Aging Your Own Bourbon

[wrath186]

I have an idea, but I'm not sure it will work. I'm thinking about aging my own bourbon. I found a few websites that will sell American White Oak barrels in various sizes with a medium char. I was wondering what would happen if I took one of those barrels and poured and stored a raw whiskey, say like Maker's Mark White? It's basically their white dog whiskey, right?

I'm wondering what would happen and what kind of whiskey would result?

Any thoughts?

[keith18]

I used 2L barrels and got a terrible product, though I left the bourbon in the barrel too long. The whole project cost me several hundred bucks. Both the barrels and white whiskey are expensive. A 2L barrel requires 2.75 bottles to fill and white whiskey is fairly pricey. (I ended up filling 5 2L barrels and poured about 90% of the output down the drain.)

I would look at it as a learning experience rather than an opportunity to drink a somewhat homemade whiskey. I know other guys have done interesting experiments with the barrels--for example, a first fill with mead then a refill with whiskey. The second and third fill seem to age a bit better, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[Bourbon Boiler]

I've probably done a half dozen or so of these experiments. They are very good for learning, but not for getting a good product or a cheap product.

[tmckenzie]

you would be better off to drink the white dog.