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Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle. Learned that the hard way from a 100 year old bottle of 5 year whiskey a buddy found at an estate sale.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle I know this is the industry answer, but I don't buy it. For one, anyone who has stored liquor or wine vertically knows that the cork is constantly drawing out moisture. So at the very least, an older liquor in a corked bottle will be dehydrated compared to a younger one.
- TheCoelacanth 3y ago
  That's more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way. I've tasted whiskies bottled in the 1940s and 50s. I rather liked whatever they were doing in comparison with fresher bottles. Over shorter intervals, sealed bottles of Chartreuse increase in complexity with time in a manner I find difficult to describe as anything but aging.
    - kasey_junk 3y ago
      It’s just straight up wrong to suggest that liqueur doesn’t change in glass and I don’t think anyone in the industry would say otherwise. They are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging. And glass doesn’t impart anything. Whiskey breaks down over time even if store really well. Sometimes that results in a good outcome, sometimes not. It also could be you just like the recipes from back then. Chartreuse is famous for “aging” in glass. My hypothesis is it’s just such a wild flavor profile muting it (which is what most often happens as spirits breakdown) makes for a more complex taste.
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging This might be popularly misunderstood, then. A number of people I know believe that whisky doesn't change once it goes into a bottle. (This is how the term aging is used for wines, after all. One doesn't age a tannat to get more glass and cork flavor.)
BizarroLand 3y ago
If it were on the beach and exposed to the sun and wildly varying daily temperatures, I imagine that there would be some chemical reactions still going on in the bottle. I'm not a chemist or an alcohol connoisseur though, so I couldn't tell you what that would be, but to my reasoning it would explain why valuable alcohols are kept away from sunlight in temperature controlled rooms or at least underground where the temperatures don't change much.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  I was definitely using "age" as "chemically changing in a desirable manner" when I wrote that. Liquor can definitely go bad in new and surprising ways stored poorly.
- _yb2s 3y ago
  It was likely buried in the sand and only just uncovered when I showed up - probably nearly ideal storage conditions of stable cool temp and no light

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle I know this is the industry answer, but I don't buy it. For one, anyone who has stored liquor or wine vertically knows that the cork is constantly drawing out moisture. So at the very least, an older liquor in a corked bottle will be dehydrated compared to a younger one.

TheCoelacanth 3y ago
That's more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way. I've tasted whiskies bottled in the 1940s and 50s. I rather liked whatever they were doing in comparison with fresher bottles. Over shorter intervals, sealed bottles of Chartreuse increase in complexity with time in a manner I find difficult to describe as anything but aging.
  - kasey_junk 3y ago
    It’s just straight up wrong to suggest that liqueur doesn’t change in glass and I don’t think anyone in the industry would say otherwise. They are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging. And glass doesn’t impart anything. Whiskey breaks down over time even if store really well. Sometimes that results in a good outcome, sometimes not. It also could be you just like the recipes from back then. Chartreuse is famous for “aging” in glass. My hypothesis is it’s just such a wild flavor profile muting it (which is what most often happens as spirits breakdown) makes for a more complex taste.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging This might be popularly misunderstood, then. A number of people I know believe that whisky doesn't change once it goes into a bottle. (This is how the term aging is used for wines, after all. One doesn't age a tannat to get more glass and cork flavor.)

BizarroLand 3y ago

If it were on the beach and exposed to the sun and wildly varying daily temperatures, I imagine that there would be some chemical reactions still going on in the bottle. I'm not a chemist or an alcohol connoisseur though, so I couldn't tell you what that would be, but to my reasoning it would explain why valuable alcohols are kept away from sunlight in temperature controlled rooms or at least underground where the temperatures don't change much.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago
I was definitely using "age" as "chemically changing in a desirable manner" when I wrote that. Liquor can definitely go bad in new and surprising ways stored poorly.
_yb2s 3y ago
It was likely buried in the sand and only just uncovered when I showed up - probably nearly ideal storage conditions of stable cool temp and no light