# Can You Speed Up The Ageing of Fine Whiskey? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** liquor-alcohol\ **Created:** [December 25, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356 "2015-12-25T23:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Mongoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8dc957/32.png) [@Hugh\_Mongoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Mongoose)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/21 "2015-12-26T21:37:37Z")
I came in to mention Cleveland Whiskey, but **thelurkinghorror** beat me to it. Having sampled it, it wasn’t terrible, but had a long way to go before it can stand toe to toe with the real thing. Bit of a metallic taste, but quite nice with some ginger ale. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/22 "2015-12-27T02:29:58Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > TL;DR: Because of the types of barrels used and the warmer climate with a greater range of temperatures, whisky ages much more quickly and with much greater oak flavor in Kentucky than in Scotland. And rum ages even faster in the Caribbean and elsewhere that they distill and age rum, which is why a say… 15 yr old spirit will be a pretty ancient rum, a well-aged Bourbon, and a middle-aged Scotch. I wonder if anyone’s tried aging bourbon somewhere like Brownsville, Phoenix or maybe somewhere in Florida? If temperature swings are the thing, I’d think you could do better than Kentucky by going west into Kansas, Oklahoma and N. Texas. We routinely see nearly 90-100 degree annual temp swings. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/23 "2015-12-27T04:38:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > And rum ages even faster in the Caribbean and elsewhere that they distill and age rum, which is why a say… 15 yr old spirit will be a pretty ancient rum, a well-aged Bourbon, and a middle-aged Scotch. > > I wonder if anyone’s tried aging bourbon somewhere like Brownsville, Phoenix or maybe somewhere in Florida? > > If temperature swings are the thing, I’d think you could do better than Kentucky by going west into Kansas, Oklahoma and N. Texas. We routinely see nearly 90-100 degree annual temp swings. [Ranger Creek](http://www.drinkrangercreek.com/whiskey/) makes several whiskeys. I’ve had the Rimfire. IIRC, the age statement was 6 months under the Texas sun. It had plenty of wood to it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/24 "2015-12-27T04:58:25Z")
I wonder if the liquid could be run through a cone of powdered burnt oak, like percolating an herbal extract. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/25 "2015-12-27T05:32:02Z")
Seems like the most practical solution would be to put the barrel of whiskey into a time machine and send it back to forty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/26 "2015-12-27T06:51:43Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Seems like the most practical solution would be to put the barrel of whiskey into a time machine and send it back to forty years ago. And then drink whiskey that’s negative forty years old? Yecch. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356/27 "2015-12-27T08:52:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > And rum ages even faster in the Caribbean and elsewhere that they distill and age rum, which is why a say… 15 yr old spirit will be a pretty ancient rum, a well-aged Bourbon, and a middle-aged Scotch. > > I wonder if anyone’s tried aging bourbon somewhere like Brownsville, Phoenix or maybe somewhere in Florida? > > If temperature swings are the thing, I’d think you could do better than Kentucky by going west into Kansas, Oklahoma and N. Texas. We routinely see nearly 90-100 degree annual temp swings. Im not certain just how important temperature swings are though. Obviously it has a role but there is so much more involved. It’s probably no coincidence that many of the best made whisky’s are from relatively stable(and mild) climates. There is, as yet, no _real_ substitute for time. Aging whisky well is still an imprecise science imo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-speed-up-the-ageing-of-fine-whiskey/741356.md?page=1)