Vatting - I'm a believer in letting it mingle

[borderboss]

I was doing some vatting of Weller 12 and Weller OWA and had read different opinions on whether you could just drink it after the blending or that you should wait to let the flavors mingle. I did a couple of blends of 60% OWA (using a 1-liter bottle) and 40% W12 (using a 750ml bottle), and had enough left of each for a 50/50 blend of them. I tried it right off the bat and thought "blech!", not good. I just tried it again two weeks later, and it was phenomenal! Not like the Pappy 15 that it's supposed to emulate, but pretty darn close. So now I'm a believer in letting the blend sit for a while.

[GaryT]

I was doing some vatting of Weller 12 and Weller OWA and had read different opinions on whether you could just drink it after the blending or that you should wait to let the flavors mingle. I did a couple of blends of 60% OWA (using a 1-liter bottle) and 40% W12 (using a 750ml bottle), and had enough left of each for a 50/50 blend of them. I tried it right off the bat and thought "blech!", not good. I just tried it again two weeks later, and it was phenomenal! Not like the Pappy 15 that it's supposed to emulate, but pretty darn close. So now I'm a believer in letting the blend sit for a while.

[GaryT]

I haven't setup another similar experiment; my goal was to understand if there were significant benefits to waiting periods (at least for my palate), and it seems that after 1 day - not really. I actually hoped our preferences would show a closer to linear progression with the aging, but being scattered suggests little correlation, so I tend to give a vatting at least one day before passing judgement.

Although as this vatting wasn't a big hit, I may try to repeat it with more samples and a mingle that I know delivers. If I start today, I can report back in a few months

[TunnelTiger]

My vatting is always a long term mingle since it's a combination of the last half pours of every bottle I drink. Ryes, bourbons, 90 to 100+ proofs.

Got into it big time last week and was just so tasty I emptied it and started a new one. First add was OGDBIB and then RITTBIB.

[amg]

I'm anxious to hear your results after an even longer time. Let us know how the smell/taste develops with extended vatting (several months).

Scientifically, seems like you're going to have diminishing returns there. It's not like there's a chemical reaction happening here.

[tigerpop]

I have a question, I heard people use a blend of ECBP and EC12. anyone know the ratios and time they gave it?

[amg]

I have a question, I heard people use a blend of ECBP and EC12. anyone know the ratios and time they gave it?

If you do a google search for site:straightbourbon.com ECBP vatting you'll find some different experiments. Also tons of great vatting ideas in this monster thread:

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?22471-The-Vatting-Thread-2014

[tigerpop]

Awesome thanks you!

[GaryT]

Scientifically, seems like you're going to have diminishing returns there. It's not like there's a chemical reaction happening here.

That's my guess as well. I made a small mingle this morning, measuring mL to try to be as exact as I can (21 mL of OWA with 9 mL of W12 - a combination/ratio that I know to be a winner for me). And each is going into a 2oz Square sample bottle (so should be equivalent air space, etc). Going to duplicate this in monthly increments for a few months, than move to weekly increments, then to every few days - and the day I sit down to evaluate - I'll make one a couple hours prior, and 10-15 min prior. Then - taste them blind and try to guess which is which. I'm expecting that the "minutes" and "hours" may stand out (maybe), but the 24 hours and beyond will be fairly similar. The challenge is that the order of the tasting (seeing as there will be 7+ samples) will influence, as the last couple to be tasted won't be done with a fresh palate. But, it will give me something to look forward to (and looking at the calendar, I'll probably try to time it for late August/early September so I can get my "whiskey geek gear" ready for KBF!)

[GaryT]

While I was recently browsing the internet, I ran across an article on how to perform your experiment. It reminded me of this thread.

Yeah - the SB Blend has been around a long longer than I've been into this hobby. I've done several blind tastes to find my sweet spot, which is 70/30 (heavy on the OWA; although 60/40 is also a nice blend - I have a bottle of each of those ratios in the cabinet!) Several folks have reported 2 weeks, but I'm curious on the evolution (if there is any). I do think I'll do one tasting with pours at each of the monthly intervals (1-4 or 5 months old), and then do another tasting with 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days, 10 days, 1 month. Trying to do it all at once is too much - palate fatigue would make it a waste of careful planning

[amg]

I really don't see why you would assume that a change in flavor over the time that a mixture is mingling has to be a chemical reaction. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, though.

You're adding bourbon to bourbon. Once the mixture settles down, it's going to be pretty stable, aside from whatever oxidation might happen from air in the bottle. This is really no different from the mingling of different barrels when a batch of whiskey is made, and we know that whiskey doesn't really change in the bottle much after it's bottled until you start introducing more oxygen by opening it and pouring.

[GaryT]

I really don't see why you would assume that a change in flavor over the time that a mixture is mingling has to be a chemical reaction. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, though.

You're adding bourbon to bourbon. Once the mixture settles down, it's going to be pretty stable, aside from whatever oxidation might happen from air in the bottle. This is really no different from the mingling of different barrels when a batch of whiskey is made, and we know that whiskey doesn't really change in the bottle much after it's bottled until you start introducing more oxygen by opening it and pouring.

My goal is to try to pinpoint the "settle down" period. The first time we did this, it suggested that period was maybe just 24 hours, rather than weeks (or even months). Although I have to admit - the side benefit of having the wife roll her eyes once a month when I make a carefully measured sample is not a complete waste

[dSculptor]

Putting waaaaaay too much into this vatting thing, mix it, and drink it! Personally I think if you notice a change in taste after letting it sit for a long period of time, it's probably just your buds acting up.... how do you really know it changed unless you go and vat another batch of it up right away and then do a SbS, otherwise I think it's all in the buds.

[dSculptor]

I'm surprised this thread has not been moved over to the the Vatting thread yet? Mods?

[GaryT]

I would suggest trying that (comparing the non-aged with the aged side-by-side), darylld911. Keep us updated on your progress.

[TheNovaMan]

If the taste changes, there must be a change in the chemical composition of the whiskey. Why else would the taste change? Magic?

[fozzy71]

If the taste changes, there must be a change in the chemical composition of the whiskey. Why else would the taste change? Magic?

individual perception/recollection of the taste/flavor?