First sample of the whisky - 2 weeks in the cask

Took my first sample yesterday of the Bruichladdich Rocks that I put in the cask two weeks ago.  Of course I didn't post last night because I was sampling and not sitting in front of the computer.  So anyway, the results for just two weeks were pretty drastic. The picture shows the original Bruichladdich Rocks on the left and after 2 weeks of maturation on the right.  Of course in the Glencairn glass since they are AWESOME for people like me that want the best and really want to figure all this stuff out.

Color:
The color change is a pretty fair leap from the original.  Since the whisky is not compromised by any artificial coloring (E150A) it was interesting to see the results.  On a scale from 1-5 in terms of amber I would say it jumped from a amber +1 to an amber +3...if I did that correctly.

Nose:
I really stink at this since I'm new...so all I can really say is the original was kind of harsh on the nose.  It burned the nose when you really got in there.  I wish I could tell you more but I get all confused when I try to act like it smells like anything other then whisky.  No florals or leather arm chairs, or bakers chocolate, or vanilla.  If I said other wise I would be lying.  I should start smelling more things since I really cant pick anything out.  Anyway, after two weeks the nose is surprisingly more gentle.  The thing I can really pick out now is the smell of the cask.  It smells like the smoky wood that the whisky went into...shocker!  I know there is more to this and I'm hoping to get the hang of this whole nosing thing over time.

Taste:
Very similar to the nose...the original tasted strong and burny (ha ha)...I guess that comes from the cask strength.  I would also assume that this is a fairly young whisky eventhough it doesn't claim any age on the bottle.  Of course that statement is a very uneducated guess at this point but I feel like its not as smooth and put together as some of the older whiskies I have tried.  So after the two weeks is is suprisingly more mellow on the pallate and the flavor of the cask comes right through.  Not sure if that is a good thing yet but I can say I did enjoy it more then the original product.

So in conclusion I know nothing about how to grade this stuff right now but I can say I am happy with the results thus far and I cant wait to see what comes about in the next two weeks...only time will tell.

Mini whisky cask up and running

Thursday July 29th - Started my whisky cask by rinsing it out and filling it up with hot tap water. This process is supposed to help swell the staves on the barrel so that a water tight seal is created.  The barrel company claims you only need 4-6 hours...but they say it may take up to 7 days.  So I decided I was just going to let it roll for the full seven days.  The cask never leaked to the point where water was dripping out.  It really just seeped out so the edges of the barrel and the spout looked wet.

Wednesday August 4th - Went down to the Holiday Wine Cellar and stood in the whisky isle for a while searching for the perfect whisky to put in my mini cask.  Decided on the Bruichladdich Rocks, a Islay single malt whisky.  I chose this one based on the fact that it is a single malt, its non chill-filtered and it has no coloring added.  I didn't want anything compromising the whiskies color or taste right off the bat. This whisky is also a non peated Islay.  So I broght that home and loaded it into the cask, making sure I kept a little bit of the original for comparison and then I sealed it up.  Now we wait.  The glorious thing about this little experiment is that I don't have to wait years for results.  Since the cask is so small it will produce results in weeks/months so I don't have to wait years. So my plans are to wait and take a small sample for comparison every two weeks.  Once the changes start to dwindle I'll pull the plug and empty the cask.  I imagine that it will only take a few months to tap out and be as good as its going to get.

Just an interesting side note...I saved some of the water that I used to prep the cask and the smell of the water is pretty crazy.  It actually smells like whisky.  The color had also changed to a very faint amber color.  I let a few of my friends smell it without telling them what it is and they all thought it was alcohol.  So with that being said I guess that is a small lesson in why the maturation of whisky in barrels is so important.  If it can impart that kind of aroma on water I can't wait to see what it does to the whisky.

So as it stands now the first tasting/comparison will be on August 18th...more to come.

Discovery of Mini Casks

Today I discovered mini casks and I can't wait to get one.  I'm going to get some single malt Scotch Whisky and age it to see if it makes a difference over the course of six months or so.  At least that's what my plan is now.  This place has them all the way down to 1 liter...that sounds perfect for a first time experiment. They say the smaller the cask the quicker it matures.  I figure if I start with maybe some cask strength stuff I can't really go wrong.

I think I'm going to go with the 1 liter cask from this place (shown above):

http://www.oakbarrelsltd.com/black-hoop-oak-barrels.html

However I also found these places as well:
http://1000oaksbarrel.com/index.php

http://www.copperfox.biz/products/index.php#barrels 

http://www.kentuckybarrels.com/ 

http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/TuthilltownSpirits/StoreFront.bok