What's the shelf life of an opened bottle of bourbon?

[Sluffo]

The reason I ask is I've been drinking more of my bourbon neat lately and tried some Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 yr. tonight.  I've had the bottle for probably 12 years or more and it's been opened since then.  Bottle is mostly full still.  I have to say the taste is awful.  Very astringent and bitter.  It's been so long since I had any of it I don't recall if this is the way it's always tasted or if it started to go south due to age and oxidation (is that even possible?).  

[flahute]

Depends on fill level and number of times opened (and therefore exposed to more oxygen). Given that your bottle is mostly full, it's not likely to be oxidation. Have you stored in a place that was exposed to sunlight? That could effect taste. Stored in a very warm place? Also could effect taste (though not likely unless sunlight was a part of it).

Sometimes a bitter and astringent whiskey is helped by a little oxidation. Try letting a pour sit out in the open for a couple hours and see what happens. 

[Sluffo]

Definitely not stored in high temps.  Could be getting some indirect sunlight as the bar is in the front room, but it wouldn't be direct sunlight.  I'd hate to think that the location would be letting enough light in to make my good stuff go bad.  That would make me one very sad person. 

I'll try leaving it out a bit before drinking next time.  I'll try a few of my other older opened bottles and see if the same thing is going on.

[PaulO]

My word, 12 years open is a long time.  The longest someting I like lasts open is a month or two.  I've never had anything go bad.  I usually only have a couple open in the cabinet at the same time.  

[b1gcountry]

Does cold and damp affect things?

[GrPeMi]

10 hours ago, flahute said:

 Stored in a very warm place? 

How warm is too warm? The top shelf of my pantry, where the booze is, can regularly hit 90F during the summer months (south facing, outside wall, no A/C).

[tanstaafl2]

33 minutes ago, GrPeMi said:

How warm is too warm? The top shelf of my pantry, where the booze is, can regularly hit 90F during the summer months (south facing, outside wall, no A/C).

Bourbon was pretty warm when it was distilled and the upper reaches of a rick house also get a bit toasty so as long as it is sealed well and not exposed to light it probably doesn't have that much effect. Although I have no empirical evidence to support that!

[kjbeggs]

A good bottle? 

Not long around me...

[bill_B]

Kind of like the old Tootsie Pop commercial on how many licks it takes to reach the center.

My open bottles don't last  more than a few months. 

[flahute]

11 hours ago, GrPeMi said:

How warm is too warm? The top shelf of my pantry, where the booze is, can regularly hit 90F during the summer months (south facing, outside wall, no A/C).

I also don't have empirical evidence but I believe 90F is just fine. The guys at Breaking Bourbon did some long term testing (that's still underway) with bourbon stored at different fill levels (full, 2/3, and 1/3) that were stored in full sunlight, in a refrigerator, and a dark closet. The bourbon stored in full sunlight did the worse by far, with the lowest fill level being the worst. Glass color mattered as well. Clear glass in the sunlight fared poorly whereas amber glass did better.

They don't know if the sun exposed bottles suffered only due to sun exposure or to being heated up in combination with the sun (like a car interior baking in the sun). Therefore, I speculate that 90F is fine (that's summer room temperature in some parts) whereas 120F probably isn't. 

[flahute]

12 hours ago, b1gcountry said:

Does cold and damp affect things?

Cold and damp is good. Damp prevents the cork from drying out and loosening in the bottle which could let air into the bottle.

This only matters if you are storing for years at a time.

[b1gcountry]

I pulled some bottles from my dad's house that were in the basement 35+years

[taddraughn]

One of the bourbon websites that I follow did an experiment with different storage methods.. pretty interesting read and results! http://www.breakingbourbon.com/12-month-bourbon-storage-experiment.html

[flahute]

5 minutes ago, taddraughn said:

One of the bourbon websites that I follow did an experiment with different storage methods.. pretty interesting read and results! http://www.breakingbourbon.com/12-month-bourbon-storage-experiment.html

See a couple posts up. That's what I just referenced.

[GaryT]

I've got bottles opened for 4 yrs now - and I can't tell any difference in taste.  Stored in a cabinet (no windows, so dark & room temp) the whole time, and a screw cap (squat ORVW bottle).  Although 12 is a long time - I'm getting ready to decant this one just to be safe (except I really do like the bottle!)

[SebastianLloyd]

On 12/15/2015, 8:22:50, flahute said:

The guys at Breaking Bourbon did some long term testing ...

I read that a few days ago. It was a great article. Cant wait to see the results for 24 months.