Preserving one's whisky

I have (or had) the same issue with my whisky.. decanting into smaller bottles and drinking more is solving that problem for me.

Options though, might include use of a vacuum pump system to remove air from the bottle, or using canned inert gas to replace the air. I believe the latter is more effective. Might not be a cheap solution though; I have not looked into it. You might achieve comparable results merely by decanting into smaller bottles though, even if you don't want to do that.

I would imagine that any system for extending the life of whisky would be all about removing and/or preventing air from getting at the whisky (apart from some crazy chemical solution that might prevent oxidisation of whisky's complex molecules) - by far the simplest solution.

@systemdown Thanks for the reply! I wouldn't mind decanting but right now space is my house is so severely limited that it's just not an option. I think I'll try the canned inert gas. Do you or anyone else who may read this thread have any idea where to get the cans in Australia? I've never heard of the vacuum pump, but I'm willing to give it a try.

@systemdown I would not use a vacuum system as volatile components can be vaporised and lost. A very small puff of inert gas like CO2 or N2 will suffice assuming that your bottle and cap is up for it. Even still, the inert gas mayhave to be replaced possibly annually or every two years. Forget anything else as being over complicated.

Good shout @Donough. It's generally available in an aerosol can branded as 'Wine Preserver' and comes with a handy applicator drinkstuff.com/products/product.asp/… John Hansell at Whisky Advocate also recommends this method.

@Donough I have had my doubts about the vacuum system for the reasons you have given, but listed nonetheless as an option. On thinking about it however, if a bottle were vacuum sealed and not opened regularly, maybe a few times a year, and a sufficient quantity of whisky remained, I doubt it would lose too much "vapour" as to be an issue? Using inert gas would do the same thing as far as I can tell - if all or most air were displaced by inert gas, the vapour sitting on top of the liquid would still be removed.. what do you think?

Smaller bottles seem t be the answer, but honestly, I've never had an open bottle last more than six minths at most.

Keep in mind that some bottles will actually benefit from a bit of aeration. Heavy flavours (peat or sherry) will become more integrated with the other flavours. In my experience this is certainly true for high strength bottlings. So unless you're talking about extremely special whiskies, you might want to give it a shot and see what happens.

I'd like to thank everyone for replying to my question. I really appreciate it! I'm looking into the Private Reserve wine preservers at the moment. I'm hoping to get them soon. My main concern is of my open collection I really don't want to lose the flavors in my Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix which so far is one of the favorite drams for my wife and myself and a huge pain to find at a reasonable price. The rest of my whiskies I'm willing to see what develops :D

@systemdown With all liquids in a closed container with a empty portion, there will be some amount of that liquid in the air of the empty portion. I.E. the air will be air + wiskey vapours. This process is known as a liquid vapour equilirium (VLE).

With vacuum, you will get a different VLE This VLE will favour the volatisatiuon of ethanol and in general many of the other flavour components over water. Thus when the seal is broken, more of the flavour components will go out of the bottle. Further vacuum seals at least in the home tend to be difficult to maintain. Vacuum is a good way to maintain or perserve stuff but is more difficult to keep.