Barrel-ageing cocktails has been a trend in the beverage scene for the past few years. Recently a bar attender started experimenting with taking spirit-driven cocktails in large volume and resting them in new oak barrels. Much like the art of distilling, the art of ageing can be just as nerve-wracking—you pour hundreds of dollars into what can boil down to an experiment, hoping that your end result will be both delicious and profitable.
So why go through the trouble? Does it really make any kind of difference? Yes. Think about the world of wine and whiskey. Both products are exposed to wood to achieve different qualities. Whiskey takes on a honey colour in oak, is softened, rounded out and becomes a fleshier product than that with which you started. Wine, on the other hand, benefits from integration of flavours. It becomes cohesive in the barrel and, much like whiskey, takes on new character after being stored in oak.
Much like wine and whiskey, any other liquid, and in this case cocktail, is going to take on a new form after sitting in a barrel for an extended period of time. To generalise, it softens all the edges of a drink. Flavours are richer; there is added depth to flavours that come out more harmoniously than they would when mixed to order. Why? The movement of liquid in and out of a porous barrel allows the liquid to take on the characteristics of the wood, such as vanillin. This is why whiskey takes on notes of honey, caramel and vanilla.
Enough about what happens. How do you make this happen? Step one, obtain a barrel. It’s not always cheap or easy, but with so much whiskey entering the market, barrels are aplenty. If you’re a bartender, find a brand you wish to support and inquire. For the at-home enthusiast, click here to buy one. There are many people talking about the next ageing revolution, saying that it will be the submergence of barrel staves in glass containers to achieve the same result with much less mess.
Once you have a barrel, fill it with water. Remember the trial and error portion of getting better that I mentioned earlier? This was my first error. When barrels have not held liquid for a considerable amount of time, the wood becomes dry, shrinks and is no longer capable of holding liquid. Filling it with water for a few days to a week, depending, will cause the staves to swell and return to their original purpose.
Pick a cocktail. Whether it is a Manhattan, Boulevardier or Negroni, look for something spirit-driven. There is no need to age juice because it will spoil. Although there are many directions to go in, these three cocktails seem to be the most popular in the aged cocktail world. The craziest I’ve seen? Barrel-aged vodka Red Bulls with Chartreuse. From what I hear, it was fantastic. What’s next? Only time will tell.
Have you ever experimented with oak ageing? Have you tried these cocktails in other cities? I’d love to hear how consumers feel about the process!
Until next time, happy drinking!
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