Aged at Sea?

[Grangerous]

There may something to this…

Some..to varying degree, smelled of the Sea.

 

[BayouGhost]

It dropped to $80/bottle during the Corona madness. I bought a bottle of it and it really wasn't worth the price even then.

I agree with this assessment. It tasted like a $25-$30 bourbon to me. Russell's Reserve and up from there beat it. The marketing hype makes it sound like it is lashed to the deck of the HMS Endeavor getting sprayed by sea foam and windy gales, while frigates and albatross fly above the topsails. It likely sits just above the bilge of a super cargo container ship and gets rocked around a little bit. If the barrels were not air-tight it would probably get imparted with diesel fumes.

But if someone likes it, I usually don't bash it to their face and I will drink it with a smile.

 

[OverMountain]

There may something to this…
View attachment 363259
Some..to varying degree, smelled of the Sea.

Those bygone days of yore. Like a bowling alley cheeseburger.

 

[Zamora]

Some Norwegian Aquavits are aged at sea on merchant marine ships that sail to Australia then back to Norway. You can always identify it because it's a brownish color and regular aquavit is clear

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

The Islay Scotch gets its briny element from the salty sea air surrounding the islands. I have asked a few people knowledgeable about the distilling and aging process and the believe the difference between the whiskey aged on land and the whiskey aged at sea is more the motion of the ocean. The whiskey barrels sitting on land just sits there while the whiskey loaded onto a ship sloshes around in the barrel while the ship is underway. Those shipboard barrels are also loaded into containers so they are not sitting out in the open sea air.

Now, you take a barrel of whiskey and set it on the deck of a sail boat or larger sailing vessel on the coast for six months to a year and I would be interested in seeing how the motion and the salt air changes the whiskey.

I am more interested in pipe tobacco which has been packed into different type alcohol barrels like the SPC Barrel Aged Plum Pudding. I also like the nuanced flavors of beer and spirits that are aged in different types of used barrels.

I've got some Gawith Spring Time Flake and that was matured in old sherry barrels. Awesome stuff.

 

[woodsroad]

I was matured in a subdivision house on a 1/4 acre.
It was nothing special.

As for things sealed in barrels picking up sea salt,,,,yeah, no. Unless something went very, very wrong.

 

[Zamora]

It dropped to $80/bottle during the Corona madness. I bought a bottle of it and it really wasn't worth the price even then.

Wow that's how much green Chartreuse goes for at Total Wine in the rare event they have it in stock

 

[chilllucky]

I can't remember or quickly find the name of the scientific principle, but you really, really wouldn't want barrels of any liquid "sloshing around" on an ocean-going ship.

Those things better be filled to the brim or else you get a mass that amplifies motion with a center of gravity higher than the ship was designed to have.

 

[jpberg]

There may something to this…
View attachment 363259
Some..to varying degree, smelled of the Sea.

We need to make America great again.

 

[pappymac]

I was matured in a subdivision house on a 1/4 acre.
It was nothing special.

As for things sealed in barrels picking up sea salt,,,,yeah, no. Unless something went very, very wrong.

Yeah?
Well, I was aged for 28 months on a Coast Guard icebreaker. I became very salty.

 

[pappymac]

Wow that's how much green Chartreuse goes for at Total Wine in the rare event they have it in stock

My local Total Wine has a 700ml bottle for $61.99 in stock.
Or you can get a 100ml for $31.99

 

[pappymac]

I can't remember or quickly find the name of the scientific principle, but you really, really wouldn't want barrels of any liquid "sloshing around" on an ocean-going ship.

Those things better be filled to the brim or else you get a mass that amplifies motion with a center of gravity higher than the ship was designed to have.

I don't think they are carrying a number of barrels to be worried about that. I can't remember the formula or the details about safe loadouts for cargo vessels I learned about while in the Coast Guard. But I'm sure every container ship has regulations about where the containers are placed aboard the ship.

 

[OzPiper]

Sherry houses used to ship their wine to the Far East.
Unsold barrels that returned to English ports were highly sought after and fetched a premium after crossing the Equator twice, as the prolonged sea journey was deemed extra beneficial for their ageing.

Some years back sherry house Lustau offered a line of sherry named "East India Sherry" in a marketing attempt to cash in on this.
I'm not sure if that sherry did make it twice across the Equator

 

[bullet08]

I'm a newbie, so please bear with me. I googled Navy tobacco, and it seems to me there's a missing element.

There is a certain bourbon that I find tasty - albeit overpriced - that claims to be aged at sea, imparting flavors missing from its landlocked brethren and sistren. My favorite Islay Scotches also brag about a briny element. It would seem to me a sailor's smoke would be subject to that environment, but I have no idea how it would affect the taste. Anybody else had that thought?

You are looking for VA/Perique mix with possibly rum topping. Navy rolls. Come in coin cut. Or any good ole VA/Per. They age well as long as you store them well.

 

[Zamora]

My local Total Wine has a 700ml bottle for $61.99 in stock.
Or you can get a 100ml for $31.99

Before or after taxes? I included after

 

[mingc]

Sherry houses used to ship their wine to the Far East.
Unsold barrels that returned to English ports were highly sought after and fetched a premium after crossing the Equator twice, as the prolonged sea journey was deemed extra beneficial for their ageing.

Some years back sherry house Lustau offered a line of sherry named "East India Sherry" in a marketing attempt to cash in on this.
I'm not sure if that sherry did make it twice across the Equator

Madeira was traditionally aged on long sea voyages and was particularly favored by the US founding fathers, who toasted the Declaration of Independence with it. I think I'll have a glass tonight!

 

[Pappy Coon]

Yeah?
Well, I was aged for 28 months on a Coast Guard icebreaker. I became very salty.

We are both pappys and ex-coasties!

 

[BingBong]

Some Norwegian Aquavits are aged at sea on merchant marine ships that sail to Australia then back to Norway. You can always identify it because it's a brownish color and regular aquavit is clear

I've had a couple of bottles of yon "Norway hooch", the labelling goes into some detail about its travels.

 

[MisterBadger]

I think that nature does impart a nuanced flavour to things that are exposed. Not sure whiskey ever made it on a boat in the old days but rum sure did. Islay’s get salt air influence and I’d imagine so would tobacco. Tea is also another with blends like Russian Caravan inheriting flavour from the journey over the Himalayas so your premise is real.

I second this. Another interest of mine is growing vegetables. I live as far away from the sea as you can get in Britain, and although I'm rather good at growing potatoes and onions, my attempts to grow Rose de Roscoff/Pink Keravel onions from Brittany, and Jersey Royal potatoes, were disappointing. Despite using seaweed-based fertilisers, I reckon it was the absence of salt air that proved to be the missing magic ingredient.

And, as an Islay single malt fan, I'd venture that any malt from barley actually grown on Islay and then made by germinating, then roasting, over a peat fire from peat dug on the island, would be singular indeed - and, of course, unobtainable these days due to the economics of scale, supply and demand.

 

[pappymac]

Before or after taxes? I included after

Before taxes. 10.8% sales tax