Vatting nightmares

[ILLfarmboy]

About seven or eight years ago I had about one fourth bottle of WT Rye and one fourth bottle of Knob Creek. I poured the Knob into the WT. I didn't like the result. I could taste each whiskey in the mix and my only thought was....gee I wish I had 'em separate again.

That was long before I found this site and realized people routinely vat and come up with an end product that's more than the sum of its parts. But still I'm reluctant to potentially waste good whiskey by attempting a blend.

Does anyone else have a 'nightmare' blending story?

[Gillman]

I definitely have had similar bad experiences, but I make them turn out good. E.g., with Knob Creek and WT rye, you have whiskeys of different ages and of course tastes - quite pronounced tastes. If you added, say, any wheat-recipe bourbon 50/50 or 75/25 to the blend, it would be a lot better, the first two would find their "place" in a final blend. Even blending them with a much greater amount of blended whiskey would do wonders.

Gary

[polyamnesia]

funny, i just (about an hour ago) dumped about 200ml of this semi-dusty of J.W. Dant 100 in with about the same amount of Ezra Brooks 90 in a recently finished bottle of OGD 114 (there was a dribble of that left in there).

two ok, slightly better than mediocre bottlings merge to make a premium mediocre pour.

not really a nightmare...and in some ways the sums is better than the parts...

but it's certainly no daydream either.

at the same time, they aren't so bad i'd dump them into a quickie whiskey sour cocktail....:cool:

but i do remember, WASTING a shot of sacred STAGG last year...i thought i'd try to upgrade a shot of EW1783...not that that's a bad pour, but just rather lackluster. that was more like a nightmare. in that i wasted the STAGG. neither benefitted in that...glad i only had done a small double shot vatting! THAT could've been a real nightmare. what was i thinking?

[Gillman]

That's interesting. I've found that two-whiskey vattings can sometimes be problematic unless an unequal mixing formula is used. To use an equal mixing formula successfully, numerous whiskeys should be used (in my experience). But to only use two, a 50/50 mix or approximately isn't necessarily the best way to go. It may be, though, and often will be if one of the whiskeys is a wheat-recipe bourbon or an American blended whisky.

Take Knob Creek. If the idea is to stiffen the rye element, adding a little (3:1, say) rye whiskey may work. You aren't "changing" the Knob Creek, but rather modding it to accentuate a quality.

But I suspect if the Dant, KC, WT rye, and EB 90 were combined more or less equally you would get a good result, maybe superb. Further experimentation with proportions might make it better but practically speaking this is difficult to do.

Gary

[polyamnesia]

regards to todays vatting, i probably did more like a 60/40 (EB90/JWD100)....4 drops remaing in that OGD114 probably didn't make a big difference!

i'll keep that in mind about the proportions. i think, since neither of the bottlings i used are much pronounced/explosive on their own, that's maybe why the roughly 60/40 worked out somewhat. i can imagine a good chunk of OGDBIB really making it sing! it seems that is what was lacking...i was wanting a 'brighter' touch, something more buttery...i think OGDBIB would be the right touch.

but again, back to the actual subject. NIGHTMARES. i can imagine others here have had a few. how about, if not, we IMAGINE some potential nightmares...

[texascarl]

When I vat whiskey, I do it one teaspoon at a time and change as needed until I'm fairly satisfied. If it all goes wrong, I only have to chug down a shot or 2 at worst. But if it's working well, at that point I use ounces instead of teaspoons. If it still tastes good, I'll start using whole bottles to vat and re-bottle. Fewer horror stories this way.

[fishnbowljoe]

Tried vatting OGD 114 and McAfee's Benchmark. Used a 1:1 ratio. Not one of my better efforts. Let it sit for a few minutes before trying it. Tried it straight. No dice. I thought they might compliment each other. Wrong. Real hodgepodge in the taste. It was just barely better with a little water and them some ice. Oh well. I'm trying to empty those bottles anyway. Joe

[kickert]

I tried McAfee Benchmark with Virginia Gentleman. I should have known better. There just isn't enough umph in either pour to compliment.

[Squash]

It may not be a nightmare because I only wasted two half-shots of whiskey that I wasn't thrilled about in the first place, but...

EC12 and WTRB don't mix.

MM and WT Rye was kind of good though.

[Blitz]

On the vatting success thread, someone liked the combination of WT Rye and Weller Antique. I didn't have WT, so I tried Rittenhouse Rye and Weller Antique. For my taste, it was awful.

[Pieface]

Vatted Makers Mark with Ritt BiB 1:1...fail. Got an extreme menthol/eucalypt nose going and the finish was all alcohol. Couldn't find much to redeem it at all. Plus it killed the WTRR101 party that was taking place in my mouth just prior to this ill fated experiment :cry: