THE VATTING THREAD 2017

[flahute]

5 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

Made the GW4G 3WSR:2OGD114 just before Noon. [Note to self - do NOT vat on an empty stomach early in the day, particularly when tasting.  The rack monster will haul you off to bed.]

 

Beautiful, long legs in the sampler Glencairn.  Even at 3:2::WSR:OGD114, it keeps its woody edge.  I like the bloom off OGD114 by itself after it has been in the glass a few minutes with or without a few drops of water.  The vatting does not lose that; rather, the WSR adds a nutty flavor to the mix.

 

At 1:1, the OGD sort of dominates.  For me, the 3:2 works well.  I have some "parts" left over.  I may play a little with the ratio, but 3:2 is easy to do and fits in a 750 (12 oz. WSR and 8oz. OGD114 = 24 fl.oz.) without thinking too much.  Adding a few drops of WSR to the glass would be easier to figure out than messing with keeping 3.n:2 (where n is some additional amount of WSR) under 750ml/25.36oz.

Thanks for the notes Harry.

I'm ready to dig into my 1:1 blend this weekend. I know exactly how much of each went in so I can keep track of how much I drink in order to add more WSR after a couple pours to get to the 3:2 ratio you guys are preferring.

[Bob_Loblaw]

Got my 3L barrel on Friday and after letting it sit with water for 3 days to plug the leaks (who knew?) mixed up my first batch of Manhatton's.  Got me a funnel and poured in a bottle of Sazerac Rye followed by a Rittenhouse Rye and a bottle of Noilly Pratt sweet vermouth, just under 2 oz of Angustora Bitters and 1/4 oz orange bitters.  Topped it off with another bottle of Rittenhouse that by my math was going to have about 2 oz leftover, but it all fit with plenty of room to spare!  Going to give it a week or so and then sample.  

Edited October 31, 2017 by Bob_Loblaw

[HoustonNit]

Tried to steer my wife away from the boring contemporary grey paint and go with the awesome retro Joe wallpaper but she wasn't having it. Shame.

 

 

[Harry in WashDC]

6 minutes ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Got my 3L barrel on Friday and after letting it sit with water for 3 days to plug the leaks (who knew?) mixed up my first batch of Manhatton's

. . .

 

My GW4G (now in a 750ml OGD BIB w/fake cork bottle) is only getting better.  It may last until T'giving.  If I don't share.  All that writing about Manhattans has me drinking them tonight - Catoctin Creek 100% Organic Rye (80 proof) and Capitoline (a WashDC product) sweet vermouth and some angostura bitters.  FINALLY, a vermouth that holds up and complements the CCOR 80.

[GeeTen]

8 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

My GW4G (now in a 750ml OGD BIB w/fake cork bottle) is only getting better.  It may last until T'giving.  If I don't share. 

 

Welcome to the GW4G Sewing Circle and Revolutionary Society, Harry!  See, I told you so . . . . . . .   

 

[smokinjoe]

9 hours ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Got my 3L barrel on Friday and after letting it sit with water for 3 days to plug the leaks (who knew?) mixed up my first batch of Manhatton's.  Got me a funnel and poured in a bottle of Sazerac Rye followed by a Rittenhouse Rye and a bottle of Noilly Pratt sweet vermouth, just under 2 oz of Angustora Bitters and 1/4 oz orange bitters.  Topped it off with another bottle of Rittenhouse that by my math was going to have about 2 oz leftover, but it all fit with plenty of room to spare!  Going to give it a week or so and then sample.  

I admire your Go Big, Or Go Home mentality, Rob!  No little 1L Barrel for you!  

You have solid components picked, so I'm sure it will be great.  Looking forward to hearing how it progresses.

[Harry in WashDC]

11 hours ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Got my 3L barrel on Friday and after letting it sit with water for 3 days to plug the leaks (who knew?) mixed up my first batch of Manhatton's.  Got me a funnel and poured in a bottle of Sazerac Rye followed by a Rittenhouse Rye and a bottle of Noilly Pratt sweet vermouth, just under 2 oz of Angustora Bitters and 1/4 oz orange bitters.  Topped it off with another bottle of Rittenhouse that by my math was going to have about 2 oz leftover, but it all fit with plenty of room to spare!  Going to give it a week or so and then sample.  

Oh, yeah, FWIW, there is a restaurant here in Wash DC that uses a 3L barrel like yours to "age" its Manhattans which are made with Dad's Hat rye and Dolin's Sweet Vermouth.  They are excellent, and the barrel really does add a positive depth to the mix of flavors.  They don't disclose proportions, however.

Edited October 31, 2017 by Harry in WashDC
SO, I, too, look forward to your results.

[Marekv8]

I woke up in the hotel room with a generous bar pour of OB Barterhouse from the night before oxidizing on the bedside table. I funneled it into a flask and brought it home for use as a blend component. Does anyone have a recommendation for a suitable bourbon to mate this with-- a similar mash bill or profile yet higher proof to get the end result into the ~110˚ range?

 

Many thanks, Dave

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 10:42 PM, Bob_Loblaw said:

Got my 3L barrel on Friday and after letting it sit with water for 3 days to plug the leaks (who knew?) mixed up my first batch of Manhatton's.  Got me a funnel and poured in a bottle of Sazerac Rye followed by a Rittenhouse Rye and a bottle of Noilly Pratt sweet vermouth, just under 2 oz of Angustora Bitters and 1/4 oz orange bitters.  Topped it off with another bottle of Rittenhouse that by my math was going to have about 2 oz leftover, but it all fit with plenty of room to spare!  Going to give it a week or so and then sample.  

For whatever it is worth (which is very little, especially since you added everything already! ) I like to add the bitters when I make the drink rather than age them with the rest of the spirits.  Just seems to make the drink a bit more lively that way. When you pour your drink from the barrel or various empty bottles (which you likely need to be sure to have at hand so don't throw the bottles you used away) because you are likely going to want to pour it all out of the barrel when it has reached maximal barrel aging (it can get overoaked PDQ in those small barrels) then you add what ever bitters you want to finish off the drink.

[Daveheelga]

I'm interested in my first vatting experience. Do most people just start with an empty bottle and fill it up? Any recommendations?

[GeeTen]

Start small - one glass is good.  See if you like a vatting before you commit to an entire bottle if it.  Try a simple mixture of stuff that you have on hand that may not be up to your standards by themselves. 

 

I started down this rabbit hole when I first tried Stagg Jr. (way too hot, I thought).  dSculptor suggested I mix it with Eagle Rare (ER10) and Buffalo Trace (BT), 2 ER10: 1 BT: 1 Stagg Jr.  Now my palate has matured to where I can appreciate and really like StaggJr neat.  But I still have a bottle of dSculptor's Blend on hand at all times!

 

Good luck and happy vatting.   

 

 

[Daveheelga]

2 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

Start small - one glass is good.  See if you like a vatting before you commit to an entire bottle if it.  Try a simple mixture of stuff that you have on hand that may not be up to your standards by themselves. 

 

I started down this rabbit hole when I first tried Stagg Jr. (way too hot, I thought).  dSculptor suggested I mix it with Eagle Rare (ER10) and Buffalo Trace (BT), 2 ER10: 1 BT: 1 Stagg Jr.  Now my palate has matured to where I can appreciate and really like StaggJr neat.  But I still have a bottle of dSculptor's Blend on hand at all times!

 

Good luck and happy vatting.   

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll start with the 3:2 WSW and OGD114. Since I can find both of those, it seems like a good starting point. 

[GeeTen]

1 minute ago, Daveheelga said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll start with the 3:2 WSW and OGD114. Since I can find both of those, it seems like a good starting point. 

 

I think you want Weller Special Reserve (WSR) - this is one of my favorite vattings (Harry from WashDC and others, too!) for easy drinking!  "Grandpa Weller's Four Grain"!

 

 

[Daveheelga]

6 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

 

I think you want Weller Special Reserve (WSR) - this is one of my favorite vattings (Harry from WashDC and others, too!) for easy drinking!  "Grandpa Weller's Four Grain"!

 

 

Whoops! Looks like I left off the R. GW4G sounds great. 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Thanks for the thoughts/tips.  I added the orange bitters at the very last moment because I know the friends I am giving samples to are super lazy and wanted to make sure there was at least a little orange essence in the cocktail.  

 

First tasting is next Monday which will be 2 weeks.  Will report back with results.

[fishnbowljoe]

1 hour ago, Daveheelga said:

I'm interested in my first vatting experience. Do most people just start with an empty bottle and fill it up? Any recommendations?

 

1 hour ago, GeeTen said:

Start small - one glass is good.  See if you like a vatting before you commit to an entire bottle if it.  Try a simple mixture of stuff that you have on hand that may not be up to your standards by themselves. 

 

 I agree. Start small. I start out using measuring spoons, especially if I'm trying something new. Have several glasses on hand. Each time you try a different "recipe", use a new glass. When you're done, combine the left overs that didn't work out. That can be interesting too. 

 

Cheers! Joe

[kcgumbohead]

A happy experiment with 2 bottles that underwhelmed a 4RSmb and a PS 4R SB (the standard 100p OBSV variety). I hoped to amp up the flavor in the Smb while still getting to enjoy its component flavors and I wanted to round off a particular note in the SB which is not part of the standard OBSV profile (as much as there can be a standard SB profile). Thankfully what I had hoped for worked out and it came from the very first 1:1 vatting. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

[GreggJ]

THis is great!

 

I've been on a bit of a blending / vatting kick as well.   I find a bourbon that I feel is a bit soft in a area and I will incorporate other bourbons that have that profile.  Once you get it dialed it it can be some phenomenal whiskey designed to your profile. 

 

Right now I am drinking a 4R Single barrel. Added some Russell Reserve Single Barrel, Rebel Yell 10yo and a splash of angels envy rye.  This is one phenomenal batch.  The nose is incredible.  I figure if Trey Zoeller Jeffersons can do their blending and barrel experiments and charge what they are, I can as well.  For me I keep tweeking till I find something I really like and the results so far have been exceptional.  

 

I wish I had the Weller supply to play with.  Thanks for sharing this is some interesting stuff.  

 

Is there a Vatting thread where folks share their blends / recipes?  If not it would be a pretty neat resource.

[flahute]

8 hours ago, GreggJ said:

Is there a Vatting thread where folks share their blends / recipes?  If not it would be a pretty neat resource.

You are in it.

[Guss West]

I am a bit of vatting/blending nerd, so please forgive me indulging this thread. 

One theme I see here very strongly, which I've not seen explicitly stated is that vatting brands from the same distiller is often easy and successful.  Since they are all of a certain "house style", I'm usually pretty confident when making these blends.  

 

I'm going to start collating a list from the SB vatting threads, but along the lines of the above I'll throw out a few that are currently on my shelves. 

 

"Old Grandad's Knob": 4KC9:3OGD114.

"Booker's Knob": 1B:2KC9.

(Sorry for the juvenile names, but I just can't help myself.)

These are my three favorite Beam products, so these blends came about organically as I played with portions while consolidating mostly-empty bottles.  

 

"Elijah's Dregs": 1EC:1HH/NDP bulk whisky.

(EC has become my go to vatting savior whenever I come across one of the many NDP products made of either HH or Barton bulk.  Less effective with MGP products, which I avoid excepting ryes.) 

 

I am looking forward to vatting some of the other wonderful recommendations in this here thread.  The Weller and Stagg blends are on the top of my list! 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Sampled my BA Manhattans today. Wow, a ton of wood flavor and as SmokingJoe pointed out some beautiful color. I immediately emptied the barrel and here is the final yield. 

 

The body of the liquid is definitely more viscous then a fresh cocktail but the wood hits in a similar fashion to a pleated Scotch. That is to say maybe an acquired taste? I am going to try adding an orange twist on the next cocktail. 

 

Another idea may be to add an oz or so of Luxardo cherry syrup to each bottle and let that sit to take some of the woody edge off. 

 

Jury still out on this. And I am quite tipsy from the three i sampled! 

[EarthQuake]

My experience with these little barrels is that 4-5 days is all it takes to take on a lot of the barrel flavor. That's with 1L barrels, I expect you can go a bit longer with the larger ones. I've left some in too long, and what I ended up doing was blending in more regular whiskey, which sorted it out.

 

I pulled my barreled old fashion out after I think 6 days or so (and that was after 2 weeks filled with Madeira, which takes a lot of the oak edge off). I'm pretty happy with the result, it's sort of weird but I think it holds up really well neat.

[tanstaafl2]

The idea of trying to age whiskey or cocktails in small barrels intrigued me early on but I have come to find that HH, FR, WT, BT, Beam, BF et al seem to be more than able to age whiskey in barrels extremely well and the thing I am most likely to do by putting it in a small 1 or 2 liter barrel is to screw up perfectly good whiskey.

 

As a result I have decided to give up on aging whiskey (or cocktails) in barrels. if it is something I don't like before it goes in one of those barrels chances are I am still not going to like it when it comes out. Or if I do like it before hand I am not going to like it better (and there is a fair chance I am going to like it less) when it comes out. So I am better off not buying whiskey I don't like to begin with!

 

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

22 hours ago, EarthQuake said:

My experience with these little barrels is that 4-5 days is all it takes to take on a lot of the barrel flavor. That's with 1L barrels, I expect you can go a bit longer with the larger ones. I've left some in too long, and what I ended up doing was blending in more regular whiskey, which sorted it out.

 

I pulled my barreled old fashion out after I think 6 days or so (and that was after 2 weeks filled with Madeira, which takes a lot of the oak edge off). I'm pretty happy with the result, it's sort of weird but I think it holds up really well neat.

Good idea to add more non aged rye. I may screw around with that tomorrow. Just regular bourbon tonight!

[Daveheelga]

I stumbled across a 1.75 of WSR today, so I'm ready to start my vatting journey. Apart from OGD114, any other suggestions with WSR? I do have some OWA on hand.