I just recieved my first two barrels a one liter and two liter mini barrels. Wondering if anyone has used them before or have any suggestions for booze.

I was thinking about one recipie I saw with wild turkey 101, honey, vanilla and cinnamon.

I know they will not make a silk purse from a sows ear, but also figure I would put some cheaper whisky in to see if they improve at all.

Thanks in advance,

I would skip all of the other nonsense and just pick up a cheap bottle and age it. You will be surprised at how much better it makes the whiskey. Pick up a handle of Beam or Daniels and let it age...you'll have some tasty whiskey to sip on.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any suggestions on time in barrel? Read the on the interweb to taste and pull when ready, but did not know if you have a set time.

I would start tasting at around a month and see where it is according to your tastes. It will also help to move the barrel around to different environments every 5 days or so. This will help the wood of the barrel to expand and contract due to temperature and climate changes which will pull the whiskey into the wood and release it as the environment changes. Kitchen counter, garage, fridge, etc.....to give you some examples.

I have a Deep South 2L barrel and a 3L barrel and have been playing around with this for the last couple of years or so.

My first barrel was the 2L and I did Maker's to start with. Here is the results (original on left, barrel aged at 3 months on right):

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The flavor was significantly better after being aged - much more oak and overall way better across the palate from start to finish. Actually make run of the mill Maker's a good whiskey to sip on.

Since then I've done:

Elijah Craig (6 months) - learned that aging a good whiskey that long doesn't have a whole lot of impact, so I'd probably never go past the 3-4 month mark again.

Weller Antique 107 (3-4 months) and it became a stellar drink.

Buffalo Trace (3-4 months) - much like Maker's, it made it infinitely better and increased the flavor profile.

I've also vatted a Weller Reserve and a Weller 12 in a 60/40 ratio for 4 months and 6 days that was pretty solid - way better than a normal vat in a bottle because of the aging.

Right now I have a Four Roses YL in my 2L barrel that I'll tap around Christmas or New Year's - that will put about 3 to 3.5 months of aging on it.

I also change the environment of my barrels when I have something aging - I'll keep it int he garage for a few weeks, then put it in the fridge for a couple of weeks and bounce back and forth. Sometimes I keep it on the kitchen counter for a week in between - the whole point is to try to replicate seasonal temperature changes that you'll find in a normal warehouse in KY - that makes the wood expand and contract, which is where the actual aging occurs.

It's a fun hobby that will let you play around with all kinds of different bourbons. Don't mess with the essences - they are for neutral spirits. Bourbon doesn't need it (nor would something like Rum or whiskey). Will you take a Weller 12 and turn it into a Pappy? Nope, not on your life. But you can take a run of the mill production bourbon and make it a very good sipper and enjoy the process.

Since you have two barrels, consider putting a cocktail in one. An aged Old Fashioned, Sazerac or Manhattan will come together nicely in a few months and will have an added smokiness that you don't get from making one fresh.

Thanks for the replies. Just finished a batch of Apple pie for a friend's Christmas party. Have the two liter soaking now, so just have to figure out what I want to do. I will update as it goes.

I got a 2L barrel from the GF and wanted to start simple so went with an unaged whiskey (Rio Brazos, College Station). I poured it in on Aug 22 and had been tasting it weekly. I actually haven't touched it in about a month and a half but it did start taking on the color and flavors of oak pretty quickly. Since you've reminded me I will likely give it a sample this week. Next I'd like to pour the 60/40 OWA/W12 blend as that's my normal decanter drink and I can taste side-by-side through the process.

Well, much more alert this morning. Thanks again guys. Bought these to experiment a similar to angel envy bourbon and rye that were aged in port wine or rum barrels, as well as seeing how a normal spirit changes with time.

Not a huge fan of the commercial flavored whiskey out there. They all seem to be over flavored and not enough whiskey coming through. These got my mind going and I figured a little of this or that, etc might be just right and have fun doing it.

Arkansas has some crazy Liquor laws so not everything is available here. I pick up a few bottles when we get back home.

K Bo kepp us updates on the poor mans pappy. I was planning on getting around to that as well.

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Not a huge fan of the commercial flavored whiskey out there. They all seem to be over flavored and not enough whiskey coming through. These got my mind going and I figured a little of this or that, etc might be just right and have fun doing it.

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That's because the base they are using is crap whiskey, and they are flavoring it to cover it up.

Anyone ever age beer in theirs?

I've got a batch of apfelwein brewing that might be interesting oaked.

The poor man's pappy is smooth as hell with about 3 months aging. I didnt use OWA, but instead Reserve. Not a whole lot of difference.

Been using one of the 1L barrels from Deep South. Its about perfect when you buy a handle of something as you can fill it up and have a few hundred mL left for comparison as you go.

That being said Ive found about 2 months is usually the sweet spot to my tastes. You can always let it oak longer, but you cant remove it once you have it so taste it every couple weeks.

I have a poor mans Pappy that has been racked for about 5 months now. Actually I forgot about it. will bottle at x-mas. Also I did a cheap clear rum with 2 teaspoons of a good cane syrup and an teaspoon of vanilla extract and it was so dang good. Just made it a sipping rum in about a month. My wife even drank it straight and she is not one to do that.

I have done regular CR for 3-4 months and like the photos above the color got richer and the taste was alot smoother.

Like mentioned above its a fun hobby for sure and now I have 3 of the dang things. I need to get on the ball.

I have a 5L, 10L, and 20L barrels. I use them for the red wines I make. Due to the surface area I only keep them in the barrels for a day or 2 before bottling. Fun hobby nonetheless.

I have a couple of 2L barrels. One has some home-made corn whiskey in it and I put crown in the other. My only gripe is that they take longer to impart flavor and color after each batch. The first barrel drastically affected the whiskey after 6 weeks or so. The current batch has been in there almost 3 months and it's just now starting to get there.

Where do yall find these? This has definitely piqued my interest

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Since you have two barrels, consider putting a cocktail in one. An aged Old Fashioned, Sazerac or Manhattan will come together nicely in a few months and will have an added smokiness that you don't get from making one fresh.

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This

Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Boulevardier, Sazerac especially might be nice as long as you get the mixture exactly right beforehand. I imagine oak would smooth out the absinthe nicely.

You could also play with other stuff that isn't whiskey...

Negroni? Mezcal Negroni even?

I tried the mezcal drink from Anvil. It got worse in the barrel. Lost its freshness. Trying to save the barrel with 3 months of Port in it. I'll try a Manhattan when it's reseasoned.

Negroni is the holy grail of barrel aging, but I just can't make myself like negronis, so I haven't tried it.

It is hard to scale up recipes from 2 oz of liquor to 7 bottles of liquor, but Excel is your friend and will help you figure it out.

For Sazeracs, there should be no absinthe in the barrel, just like none mixed in the drink. It is just for rinsing the glass, or spraying with an atomizer. You shouldn't taste it, only smell it.

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Where do yall find these? This has definitely piqued my interest

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Deep South Barrels

I'm on my second batch of Manhattans in mine. I used Sazerac Rye the first go-around and (ri)^1 this time around. The cocktail came out amazing after 1,2,3 months in the barrel. I finally pulled it all after 3 months, and it was quite oakey to offset the sweetness of the vermouth

Initial water soak is almost done, and should be starting the 2L this weekend.

Mine has been empty for about 6 weeks or so do I need to do another water soak? Going to make some poor man's pappy as soon as I can find some Weller 12.

I'd be worried that it has dried out and will leak, so I'd do another water bath first to expand the wood.

I'd also get some more of those little pellets you drop in the water to kill bacteria.

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For Sazeracs, there should be no absinthe in the barrel, just like none mixed in the drink. It is just for rinsing the glass, or spraying with an atomizer. You shouldn't taste it, only smell it.

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Good point, didn't really think that through. Simplifies things

That makes sense then. I aged a saz in a 5 liter barrel and the recipe I used called for the absinthe in the barrel but when I dumped it, the absinthe is VERY strong.

I've been to some wannabe high end cocktail bars where the bartender thought mixing absinthe into the drink would be a cool twist, so I could see that recipe being out there. I just switch to whiskey neat when I come across a lousy bartender like that.

Here is the recipe I use in my 5L barrel.
1.5 cups of rich simple syrup (2:1 mix)
.75cups + 6tbsp + 2tsp Peychauds
5tbsp + .5tsp Angostura
6 750ml bottles of Rittenhouse Rye BIB

With biweekly tastings and evaporation, it makes just under 6 bottles of Sazerac. Whenever I want one, I just have to pour it, stir it with ice, spray the glass with absinthe, strain it in, then rub the glass with a lemon peel.

If I'm being lazy (read: drunk) then I spray a glass, pour the Sazerac in it, drop in a giant square ice cube, stir it in the glass, the use the spoon to pull the ice cube back out, and I skip the lemon peel.

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If I'm being lazy (read: drunk)

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A man after my own heart

Started a Poor Mans Pappy tonight. Have any of you alternated between aging straight whiskey and cocktails? Do the extra ingredients from the cocktails impart significant flavor?

I have Whistlepig 10 in my 5l barrel now, following a batch of Staggerac. Only been in two months so far. I'm hoping that in a couple more months it tastes like Whistlepig 11. It will probably have a bit of the cocktail flavor to it too though.

I have honey, vanilla bean and cinnamon in wild turkey right now, I'll let you know about the next batch. I have read that it does give hints of the flavor to the next batche(s).

I have a 2L. Mixed 1.25L Jim Beam, .75L wild Turkey 101 and about 1/2 tsp honey. Aged 75 days and it was great. At about 45 days it still had a bite to it, but at 75 days was as smooth as anything I have ever had. Next time I'll do half and half and leave out the honey. I was impressed.

Question for those that do this.

Love me some whiskey. If I bought the 10L, is it as effective if it isn't filled up when aging? Or would you really need to place 5 handles at a time in there?

It's better if you fill it all the way up. If not, you'll need to rotate the barrel weekly to avoid drying out the exposed staves.

I even rotate my little 2L ones every week.

thx!