Good Spirits
By David Baldwin
A bottle of whisky is finite. It is opened, enjoyed, and eventually emptied. Despite the fact that whisky doesn’t really “go bad” like wine and beer do once opened, there is a limited amount of liquid to enjoy from each bottle.
What if I told you there was a way to make your most precious and beloved whiskies last forever? It is possible. Let me explain.
Sourdough bread is often made from a “starter,” which is a combination of flour, water, and of course yeast. A small amount of the starter is used to make a batch of bread and the starter is fed to replenish what was used. Sourdough starters can be old. Years if not decades old in some cases.
What does this have to do with whisky? Everything. Despite the obvious connection of fermenting grains, sourdough starters are the heart and soul of the bread. The flavors and textures of the final product are dependent on the quality and contents of the starter. Take care of your starter and you will be making bread for years to come with essentially the same original source. As long as you never use (or lose) the whole starter, there will always be at least some portion of the original starter in there. We can take this concept and apply it to whisky.
It’s called an Infinity Bottle. Just like a starter there is no single recipe to make or take care of one. So perhaps it’s best if I explain how I take care of mine. It all starts with an empty whisky bottle that is just too nice to recycle. Mine was a bottle of Hibiki 12 year.
I poured in about one ounce from a number of different single malt scotches I had open. Effectively creating my own blend. I did not pay too much attention to how they may or may not taste mixed together. I had a longer goal in mind. I took note of which bottles went into the blend that day for posterity’s sake.
From that day forward, I have added the first ounce of each and every single malt scotch I opened to this Infinity Bottle. Recording the names in the same notebook. Once in a while I take a small pour to see how it tastes and to help to keep the bottle from overflowing because there are now over 40 different whiskies written down.
Like the sourdough starter this Infinity Bottle contains the remnants of some whiskies that I have long since finished. While I may no longer be able to drink them individually, I have assured, as long as I do not empty the whole bottle, that at least a small portion of these whiskies will live on indefinitely.
I am not a baker, but I would imagine there are many who take great pride in their starter. I likewise am immensely proud of my Infinity Bottle and all of the fabulous whisky that has contributed to its development. Begin your own Infinity Bottle today! Or maybe this has inspired you to bake bread which is equally exciting! I will have more to share in the future on Infinity Bottles, but not much more about bread I’m afraid.
For the past 10 years Dave Baldwin, the “Whiskey Guy” at Passion Vines Wine and Spirit Company oversees the whisky selection which includes, deciding which bottles to stock on the shelf and at our bar in Somers Point. Dave, along with a few other team members, also select the various Single Barrel store picks which are bottles unique to Passion Vines.
