any info on IW Harper and Old Charter

[brendaj]

Cypress,

This is not a contradiction, merely a query.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />

I believe bourbon and rye improve in the bottle.

[Gillman]

Hi, here is my thinking.

The predominant influence on whiskey in casks, apart from the charred layer interaction, is the air. We know that aging tends to remove the congeners (harsh flavour compounds).

This is partly a result of oxidation of compounds in the whiskey.

There is air of course in bottles and more gets in through any closure. We have all seen older bottles steadily lose ounces to this process. There is no further imparting of char flavour because no cask, but the oxidation process goes on.

My experience is that all whiskey gets better in the bottle through this process because bottle storage is a kind of modified cask storage.

Second, even the selection I was commenting on, not to mention older bottles, likely lost some liquid. So you get a concentration of flavour.

Even losing half an ounce, say, will concentrate the flavours more.

I once read of an experiment where the same bourbon bottles were opened and one had that device wine buffs sometimes use to exclude air in the bottle (thus to keep it "new") and the other bottle was left half-full. Three years later they were tasted. Everyone preferred the one exposed to air.

The experiment continued and a different group tasting the same bottles some time later reached the opposite conclusion! But generally I would say any whiskey made from any fermentable materials should improve in bottle if (still) well-sealed. It has to be sealed enough so no off flavours get in, e.g. off odours from a kitchen or basement. All my liquors are kept under the kitchen sink and I check the closures regularly to make sure they are staunch enough not to let the wrong odours in. The air in the bottles is clean and I believe it softens the whiskey. I sometimes shake the bottle around a bit to let more air get in (barrels are rolled in warehouses). My bottles are not intended for long storge and I doubt any concentration occurs (maybe a very little) from evaporation. But the air seems to work on them in a good way.

Cy