Guilty Pleasure: the cork

[TheNovaMan]

Current KC in MI has a screw-top.

[Lazer]

Yes, you are the only one.

[Flyfish]

Current KC in MI has a screw-top.

You're right, 750s of KC have screwcaps. I was pouring from the family-size jug of KC that has an artificial cork.

[macdeffe]

I hate corks. I see around 20 of them annually, usually from bottles you specifically dont want it to happen to

I am 100% with HighInTheMtns here. I prefer a good quality screwcap over artificial (rubber?) corks over traditional corks

They rot, they break, they even sometimes taint the whisky.

A couple of years ago I created an anticork facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/101684892845

44 members today, I guess we are a minority, but there's an excellent gallery of broken corks and people fighting to remove from the bottles

Feel free to join and post photos :-)

Steffen

[Danger]

My claim still stands. We have people that save corks and people that prefer corks, but nobody else throws away the screw caps so they can plug the bottle with a cork.

Ok, I guess I'm the only one who likes corks enough to swap out the screwtops. I see all the points being made by the anti-cork movement and they all seem very practical. But where's the romance? Maybe what I really like about the corks is that it gives the bourbon some identity and individuality: you unscrew a coca-cola or a jar of pickles, but you uncork a fine spirit. I might be okay with another sealing method as long as it was unique to good alcohol.

[HighInTheMtns]

Ok, I guess I'm the only one who likes corks enough to swap out the screwtops. I see all the points being made by the anti-cork movement and they all seem very practical. But where's the romance? Maybe what I really like about the corks is that it gives the bourbon some identity and individuality: you unscrew a coca-cola or a jar of pickles, but you uncork a fine spirit. I might be okay with another sealing method as long as it was unique to good alcohol.

The romance is inside the bottle. All I can say is wait until you're straining cork bits out of some nice whiskey and see what you think of corks then.

Also, glad to hear that KC has gone to a screw top. The one I have open now is corked. One more step in the right direction.

[squire]

For me the romance begins after pullling the cork.

[Danger]

The artistic component of drinking good bourbon doesn't start with putting it in your mouth and end with swallowing, imo. Its just like paintings. Everyone appreciates paintings more when they're hanging in a museum. All the things that surround the bourbon impact how you perceive the experience. For example, I enjoy it more with a cork, with a snifter or rocks glass than from a solo cup, while relaxing at night and browsing the forums rather than as I'm heading out the door to dinner.

There was an interesting anecdotal social experiment in 2007 where a world-class concert violinist plays in a European metro station incognito as a normal street performer. Basically nobody stops to listen because they aren't in the right state of mind to appreciate it.

Joshua Bell plays in L'Enfant Plaza Station

[CoMobourbon]

The artistic component of drinking good bourbon doesn't start with putting it in your mouth and end with swallowing, imo. Its just like paintings. Everyone appreciates paintings more when they're hanging in a museum. All the things that surround the bourbon impact how you perceive the experience. For example, I enjoy it more with a cork, with a snifter or rocks glass than from a solo cup, while relaxing at night and browsing the forums rather than as I'm heading out the door to dinner.

There was an interesting anecdotal social experiment in 2007 where a world-class concert violinist plays in a European metro station incognito as a normal street performer. Basically nobody stops to listen because they aren't in the right state of mind to appreciate it.

Joshua Bell plays in L'Enfant Plaza Station

Absolutely true. We all try to play Bourbon-Puritan-iconoclast around here and pretend like the experience starts and stops with flavor, but aesthetics, romance, narrative, etc. clearly play am integral role. The medium is the message.

*At the same time though, one really should strive to deliberately notice and adjust for the effects of these ancillary factors. Even if looks matter almost as much as quality, quality should be (almost) everything. So we should try to minimize the influence of looks - in so far as this is possible. Blind tastings go a long way here.

Edited April 7, 2013 by CoMobourbon

[squire]

I get this image of a bunch of darkly clad Puritans sitting around a table, no one's laughing or joking, just somberly getting sloshed while mentioning only flavor.

[MauiSon]

So, you've been spying on us, eh?

[HighInTheMtns]

I get this image of a bunch of darkly clad Puritans sitting around a table, no one's laughing or joking, just somberly getting sloshed while mentioning only flavor.

This is what I thought I was getting into at the gazebo in a couple weeks. But remember, we are also iconoclasts; there may be a pile of broken fancy glass.

But seriously - I think presentation is important. For example here are two bottles of Tequila:

Both are nicely done. Espolón is a cork; Siete Leguas (the higher end bottle, by the way) is a screwtop. A wood screwtop like this would fit many bottles well - FRSB, WTKS, etc... Similarly, compare a bottle of screwtop Maker's Mark (open or unopened) to a cork-sealed waxed bottle like EWSB. Again, both very nicely presented. I have no argument with artistry in packaging. My argument is with packaging that is inferior.

Edited April 7, 2013 by HighInTheMtns

[CoMobourbon]

Again, both very nicely presented. I have no argument with artistry in packaging. My argument is with packaging that is inferior.

I completely understand (and even agree with) your point: we need not make a dichotomy between aesthetics and utility because it is completely possible to accomplish both simultaneously. But I still sympathize with Danger's original point - the sound of that popping cork is irreplaceable.

In short, artistry one thing and (pseudo) history/narrative is another (even if they do overlap from time to time). The Siete Legueas looks great - but much of its old-fashioned historo-logical authentic-ness appeal disappears as soon as you twist away that cap see find no cork / hear no pop. The fakeness of pseudo-old-fashioned bottle comes through the surface in a way that does not happen with the equally fake Espolon bottle. The cork covers the seem / fills that gap in the surface of the narrative.

Again, I really do agree with your core points: artistry is nice, utility is most important, accomplish both simultaneously when possible, etc. But, for what it's worth, the pop of the cork is irreplaceable. To me, it's just not at all worth it (in terms of price and in terms of risk for ruined whiskey).

Edited April 8, 2013 by CoMobourbon

[Kalessin]

I do occasionally replace a screw-top with a cork. "Ptoonk!" Not the only one!

[Danger]

I do occasionally replace a screw-top with a cork. "Ptoonk!" Not the only one!

Heeeeyo!!

Absolutely true. We all try to play Bourbon-Puritan-iconoclast around here and pretend like the experience starts and stops with flavor, but aesthetics, romance, narrative, etc. clearly play am integral role. The medium is the message.

Amen, bro.

[WhiskyToWhiskey]

The only cork sound that really stands out, is opening a bottle of Plantation Grande Reserve Rum for the first time. The "pop" that it makes is like no other I have every heard. Chip Dykstra on rumhowlers who rates rum as well as whisky always deducts points on presentation for screw cap bottles. His reasoning is the metal and glass have different expansion rates. I think we all store our spirits indoors with little fluctution in temperature...it shouldn't matter.

[smokinjoe]

I'm one that really loves that "thwonk" that the cork provides. Despite its functional liabilities, I prefer cork. I am, however, liking the metal "capsule style" caps, like those on certain Jim Beam products. Makes a nice, pleasing, tinny sound when you screw it on the bottle, and makes for a nice presentation. The regular cheapo plastic caps do nothing for me.

5 pages of closure talk. Jeeze, we are nerds...

[dohidied]

I definitely prefer the stealthiness of corks. And I have a bag of corks for when I snap one. Hell, I have a whole bottle and cork for WTRB and WTKS because I know I'm going to have to decant my old bottles.

[Lazer]

The regular cheapo plastic caps do nothing for me.

except keep the bourbon from spilling out of the bottle. Cuts evaporation loss too.

[Flyfish]

5 pages of closure talk. Jeeze, we are nerds...

Joe knows us. But lets get back to talking about bourbon.

[fishnbowljoe]

Cork or screw tops? Cork or screw tops? Cork or screw tops?

Costello:.... and I don’t give a darn!

Abbott: Oh…What?

Costello: I said, I don’t give a darn!

Abbott: Oh, that’s our short stop.

:slappin::slappin::slappin::slappin::slappin::slappin::slappin:

[smokinjoe]

except keep the bourbon from spilling out of the bottle. Cuts evaporation loss too.

Yeah...well...that...If you want to be picky about it...

[MyOldKyDram]

How drunk are you guys to be spilling bourbon out of a corked bottle? Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never had any of the problems being discussed here with corks.

[CoMobourbon]

I get this image of a bunch of darkly clad Puritans sitting around a table, no one's laughing or joking, just somberly getting sloshed while mentioning only flavor.

I don't now how I neglected to mention this but I nominate this for post of the year.

[Flyfish]

How drunk are you guys to be spilling bourbon out of a corked bottle? Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never had any of the problems being discussed here with corks.

I can understand the people who object to corks because they have had problems with them--theoretically. In actual experience, however, I have opened hundreds of bottles of bourbon without a problem. Wine yes. Bourbon never. I guess I have just been lucky too.

And I supposed Blanton's could still attach the little horsies to screw caps. But it just wouldn't be right.