Okie dokie … approximately two months have gone by and after several taste tests we decided that our latest victim, I mean subject, was ready to wake from its hibernation and be bottled. Truth be told I actually removed it from the barrel several weeks ago as a precaution; as you see, I was heading out of town on a vacation and didn’t want to have anything happened during that week so I removed the contents, bottled it, held it in the bottle until I returned and then re-barreled the mixture for a further 2 plus weeks or so.
So how did it come out? Quite nice. As I am seeing with all of the tests so far, the barrel does wonders to rounding out the flavor profile of the drink(s) and serves as a melding force for the ingredients and the effects on the Negroni was no different. There is a wonderful “smoothness” to this mixture and silkier mouth feel. The bitterness is paired in a more symbiotic way with the sweetness of the vermouth to create something that draws you in. What is interesting is how the botanicals of the gin have been muted behind the calming force of the Campari and Dolin Rouge. Very nice.
Note: a word of caution to those undertaking barrel aging – do not do as I did in this experiment and rush things, especially rush to get the contents out of the barrel for fear of losing large amounts of your mixture. In haste, due to certain “family” time pressures I opted to remove the contents of the barrel directly into the final resting bottle and did not take certain added precautions such as having a holding pan under the bottle or first dumping the contents into a large mixing glass. As such I lost probably a third of the overall contents; what was a little over a full 750 ml’s of drink (once again, the angels did pretty good getting their share) is now a little over one-half of a full bottle’s worth. Patience, especially in drink related subjects, is most definitely a virtue.
Next up — we are preparing for barrel aging theSpeakista’s favorite drink, the venerable Manhattan. In advance of this I have decided to “age” the barrel completely with sherry so as to see if we can achieve that “used sherry cask” flavor. We have almost two bottles of Osborne Amontillado sherry aging and will likely hold this for at least two months before aging a full barrel’s worth of a Manhattan.
theSpeakista asks:
1. Barrel aging … any experiments taking place in your neck of the woods?
2. Have you been able to sample any of the “professional” versions of such drinks and if so, what have been your thoughts?
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Excellent!
You probably did good by throwing the sherry in there first. Otherwise, you would have had some Campari-laced Manhattans in your midst.
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