Would you try to save it

[Scotch Neat]

I reach over for a 3/4 full bottle of ETL  miss it tipping it over on its neck.

I hear the glass crack but nothing spills out.

Examining the bottle I see the neck is cracked diagonally across the cork and has completely separated.

The cork and the top half of the neck come off the bottle.

Im PISSED!

 

I grab a funnel put two coffee filters in it and pour the ETL through my filter setup into a empty bottle.

It works fine, I then pour a glass and just cant drink it believing that there may be a shard that went trough the filter.

So I pour the bourbon down the drain.

 

Am I just being paranoid????

 

 

[Paddy]

I would have done everything you did, except pour it down the drain.  In my OCD, I would have probably even filtered it a second time before declaring it 'saved'.

[BottledInBond]

9 minutes ago, Scotch Neat said:

I reach over for a 3/4 full bottle of ETL  miss it tipping it over on its neck.

I hear the glass crack but nothing spills out.

Examining the bottle I see the neck is cracked diagonally across the cork and has completely separated.

The cork and the top half of the neck come off the bottle.

Im PISSED!

 

I grab a funnel put two coffee filters in it and pour the ETL through my filter setup into a empty bottle.

It works fine, I then pour a glass and just cant drink it believing that there may be a shard that went trough the filter.

So I pour the bourbon down the drain.

 

Am I just being paranoid????

 

 

I had this happen to me recently. After filtering it I poured it back into a decanter and just didn't pour the very bottom of it back in, as gravity would have brought any remaining solids to the bottom. I drank it and beleive I am just fine, but I'm no doctor  of course. 

[Harry in WashDC]

I 'd hate to give you advice and have you die and then have your family chase me around the planet for YOUR bad judgment in listening to me, a complete stranger,

 

BUT

 

in the vintage port wine world

 

virtually ALL vintage port bottles have natural corks

 

AND those corks are all, at least, 20 years old unless you are opening the bottle MUCH TOO SOON/

 

So, how to get an ancient, dried out, adhered-to-the-glass cork out?  ANS - Don't.

 

Heat tongs in the fireplace (or over a gas burner OR a charcoal fire in a grill)

 

and clamp the red-hot tongs on the neck of the bottle close to the top above the liquid level and

 

when the glass cracks, lift off the neck/cork combo and pitch it (and ignore the screams of your spouse to the effect that, "You're going to get glass and port crap everywhere,  you X&%#!!!)

 

THEN, through cheesecloth or a coffee filter decant the stuff still in the bottle being careful to not pour the dregs in the bottle out.  And, there WILL BE DREGS.

 

THEN, pour the strained stuff into glasses and drink it while smoking cigars (or eating cheese hahaha) while saying OOOHHH and AAAHHHH.

 

Edit = Thinikng about this got me thinking about the 1984 and 1987 Fonseca Guimaraens in my basement.

 

Now, where'd my wife put the tongs . . .

Edited October 27, 2016 by Harry in WashDC

[garbanzobean]

Cheesecloth is the way to go.  Just don't mix it up with tack cloth . . .

[Richdel]

7 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

I 'd hate to give you advice and have you die and then have your family chase me around the planet for YOUR bad judgment in listening to me, a complete stranger,

 

BUT

 

in the vintage port wine world

 

virtually ALL vintage port bottles have natural corks

 

AND those corks are all, at least, 20 years old unless you are opening the bottle MUCH TOO SOON/

 

So, how to get an ancient, dried out, adhered-to-the-glass cork out?  ANS - Don't.

 

Heat tongs in the fireplace (or over a gas burner OR a charcoal fire in a grill)

 

and clamp the red-hot tongs on the neck of the bottle close to the top above the liquid level and

 

when the glass cracks, lift off the neck/cork combo and pitch it (and ignore the screams of your spouse to the effect that, "You're going to get glass and port crap everywhere,  you X&%#!!!)

 

THEN, through cheesecloth or a coffee filter decant the stuff still in the bottle being careful to not pour the dregs in the bottle out.  And, there WILL BE DREGS.

 

THEN, pour the strained stuff into glasses and drink it while smoking cigars (or eating cheese hahaha) while saying OOOHHH and AAAHHHH.

 

Edit = Thinikng about this got me thinking about the 1984 and 1987 Fonseca Guimaraens in my basement.

 

Now, where'd my wife put the tongs . . .

Hahaha, made me giggle this morning, then I realized this was not a fabrication.  Oh, the lengths we will go to with our "hobbies"....

[berto]

I would have strained two or three times and had a drink.

[GaryT]

Better safe than sorry I supposed, but yeah - I'd have strained and drank it.  Hell - I've spilled some nice whiskey on the table and thrown my arms out to keep others away as I lick the surface clean . . . and then ask my lovely wife "You did wash the table after cutting up that chicken on here last week, right?"  

 

Lived, so guess it was OK.  

[PaulO]

I remember seeing a video on the Indystar website.  This guy shows how to open Champagne with a sabre.  I think he poured it through a filter afterward.  

[tanstaafl2]

After putting it through two coffee filters I wouldn't have put it down the drain until it has passed through my own internal filter first!

 

Glass fine enough to get through two coffee filters is likely to get through you without causing any difficulty of note. If you wanted to be extra sure let is sit and pour most but not all of it out through the filters as several have described. 

[GeeTen]

On 10/26/2016 at 11:06 PM, Harry in WashDC said:

I 'd hate to give you advice and have you die and then have your family chase me around the planet for YOUR bad judgment in listening to me, a complete stranger,

 

BUT

 

in the vintage port wine world

 

virtually ALL vintage port bottles have natural corks

 

AND those corks are all, at least, 20 years old unless you are opening the bottle MUCH TOO SOON/

 

So, how to get an ancient, dried out, adhered-to-the-glass cork out?  ANS - Don't.

 

Heat tongs in the fireplace (or over a gas burner OR a charcoal fire in a grill)

 

and clamp the red-hot tongs on the neck of the bottle close to the top above the liquid level and

 

when the glass cracks, lift off the neck/cork combo and pitch it (and ignore the screams of your spouse to the effect that, "You're going to get glass and port crap everywhere,  you X&%#!!!)

 

THEN, through cheesecloth or a coffee filter decant the stuff still in the bottle being careful to not pour the dregs in the bottle out.  And, there WILL BE DREGS.

 

THEN, pour the strained stuff into glasses and drink it while smoking cigars (or eating cheese hahaha) while saying OOOHHH and AAAHHHH.

 

Edit = Thinikng about this got me thinking about the 1984 and 1987 Fonseca Guimaraens in my basement.

 

Now, where'd my wife put the tongs . . .

 

Harry - you're into vintage port, too?  We just finished our last bottle of 1970 Fonseca Vintage Port last night and will start getting into our case of '77s this weekend (getting cold around these parts, ya' know).  I also use the port tongs but just to heat the neck of the bottle, not lift it off the bottle.  After heating with the red-hot tongs, I put the tongs back in the fireplace and run a cube of ice or a feather around the heated neck.  It breaks off clean as a whistle and is quite dramatic at the table (although not as dramatic as using one of my samurai swords on the neck of a fine bottle of champagne  ).

  

Edited November 4, 2016 by GeeTen

[Harry in WashDC]

On 11/4/2016 at 7:12 AM, GeeTen said:

 

Harry - you're into vintage port, too?  We just finished our last bottle of 1970 Fonseca Vintage Port last night and will start getting into our case of '77s this weekend (getting cold around these parts, ya' know).  I also use the port tongs but just to heat the neck of the bottle, not lift it off the bottle.  After heating with the red-hot tongs, I put the tongs back in the fireplace and run a cube of ice or a feather around the heated neck.  It breaks off clean as a whistle and is quite dramatic at the table (although not as dramatic as using one of my samurai swords on the neck of a fine bottle of champagne  ).

  

GT - I' ve only done the tongs once, and that was years ago.  That's why I forgot to mention the ice on the hot glass.  I used a microfiber cloth which I'd soaked in water then wrapped around a shot glass then froze.  It slipped right down the port neck, and with a little squeezing, caused the bottle to crack cleanly.  I still decanted it through a fine mesh strainer (screen and funnel) designed for port decantings and then let the carafe sit for an hour or so just in case some glass dust got through the mesh (which barely lets water through).  I also threw away the last 1/16th of an inch or so of the decanted port.  Nowadays, I ONLY pull (and shred, sometimes) the corks so I just strain that last bit into a glass for myself in order to remove that residual sludge that seems to settle even after decanting.  Wife likes this as I don't wander around the house with red-hot tongs.  I STILL remember that night . . .

 

Other than Osborne white port which we use for sangria and similar punches in the Summer and the occasional tawny to chug on as the mood hits me, I'm pretty much done purchasing ports to lay up.  I still have several dozen laid up, but the most recent large bunch was in 1994.  I did pick up a couple in 2000 just because it was the Millenium and was happy to learn later that 2000 was a great year.  I'm heavy on the TFs,  but that 1994 bunch had several Fonsecas (which taste different to me than the TFs even though they are co-owned), a couple of Symington brands - Dow and Grahams, and one Ramos Pinto (go figure).  The lone 1994 Cockburns I bought popped its cork years ago, staining the basement floor sufficiently that some future owner of the house will swear that SOMEbody was murdered under the stairs.