[maxwalrath]

Is the general idea that most liquor gets better with age?  A friend's landlord had opened bottles of 50 yr old whiskey that was free game, and it was amazing....but I can't really find much info on buying and "aging" booze on-line.

Does booze get better with age?  If so, should the bottle stay sealed?  All of the 50+ yr old stuff was soooo good, I had to guess aging had something to do with it.     

[Bill Baker]

I am interested in replies to this as well. My uncle gave me an old bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label when I got married. I don't know exactly how old it is but I have been married for 13 years and it was quite old when he gave it to me. No, it has not been opened yet. I'm not a whisky drinker.

[pjchappy]

Liquors, such as scotch and whiskey, don't age anymore after they are bottled.  Wines continue aging after they are bottled, though.

All the aging is done in the barrels w/ whiskey, etc.

(Someone correct me if I'm wrong. . .but I'm pretty much positive on this)

[Bill Baker]

I think you are correct on that one pjchappy. In fact, I heard that some will actually degrade over time? I have no idea personally.

 For older vintages of whisky or scotch, the value comes from the bottle/container itself. If the label is in good condition, there are collectors out there that will jump all over them.

[Gordy]

Back in the late 70's a HS buddy and I bought 2 cases of Glenlivet with the intention of opening one every year at Thanksgiving for the holidays.  It didn't take 10 years for the scotch to be noticable smoother than a current production bottle.  Now, they're simple sublime.

A similar incident... back in '80 or so my same friend had become pretty good friends with the owner of one of the older liquor stores in town.  During a basement cleaning they came across a case of about 40 or 50 - 1/2 pints of, IIRC, Old Hudson Bay "Scotch" Whiskey, complete with cork stoppers!  The owner thought the bottles must have been down there since about WWII.  The first few bottles were drank in-store out of curiousity and what we all had presumed was once a rot gut whiskey had aged into a very fine tasting one!  The remaining bottles were slowly given away to some of the more appreciative customers 

[Occam]

I agree with Gordy. My wife inherited an unopened bottle Pinch Scotch that her father had aquired 20+ years prior. I've had Pinch before, and although barrel aged 15 yrs prior to bottling, I was never overly impressed. But the additional 20+ yrs of bottle aging absolutely transformed it (for the better!)

[konut]

The summer our family vacationed in Canada my father bought several bottles of Crown Royal. My mother was pregnant with my sister. He kept 1 bottle, planning to open it at my sisters wedding. 28 years later we opened the bottle on the day before my sisters wedding. Sadly, my father had passed 10 years earlier. It was noticeably smoother than the current sample of CR. However I don't think there was any 'aging' going on. Its only my hunch, but I think the current product has degraded in quality. So by comparison, it tastes 'better'.

[spudco]

Liquors, such as scotch and whiskey, don't age anymore after they are bottled.  Wines continue aging after they are bottled, though.

All the aging is done in the barrels w/ whiskey, etc.

(Someone correct me if I'm wrong. . .but I'm pretty much positive on this)

This is correct.  If older bottles of a distilled spirit have a better taste, it is probably due to a combination of taster expectations and the fact that these products are made from agricultural products that vary from year to year. 

In addion to wines changing with age, some beers change as well.

[maxwalrath]

sounds like a cable burn-in debate 

[woodsyi]

But I would volunteer to do DBX here.  Anyone having one? 

[craig223]

I spent my first four years out of college in the liquor business.  What I was told was that no aging took place once the spirits were bottled.  This applies to bottles with air-proof caps (plastic,etc.)  If you happen on old spirits that have a cork top, then they may indeed age as wine does.

All of the aging takes place as a result of the spirits coming into contact with a charred barrel.  Tanins and oxygen from the wood give spirits flavor and color. 

Just as with listening, perceptions play a large role in taste.

[woodsyi]

I spent my first four years out of college in the liquor business.

Really?  I spent my first four years in college in the liquor business. 

[ctviggen]

Aging of whiskeys such as scotch is an incredibly complex process.  The barrels breath somewhat, meaning that the air inside the barrels moves into and out of the barrels as the liquid expands and contracts with temperature.  This is why some scotches have a briny taste or other tastes caused by environment.  According to Whisky Magazine, there is no or very little aging of whiskey once the whiskey is in the bottle and sealed.  Unfortunately, there's not a good way of testing this, I don't think, because if you have a 20 year old unopened bottle, you can't compare it versus a newer bottle.  The variability in scotch is tremendous.  Even the same year will have variability per cask, which is why Signatory and others will select casks for their own bottlings.  Perhaps older bottles didn't have the sealing mechanisms they use today, and perhaps some amount of aging would occur.  If that is true though, how would you remember what a scotch tasted like 5/10/15 years ago?  I can barely remember what one tasted like 5 minutes ago! 

[maxwalrath]

Really?  I spent my first four years in college in the liquor business. 

I spent my first five....I'm not sure if it's a chicken or the egg kind of mystery