Does whiskey go off after its been open for a bit?

[Mac]

@gilgamboa

If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, why dont they sell the expensive stuff in smaller bottles?

Have a think about that one there

[balbec]

Sigh

[Mac]

He’s hungover so I’ll leave him off

[flattythehurdler]

As long as the customer can put a photo of the receipt on Facebook, they’ll be happy enough, by and large.

[Malarkey]

Yes… Alas. And it is the ‘Does my receipt look big enough in this?’ lark that is driving prices skyward.

[Malarkey]

Well… Because the informing factor is the ratio of liquid to bottle, not bottle size.

By the way, you can get quite a lot of whisky in 20cl bottles. ‘Classic Malts’ range is one, if memory serves. The Blender’s Dog, Cooper’s Croze and Distiller’s Safe range is definitely a current one.

[gilgamboa]

@Malarkey

Well… Because the informing factor is the ratio of liquid to bottle, not bottle size.

I understand that. But a smaller bottle would be drunk more quickly so wouldnt be sitting around for ages. And in a 20cl bottle you would only have 10cl of ‘imperfect’ product vs. 25 cl in a 50cl bottle for example

[balbec]

The drinks industry is a volume game.

[Malarkey]

An interesting point, in fairness. I suppose the reality is that buying 20cl of a whisky will always be more expensive, proportionately, than buying 70cl of the same whisky, due to packaging costs. An example is how 70cl of Blender’s Dog is 70 quid. The three 20cl bottles set is 70 quid (or more, typically), even though you only have, in total, 60cl of whiskey. The same is true of reckoning up the cost of 70cl if bought via naggins.

I guess 70cl, over time, announced itself as the ‘best’ size of whisky bottle for the European market — best in the sense of likely consumption time balanced against packaging costs. Or some such considerations.

[glasagusban]

That’s a cracking post.

[Malarkey]

Cheers.

So very to speak…

[Nembo_Kid]

It’s no wonder he’s unemployable.

[Malarkey]

To be fair, I thought at first he was totally missing the point. But no, in fairness. There is a certain logic to his follow up.

Even so, this logic would consume itself to the point where good whisky got sold only in miniatures.

[Nembo_Kid]

The guy is an unemployed dipso, mate.

[Malarkey]

Not a clue what or who he is, real life or online life. And care less. Just thought there was a certain originality to his point about small(er) bottles. I guess that facet is why the real high end stuff often comes so with its own miniature, Midleton Pearl and so forth.

[habanerocat]

@Malarkey

Whisk(e)y goes off — oxidizes — pretty quickly once the level of liquid in a bottle falls below halfway. You probably only have a couple of months in this scenario before the whisky is no longer itself — and then a shadow of itself. Oxidized whisky tastes dull and hollow (and somehow dusty). I have experienced the syndrome in pubs a few times and you would not mistake the experience, once encountered.

Around 2000, I was in Ye Olde Reindeer in Banbury and noticed they had a 1980s bottle of Redbreast behind the bar. Could not resisting ordering a shot, though the bottle was but a quarter full. Yes: dull and hollow and somehow dusty.

If you have a really good bottle of whisky, one getting below two thirds full, you are as well off decanting most of the remainder into labeled 10cl bottles (which were not at all expensive when I bought a rake of them from Loch Fyne Whiskies in the mid 2000s). That way, you can pick and choose when you want to finish a particular bottle, sure it is still at its best.

There is a lot of journalism about whiskey in national newspapers but I have yet to see an article noting that certain pubs are sitting on a depreciation timebomb. Many pubs now carry a range of whiskies costing between 12 and 28 euro a shot. How quick, in most establishments, is this stuff moving? You will have people eventually ‘treating’ themself to a highly expensive whisky that is way past its best.

The funny thing is that whisky becomes at its absolute best if you drink about 15cl of a 70cl bottle and leave the rest for a few weeks. Exposure to a small bit of air improves the rest of the bottle a noticeable amount. Back in 2000s, I did some experiments with this factor and it is, according to several friends, definitely true.

I think this proves my point above that expensive whisky is a waste of money.

[habanerocat]

Johnny Burke’s pub. Part of the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point.
Those prices are for a measure, not the whole bottle.

[TheUlteriorMotive]

Happy to give that a tenth like.

Tfk never fails to impress with the range of knowledge.

[ciarancareyshurlingarmy]

Got a bottle of this today. Very pleasant sipping with a little ice

[balbec]

Unless you drink it straight away.