Some are More Equal than Others

[squire]

The question was posed by the Mix Master of whether all types of whisky benefit equally from longer aging. The answer is a lower case no. Whisky aged in a new charred oak barrel will dissolve the wood sugars that barrel has to give up somewhere between 6-8 years, beyond which the oak influence becomes increasingly apparent. At some point past ten years an entirely different wood dominant spirit emerges which after mid teens takes on the character of an old cognac.

[ryanc]

Is all oak created equal??? Do some distilleries use higher quality wood than others? I grow a pretty hefty garden each year, everything from the compost I use to the season affects the taste of the produce. Could the sugars in the wood me improved with special cultivation?

[squire]

Good question. I wouldn't say it's a quality question, rather one of use. It's been shown that even a small bubble of sap in a stave can doom an entire barrel of whisky to be sent off to the rectifiers and the best way to eliminate sap is to air dry the sawn blanks in exposed weather for 2-3 years.

Of course if you distill 1500 barrels a day you can use the much cheaper kiln dryed wood and accept the occasional bad barrel as the cost of doing business.

[Flyfish]

Let's not overlook the BT Single Oak Project. Preliminary results indicate detectable differences based on what part of the tree the staves came from and where the tree was grown; e.g., at the top of a south-facing ridge or down in the holler

[BFerguson]

Purely luck of the draw. Only by chance will the juice hit the sweet spot of age with everything working together.

When its right, it's sublime.

Otherwise, best to blend it away.

B