Plastic cap/cork

[Young Blacksmith]

There are some bourbons whose 750's are cork, and the half gallons are plastic. They taste the same to me.

[Enoch]

It actually seems to me that corks are used a lot more today than they were used 20 or so years ago. Every 20 year plus dusty I have found has a screw on top and they taste great. Every 15 year old WT I have found, the cork falls apart as I try to remove it. It still taste great though. I have several WTKS pewter tops with damaged corks. It's a shame because I love the tops.

[PaulO]

What I gather is the real problem with corks comes into play when a bottle is a couple or more years old. Old corks can shrink causing oxidation and evaporation, or taint the contents with "corked" taste. I haven't had the bad luck of a corked bottle, but most stuff I buy has not been on the shelf very long. One significant difference between whiskey and wine corks is; whiskey should allways be stored upright, wine on its side.

[silverfish]

I seem to recall a thread where someone posted of having a corked
bottle in the trunk of their car on a very hot day and the cork was
blasted out. Someone (Chuck ?) replied words to the effect that
"That wouldn't have happened with a screw cap."

[BradleyC]

I've had 2 bottles come "uncorked" in the heat of my car. First was a Jefferson's 17. That bottle didn't have plastic on top, just the little piece of paper. The other one was a bottle of BMH rye. The cork came out on that one and split the wax right off. A year or two ago, I picked up a VWFRR and set it on the passenger seat of my car. I was out running errands that day. After another stop, I got back into my car and it clearly smelled of whiskey. Upon inspection of my bottle, I noticed it was dripping through the tear tab hole in the foil top. It obviously had a bad cork. I have learned to ask for a box when purchasing, or at least try to keep bottles upright in the car so that they don't spill ALL of their contents in the case of corks popping out.

For the record, it was not all that hot on either of these occasions.

I seem to recall a thread where someone posted of having a corked
bottle in the trunk of their car on a very hot day and the cork was
blasted out. Someone (Chuck ?) replied words to the effect that
"That wouldn't have happened with a screw cap."

[mrviognier]

One significant difference between whiskey and wine corks is; whiskey should allways be stored upright, wine on its side.

I don't know about that...if the whiskey is cork-finished AND you plan to store it unopened for more than a year, I'd suggest storing it on its side.

[AaronWF]

I don't know about that...if the whiskey is cork-finished AND you plan to store it unopened for more than a year, I'd suggest storing it on its side.

I learned the hard way never to store whiskey on its side; not even overnight. A bottle of WLW '10 was on its side for maybe 10 hours in my cabinet before I noticed the cork had badly warped and began leaking the whiskey. I think it was laid side by side with an ER17, and that had no problem. My research has indicated that the higher proof whiskeys can eat right through even a good cork.

I don't know if it was Cowdery's blog or some other blog that referenced alcohol content, but I'll never store another bottle of whiskey on its side again. Not even on the ride home from the liquor store.

[callmeox]

I don't know about that...if the whiskey is cork-finished AND you plan to store it unopened for more than a year, I'd suggest storing it on its side.

That is very bad advice.

[mrviognier]

Hmmm. Never had a problem with long-term storage...but, of course, I'm not setting it @ 90 degrees...just tilt it over enough to keep the cork wet. And this is for long-term storage only.

[sailor22]

I don't know about that...if the whiskey is cork-finished AND you plan to store it unopened for more than a year, I'd suggest storing it on its side.

Maybe if you open it in a few months that will be OK but for any period of time much longer than that I would say you greatly increase your chances of producing a cork tainted bottle.

I have had problems with a few corks and run across numerous dusties that were cork tainted. Never had a problem with a screw top no matter how old the juice. Never had a problem with a synthetic cork.