I know booze isn’t supposed to spoil or deteriorate after opening the bottle, but I’m beginning to wonder. Nearly two months ago, I bought a 1.5 liter bottle of Bombay–I ususally buy fifths, because usually I’m the only one who uses it, but the double was all they had. Besides, it was only about $25.
What with one thing and another, like drinking G&Ts instead, I just hadn’t had a martini for several weeks. So when I made one last week, it didn’t seem to have any taste beyond the vermouth and the bite of the alcohol. It tasted like a vodka martini. Meanwhile, this big bottle is about half gone.
Should I hasten to finish it, or to find a smaller bottle to keep the remainder in?
Really, I don’t think gin goes bad like that. Bombay’s got proofs in the high '80’s or low '90’s, so unless you’ve left the cap off and it’s evaporated, I don’t see how it could degrade so quickly.
I’ve had the same bottle of gin for goin’ on two years now, because my dad is the only one who drinks it when he comes over. It’s still fine and gin-y.
I was given a bottle of rum by the husband of a (thought-to-be) recoving alcoholic. He wanted to get it out of his house. I stashed it in the freezer where I usually keep my liquor - it promptly froze solid.
Thirding the teenager.
You could try taking the bottle (or any other bottle) and putting a very small inconspicous mark on the edge of the back label to mark the level. After a week (or whatever time length you want) go and see if it changed.
I’ve had Bombay for much longer than that (well, not MUCH longer as I do like my martinis, and my husband likes his G&Ts, but you get the point) and it’s never tasted less ginny than it did when I first got it.
I was very good a slowly replacing booze with water by marking the bottle myself and then rubbing off the mark. I’d suggest putting a small amount in the freezer. If it freezes, it’s been adulterated.
How about just taste it pure, at room temperature. If you drink martinis I presume you should be able to tell by taste, at least if it’s 0-40proof, 40-80proof, 80-120proof, etc. In beverages without particularly strong flavours I categorize by taste alone as 0-10%, 10%-20%, 20%-35%,35%-55%, 55%-Burning%.
Right. Vermouth (not a registered trademark) is a fairly but not radically strong (usually 36 proof) white wine which has been infused with wormwood (or wormwood flavoring, in these anti-absinthe days). Like any wine, it will go sour, although not anywhere nearly as quickly as table wine. It gets funky when it goes off though, not watery or tasteless.
No, no teenagers. The closest thing we’ve got to a teenager is my 24 y.o. stepdaughter who only drinks an occasional beer and who is at this moment on another continent.
Egad, I didn’t know Vermouth went bad. That could be a problem because I’ve recently noticed that the little tenth bottles that used to be ubiquitous are becoming hard to find. At least in my area, So I’m obliged to buy fifths of that.
