# Aging liquor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603 "2006-05-13T04:49:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/1 "2006-05-13T04:49:26Z")
I think I asked this a couple of years ago but I can’t remember what I learned from the thread and I can’t find it in a search (perhaps in the Winter of Our Missed Content?). I will be having a new nephew in a couple of months-- first kid on that side of the family this generation-- and I’d like to get the kid a bottle of something for his year-zero-birthday that can be stored until he turns legal or whatever landmark he wants to celebrate. I’m under the impression, however, that whiskey and such are more or less “frozen” in state when they are bottled and don’t ‘mature’ or whatever after that point, and that any old old spend whiskeys or bourbons become that way at the distillery, rather than after purchase. Are there exceptions? Is there anything out there that will improve over time (wine?)? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/2 "2006-05-13T05:40:11Z")
I would suggest a French red wine. They will age well in the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/3 "2006-05-13T08:58:06Z")
Your French red may over-age after twenty-odd years, depending on which particular one it is. French wines in general are a good bet, though. Sauternes wines can age for a century or more.Vouvray-moelleux, too. I adore that second one particularly (I’m not entirely sure how well normal Vouvray ages, sorry). Mead can age pretty much forever. I have a friend whose dad brews mead; he started a batch the day she was born, and gave her a case of it on her 21st. She opened one of the bottles and I tried it; it’s unspeakably good. You might talk to one of the meaders here (yo!) about doing something similar, though the timeline might present a bit of a problem - I know I’d have trouble handing off a cask until Christmas at the earliest, and I’d _prefer_ not until maybe Chinese New Year or middlish-Lent. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/4 "2006-05-13T18:33:35Z")
You’re right that whiskey does not age further once it is bottled. The aging is a reaction between the whiskey and the oaken barrel. There is some disagreement about the value of aging past 8 years or so. Some joke that, after that, the whiskey gradually tastes more and more like the barrel. So, if you could somehow buy a barrel of whiskey, it would continue to age. Upon the birth of a good friend’s son, I gave him a matched pair of very nice pocket knives, one in green bone and one in red. He’s an adult now, and the knives are worth a whole lot more than I paid. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/5 "2006-05-13T22:26:47Z")
And there’s always port, of course. If the birth year is declared a vintage year, that is. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/6 "2006-05-13T22:35:05Z")
I second the port idea. Even if it isn’t a vintage year, it’s liable to be very nice by the time the kid reaches his majority. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/7 "2006-05-13T22:55:57Z")
How about their own [cask of Scotch](http://www.bruichladdich.com/cask_offers.htm) – by the time they learn how to pronounce the brand, they’re old enough to drink! (See [fine print (PDF)](http://www.bruichladdich.com/casks/uscaskowner.pdf) if you’re in Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Montgomery County, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/8 "2006-05-13T23:12:27Z")
A third vote for port. You can get a nice one for a reasonable price now that just might be a very good one in 21 years. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/9 "2006-05-13T23:39:38Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > I would suggest a French red wine. They will age well in the bottle. _Some_ wines will age well _if_ they are kept in proper conditions, like in a wine cellar. I know, because my father bought bottles of wines at the time of our birth to be drunk when we would marry (actually only two of us got married, so the bottles were drank for other occasions). He kept them in a cellar, but not in optimal conditions. Net result : the wine (though it was wine supposed to age well) was utter crap. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/10 "2006-05-14T01:03:25Z")
Go with the port. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/11 "2006-05-14T01:31:55Z")
Port it is! Thanks, guys. Any favorites/ recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-liquor/356603/12 "2006-05-14T01:53:42Z")
Look to see if any of the major houses declare a vintage for this year. Since this is for the kidlet and not you, it really doesn’t matter what house you choose or what flavor profile you like. Since they just declared 2003, you have a few years to decide.