What makes aged whiskey better

Old whiskies might cost a pretty penny, but for the flavor, Pickerell recommends choosing a more middle-aged whisky — 6 to 10 years for bourbon, and about 20 years for scotch. Any older, and you might just be paying for age, not flavorful beauty. Danny Lewis is a multimedia journalist working in print, radio, and illustration. Stewart: I'm mostly looking for well-made products and variety. The one that's most caught my eye is Rieger's Kansas City Whiskey, which adds a gloriously tiny amount of Amontillado [sherry] to the whiskey that not only creates a taste that's unlike any other, but has also earned them their very own classification of whiskey.

This means a minimum of four years in new, charred oak for most American whiskies and closer to 12 years for international whiskies aged in repurposed barrels in more temperate environments.

Micallef: Oran has a lot of very interesting finishes that are quite good. Highland Park is another one. Those may change over time. For a while, it looked like there was going to be a shortage of older, aged whiskies, and so all of the whiskey companies suddenly wanted to reverse course and talk about no age whiskeys simply as a way of managing their stocks better. A lot of it is just public perception. Do you care how old a whiskey is?

Does an older whiskey mean that it's better? What do you look for when you're stocking the shelf at a bar? Fantastic offerings can also be found up to the to year-old range. Beyond that, the oak tends to overpower everything else going on in the bottle.

The effect can be even more pronounced with spirits that tend to age more quickly, like Bourbon. After 72 years, you might as well go suck on an oak stave.

Two key factors dictate how a spirit will mature: the barrel used to age the spirit new barrels age a spirit fastest , and the climate where the spirit is aged heat can accelerate the aging process.

By law, Bourbon is made in new, charred oak barrels. That means the distillate extracts flavors from the wood relatively quickly, so Bourbon matures faster than most other barrel-aged spirits. Thank You! We've received your email address, and soon you will start getting exclusive offers and news from Wine Enthusiast.

A unicorn does sometimes appear. Also, keep an eye out for single-vintage rum bottlings.