Why is “older” whiskey generally considered better than “newer” whiskey? And does this apply to all alcohol?
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Some wines can be aged in the bottle. It will mellow the tannins or the harsh astringent taste. But not all wines. Some, particularly whites, can sit around too long and lose flavor or body.
One time I bought a wine from a small producer, and they were adamant that it had to be aged. When I finally opened it 5 years later, it was crap. The winery screwed up when they made it. I think they said that just so people wouldn’t taste it and to sell it.
Note that whiskey (whisky) aging is dependent upon the climate in which the casks are stored. In Scotland, the average high temperature is 63ºF; in central Texas, it’s around 95ºF. Thus, the Balcones One single malt whiskey matures in 2-3 years, whereas an equivalent scotch might take 12-15. Basically, the higher temperature causes more evaporation (or what distillers call “the angel’s share”).
Note that whiskey (whisky) aging is dependent upon the climate in which the casks are stored. In Scotland, the average high temperature is 63ºF; in central Texas, it’s around 95ºF. Thus, the Balcones One single malt whiskey matures in 2-3 years, whereas an equivalent scotch might take 12-15. Basically, the higher temperature causes more evaporation (or what distillers call “the angel’s share”).
Other people have answered the core question, that time in a barrel allows flavors to develop or for unwanted flavors to age out, but I just want to touch on the concept of an age statement and how useless it is in determining if you’ll like a whiskey (unless you have a bunch of other context about the whiskey).
The age statement refers to the youngest barrel added to the mix. It’s normal for blenders to pick several barrels and mix them to get the desired flavor, you can’t expect every barrel to all be the same. This means there could have been a 26, a 12, and a 6 year old whiskey mixed together and bottled, but the age statement can only say 6 years.
There are also diminishing returns on aging. It is incorrect to say that older is better, and after a while the “aging out” of flavors will start removing things you do want. Note that whiskey only ages in the barrel, the bottle of 10 year old whiskey you bought in ’87 and kept sealed is not now a 46 year old whiskey. Wine ages in the bottle because it isn’t distilled, so there are still bits in the wine which cause aging. Sunlight and oxygen do bad things to whiskey, but a sealed bottle kept out of the sun should basically be a time capsule for whiskey.
And finally, ageing is hugely dependent on climate. You can age a whiskey for years and years in Scotland. Try that in the southern US and you’ll have something completely undrinkable because the heat causes so much more interaction with the wood than the Scottish climate does.
So if someone offers you a 10 year old whiskey and they think they’re being impressive, just humor them, but also if their talking point is the age statement and not what went into the whiskey, or where it was made, or flavor notes, they probably don’t know what they’re talking about.
Chemical changes happen as the whiskey sits around, which alter the taste. Some of that is the whiskey absorbing flavors, smells, and colors from the wood barrel it’s stored in, and some is chemical components in the whiskey being created and destroyed without interacting with the wood.
Lots of people prefer the taste of old whiskey. But you can’t just decide to make more old whiskey for tomorrow. So there’s often more people wanting old whiskey than there is old whiskey available, and that shortage drives up the price.
The same applies to wine but not to beer. The lower alcohol content of beer means it doesn’t always last as long in storage, and hops flavors change in storage in ways that fewer people like.
Lots of great answers here, but there’s an additional factor that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
Whisky aging in a cask gets better and better as time passes, until it peaks and then no longer gets any better or even deteriorates. The people producing the whisky are well aware of this and will sample the whisky from time to time. If they think it’s ready to be bottled, it’ll obviously not age any further, so that means – in general – that a 40 year old whisky had been repeatedly sampled over 40 years and always found to be still improving. We therefore have a strong selection bias in that the casks that weren’t improving anymore were removed.
Lots of great answers here, but there’s an additional factor that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
Whisky aging in a cask gets better and better as time passes, until it peaks and then no longer gets any better or even deteriorates. The people producing the whisky are well aware of this and will sample the whisky from time to time. If they think it’s ready to be bottled, it’ll obviously not age any further, so that means – in general – that a 40 year old whisky had been repeatedly sampled over 40 years and always found to be still improving. We therefore have a strong selection bias in that the casks that weren’t improving anymore were removed.
Only partially applies to wine.
Wine will peak, and then eventually go bad. Different types of wine peak at different ages. Some wines might peak at 5 years, others at 20+ years.
It’s better because more time and effort has been put into processing it, and the processed used (barrel-aging) actually results in the evaporation of the product, so you have less of it to sell when you’re done. This loss from evaporation has a term of art in the whiskey business, it’s referred to as the “angels’ share”.
As for why it’s considered better, it’s because master distillers have spent centuries perfecting the art of whiskey-making through trial and error. Originally barrel-aging simply occured as an inevitable result of the storage of the product. Barrels were cheap, rugged, and ubiquitous methods of storing and transporting liquids. And whiskey drinkers quickly found that whiskey which had been kept in the barrel longer would taste better than whiskey which was, for lack of a better term, fresh.
So, barrel-aging quickly became a regular part of the finishing process of the drink. It’s also important to remember that the distilling technology used back in the Renaissance when the industry has its roots wasn’t nearly as good as what we have today, which means that there would have been a much higher percentage of off-tasting and smelling compounds in the drink which modern technology can eliminate during distillation. Aging permitted these volatile compounds the opportunity to break down or evaporate.
I won’t cover the chemistry and physics of the aging process, other posters have covered that amply already, but I feel it’s important to understand that the processs of perfecting aging was more of a trial and error development. Distillers and whiskey enthusiasts observed how aging mellowed the whiskey and imparted different flavors, and they began experimenting with it.
It’s better because more time and effort has been put into processing it, and the processed used (barrel-aging) actually results in the evaporation of the product, so you have less of it to sell when you’re done. This loss from evaporation has a term of art in the whiskey business, it’s referred to as the “angels’ share”.
As for why it’s considered better, it’s because master distillers have spent centuries perfecting the art of whiskey-making through trial and error. Originally barrel-aging simply occured as an inevitable result of the storage of the product. Barrels were cheap, rugged, and ubiquitous methods of storing and transporting liquids. And whiskey drinkers quickly found that whiskey which had been kept in the barrel longer would taste better than whiskey which was, for lack of a better term, fresh.
So, barrel-aging quickly became a regular part of the finishing process of the drink. It’s also important to remember that the distilling technology used back in the Renaissance when the industry has its roots wasn’t nearly as good as what we have today, which means that there would have been a much higher percentage of off-tasting and smelling compounds in the drink which modern technology can eliminate during distillation. Aging permitted these volatile compounds the opportunity to break down or evaporate.
I won’t cover the chemistry and physics of the aging process, other posters have covered that amply already, but I feel it’s important to understand that the processs of perfecting aging was more of a trial and error development. Distillers and whiskey enthusiasts observed how aging mellowed the whiskey and imparted different flavors, and they began experimenting with it.
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