Those &@#^ Wax Tops!

[musher]

Am I doing this wrong? Opening up those wax-dipped bottles, that is?

My first encounter was with my one and only bottle of Maker's Mark, which opened quite nicely for me. I've also had good luck with the several Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage that I've opened.

But my experience with Knob Creek parallels the experience that Chuck recounted in his book. I had to use a pliers to get it open, but that seemed OK.

Then, last night, I had the battle with a bottle of Elmer T. Lee (the newer style bottles). I had to use the pliers to pull the tape, and a knife to cut through the part of the wax that the tape didn't take care of. Part of the wax was very hard and brittle (too much plastic in it?), so now I have this ugly hacked-up wax top bottle where most of the cork shows through.

Am I supposed to run this thing under hot water first in order to soften the wax and get it open nicely?! I guess I expected the wax to be nice and soft like the MM and the EWSB bottles.

[wrbriggs]

Not sure what to say. My waxed bottle experiences include Maker's Mark, EWSB '93 and '94, and Knob Creek. The Knob Creek required the use of a paring knife and some pliers to open. The other three opened easily.

Is there a trick to opening Knob Creek?

[cowdery]

Sam Cecil once told me how difficult it was to get a wax formulation for Maker's Mark that would be not too soft but not too brittle. It sounded like the greatest challenge they faced and their solution seems to be the superior one. I've never had trouble opening a Maker's Mark bottle.

[gr8erdane]

I remember trying to open my Elmer T Lee and had a similar experience I almost broke out the chainsaw myself. My buddy Rick had the problem opening his Pappy 23. He couldn't get hold of the strip and when he used pliers it just ripped free. So he took out his trusty Case XXX pocket knife and whittled a strip straight up the side of the bottle and peeled it off in one piece leaving only the cork cap in the bottle. Effective but hardly as attractive sitting on his bar.

[clayton]

I needed a knife and pliers to open my recent bottle of Booker's.

The wax is a nice packaging touch, and I appreciate the way it looks on the shelf. Hassle or no, I much prefer the classy wax-and-cork top to the easy-but-ugly screw top.

[dgonano]

My bottle of Pure Kentucky XO was self-opening. Darn if I didn't notice that the wax around the neck had cracked and split. The cork had worked its way about a half inch up out of the lip. Strange things happen....

[musher]

Hassle or no, I much prefer the classy wax-and-cork top to the easy-but-ugly screw top.

I'm a foil-and-cork man myself, having been a Wild Turkey drinker for 20 years before discovering the rest of the bourbon world!

[bobbyc]

Case XXX

Mixing those metaphors again Dane?

[RedVette]

I was going to create this exact same thread last week and for the exact same reason, Elmer T Lee. The wax is designed so that you cannot open this bottle. I know the metallic gold looks good and all but this is rediculous, it took me almost half an hour to get the fricken bottle open, and now it looks like hell. This cannot be what they intended, someone needs to fix this. Oh yeah, it was pretty good booze in the bottle once I got it open.

[musher]

I know the metallic gold looks good and all but this is rediculous, it took me almost half an hour to get the fricken bottle open, and now it looks like hell.

I ended up running what was left of the wax under hot water and peeling it all off.

The bottle looks a bit better now. It had better, since I have it on a shelf along with the '04 Antique Collection and a bottle of Rock Hill Farms!