But all of this is heresay, why trust the memory of a disappointed drinker who's memories are created after a dram? They say whisky can last for months after being opened without changing as long as it is kept in a good environment but the examples above demonstrate this common knowledge isn't always true. To start exploring the details, I did a a controlled experiment to compare a newly opened bottle of whisky, an opened bottle, and a bottle that is pumped out under vacuum. I chose not to look at gassing bottles simply because we already have a gadget to pump the gas out a bottle of wine.
Conclusions
Since this experiment, I've learned of the Scotch Test Dummies' gassing experiment and this very good article by Distilled Sunshine with even more references. The results are mixed and nuanced. Here are the findings of my experiments, read on for the full details!
1) The flavor profile does change over time but and is proportional to the number of times the bottle is opened, not how it was stored.
2) However, the changes to the profile are minimal and the overall profile was still very similar to the original. If you would have handed either of the three samples discussed below I wouldn't have noticed anything other than Ardbeg.
3) Separately, I specifically investigated the effects of storing a bottle under vacuum and found no difference between storing in vacuum and air. This is written up in Open Bottle Decay Pt. 2.
Procedure:
Here's the step -by-step procedure:
1) Get three bottles of the same peaty scotch. In this experiment I used the Ardbeg 10.
2) Open one and fill an empty 200ml bottle, leaving 550 ml in the original bottle.
3) Pump the air out the 200ml bottle and put it in my closet.
4) Store the other bottle along side my other whisky and drink the contents at a normal pace.
5) Once the open bottle stored with the rest of my whisky has about 200 ml left, open the new bottle, and do a taste comparison between the brand new bottle, the bottle that was pumped out, and the bottle that was open.
6) Then, pump out the 200 ml bottle that was held under vacuum (the one from step 3) and put it back in my closet. Also, store the remaining 200ml of the first bottle in the original container (corked but with air in the bottle) along side the vacuumed bottle in my closet.
8) Drink the second open bottle at a pace of my choosing and once that gets down to about 200ml,
9) Open the third bottle and compare the new bottle, a pumped out sample, and two samples from bottles that have been open.
That was sort of a slog, so let me try to break it down what's really going on in more colloquial language:
1) My wife's job is to do experimental protocols for cancer treatments.
2) I mentioned the idea that I was planning to get two bottles of the same scotch at the same time so that I could open one bottle, wait a bit, and then try it with a fresh bottle.
3) She took hold of the idea and started giving me ways to improve it. Now, I really did try to keep up with her on it, but she started rattling off possible protocols faster than my couple-drink-in self could follow. By the time she was done I had another drink and she was the teacher in Charlie Brown - wah WAH wah.
4) After she repeating her ideas on a few different occasions, I got it... with the caveat that step 5 above should actually read: "Once the open bottle that I'm drinking is down to about 100-200 ml, check with my wife to make sure I know the next step".
Results:
Day 1: (April 19, 2018) Opening the bottle.Nose: Not as much as I'd expect from an Ardbeg. A little peat, alcohol, and sweetness. Then after it sits, some sulphur and oil.
Taste: Smoke, oil, burn, its like getting a mouth full of a campfire
Finish: short, with a burn and lingering smoke while exhaling,
Overall: I was disappointed as I remembered Ardbeg 10 being better.
Day 2: Added some water to my dram
Nose: Smoky, thick, and oily
Taste: The added water cools the alcohol to a nice pepper and allows the sweetness to come through.
Finish: Still short - and I'm still surprised at this - and the smoke on an exhale is not as smoky.
Overall: Much better! The peat was muted, which I wasn't necessarily hoping for, but the burn was also muted making it very drinkable.
The open bottle is nearing the end so I'm ready for step 5. My wife poured me blind samples of each - one ounce of the bottle that's been open for 34 days, one ounce from the bottle that's been under vacuum for 34 days, and one ounce from the bottle that is freshly opened. All three in Glencairns. And the results are... drum roll please... they are the same. I really can't tell a difference between the three. I mean really, nothing different.
Nose: Getting some mint notes and a good deal of pepper tonight.
Taste: Candied mint at the beginning, overcome by peat and pepper. Slight burn.
Finish: Long, peaty, and very peppery.
Overall: The peat is still muted (but maybe it is because I'm expecting quite a bit) and it is smoother than I was expecting.
So, the bottle under vacuum, the bottle I drank normally, and the brand new bottle are all the same. Back to the drawing board (luckily accompanied by my Ardbeg 10 triplets).
Day 36:
OK... change of plans. Because there was no change at all over the first month between the three, I'm going to change it up a bit to try to drive a change. Instead of putting the remains of the first opened bottle of Ardbeg back the in my atmospherically controlled closet, it's going into the attic. Our attic isn't air-conditioned and it is currently in the upper 80's outside with the majority of a Washington, DC summer still to go. The small bottle was pumped out again and stored in my closet and the second bottle of opened Ardbeg is safe in my liquor cabinet (minus another dram that's in a Glencairn next to me). I'll continue to work on the second opened bottled over the summer.
Day 122:
And we're back! The summer is (hopefully) on its way out and I currently have: 1/4 of a 750 stored in the attic over the summer; 1/3 left of a bottle I've been slowly drinking over the summer, and a 200ml sample of the first bottle that's been kept under vacuum. Time to check them out! My wife poured a blind 3/4oz sample of all three and here are my tasting notes:
Sample 1:
Nose: oil, old peat, alcohol
Taste: Smoky, peaty, smooth,
Finish: Long and smoky
Sample 2:
Nose: sweetness of over ripe fruit, pine/citrus scented cleaner, old peat, alcohol tingles the nose hairs, thick & oily
Taste: sweet, smoky, peaty, not as smooth as #1,
Finish: no smoky long finish as #1, a short sweetness followed by and long menthol smokiness
Sample 3:
Nose: not much, oily
Taste: Dark chocolate! and stewed fruits, smoke. Surprising amount of flavor considering the relatively dull nose.
Finish: long chocolaty sweetness and lingering smoke (and on one occasion a gust of oily menthol along the way)
Success! There are real differences between these three samples! But while that is exciting, I need to temper the enthusiasm and say that they all still tasted like Ardbeg 10. That is, the differences above were noticeable when compared side-by-side. If I had tried them against another whisky I would have said all three of them were undoubtedly Ardbeg.
Of these, "3" was my favorite because of its complexity with its great chocolate and fruit notes, "1" was relatively meh, and "2" was definitely my least favorite as there were some very unsavory scents and odors. I guessed that 1 was the bottle I'd been drinking over the summer (i.e. the one that was on my shelf and I'd go to it every now and then), 2 was the bottle in the attic (i.e. the bottle that I expected to be the worst due to the temperature changes), and 3 was the bottle in vacuum ... but 1 was actually the bottle from the attic and 2 was the bottle that I'd been working on. The bottle that was opened and closed the most, even though it kept in relatively stable conditions was my least favorite. I really expected the bottle in the hot attic to be the worst. But, I need to repeat the caveat that the changes are rather minimal compared to the differences between different whiskies. So close in fact, my guess is that if I would do enough tastings of each of these three samples against many different whiskies they would be very very close to each other in rank.
Are you seeing where this is going? Cause I do ... more experiments to explore how frequently can a bottle be exposed to new air without significant change! Coming soon to a blog near you - "Opened Bottle Decay 2: Frequent Openings" (or something like that, we'll see).
Day 36:
OK... change of plans. Because there was no change at all over the first month between the three, I'm going to change it up a bit to try to drive a change. Instead of putting the remains of the first opened bottle of Ardbeg back the in my atmospherically controlled closet, it's going into the attic. Our attic isn't air-conditioned and it is currently in the upper 80's outside with the majority of a Washington, DC summer still to go. The small bottle was pumped out again and stored in my closet and the second bottle of opened Ardbeg is safe in my liquor cabinet (minus another dram that's in a Glencairn next to me). I'll continue to work on the second opened bottled over the summer.
Day 122:
And we're back! The summer is (hopefully) on its way out and I currently have: 1/4 of a 750 stored in the attic over the summer; 1/3 left of a bottle I've been slowly drinking over the summer, and a 200ml sample of the first bottle that's been kept under vacuum. Time to check them out! My wife poured a blind 3/4oz sample of all three and here are my tasting notes:
Sample 1:
Nose: oil, old peat, alcohol
Taste: Smoky, peaty, smooth,
Finish: Long and smoky
Sample 2:
Nose: sweetness of over ripe fruit, pine/citrus scented cleaner, old peat, alcohol tingles the nose hairs, thick & oily
Taste: sweet, smoky, peaty, not as smooth as #1,
Finish: no smoky long finish as #1, a short sweetness followed by and long menthol smokiness
Sample 3:
Nose: not much, oily
Taste: Dark chocolate! and stewed fruits, smoke. Surprising amount of flavor considering the relatively dull nose.
Finish: long chocolaty sweetness and lingering smoke (and on one occasion a gust of oily menthol along the way)
Success! There are real differences between these three samples! But while that is exciting, I need to temper the enthusiasm and say that they all still tasted like Ardbeg 10. That is, the differences above were noticeable when compared side-by-side. If I had tried them against another whisky I would have said all three of them were undoubtedly Ardbeg.
Of these, "3" was my favorite because of its complexity with its great chocolate and fruit notes, "1" was relatively meh, and "2" was definitely my least favorite as there were some very unsavory scents and odors. I guessed that 1 was the bottle I'd been drinking over the summer (i.e. the one that was on my shelf and I'd go to it every now and then), 2 was the bottle in the attic (i.e. the bottle that I expected to be the worst due to the temperature changes), and 3 was the bottle in vacuum ... but 1 was actually the bottle from the attic and 2 was the bottle that I'd been working on. The bottle that was opened and closed the most, even though it kept in relatively stable conditions was my least favorite. I really expected the bottle in the hot attic to be the worst. But, I need to repeat the caveat that the changes are rather minimal compared to the differences between different whiskies. So close in fact, my guess is that if I would do enough tastings of each of these three samples against many different whiskies they would be very very close to each other in rank.
Detailed Conclusion
So, what have I learned so far? First, the flavor profile does change over time, but it does not change a significant amount. I think that is worth repeating because it is counter to both the assertion that either it doesn't change, or it does change so much that you need to drink your whisky ASAP. Second, there is a correlation between the number of times the bottle is opened and its decay. My favorite sample is from the bottle that's been stored under vacuum and only opened a few times. My least favorite is from the bottle I've been opening and closing all summer (and enjoying). In between the two was the bottle stored in horrible conditions, but closed, all summer.Are you seeing where this is going? Cause I do ... more experiments to explore how frequently can a bottle be exposed to new air without significant change! Coming soon to a blog near you - "Opened Bottle Decay 2: Frequent Openings" (or something like that, we'll see).
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