dougwatts started a discussion
5 years ago
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Cork wetting day
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RianC replied
Longest I've had a bottle in my stash is probably 3 - 4 years and I have far fewer bottles than many here. For what it's worth though, I do give mine an inspection every now and then and usually upend the bottles for a few seconds.
Some corks are just bad though, or very brittle, and there's not a lot you can do about that I guess?
5 years ago 0
RikS replied
Yes, I actually do it once in a while. And, as a general rule - every time I pour a dram from a bottle. Do I swear by it? Nah, haven't really had any particularly dramatic cork experiences, but since it's something that apparently happens - as in your case - I "just do it".
5 years ago 0
BlueNote replied
Good topic @dougwatts Between screw tops and artificial corks wine drinkers are experiencing a lot fewer “corked” wines. The whisky industry might want to take note. I do wet my corks when I think of it, but I have a lot of unopened bottles that have been around for years that have never had their corks wetted. I had the cork break right where it joins the cap on a pricey bottle of AnCnoc 22. I made a hell of a mess trying to get the rest of the crumbling remains out of the bottle. Thanks for the reminder to wet corks occasionally.
5 years ago 0
Hewie replied
@dougwatts this is an interesting idea. I had assumed (I know, I know, never assume anything) that there would be sufficient 'humidity' i.e. vapour within the bottles to keep the cork damp (as long as the bottles are stored somewhere with reasonable relative humidity). I'm a litlwe hesitant to upend my bottles - I get a bit nervous when I see video reviews where they shake the bottle about and agitate the contents. Maybe I'm just being overly cautious.
5 years ago 0
While idling through various whisky discussions and posts on social media I've stumbled across the concept of a "cork wetting day". I've found little detail about it but it seems that people upturn their bottles every now and again to wet the cork and stop it drying out. If this is a thing it has somehow passed me by. However, since I opened a prized 21 year old Glengoyne a few months back, only to find the cork had dried out and ended up in the whisky itself, this topic is now of interest to me. Do people do it? Do people swear by it? And for those with big collections, how regularly do you do it? And for a bonus mark, is there any risk in starting now with bottles that have not had their cork wet in eight years or more? (I wondered if a cork was very dry then wetting it not might do more harm than good, in terms of polluting the actual contents of the bottle). Thanks.