oak questions- sherry and old whiskey sticks

[bt1]

Hello all,

Had some very light toasted short french oak sticks sitting in dry sherry for past 4 weeks ready for the upcoming irish grain whiskey next weekend.

Just wondering if anyone sees advantage in changing sherry over for a new lot for 2 weeks or so cos the current 1lt has gone much darker and very oaky smell. I'm not wanting to take heaps of flavour or colour over to this pending Irish. kinda makes sense to me or would it lose too much ?

Also when do ppl consider ex bourbon/whiskey sticks as used or flat. Like when do charred sticks give up the strong colour/flavour imparting..All have had at least 4 months on bourbon ...same reason want to put half of this irish on ex bourbon sticks like the commercial distillers promote and blend for taste with the sherry batch.

bt1

[Frank]

Mate,
from what little I know...most distillers and artisan home distillers (reckon its better to) use oak from ex-sherry barrels rather than oak sticks soaked in sherry in order to impart 'proper' flavour profiles.

I dont actually know why (as with most things here :oops: ) but....I reckon that such knowledge is only gained by trial and error etc

So, what chance getting your mits on some sherry barrel staves or something?

[crow]

umm good luck with that , pretty big demand for sherry casks don't think you'll fine them down the local garden center . bt if ya get the real deal grab it but otherwise I'd say yes . You want to replicate 5 yrs of aging in a few weeks I'd be looking at some distress aging methods but remember its the wood not the spirit that wants to age , that means it wants to act like party used up wood with a sherry impart . So change it often say once a week or at least fortnight and I found pre heating the spirit to say 40 - 50' before adding it seems to mix it up quick ;-) EDIT drinking Rum done like that a few weeks ago right now and it ain't half bad

[bt1]

Howdy,

these sherry soaked sticks are a good 8 months old and doing very nicely in the new Irish. I changed sherry a few times initially to calm down the oaking. They are a medium toast style on French oak.

It takes a fair while for the oak to become saturated and provide a good almost a light gold colour to the spirit but it's a much nicer taste that the side by side comparo with used bourbon strips.

Have a good few bottles now kicking around done with sherry strips... if your looking for a lighter style well worth a few sample sized testers.

bt1