What is The most evolving bottle you ever had

@Robert99. It been my experience more than not, my whisky have smoothed and improved. I've had bottles where on the first tasting, I didn't care for them, later changing my mind. Now I hold my judgment until I'm halfway through a bottle. I have had bottles that loose what makes them special, but luckily this is not the norm.

I think the biggest change was in my Springbank Claret Wood bottle. It was either the bottle or my palate that changed in a year because it went from forgettable to unforgettable.

Wow, I was going to say the Claret wood, as well and then I toggled down and say that it was mentioned. Yes, the Springbanks do evolve quite a lot after initially being opened, and this includes Longrows and Hazelburns. PC6 also evolved to a remarkable degree. Upon first being opened, it reminded me of a Longrow CV, and then it just opened up into three dimensional delights that really blew me away. Glenfarclas 21 (from four years ago) also evolved very nicely over time.

As for evolutions that I rather would have avoided, I preferred my bottle of Highland Park Loki upon first being opened. It has evolved in a fairly pleasing way, but some of the unique qualities were lost.

Thanks to this discussion, I decided to open my Springbank Claret Wood last night. Thanks.

(I usually strictly limit my open bottles and move through each one relatively quickly, but if the Claret's going to develop over a long life I might as well begin that life now. I'll keep it open alongside other bottles instead of putting it into my domino chain.)

@OlJas Thanks for increasing the value of my bottles of claret wood. As you know this was a one-off by the distiller and even though I found a few in Calgary this year even that has dried up.

I plan to open a bottle sometime when I have people over who want to try it, but I'll save the others for enjoyment over the next few years or decades...

Were we having a game of "who can wait the longest to open his bottle" chicken that I didn't know about?

Here's to the value in our glasses. Cheers!

@OlJas

If I intended to sell any of my bottles, I should be happy to see another rare bottle unsealed, because there are now one fewer of that expression available in the world.

But, like you, I plan on drinking mine, but given their scarcity I would like to open them in long intervals to maximize my enjoyment.

Also, because I tend to have a lot of bottles open (I open a few at tastings and I only consume 20-30 cc in a regular week), I don't need to open another bottle. I usually only open them for a specific reason, usually involving there being someone around I'd like to share with.

I think the Glendronach 15 and the Glenlivet 21 Archive evolved a lot. The change was really noticeable after the bottle got to half-way point and sat for a while. The Glenronach 15 went from a caramel-sherry bomb to a smokey toffee malt. The Glenlivet 21 went from a honey malt to an strong apple tart.

Blanton's Gold Edition... EASILY! When I first opened this bottle it was dreadfully bad. I was blown away by the difference in my experience with it and what I had read in reviews. However, after about four months, I went back to it and it was one of the best whiskies I had come across.

Bottles of Claret wood are not ideal for collecting and hoarding. Open and enjoy. Now a 30 year highland park is another story. Bottles of old whisky will go up very high in value as they become rare . The industry trend is toward younger bottlings. Claret wood is only a 12. If you are a collector go rare and go high in age. Small exclusive bottlings from distilleries especially above 25 years old will be worth the most someday, IMO. To see what is worth the most today one need only browse through Whisky exchange dot com. I recently bought a few 43 year old bunnahabhains on clearance for $95 a piece. Literally overnight I doubled the value of my purchase

@Robert99, whisky flavour change with air exposure is one of my favourite topics to observe and discuss. I've commented frequently in reviews about flavour changes occurring over from 24 hrs time to 3 years plus time. Two weeks is a very short time-span for watching for changes, and while most whiskies will shift somewhat in this period of time, only a relatively few bottles will show very large changes in such a short time.

I found Glenmorangie Ealanta to have changed a lot over 2 weeks, and a lot more over the next 2 weeks to follow. The flavours became more 'different' than 'better' or 'worse'. I liked it best at 2 to 3 weeks open.

A newly opened bottle of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix tasted strongly of soap, the kiss of death for whisky, as far as I am concerned. One week later the soapiness was completely gone. It was a great whisky after that.

My first bottle of Talisker 57 Degrees North didn't taste like much until it was open for about 10 days, then, Boom!, it was in full delicious flower, and became a great favourite.

I love The Laddie Ten, but I do not trust it to hold up with its original flavours for even a month given air exposure. (and it was the only whisky with which I seemed to get negative results from the use of Private Preserve inert N2 gas.) I will decant the next bottle of Laddie Ten I open within the first few days it is open.

In the ultra-short-term category, I saw a non-descript newly opened bottle of Black & White Blended Scotch go to 'bursting with flavour' in 24 hours time.

...and I was delighted to observe that 'smokey horse shit' smell blow off the nose of the first sample I had had of Del Maguey Chichicapa Mezcal in just 10 minutes time...and become very pleasant after that. (@OlJas, like your bottle, the second bottle of Chichicapa I tasted, belonging to @numen, did not taste very good. The first one had been delicious. Serious cognitive dissonance there. When you've been burned it can be extremely difficult to believe that others have had some very different and much better experiences with the same-named product. Two very different bottles...which just happen to have the same name on them.)

My bottle of Aberfeldy 12 showed extreme change, in a good way, but it took about 16 months open for it to taste of anything but intense sour citrus.

The most extreme change I have witnessed was a total reject bottle of standard Elijah Craig 12 yo bourbon taste of nothing but soap for 2 solid years, then lose all of the soap and taste like a very decent bourbon. Those bourbon flavours had remained completely undetectable for the previous 2 years. That bottle should not ever have been sold in the first place. Somebody screwed up on quality control in that case.

@Victor Of course, I have encounter many bottles who evolved a lot over months. The first that are coming to me are two virgin oak: The Stranahan and the Glendronach. This last bottle was one I bought because of a sample that was all with banana flavor. I had to wait a good 6 months for the banana to be as big as in the sample. I experienced the same thing with the Stranahan but the change was not as dramatic. Another bottle that came a long way was the Longmorn 16. The heather when down and the chocolate fudge up to acquire a superbe balance after 4 months. But still, up to this point, my new Laimrig is the biggest roller coaster I have encounter.