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Micro-barrel char

Hassouni

By Hassouni
in Spirits & Cocktails

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Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

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In Newfoundland, Screech is an actual rum, imported from Jamaica, then blended and bottled by the Newfoundland liquor commission. It's not bad, but not the best either. Haresfur is correct that alcohol extracted from barrel wood is known in Newfoundland as swish.

Interesting. I didn't know that. I've seen the Screech rum but passed on it because I was unfamiliar with it.

 

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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David Hensley

David Hensley

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According to "Trailer Park Boys", swish doesn't involve boiling water, or self-esteem either, for that matter...lmao

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I'm a lifelong professional chef. If that doesn't explain some of my mental and emotional quirks, maybe you should see a doctor, and have some of yours examined...

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Hassouni

Hassouni

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According to "Trailer Park Boys", swish doesn't involve boiling water, or self-esteem either, for that matter...lmao

 

Yes, but what in TPB did?  :laugh: How did they get the shitswish out of the shitbarrel?

Alchemist/mixologist/proprietor at the Green Zone, serving craft cocktails with the flavors of the Middle East

 

my eG foodblog - Beirut and beyond

My occasionally food-related site

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tanstaafl2

tanstaafl2

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Actually from a freshly dumped bourbon barrel you can get a gallon or two of decent proofed (80-90 pf ) bourbon with a water wash.

Indeed so. Jim Beam now uses a process to pull bourbon left in the barrel and blends it with 6yo bourbon to make Devil's Cut.

I seem to recall that Jack Daniels is now building a facility to wash barrels and pull residual whiskey out to recover before shipping the barrels off to their next destination but can't find that report to confirm at the moment.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. ~Mark Twain

Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...

~tanstaafl2

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tanstaafl2

tanstaafl2

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I recall last year when one distiller was asked if the wash would affect the scotch being produced with his used barrels responded with f..k em!

Ah yes, that jogged my memory! It was Makers Mark, owned by Beam (and soon to be Suntory), and not Jack Daniels who recently started rinsing barrels (although JD may do it too for all I know) and it was master distiller Fred Noe who was reported to have said that.

http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/05/squeezing-barrel-and-public-purse.html

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. ~Mark Twain

Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...

~tanstaafl2

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  • 7 months later...
Hassouni

Hassouni

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How has this project been going?

 

I've got a 1ltr oak cask that's been charred and filled with water and a 1ltr bottle of W&N waiting to be poured in. Any advice before I start?

 

You're way ahead of me...this project for me is on indefinite pause  :hmmm:

Alchemist/mixologist/proprietor at the Green Zone, serving craft cocktails with the flavors of the Middle East

 

my eG foodblog - Beirut and beyond

My occasionally food-related site

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tanstaafl2

tanstaafl2

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I went a slightly different direction with my first attempt. Put a liter of unaged 100 proof Okolehao (a relatively new product that is a cane based reproduction of the classic Hawaiian "moonshine" that is traditionally flavored with ti plant root) into a 1 liter barrel and let it sit for about 4 months. It got rotated a quarter turn every week and for a brief period (maybe two weeks) it spent time in my garage in the August summer heat where I quickly realized it was much too hot. The rest of time was spent indoors in a more or less climate controlled environment. I don't know what the distillation proof was for the Okolehao but it wouldn't surprise me if it was at or near GNS level.

 

A bit of history here for those interested:

http://inuakena.com/misc/okolehao-then-and-now/

I would love to try that 22yo version that apparently sat largely forgotten during prohibition!

 

I lost over half of my Okolehao ( I got about 400 ml out) and it got quite deeply colored so I am thinking it might have gotten a bit "overbaked" and even three to four months might be too long although its brief stint in my garage/rickhouse probably didn't help. I realized if I didn't get it out of there I was going to have little more than a tar ball at the end!

 

This is the website of the distiller:

www.islanddistillers.com (not 100% sure this distillery is still functioning to be honest)

 

It is pretty vegetal tasting to begin with and the barrel seemed to emphasize that a bit. It also had a bit of that varnish like quality I tend to get in small barrel aged spirits that are only briefly aged. But all in all it was still interesting.

 

Okolehao barrel aged.JPG

 

I think I will have another Kauka* cocktail! It is my favorite cocktail so far using Okolehao although this aged version changes the profile pretty substantially from the unaged version. I always use about a half ounce of lime juice in place of the orange and lemon juice.

 

*Kauka is the word for Doctor in Hawaiian.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. ~Mark Twain

Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...

~tanstaafl2

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  • 1 month later...
lesliec

lesliec

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Whatever is next in the cask is likely to pick up some W&N taste.  Not that that's a bad thing ...

 

I've had good results with gin/genever in a small barrel.  I have the remains of some I put in about last February and it just keeps getting better (OK, I admit I've topped it up once or twice).

 

Navy strength is recommended.

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forums - lcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

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  • 3 weeks later...
GarethLangston

GarethLangston

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The Manhattan I put in the cask was left for almost three weeks without any attention because I was travelling, I intended to check it after a week but there wasn't an opportunity in the few hours I got to spend at home between trips and this week has been a killer.

 

I'm not convinced on the results of this experiment so far, the punt e mes was probably a little oxidised before it went in and I've ended up with a lot of sweetness, there's certainly a raisin flavour coming in from the rum and it's interesting but the bourbon hasn't really survived the process. I really wish I had some rye to put in there, as I've aged a rye manhattan with good results before, albeit in steel containers and I think it would have come out better here.

 

In hindsight, I could have made a better choice on what to put in after the rum, or thought further ahead to get the right ingredients. 

 

I think I'd like to put in something like a white negroni next, with Suze, Gin & Dry Vermouth, but maybe that's another bad decision. The fun is in the experimentation I guess.

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