Oak aging barrel

[marshall]

Last weekend we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and they had a small oak barrel with tequila in it, so I tried some and the flavor was so unique and delicious that i ordered a barrel that evening, it just arrived today and I am curing it . It’s. 2 liter from www.redheadoakbarrels.com
Not sure what I’ll try first but looking forward for something new to mess around with! Anyone else age small amounts of spirits? I thought I remembered Huskee talking about doing this a while back, anyway just wanted to share, I’ll post of I get a delicious drink from this in a few weeks!

[cgrover60]

Will be some worthwhile fun marshall. I aged some premium white lightning into "bourbon" over a 6 month period in a similar oak barrel and it was a hoot. Literally.

[barelfly]

Those are cool! My dad has one and a good buddy of mine, he has 3! It’s pretty cool to do various things with them.

What is your plan for the first aging? I do believe my dad or my buddy aged Old Fashioned mix at one point. From what i remember, the bitters left a bit of flavor in the oak. In the next few agings. I don’t remember the details exactly but I do remember they tried.

I think it would be cool to age Port Wine for some time and then follow that with a bourbon to see if you can get that finish that some bourbons get. Maybe not.

But have fun with this! Can’t wait to hear more about it!

[barelfly]

marshall I’d buy something you would drink regardless. It does make a difference, but how much, that will be up to you to decide. If you have questions, let me know and I’ll ask my dad and buddy about length of time and such.

[marshall]

Thanks, appreciate it! I also read people put bbq sauce , maple syrup and hot sauce in these barrels too!

[barelfly]

marshall - now that’s getting after it! Wow!

I do like that you mentioned tequilla. So many ways to go with these barrels to make them your own! I may need to look into one of these

[Huskee]

Yeah that was something I've talked about before, good memory! Tequila, gin, bourbon, it's all great when aged. I've got I think 3. Lotta fun. It's hard to not sip from it every week. Enough already evaporates out (angels' share), nearly half if you go long enough, so try to resist sipping until you get to your aging goal.

[STEbbq]

I love the idea of these. I worry about leaks though and massive angel share.

The Amazon reviews seem all over the map though with many leaks reported. I wish I knew what to look for in a barrel to ensure that it will perform reasonably well because it does seem like once aged, the cheap whiskey does taste noticeably better and good.

[Attjack]

I lost an entire 1.75 ml bottle of whisky through evaporation in mine. Whoops.

[Attjack]

barelfly I don't recall exactly but for months.

[marshall]

Well…. On the plus side to that, it will limit my drinking 😅

[STEbbq]

Yeah, I remember that. That was rough.

[Steve R.]

Wouldn't aging sticks be a better option than the barrel, for avoiding evaporation, leaks, etc.? I haven't tried either one, so I honestly don't know.

[marshall]

Haven’t read into it but I think you can put wood chips in a jar with spirits then strain ….

[Starsky]

My brother has one. He enjoys playing around with different spirits

[Dick Anderson]

What are you doing to cure it? If you fill it with water, don't leave the water in the barrel for longer than two days, because it can get funky. Then your barrel will be funky, so keep your water fresh.
The angel's share part of aging really does something to the wine, or whiskey, or rum, whatever. The interaction of air and hootch is much better than putting sticks in a jar. At a cost. Whatever you put in it, it'll be better than it was!

[BFlynn]

We've aged some moonshine.

The important thing is the surface area / volume ratio.

A month, in a 1 gallon barrel is roughly the same as a year in a full size barrel

[captainlee]

That looks really cool. Just bookmarked it so I can order it for my son in law for xmas.