Erkin Tuzmukhamedov’s article on aged booze, which has sunk into oblivion after another reorganization of the Inshaker, was restored from the Internet archive and carefully republished on the Rum Diary. Such material is not worth hiding from the public eye. Eat!
Everyone has probably heard that in old cognacs from all sorts of respectable houses there are spirits of a hundred years and even more exposure. Alcohols of the “Donapoleonic” era! When this syphilitic dwarf had not yet taken Moscow! Imagine the awe you must feel as you swallow this liquid story. Immediately imagine yourself numbered among the elect and enlightened …
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Aging is the time spent in the barrel. The chemistry of the aging process is incredibly complex, but the physics, one might say, is primitive: the wood of the barrel is porous, and its contents gradually evaporate through the walls of the barrel. How little? It depends on the barrel, the thicker its walls, the slower, the second factor is the climate, that is: a) humidity; b) temperature. These evaporations in all languages of the world are called the same: “angel’s share”. La part des anges in French and angel’s share in English.
What is the age of the oldest drink?
Let’s roughly evaluate from the point of view of the “angel’s share” the different regions where world-famous drinks are made. The ideal climates for long-term aging are the mild and humid climate of rainy, sea-surrounded Scotland, and the moderately warm maritime climate of Charente (a department in western France), where the Cognac region is located.
But in Spain, where they make sherry brandy, or sherry brandy (which we often call “cherry”, from cherry), despite the proximity to the sea, the conditions are worse – very hot.
Where they make bourbons (in Kentucky) and Tennessee whiskey (in Tennessee), it’s even worse – temperatures often exceed 40oC, and in winter often cons. And at the same time it is quite dry – the climate is sharply continental. It is even worse in Latin America – here it is both hot and dry and the “angel’s share” can reach 12% (!!!!) per year, and in Scotland and Cognac – about 2 – 3% per year.
For example, where they make tequila, in the mountains of Mexico, evaporation reaches 7 percent per year. So count – in Mexico, a 100 liter barrel will lose 7 liters in a year, in 2 – 13,5 liters, in 4 it will be emptied by a quarter, and in 10 years there will be less than half left. Why? Because the barrel shrinks, and the evaporation accelerates. In Scotland or Cognac, this process can stretch up to half a century. If you take a large barrel, this process can be stretched even more … But it will remain at the bottom of the barrel … I can’t imagine what awaits someone who decides to age their booze in barrels in the Kalahari Desert (located in South Africa within the states of Botswana, South Africa and Namibia) or in the Karakum (sandy desert in the south of Central Asia) … A couple of months, probably not more?
Therefore, old drinks are very rare and very expensive.
A couple of years ago, for the first time in the long history of one of Scotland’s most respected distilleries, Highland Park, a 50-year-old whiskey was released in the amount of 275 bottles at a price of 10 pounds. The bottle itself costs at least 000 – it is very beautiful and laced with silver by the young, but already very famous Scottish jeweler Maeve Gilles. The bottle is very beautiful – I almost fell in love …
Another symbol of luxury, The Macallan whiskey has a long tradition of releasing old whiskeys. Their series in luxury decanters from Lalique 50 and 55 years old is a bestseller among Russian oligarchs. But the most famous release of The Macallan is bottled in a simple modest bottle and sold at auctions, today the 62-year-old The Macallan is one of the record holders in terms of value.
There are other examples as well. Every 10 years, a 500-year-old Glenfiddich is produced with a circulation of 50 bottles, and the company sells 100 bottles a year. The initial cost is 10 pounds. By the end of the term, the cost of these rarities can reach hundreds of thousands of pounds.
So, the answer to the question posed at the beginning – what can technically be the age of the oldest aged drink? The oldest aged drink that has ever been on the market is Mortlach whiskey 70 years old. Only a few dozen of such bottles were made, because at the bottom of a 500-liter sherry barrel there were only a few liters of whiskey left (you can read about the choice of this noble drink here).
And about the French with their “centenary” cognacs? Well, they are masters of a beautiful word, pouring a lot … Filling not in the sense of pouring liquids into containers or into the neck of their own carcass, but figuratively. What the French call “pre-Napoleonic”, “pre-phyloxeric”, “centennial” spirits, in fact, could be produced at that time. But this is not barrel aging from the time of Napoleon’s 1812 campaign! This is alcohol aged for some time in a barrel (well, at least for a year or two or half a year), and then poured into glass containers, large bottles called “damzhan” – alcohol does not evaporate and does not develop in them. It cannot be called cognac aged 200 years, can it?