Let's Age Some Whiskey!

My birthday is tomorrow, but SWMBO couldn't wait to give me my gift and had me open it today. I got one of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten! She bought me the Woodinville Whiskey Co. age your own whiskey kit. The kit came with a 2-liter oak aging barrel, a funnel, two bottles of un-aged "White Dog" whiskey and two awesome Glencairn glasses. The instructions recommend tasting it weekly to see how it's progressing I'm going to use this thread to kind of document my journey through aging my own whiskey.

Here is the kit:



The bottles of White Dog that came with it also have portions of the label made for keeping track of your aging times which I thought was a nice touch:



After unboxing the set I did notice that one of the rings on the barrel was coming off so I simply tapped it back into place with a small mallet. Currently I am sealing the barrel. The instructions state that you have to fill the barrel with hot water and let it soak into the wood so the barrel expands and seals. It leaked at first, but has since stopped or slowed enough that it's not as obvious from what I can tell. Just smelling the barrel told me so much about how important it is for the flavor of the whiskey. I never truly appreciated that much of what I'm tasting in my whiskeys was imparted by the wood the barrel is made of.

That's a fantastic gift! Good luck with your journey.

Now how long do you age it? 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 30, 40 years?

That's a wonderful gift. Just an FYI I've heard that whiskey will age much faster in a small barrel.

Yes, the instructions said that with it being a smaller barrel it will age much faster. It said to age 3-6 months, but to taste a small sample every week in order to get it to where you personally want it.

That is very cool. Do you know if the inside of the barrels are toasted or charred at all?

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rob74 said:

That is very cool. Do you know if the inside of the barrels are toasted or charred at all?

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Yes, it is! I tried to shine a light into the bunghole laugh: yes, I'm still a kid at heart and very excited to now be able to use bunghole in a serious manner) and I wasn't able to see in, however I shook the barrel when I first got it and heard a little bit of noise so I removed the bung and flipped it upside down to shake it out. Some small pieces of charred wood fell out so it would appear that the inside is indeed charred.

Wow this is awesome! With a barrel that size, it should age pretty fast. Surface to liquid ratio is much higher than a large commercial barrel.

By any chance, do you have any idea if the company sells the barrels by themselves? I know a LOT of homebrewers who would jump at the chance for a barrel this size. Heck though, at $150 for the kit, its not a terrible deal either. Buy the kit, use their white lightning, then find my own guy! After a couple of batches, decommission to use for beer aging.

Yes, very cool! How long do you think you will age it for? You can always do wine and then back to whiskey again too.

Oh, I didnt see the tap, even better!

That's awesome! Just be sure to keep it at a "small weekly sample"

Edcculus said:

Wow this is awesome! With a barrel that size, it should age pretty fast. Surface to liquid ratio is much higher than a large commercial barrel.

By any chance, do you have any idea if the company sells the barrels by themselves? I know a LOT of homebrewers who would jump at the chance for a barrel this size. Heck though, at $150 for the kit, its not a terrible deal either. Buy the kit, use their white lightning, then find my own guy! After a couple of batches, decommission to use for beer aging.

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I don't think this particular company does. However since this is starting to become more popular I guess there are quite a few companies making these, some of which do sell the barrel alone. Deep South Barrels comes to mind. Here's a link that may help http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2013/02/top-10-whiskey-ageing-kits/2/
Would aging beer work similarly in these? I have a friend who home brews and if so he may be interested in my barrel when it's no longer good for whiskey.

Dusty1 said:

Yes, very cool! How long do you think you will age it for? You can always do wine and then back to whiskey again too.

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I'm not sure how long I'll age it for since this is my first try, but I'll be sure to keep you guys updated about the weekly tastings. I don't have an educated palate so I won't be able to give too much detail but I'll try my best.

I've heard that there are wine kits too. I don't know that I'd use the same barrel for both though to avoid wine flavored whiskey and vice versa.

Cool. Looking forward to following your progress.

It's easy to over-oak in those small barrels. You won't be able to go from wine to whiskey without getting flavor crossover but going from whiskey to beer is an easy drift because barrel-aged beers benefit from the whiskey flavor contribution. There are several spirits that are aged in used whiskey barrels that you could try out after you get tired of putting whiskey in it, such as tequila, scotch, etc.

You should be able to get a few uses out of the barrel for whiskey but each use will need to age longer because you're stripping out the oak flavor with each use. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

It's interesting to taste the early effects of oak although it is not particularly pleasant at first. Very lumber-like. You might want to wait a few weeks before giving it a taste. Depends on whether you are more interested in the volume of final product than the experience of tasting it along the way.

Wow. This is cool. I want one of these kits. Have you tried the White Dog yet to see where your starting point is?

Are those the Glencairn whiskey glasses that came with it? I have a set my wife gave me and they are great for sipping whiskey.

What a great gift. I am looking forward to your updates as you allow the whiskey to age. Just curious if you regularly have Woodinville whiskey and if your going to try to match that profile in your final product or allow it to age to something completely different?

Here's some "homework" for you!!


Gotta love Ralfy.

reverseapachemaster said:

snip You should be able to get a few uses out of the barrel for whiskey but each use will need to age longer because you're stripping out the oak flavor with each use. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

It's interesting to taste the early effects of oak although it is not particularly pleasant at first. Very lumber-like. You might want to wait a few weeks before giving it a taste. Depends on whether you are more interested in the volume of final product than the experience of tasting it along the way.

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I have found that the woody/smokey taste is part of what I really enjoy about whiskey, so I may even end up liking that. I'm not as concerned about the final volume as I am about the learning experience that will come with getting to try this whiskey as it progresses through the aging process. Regarding the volume, I did find that these bottles are "barreling strength" each at 110 proof and the instructions say to add water after pouring in the whiskey to fill the barrel the rest of the way and dilute it. I will be doing this as I plan to follow the instructions exactly for the first run.

BubblesTGB said:

Wow. This is cool. I want one of these kits. Have you tried the White Dog yet to see where your starting point is?

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I will probably be doing that tonight as my starting point. I think my barrel is sealed now and I'm at three days sealing it, so as long as I see no signs of leaking I will be emptying the water and putting the whiskey in tonight. I've had other White Dog's before, but never a Bourbon Mash version. They've always just been straight sweet corn whiskey/moonshine.

RedBird said:

Are those the Glencairn whiskey glasses that came with it? I have a set my wife gave me and they are great for sipping whiskey.

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Yes, they did come with it! I've never owned one of these before. I plan to use only these for my weekly tasting and I will probably get my first use from them tonight.

Curlingfly said:

What a great gift. I am looking forward to your updates as you allow the whiskey to age. Just curious if you regularly have Woodinville whiskey and if your going to try to match that profile in your final product or allow it to age to something completely different?

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I've never tried any of their whiskeys so I really don't have any goal to try and match theirs. I honestly never heard of this distiller until I got this gift. Unfortunately nobody around here carries their brand and the closest Binny's can't ship to my state due to some law. Luckily for me I live on the border of Iowa and Illinois. Illinois does allow Binny's to ship to them so maybe I can convince a friend or relative to let me use their address so that I can try it. I've thought about that a little bit because it was a concern to me whether or not I'd be able to get their White Dog for this again since you're not supposed to let the barrel dry and they suggest starting a new batch as soon as you bottle/empty the barrel.