Does whiskey deteriorate in an open bottle?

I ran a two year experiment to determine how much whiskey deteriorates in an open bottle. The results seem to confirm the old saw that once a bottle is less than half full, you should probably drink it within two years.

http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2011/...y-age-and.html

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Originally Posted by sku

I ran a two year experiment to determine how much whiskey deteriorates in an open bottle. The results seem to confirm the old saw that once a bottle is less than half full, you should probably drink it within two years.

http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2011/...y-age-and.html

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This is all the scientific proof that I need to finish off those bottles that I have sitting around!

Thanks for taking the time to conduct a long-term experiment and do a full write-up, sku. I've enjoyed reading your blog for some time now, largely because of quality posts like these.
Whiskey deterioration has long been a concern of mine and has probably scared me into not having more than maybe 10 bottles open at a time, which seriously restricts the comparison tasting I enjoy.

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Originally Posted by roostercogburn

Thanks for taking the time to conduct a long-term experiment and do a full write-up, sku. I've enjoyed reading your blog for some time now, largely because of quality posts like these.
Whiskey deterioration has long been a concern of mine and has probably scared me into not having more than maybe 10 bottles open at a time, which seriously restricts the comparison tasting I enjoy.

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Thanks rooster. You can always do what Jason suggests in the comments and empty your low fill bottles into smaller bottles to cut out the oxygen.

Why teaser posts here instead of entire blog entries?

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Originally Posted by callmeox

Why teaser posts here instead of entire blog entries?

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I thought it was a bit long to post here.

Another title for his thread could be, "Does Whiskey improve for many months after being open before it begins to deteriorate?" I would say yes. Especially ORVW10yr, Pappy 15, and FR1BLE.

And while they did improve with oxygen exposure, those bottles never stick around long enough for me to know whether they deteriorate.:grin: :grin:

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Originally Posted by jcg9779

This is all the scientific proof that I need to finish off those bottles that I have sitting around!

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Agreed. After seeing your bunker you should definitely invite me, Tucker, Joe, and the rest of the Atlanta guys over to help you with that problem.:grin:

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Originally Posted by sku

once a bottle is less than half full, you should probably drink it within two years.

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If it is a "special" bottle that I want to have around for a while I'll pour it into several 200ml bottles to keep the air out.
That way I can enjoy the original taste and guests seem to appreciate the effort also.

Great post Sku! It's cool to see someone take it to that level so we all can benefit from it. Well done.