Can Bourbon Take the Heat?

[robbyvirus]

I am planning a cross country road trip the first week of June, and I'll be going through Kentucky, where naturally I will be stopping off to stock up the old bunker. My question is, if I put a bunch of bottles of bourbon in the trunk of my car and then drive across the country in the hot June sun for a week or so, will this affect the bourbon at all? Will the heat in any way damage the quality of the bourbon?

[bobbyc]

Probably not. I guess it's possible to blow a cork or 2 if left parked in the sun. If I was worried I might have a cooler of ice in there and just let it melt if the trunk is big enough. They haul it out of the distilleries, at this time of the year, and do nothing to keep it cool.

[Paradox]

I agree with Bobby... I have never had a problem except for one bottle of Woodford Reserve popping a cork due to extreme temperature changes...

When I got out of the Air Force, I drove cross-country from Sacramento to NYC with all of my booze in the trunk (there was alot less back then), and noticed no difference taste wise after the trip.

[Aahzz]

I had a bottle of Knob Creek blow a cork in my car one afternoon...so I'd definitely watch that the temps don't get too high.

[bluesbassdad]

So that's how to open that sucker when pliers are not handy!

Yours truly,
Dave Morefield

[**DONOTDELETE**]

What? You're going to drive them home with out drinking them first??? No. Don't do it. Unless you fill your trunk with ice first. Make that dry ice. Summer temps in a sealed trunk often reach 140. Don't chance it. Drink It Man! Drink It!

[MurphyDawg]

LOL yeah, mine was a @^#$^#^&@ to open as well, I wish I woulda thought of heating it at the time. . .


TomC

[cowdery]

The heat won't be a problem unless, as a couple of people suggested, it gets so hot that something pops, which is awfully hot. In the trunk, i.e., not in direct sunlight, there really shouldn't be a problem. As for the effect of heat on bourbon itself, think about how it is made. It is born through a process where it's boiled, and then it ages in (usually) steel warehouses in the hot Kentucky sun. I wouldn't worry about it and I certainly wouldn't screw around with ice chests and stuff like that. Just try not to park in the sun in the middle of a 90 degree day and you should be fine.