Single Malt Storage

If your brother is telling the truth the 1/2 hour on side, while not ideal (the corks should remain dry) should not affect the bottles long term. If there was a longer period of sideways storage involved, you could have issues with the cork tainting the whisky and/or having the cork start to degrade in the bottle. This could potentially cause issues when you go to open the bottle(s).

I don't know the story of the bottling process behind the Glenfiddich, but I suspect the sediment in the bottle is simply some barrel char or other 'naturally occuring' result from the bottling process itself. If you ever come across Booker's Small Batch bourbon, pick up the bottle, tilt it, and hold it to the light. This one is botted straight from the barrel, so there is usually a dose of barrel char that will be visible in the the lowest point of the bottle. Hooray for authentic, unfiltered whisk(e)y!!

I brought home 3 bottles from Scotland in 2011. I had them in my checked luggage sandwiched between clothes, on their sides through a 9 hour flight home. They would have been shaken around quite considerably through baggage handling etc. They probably spent the better part of 24 hours in various orientations from upside down to sideways to right side up before being placed upright in my cabinet. If there were any ill effects from that experience they are completely unapparent to me. The Talisker 18 is as amazingly fabulous as it is claimed to be.

As for the particulate in your 'fiddich, I had the same thing in a bottle of Big Peat (unchillfiltered) and in a 10 yr. old BenRiach Curiositas (unspecified as to filtration and colorant). Again there seems to be no apparent ill effect. I wondered if it might be some of the e150 caramel colorant coming out of suspension, but I'm sure the big Peat has no added colorant. I've seen a discussion on this somewhere, but for the life of me can't remember where. My feeling is that you don't have too much cause for concern. Cheers.

@Settembrinom I would not be worried about 30 minutes of storage on their side. As mentioned regarding shipping, I am sure a large % of whiskies end up on their sides for longer periods of time with no ill effect.

I've had a couple bottles of Littlemill stored on their side for days (possibly weeks). Believe it or not, they were stored like that at the shop where I purchased them. Good news, I opened one of the bottles, and it was awesome stuff. I think it is bad if the whisky is stored sideways for a year or years on end.

With regards to storing whisky and the potential damaging effects. I bought a bottle this week. I live in southern Ontario, and we have experienced some extreme cold temperatures. I had to leave my bottle in my car for a little over an hour, upright, in a bag with a wool scarf on top of the bag. Do you think the cold temperature damaged the bottle?

@StevieC If Shackleton's whisky survived for some 100 years in bottle, completely frozen, I think your bottle is safe!

@systemdown Ummmmm love the Shackleton whisky. :)

@Settembrinom: A sediment in unopened Whisky bottles is a good sign and a certain indicator that the Whisky has not been chill filtered and is a product of fermentation and distillation: It is simply proteins & esters that would have been removed by filtration (along with flavors).

I have seen Hand-made, Craft Rums where the entire base of the bottle was covered with sediment: These are the ones with the most flavor, no question!

Enjoy.

@A'bunadhman. Thanks for clarifying that. I thought it might be the caramel colouring that was coming out of suspension. I'll assume that the BenRiach Curiositas is non chillfiltered and hopefully not coloured.

Indeed, Macallan 30 used to have a statement on it saying something to the effect of "There may be small particles suspended in this whisky, it isn't harmful but we have no explanation for it beyond that it may even indicate great whisky" or something like that. Those bottles, and many others I've seen like it, have displayed a sedimentation that was white rather than the brown you describe, and I've gotten it in whiskies young and old, bourbon or sherry matured. Often-times it can happen when you add water to a whisky in exactly the same way and for exactly the same reason that it happens with absinthe, namely that the proteins which are held in suspension while bound to ethanol molecules instead bind to water molecules when it's suddenly at a much greater concentration causing these proteins to precipitate out. I've heard it reffered to fondly as "floaties" and "the snow globe effect" though I'm sure these terms differ by region. It's reffered to as "la louche" in absinthe. This will likely not happen with chill-filtered whiskies as @A'bunadhman points out. As for being laid on its side, as @HopScotch notes, this happens all the time in warehouses, shipping containers, delivery trucks, etc. Nothing to be worried about unless it's for quite extended periods of time. as for @StevieC and cold whisky, it's very preferable to hot whisky. As long as it doesn't freeze, you won't see any ill effects, but those in warmer climes might be cautious protecting their whisky from evaporation, as loss of volatiles (both flavor and alcohol) can have very damaging effects.

My Longrow '94 10yo has it's entire bottom covered white. Give that bottle a swirl and you have a proper snow globe! The whisky is amazing!! Sediment is a good thing as long it's not from a cork.

The clouding effect you see in non-chillfiltered whisky when adding water or ice (god forbid) is due to decrease in temperature. Particles that solidify. That's why they call it CHILLfilter; they cool the whisky and then filter those particles. Just cooling down the whisky without adding any water will give the same clouding effect. And I would assume that adding warm/hot water would not have that effect (although I've only tried that with Irish, so I can't say for sure)

Regarding long term storage, has anyone used Parafilm M wrap around the stopper to prevent evaporation? I read that this is excellent stuff in preventing losses. I understand that evaporation is highly unlikely if a bottle has a sound stopper, yet highly likely if the cork is faulty. I keep my collection in the basement, in the dark, with a temperature of approx. 67 degrees F and 58% humidity. I have recently wrapped the bottles that I plan to store for more than 20-30 years. Will this preserve my collection?

@StevieC From what I've read, unopened bottles, without a bad cork, will easily last that long without Parafilm if stored in dry conditions and away from light, as you have. Taking the extra precaution of using Parafilm will certainly minimise any damage that can be done due to an unlucky poor cork seal.

I can't speak from experience of course but it makes sense to me.

If storing sample bottles, that's really where Parafilm or something similar helps as screw caps become loose over time. I've heard several anecdotes online where folks have had to tighten their caps every several months or so to minimise evaporation / oxidation. I couldn't really find any suitable plastic tape when I was out shopping, so I've just used sticky tape to make a semi-airtight seal between bottle and cap on my 200ml bottles that I intend to keep "fresh" for a number of years. I also intend to check the tightness of the screw caps from time to time.

@NilsG That's not the case in my experience. If you happen to have a whisky you know of that forms a precipitate when you add water, try adding some water at equal or greater temperature to that of your whisky, I think you'll find that it will precipitate irrespective of temperature. Herve This studied this effect with Absinthe but it carries over to other oils as well. I submit for your perusal:

wormwoodsociety.org/index.php/…

You'll note he studies only ratios of ethanol to water and not temperature. I'm not saying temperature won't do it too, only that the same effect can be observed with all components at STP.

@systemdown thank you for the reassurance! I've been monitoring the temp and humidity in my basement. In the winter it ranges from 63 -67 degrees F, with a 50-56% humidity. In the summer those numbers climb a bit, but nothing too drastic. I also heard that new bottlings tend to have better corks. But then again, there are always duds (poor corks). This explains why only certain bottles evaporate and not ALL of the bottles in large collections. You are correct on smaller bottles. They tend to suffer, especially ones with metal caps. Your statement also makes sense about proper storage prevents evaporation on account that some "rare" and old bottles cost more than some luxury cars. I would think that those bottles are being purchased for longer term collecting and not for consuming immediately or in the near future. I've had open bottles in my collection for 3+ years, yet, with proper storage, they still taste fresh......with the exception of one, which has lost a bit of it's fire.

Happy collecting and drinking!

@StevieC: What would be an interesting exercise would to store one of the really choice a'bunadh, say batch #32 with the wax seal for a long time, 20 or 30 years and see what's what! I'm not sure I've got that long left but the younger members could try this.

@FederalNate Yes you are right, adding water of same temperature as the whisky can also cause clouding. And I was wrong to say that "particles solidify", they don't, it's fatty acids that lump together making microscopic oil droplets.

The occurrence and degree of cloudiness is depending on two factors: water/alcohol ratio and temperature. At a given temperature the clouding will start when the ABV falls below a certain level, and at a given ABV the clouding will start when temperature falls below a certain level. In other words both cooling and diluting causes clouding, but higher ABV counteracts cooling (you need to cool a cask strength whisky more), and higher temperature counteracts diluting (you have to dilute a warm whisky more). And that is why I would assume that you won't see clouding if you add hot water.

On the other hand I really whish cooling couldn't cause cloudiness, cause then chill filtration wouldn't be possible and ALL whisky in the world would be non-chill filtered, yay!