Monterey Rye - Age Your Own Rye

[NorCalBoozer]

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this one. My friend said it's one of the best deals in Rye. The bottle I bought ran $27.99 at a local liquor store.

That's a much better price than i saw, which was $35. I'd like to try it but I was sort of surprised at the price, since i saw the corn for $12

all in all I am looking forward to trying it so I hope that I can locate it at a more reasonable price point.

Greg

[Graeck]

Hello Graeck. Welcome to SB.com.

Hmmmm...

For under $30 you should be able to get both Wild Turkey rye and Sazerac rye. For under $15 there's Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond. You might want to try those.

He obviously felt it was better than WT and Sazerac. By "one of th best deals" I think he meant in terms of quality/price ratio...not absolute price.

I'll post the results...

[jinenjo]

I'll post the results...

Please do.

If the aging hasn't begun too much. I'd take out the white dog to save for the other wood sticks (if you're up for more of this experimentation). That way you'd have a baseline to compare all of them against each other.

As for the price, I paid $23 + tax for the rye and $19+ for the corn.

[jinenjo]

I wasn't sure whether or not to start a separate thread for my project.

I'll post a picture soon, now that I've started the aging experiment. Began it last Friday, the 26th of July. The weather's been quite cool in the morning and most of the day. Not very sunny at all (with the exception of a few days). Hopefully, it'll be more consitently sunny, then cool at night.

That's bay area weather for you.

Salut.

[jinenjo]

Here's a picture. I'm glad I went out to take it today, because I found there was a leak at the spigot. I emptied it to see how much I lost. Luckily, not too much.

A little extra for the angels. :skep:

[NorCalBoozer]

very cool, good luck. It looks like you went with the 2/3 corn and 1/3 rye. looking foward to your first results.

You're getting me fired up to try another barrel refill myself.

Greg

[jinenjo]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that part. I decided on a more Bourbon ratio 2:1, corn to rye.

It's exciting to start from the beginning with white spirit, rather than from a true whiskey product--already aged somewhat (as with my last experiment). I hope the results are positive. Thanks for the well wishes!

Greg, perhaps when this is all over you could come up here to Roger's group when I reveal the final spirit.

Salut!

[NorCalBoozer]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that part. I decided on a more Bourbon ratio 2:1, corn to rye.

It's exciting to start from the beginning with white spirit, rather than from a true whiskey product--already aged somewhat (as with my last experiment). I hope the results are positive. Thanks for the well wishes!

Greg, perhaps when this is all over you could come up here to Roger's group when I reveal the final spirit.

Salut!

Agreed. Starting from "white dog" makes it a very exciting experiment to see exactly how the barrel will influence the spirit.

I'd love to taste it, I've been unable to attend the BA get togethers for a while due to some pressing issues but hopefully I can make it up there soon.

Greg

[kpendle]

Lear,

I look foward to the end result. I think your last experiment turned out pretty well. I don't remember what it was up against when we tasted it but I recall it was the standout in my opinion.

Did you guys taste the Willet's 4yo at Roger's the last study group? Curious as to how that is turning out.

Ken

[jinenjo]

Roger finally dumped it. The end result you'll have to try.

[Roger rebarreled the Willette's 4 y.o. for close to 12 months.]

It's well aged. On its own, a little much. But I did a recent vatting with the true 4 y.o., and it's good.

[cowdery]

This is fascinating--the Monterey aging, that is. By all means, keep us posted.

Be sure to keep a photographic record of the color change. Always put the same, small amount in the glass, place it on a white card and photograph it from above.

If I may presume to offer that little bit of advice.

[jinenjo]

I'm planning to sample it once a month--perhaps more frequently after the two month mark.

Any and all suggestions, comments, and questions are welcome.

[jinenjo]

There's been a few warm days (by bay area standards, of course) as of late. Since my 5 liter barrel is less than half full, I've been turning it weekly. The other day, a warm one, I noticed leakage from the spigot. The warmth was causing expansion, and so the added pressure was causing excess to come out of the knob of the spigot. I've since been keeping the barrel on its side so the spirit does not reach the level of the bung or spigot.

My previous barrel did not behave this way even in the most extreme heat (in my car on a hot day). I've since contacted Bryan at 1,000 Oaks Barrels and he responded by telling me he'll send a new spigot my way. I've had nothing but good customer service from this company.

I also emptied it into bottles, temporarily, to see how much i'd lost--already over 400ml at this point--and to check to color of the whiskey. It's got plenty more time to go, yet the nose has shifted significantly toward a more bourbon-like smell, which is promising at less that one month old.

I'm keeping the barrel on top of stacks of storage bins so it is nearly touching the top of the shed--at the highest, hottest part.

[jinenjo]

Well, the results are in.

On Wednesday of last week, nearing three months in the barrel, I decided to take out a sample quaff--also in anticipation of bringing some to Roger's East Bay Study Group.

What I thought were simply odd (unique) profiles in the white dog became more pronounced while aging in the oak. In other words, the dominant characteristic is VINEGAR. It smells like it. Tastes less so, but it is an odd amalgam of whiskey and vinegar acidity. When I first brought the white dog to the group, my girlfriend was present and she was the one to mention how it bore resemblance to vinegar. I agreed then and even more so now.

I'll post a picture when I get a chance. The color is nice and there are sweet and oaky tones to the whiskey, yet the overall result is pretty unfavorable. Needless to say I was bummed.

Last Saturday, Neal and Roger tasted it. This was the first time Neal had ever encountered spirit from C & C Shine in Monterey, and upon nosing it he immediately said it smelled like acetic acid. We all agreed that someone at the micro-distillery must've fallen asleep at the fermenting tank. This baby went to far into vinegar territory.

Since then I've been trying to do my best to minimize any off flavors left in the barrel, so I could reuse it. I've also been thinking about sending my results and thoughts along to the folks down in Monterey to see what they might say.

As with all experiments, some are successful and others less so. That's the way the cookie crumbles, or in this case, the "whiskey don't keep". At least I could use it in cooking!

[sku]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Maybe there is a really nice salad dressing in your future.

Anyway, thanks for keeping us posted...you've taken one for the team.

[spun_cookie]

could add some oil and dip bread into it... sorry for the first "not so good" try. But keep at it.

[NorCalBoozer]

Lear,

sorry to hear that as well. But at least you saved me $30 from buying this stuff. I think it's worth giving them feedback. Maybe they will give you some replacement product or something.

Greg

[Graeck]

I'm now on bottle 2 of the Monterey Rye. For my first bottle, I used the (medium toast?) American oak stick that came with the bottle for ~ month, and then switched the oak out to heavy toast American for another week or so.

On the addition of the heavy toast cubes the color darkened quickly...thus after just a week or so I took them out. The result was interesting, though I think I learned a lesson with the heavy toast ... a little goes a long way. My Rye had a distinctly toasted flavor, borderline burnt. It was actually not bad - just very, erm, different. The color was about as dark as I've ever seen in a whisky. I have photos, perhaps I'll post somewhere shortly.

For bottle two, I've had the stock American Oak stick in the bottle for almost a month now. My medium toast Hungarian oak cubes just arrived today, so I think I'll switch to the Hungarian oak and see how the flavor develops. I haven't sampled this bottle at all yet. But will take a sip out before adding the Hungarian.

For my third bottle, I'm thinking of putting the oak in some port for a couple weeks first, and then putting the oak in the whisky. Has anyone tried something like this? Any recommendations on time, etc.?

- GregR

[jinenjo]

For my third bottle, I'm thinking of putting the oak in some port for a couple weeks first, and then putting the oak in the whisky. Has anyone tried something like this? Any recommendations on time, etc.?

- GregR

It sounds like a worthy experiment to me, Greg. As far as time goes, I can't help you much. I've only done re-barreling, and I think the chips work a lot faster. Best bet is to sample weekly or so--just do it regularly to gauge the progress. I'd like to see some pictures, and perhaps, one day, we could exchange samples.

I have to ask though, did a vinegar taste come through in your bottles?

[Graeck]

I have to ask though, did a vinegar taste come through in your bottles?

No, I haven't had anything like that. I ran it by two friends who have also been experimenting with MRS, and they didn't have any vinegar flavors either.