Options
Personal Cask Conditioning
90+ Irishman
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 7,868
Well Gang I decided to setup my own thread for this as a few brothers have expressed interest in the experiment I am doing and wanted to be able to follow along, so here ya go 
As most of y'all know I am a bit of a whiskey/bourbon fan. For this most recent birthday my wife got me this really awesome 1L new American White Oak cask for me to condirion and finish my own spirits in, and I decided that after conditioning and curing the cask that I would start with a 750ml of white whiskey to condition and rest and see how it comes along over the next several weeks and months. Every 7 days from when I first put the spirit in, I take a very small sample and take down some notes in my little distilling and casking journal, and then I rotate the cask clockwise 1/4 revolution. The notes below are from the first weeks tasting this past Saturday the 21st.
Personal Cask Conditioning Log
Setup: On 3/14/15 @ 1:30pm MST, a 750ml of Jim Beam Jacob's Ghost was put into oak. This is the first substance to be put into this 1L charred American White Oak cask (No. 4 char). Jacob's Ghost is a whiskey that was rested for 1 year before being bottled and seemed a perfect candidate for this first experimental cask finishing.
Initial Tasting at 1 Week 3/21/15 8:30pm MST:
Color: In a week alone this has taken on a significant coloration. It has gone from very nearly colorless to a light oak and toffee hue.
Nose: Not surprisingly this is a remarkably young nose, tannin/slightly sour woody notes, leather and slight grain spice.
Palate: This is actually surprisingly decent all things considered. It starts out with a moderately sugary sweetness laced heavily with a lot of smoke and young semi-sour tannin infused young oak. The finish is a bit short and is dominated primarily by grain spice (mild) and some char too (mild). Overall it is coming along well and picking up some character. I look forward to how this develops over the next few weeks and months.
As most of y'all know I am a bit of a whiskey/bourbon fan. For this most recent birthday my wife got me this really awesome 1L new American White Oak cask for me to condirion and finish my own spirits in, and I decided that after conditioning and curing the cask that I would start with a 750ml of white whiskey to condition and rest and see how it comes along over the next several weeks and months. Every 7 days from when I first put the spirit in, I take a very small sample and take down some notes in my little distilling and casking journal, and then I rotate the cask clockwise 1/4 revolution. The notes below are from the first weeks tasting this past Saturday the 21st.
Personal Cask Conditioning Log
Setup: On 3/14/15 @ 1:30pm MST, a 750ml of Jim Beam Jacob's Ghost was put into oak. This is the first substance to be put into this 1L charred American White Oak cask (No. 4 char). Jacob's Ghost is a whiskey that was rested for 1 year before being bottled and seemed a perfect candidate for this first experimental cask finishing.
Initial Tasting at 1 Week 3/21/15 8:30pm MST:
Color: In a week alone this has taken on a significant coloration. It has gone from very nearly colorless to a light oak and toffee hue.
Nose: Not surprisingly this is a remarkably young nose, tannin/slightly sour woody notes, leather and slight grain spice.
Palate: This is actually surprisingly decent all things considered. It starts out with a moderately sugary sweetness laced heavily with a lot of smoke and young semi-sour tannin infused young oak. The finish is a bit short and is dominated primarily by grain spice (mild) and some char too (mild). Overall it is coming along well and picking up some character. I look forward to how this develops over the next few weeks and months.
Comments
Must have been a good test, or a hard worknite. You're Irish so I know you can't be hungover, hope all is well.
Also, I assume you're gonna reuse this cask over and over. I imagine the first run will get the most flavor out of the wood? Do you think later batches will take longer or have less flavor from the barrel? I guess you could always switch spirits and do like a port or rum in between whiskies to get another finish?