Stuff Floating In An Old Bottle Of Westerhall

[rpavlis]

I purchased a bottle of Westerhall Plantation several years ago and have been saving some of it. Batch 1512.

I also bought some more last week - found 1 bottle in a sales bin. When I got it home it had the same problem.

Both bottles have 'dust-like' material floating in them. The old bottle did not have this when I first got it.

I would not expect anything to grow in rum? Any idea what it is?

[sealman]

I just bought a bottle of Westerhall tonight (batch A1810). I checked it but didn't see anything in my particular bottle. Maybe just a case of slightly poor filtering??

On the other hand I DO like the taste of it I was actually pleasantly suprised at the flavor of it considering it was half as much as the Cruzan Single Barrel I bought last week.

Cheers!

[Ed Hamilton]

What you found is just sediment from the barrels. The larger distilleries cold filter their rum to remove what may eventually percipitate. If you find it distasteful decant it like you would wine, carefully.

[mickblueeyes]

Lack of chill filtering is the reason as Ed mentioned. I will add that this is a big plus! In the world of Single Malt Scotch, finding not chill filtered bottles is like finding a diamond in your Cheerios. IMO and in the opinion of many distillers, chill filtering removes much of the flavor from a distillate, as well as oak-induced characteristics. What you have in the bottle is affectionately referred to as "floateys" by myself and many other connoisseurs and is a feature that is held in high regard! Seeing floateys in a bottle of scotch may induce me to purchase it! Enjoy it!