The Quest for Real Bourbon

[Almanac]

I've moved up a step in my quest to make real Bourbon Whisky.

The latest step was introducing my weathered American White Oak to a neutral spirit that had been made with mashed corn in the Thumper for the spirit run. The white spirit tasted very good indeed and I was pleasantly surprised how much flavour it had picked up.

I've cut my Oak into little biscuits 5mm thick, 25mm wide and I'll probably settle on 75mm lengths for no particular reason.

Toasting and charring was a challenge and this pic shows a range of degrees of toasting even though the batch was done in one go.


Getting the degree of toasting just right is going to be an ongoing job.

Anyway, I put 3l into a jar and added 4 small biscuits (two of them were only 50mm) on 10 May.

After two weeks it smelled and tasted quite smokey, in fact too smokey, but I left it for a while longer and yesterday I drew off 1l, filtered and diluted to drinking strength. The strong smokey characteristics have all but faded away and the Whisky is very, very palatable indeed.

The colour is still quite light but this will improve with age.

The litre was at 62.5% when it went in so I just added 500ml of RO water to make two standard bottles and was left with 100ml in the jug and didn't know what to do with it



Anyhow, I decided to post this so others can see how only a small amount of Oak is needed if using fresh toasted Oak.

BTW this stuff wasn't nuked, this Whisky has only been on the Oak for 24 days Can't wait to see what this batch will be like when I bottle it at the beginning of December, just got to keep my hands off it 'till then

I used to have a diagram which showed the various flavour characteristics that can be extracted from the White Oak at reducing alcohol strengths but I can't locate it now. Anybody got a copy of it? I'd appreciate a link if anyone has

AM

[chill]

[FullySilenced]

Thats a toasting chart... don't think i have ever seen a chsrt showing oaking and abv... developing characteristics... but that would be interesting.

[Almanac]

It was in one of the online books on the subject and gave a step down guide to the characteristics ethanol would extract at 62.5%, then 55% etc., I just can't remember the details but I'm looking and if I find it I'll post it up here

AM

[chill]

Sorry, read that too quickly on my first cup of coffee? Are you thinking of the results of Kiwi's experiment? I think that was on Artisan Distiller. I can't find that now either.

Chuck

[Distillingchris]

All I could find with oak, is 55% gives vanillins, 45% gives mix of vanillins and sugars and 40% gives sugars, I've just put mine on Kentucky bourbon chips at 67% then will reduce every few weeks.

[FullySilenced]

60's abv's oak tannins complex tastes
50's vanillians
40's vanillians and sugars

I read this somewhere not sure...

[Almanac]

Then on Homedistiller.org home site I found this...
http://homedistiller.org/aging/aging/wood
which gives conflicting figures

I have put my American White Oak biscuits into White neutral @ 62.5% and the product, after just 21days, no nuking, has Vanillan and sweetness but the colour is relatively light, for Bourbon type Whisky, at that stage.

However, the fact that the spirit is able to extract these characteristics at 62.5% poses more questions than it answers. e.g. The general consensus seems to be that higher %ABV will extract the more complex characteristics like Tannins while Vanillan and caramelised Oak sugars are supposed to be extracted by alcohol at lower strengths

Anyone got any seriously qualified data in this area, I'm getting screen blindness with all the reading and research I've been doing to try to find the Holy Grail on this subject

AM

[Capt-Cudellez]

Hi Folks! I've been absent from the forum for a while - real life stuff and a buggered laptop have been the main reasons.

Aidan, as you know, I've not done any "real bourbon" successfully. But my best tasting results have not been with toasted wood, but with a heavy char.

Might be worth trying an ageing experiment taking a small piece of one of those sticks, or a Bourbon barrel chunk (1" square or so) and attacking it with a blow or mapp torch.

It colours up very quickly, but if left for a few months tastes great. I'm sure a portion of the bourbon taste you are looking for is just burnt american oak.

When I do a rum or whisky, I water down the abv on the first of the month until its just above bottling strength. I do think it tastes better that the ones I leave at barrel strength then water down for bottling. Whether its the alcohol taking different notes from the wood at different ABVs, or its just as simple as the added water is getting flavoured from the wood interaction, I don't know.
Either way, I'm sure it makes a better drink.

[Almanac]

First, welcome back, your absence was noted.

These are good points Cap'n. I had avoided heavy char after an early experiment turned out really smokey and I didn't realise that the smokey taste would mellow and virtually disappear over time.

I'll char one of my biscuits and add it to one of my 3l ageing jars, some of which have only been filled in the last couple of days.

I've decided to step down the strength in two stages, to 55%, then 45%, then bottle strength. Time interval between these steps is still a matter of speculation and guesswork Guess I'll just have to keep tasting & sampling

AM

[chill]

Good to see you around again Cap'n.

AM I have been getting good results using a combination of raw, medium, and heavy toast sticks and charred sticks. My sticks are about 15cm x 1cm x 1cm (I cut them on my band saw). Charring such a narrow stick leaves little wood in the middle and one of the reasons I add the toasted oak to more closely mimic (at least in my mind) the wood in a barrel.

I start my aging at 65% then reduce to about 58% then 53% then 48%, waiting about 3 weeks in between each. Sometimes I reduce it further to drink, but I also enjoy a high-proof bourbon.

Chuck

[Almanac]

Thanks for the pointers Chuck I'll add them to my deliberations. I think it's going to take me some time to get this close to right but, hey! if it was easy.............right?

My all time favourite hi proof Bourbon is Bookers when I can get it

AM

[chill]

I agree, Bookers is lovely. I am still experimenting and learning with Bourbon. It is going to be a long journey, but an enjoyable one.

[Almanac]

Hic! ooooo I'm with you on that Chuck.

[Almanac]

Just a little thing I recently discovered in my quest to make real/better bourbon. I had read, somewhere, about adding the dried outer skin from onions to enhance the colour of golden spirits and this got me thinking about the ruby glow of bourbon and how to achieve this in the short term/short aged spirits I'm currently enjoying and I got a flash of inspiration - Red Onions

I put some dry Red Onion skins in my jars and the result is absolutely amazing. Beautiful deep ruby colour but absolutely no effect on flavour or smell and when I remove the previously dark red skins they are translucent and pale with just a hint of pinkish tone.

I'll post a couple of pics later this evening.

The things we do to Whisky

AM