My birthday is tomorrow, but SWMBO couldn't wait to give me my gift and had me open it today. I got one of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten! She bought me the Woodinville Whiskey Co. age your own whiskey kit. The kit came with a 2-liter oak aging barrel, a funnel, two bottles of un-aged "White Dog" whiskey and two awesome whiskey snifter glasses. The instructions recommend tasting it weekly to see how it's progressing I'm going to use this thread to kind of document my journey through aging my own whiskey.
Here is the kit:
20140331_132848.jpg
The bottles of White Dog that came with it also have portions of the label made for keeping track of your aging times which I thought was a nice touch:
20140331_142149.jpg
After unboxing the set I did notice that one of the rings on the barrel was coming off so I simply tapped it back into place with a small mallet. Currently I am hydrating the barrel. The instructions state that you have to fill the barrel with hot water and let it soak into the wood so the barrel expands and seals. It leaked at first, but has since stopped or slowed enough that it's not as obvious from what I can tell. Just smelling the barrel told me so much about how important it is for the flavor of the whiskey. I never truly appreciated that much of what I'm tasting in my whiskeys was imparted by the wood the barrel is made of.
Here is the kit:
20140331_132848.jpg
The bottles of White Dog that came with it also have portions of the label made for keeping track of your aging times which I thought was a nice touch:
20140331_142149.jpg
After unboxing the set I did notice that one of the rings on the barrel was coming off so I simply tapped it back into place with a small mallet. Currently I am hydrating the barrel. The instructions state that you have to fill the barrel with hot water and let it soak into the wood so the barrel expands and seals. It leaked at first, but has since stopped or slowed enough that it's not as obvious from what I can tell. Just smelling the barrel told me so much about how important it is for the flavor of the whiskey. I never truly appreciated that much of what I'm tasting in my whiskeys was imparted by the wood the barrel is made of.
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