrigerator in her booze-covey. When I took a sip, I knew it wouldn't kill me, either, but there are just some things that you know you'll wish you hadn't survived...

The Ranger

Reply to
The Ranger

On 02 Jan 2006 09:13:36 GMT, n snipped-for-privacy@pacbell.net replied:

I play football with a group of Scots and Aussies. A more colorful assortment of swearing can only be heard by adding a Welshman to the mix with two-finger pours of Cardhu.

The Ranger

Reply to
The Ranger

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 02:45:13 GMT, bill van replied:

My reading comprehension was at a low during that post. You're correct in asking if I misunderstood. I did.

Thanks for the clarification. The method you detailed makes a more sense now.

The Ranger

Reply to
The Ranger

"The Ranger" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

? What sort of system do you use? I resize my Outlook window and the text wraps around no matter what size window I have... Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

"The Ranger" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I now resized the Outlook window when displaying the post from 'R' and the text wrapped itself continuously with the changing size so that no words were hidden from view (had to scroll downwards, though :-) Could it be an effect of your computer or operating system? Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

Cu Chulainn, Teddy was a Welshman! I have some Pendaryn Welsh Single Malt Whisky, but haven't tried Cardhu.

"Fook my old boots" originated during WW I AFAIK.

Reply to
n_cramerSPAM

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