White Whiskey

The Pub
1

A year or two ago someone gave me a bottle of this stuff from one of the local craft distilleries.  It’s terrible.  I can’t drink it and I can’t serve it to friends.

I tried aging some on oak in Ball jars and did a sampling last night with a buddy.  The light toast American oak was still terrible.  The medium French oak had improved and had some oaky flavors but still could not out-compete the weird medicinal flavor of the whiskey.

I have most of a bottle left.  What do people do with this stuff?

I’m thinking maybe some charring some of the chips, or getting some charred oak cubes but I’m not sure the experiment is worth it anymore.

2

All good medicine tastes bad. :wink:

3

Use in your beer airlocks

4

Run it through a Brite or charcoal filter.  A benefit of oak aging is that the toasting forms activated carbon that adsorbs some of the nasties.  That the medium toast French oak tastes better than the light toast American oak suggests to me that the medium char may have adsorbed more of the nasties.

5

Char the oak and try again, it helps in my experience.

You can also look up recipes that call for white dog, when it is diluted in a drink the off flavors may not be as strong.

6

Slate had an article called “Unaged whiskey helps young microdistilleries keep afloat. There’s just one problem: It tastes awful.”

North Shore Distillery has the number one rated US gin, apparently.  Try drinking that instead.

7

North Shore’s Gin is indeed a thing of beauty. The Sloe Gin they made is particularly good. The Aquavit is pretty good too.

I didn’t care too much for the white whiskey either.

8

Don’t sound like you don’t have enough to charcoal filter it and get much back. The idea of airlock fluid was pretty good advice.

9

There’s a reason good whiskeys are filtered.  Run it through a charcoal filter and then age it on some charred oak.  It will improve.  Especially if you give 5 or 10 years on the oak.  8)

Paul

10

The bottle I bought a year ago was touched twice and still sits where I store my bourbon. It’s awful. Truly awful.

11

I’ve looked at all the different varieties at the liquor store and have always assumed it was made to be consumed by young folks who think it make them look cool.  Just before they fall down and/or make a call on the big white telephone.  8^)

Honestly, one of my uncle’s made shine and it never had a flavor anyone would call “good” but it had a one hell of a kick.

Paul

12

I’ve had some good shine before but it was usually infused with a flavor like peach or something. White whiskey tastes like … I don’t know. Something awful. I can’t drink it. Drink lots of whiskey though.

13

You describe this bottle exactly. My buddy last night described if as metallic.

I may try running it through a brita and putting it on se charred chips. I can let it sit a few years. Ain’t gonna drink it for sure.

As far as gin, I’ll stick with Bombay sapphire.

14

After you filter it you could maybe use it as a base for liqueur. Lemoncello, kahlua, chambord, etc.

Love me some Sapphire. Sapphire, rocks and a twist of lemon is one of my all-time faves.

15

From the flavors you describe it sounds to me like the distller did not make good head cuts on this run of white dog.  The vapors that come off of the beginning part of a spirit run are called foreshots and/or heads.  These are comprised of volatile compounds with lower boiling points than ethanol - acetone, methanol, various other esters and aldehydes.  They give the perception of appley fingernail polish remover and are very hot and harsh.

Once the heads cut has been made the finer spirits that are comprised of ethanol start to be collected.  These are called the hearts. The hearts make up the majority of the spirits from a distillation run.  Hearts are very smooth with little alcoholic heat.

Once the ethanol/hearts have been collected the volatile compounds with higher boiling points start to come off.  These are called tails and/or feints.  They are mostly the higher molecular weight alcohols such as propanol, butanol, isoamyl alcohol.  They give the perception of someone having vomited on dirty socks.

Commercial distillers, being the frugal lot that they are, like to produce as much product from a spirit run as possible.  Unfortunately some distillers get greedy and make bad cuts that include too much heads and/or tails.  Cheaper spirits often include heads and tails from bad cuts.

That being said, part of the flavor profiles of fine whiskeys, and rums, and brandies include some measure of tails.  The artisan part is knowing how much tails add to improve the quality of the spirit.

All distilled spirits are clear when they come off of the still.  The color is extracted (along with flavors) from the wood the spirits are aged in.  The tails compounds lose their harshness and blend with flavors extracted from the wood over time, to produce the characteristic flavors of the finished spirits you are familiar with.

Unaged clear whiskey is also know as white lightning, white dog, or a variety of other names, is pretty damn good, if the distiller has made good cuts.  Extremely good if the distiller only gives you the deep hearts.

White dog made with poor heads cuts will probably not get much better with aging.  However, it does make good charcoal lighter fluid.

16

So…  white whiskey is just moonshine?

I’m more of a gin lady myself. Hendricks is my go to gin. Negronis are my go to drink. Drop a bit of Angostura Orange and Fee Brother gin barrel aged orange bitters in there and you’re in business. 8)

17

The moonshine I have always had is 100% corn and often sugar. The white whiskey is mostly corn with barley or rye or whatever they use as the other grain. I hear what Carl is saying but to me good bourbon is good because of the interaction of the spirit with the wood. I have found the flavors in “white whiskey” in bourbons that were oak aged and found those “white whiskey” flavors to be flaws to my pallet.

18

I’m with you.  I’ve tasted heads and tails before, and I don’t think those are the flavors, though I’m glad Carl chimed in and he may be right.  Maybe they are making bad cuts to get more product, but some of the flavors are almost botanical.  I don’t think they add anything botanical and the distiller gets good reviews from lots of people so who knows?  It’s not the alcohol kick I’ve gotten from other jars I’ve tasted, but simply odd unpleasant flavors.

FWIW, I’ve had the aged stuff from another local distiller as well as one from Iowa and I just don’t care for it.  The white whiskey flavors come through strongly and the whiskeys aren’t smooth.  My guess is the spirits aren’t aged long enough.  It seems people think these odd flavors are what makes it “craft” but to me they make it crap.  Especially at the micro distiller prices.

And Hendrick’s gin?  That stuff goes on the shelf with the white whiskey.  Although I’ve had some guests who will drink it which means maybe I should move it up a shelf.  Or find more discerning guests… I’d put a smiley here, but I’ve never done that and I’m not starting.

19

I tried white dog moonshine once. It came from some unknown family still in TN. The person who offered it to me had shoved half an apple in it and had been putting it through temperature swings. I think he misunderstood that the temperature swings help push and pull the whiskey into the barrel wood rather than providing some mysterious smoothing. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I expected. I’ve had much worse well whiskey in college bars.

I drink scotch neat so it wasn’t too big of a deal to take a swig of the moonshine. The owner was floored that I could drink it straight without coughing or turning red. I think he worships me now. I told him to quit drinking that JD swill.

20

I’ve had white whiskey that is wonderful and I’ve had white whiskey that is more or less industrial cleaner.  The cut and any blending and dilution make the difference as far as I can tell.