Whiskies Prone to Deterioration

You may be looking at sulphur taint with this bottle. This comes (I believe...please correct if I'm mistaken) from conditioning/re-purposing of sherry casks for use in aging of whisky. Typically, notes of rubber or struck matches (and in worst cases the 'sulphur egg' aroma) are examples of sulphur notes being present in sherry casked/finished whiskies. Sometimes, these notes work rather well within the profile of a given whisky.

However, people have different tolerance levels for sulphur in their whisky. I think I generally have a higher tolerance. However, my only GlenDronach experience to date has been a pour of the current 12 yo bottling where the match stick note dominated the overall profile to the point of being unable to note any other distinct flavours/aromas in the profile.

Sulphur taint. Never heard of that. Great info! Thanks @Pudge72!

I have also read about sulphur treated sherry casks. Checkout the Bible Thumping in Jim Murray's 2013 Whisky Bible, the mentioning of which will most likely stir up a hornets nest!

I think the wine industry commonly uses sulfur dioxide to help regulate oxidation in the wine. I guess some of this could soak into the cask.

Forgive me if this is a ridiculous suggestion, but could climate have an effect as well? I know that @hunggar is located in Asia and I can't help but wonder if the humidity has anything to do with it. Humidity is certainly a huge issue here in Japan and I often wonder if it influences the taste profile on my open bottles. Any thoughts?

@CanadianNinja I have never had problems with humidity in southern Louisiana which is very high affecting whiskey. Its a very good question u pose but I imagine as long as u keep ur whiskey inside and in a climate controlled space I wouldn't imagine humidity would play a factor

There is a inverse relationship to humidity and evaporation. Meaning that the higher the humidity, the less evaporation you would get from the bottle. I know a few distilleries in Colorado have issues because the very low humidity means far too much spirit goes "to the angels" while it is aging. I would guess that higher humidity would be good for preserving a whisky.

But, with a good cork in place I'm not sure how much this would effect anything...

@WHSKYLVR I don't think it's quite that simple - I think that high humidity means that the water stays in the bottle but the alcohol will still evaporate. I think that's why humid Scotland has decreasing ABV in the cask, whereas drier America has increasing ABV in the cask (the water evaporates faster than the alcohol in dry air). I could be wrong or way overgeneralizing anyway... I'm not really sure.

@valuewhisky Yeah, that's a good point. But, I think that evaporation rate of alcohol will always be higher than that of water...not sure about this either. Any latent heat or enthalpy experts out there?

Also worth considering is that the humidity may be coming from coastal regions. I know that sea air imparts some distinct tastes (like iodine) in whiskies from coastal distilleries.

@hunggar Pudge72 gives a pretty good answer on the 'rubber' quality. If you check out Serge's reviews on whiskyfun, you'll see that he sometimes describes a 'gun-powder' quality, which is that match-stick profile more associated with the sulphur from some sherried whiskies. I would guess that that characteristic has just become more prominent relative to the other flavors/aromas. Exposure to oxygen releases alcohol, which typically decreases the strength of the spirit, though sometimes the spirit changes characteristics a bit. Some spirits change significantly with just a bit of air-time.

The regular transformation that I notice is in sherried whisky, especially in the 12-18 year range. At first I get lots of red fruits, but, once the stuff opens up, the fruit tends to give way to baked goods and something close to the almost metallic flavor of oxidized sherry (for obvious reasons) along with more malt chocolate. GlenDronach seems to have had that happen with a number of bottles; a user asked me about it on a review of an older GlenDronach, but it seems to be more common in the younger expressions.

Lately, a fair few people have commented about the Four Roses Small Batch 2012 Edition being superb when the bottle has been opened, but deteriorating a bit once opened.

I live in Malaysia where it is really humid. Never had any issues with my whiskies. In fact some whiskies tend to get better as I store them longer, case in point Laphroaig QC.

Great stuff so far. I didn't know that this "sulphur taint" was so common, or that it affected sherried whiskies more than others. Thanks @Numen. @Canadianninja: Taiwan's quite humid as well, but I tend to keep my apartment at room temperature and I keep a dehumidifier, so in this particular case I don't think that's what happening, although there's no doubt in my mind that climate is and important factor in how well a whisky 'keeps'.

So far we have established a bit of volatility in Four Roses Small Batch 2012 and the GlenDronach range. Any others to watch out for?

Btw, "Sulphur taint" .... Least sexy combination of words ever for something I have put in my mouth. ;)

@hunggar LOL ya I sure hope I never put sulphur taint in my mouth :(

I will second the decline in the 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch. It is a significant drop too. I have a bottle at a quarter full, and I am waiting to see if it can recover itself. In this case, it becomes a rougher, more astringent whisky. The smack of zest and coconut and tropical fruits become shrinking violets to the overpowering alcohol and oak. Still good...Just not 90+ good.

I have also had problems with highly aromatic or peaty whiskies when the level gets too low or the bottle is not finished in time. I have experienced this with Lagavulin 16 and most every Ardbeg. Oddly, never been a problem with Laphroaig.

Glenmorangie's excellent Artein's most wonderful feature is the nose - Strawberry fields forever! Well, not forever. After a couple of months, what was once so prominent has become faint. Easy solution - Decant some, then drink up!

@Onibubba - You mentioned deterioration in Lagavulin 16, so I thought I'd share the results of a risky experiment I undertook.

A friend gave me a Christmas gift of a three-pack of 200cl bottles of Laga 16, Talisker 10, and Cragganmore 12. (Yes, he's a very good friend!) I had 750cl bottles of each in my cabinet, all at the halfway point or below. Of the three, I noticed deterioration in the Laga especially. So I took a chance and poured the contents of the 200cl bottle into the larger bottle. I figured that, at worst, it would still be drinkable.

After letting it sit for a few days, the results were spectacular. Not only did the peaty zing return, it now had a richer creaminess than I'd ever tasted in any Lagavulin. I now have a one-of-a-kind bottle of the most delicious Laga 16 I've ever tried. I decanted some back into the 200cl bottle, sealed the top with electrical tape (those little bottles have loose-ish corks), and it now resides on my "For Special Occasions" shelf.

I suppose there are riskier experiments than mixing two bottles of the same expression. But it might be a way to rescue some older bottles from death's door.

I have read older whiskies in general are more likely to deteriorate quickly and are more fragile than say a ten or twelve year old whisky who might actually benefit from some time opening. Not for sure if that's true...but if so, I guess I'll have to drink the good stuff faster. The only thing I've ever noticed so far is a bottle of JW Blue tasted flat to me after a year owning and as I was finishing it off. I didn't know if it had actually lost quality, or if after adjusting to stronger flavored single malts over the last year I just no longer thought it was so good, as I loved it when I first got it.

Four Roses Small Batch has been open for almost one year, about 2/3 remaining - now has a very strong green cardamom taste.

@WhiskyBee Wow 2 liter bottles in a giftpack!!! ;) I heard more about experiments like this having a good ending. And I also heard some distillers clean the casks with sulfur, therefore creating apossible, undesirable eggnote.

@PeatyZealot - They're 200 centiliter bottles! I think 2-liter bottles of Laga 16 are available only in Whisky Heaven. ;-)

@WhiskyBee I hate to be a bitch, but how much is 200cl again? ;) I enjoy these small bottles very much as well, I wish more distilleries would produce these. An excellent way to try whiskies that are new to you, they sell like crazy at the local liquor shop Heaven exists on earth!

drankgigant.nl/sterke-drank/whisky/…

4,5 liters of wonderfulness :p

@PeatyZealot / @WhiskyBee - I think there has been some confusion regarding bottle size (an error with millilitre vs. centilitre) - the Diageo Classic Malt Packs (Talisker, Strong, Gentle) come with three 200ml (or 20cl) bottles; a full sized bottle of whisky is usually 700ml (70cl) or 750ml (75cl), although the LCBO does sell some 1140ml (114cl) bottles of JW Red, Black, Famous Grouse, etc.

200ml = 6.8 fl oz.

@YakLord and @PeatyZealot - Sorry for my own confusion on the matter. We Yanks tend to be deers in headlights when it comes to all things metric.

"200ml = 6.8 fl oz." @WHSKYLVR - that's about three servings or a generous pour with a friend. The standard measure for a flask is about 200 ml. Not that I would know - must have read it somewhere.

@paddockjudge And for some, like me, 200ml is roughly equivalent to.. 7 (or more) serves. I can get two, sometimes three really thorough tastings out of a 50ml bottle.

@hunggar...A tip about sulphur taint that I was given last month...try adding just a couple small drops of water to your next pour from the bottle. The flavour profile that you fell in love with should hopefully re-appear as the water may be able to dissipate the rubber notes.

This came up when I went to have a dram of Glenfarclas 15 (one of my absolute favourite bottles!) from a 2/3 empty bottle that has been open for about 15 months. For the first time ever with that bottle, I picked up dreaded sulphur related notes, where no hint of such had previously existed. A gentleman on the WWW forum provided the tip, and it worked instantly. He did indicate though that this may not work as well on peated, sherry cask whiskies (i.e. Lagavulin 16).

Hopefully this does the trick!