Are You Wasting Good Whiskey? 5 Ways to Stop Your Collection from Going Bad

Your whiskey collection is going bad. It’s nothing personal, it’s just science.

When exposed to oxygen, the compounds that comprise whiskey begin a slow, steady change, warping the original flavor. We spoke to Colin Blake, Moonshine University’s Director of Spirits Education, about whiskey going bad and what you can do about it.

Here’s everything you need to know but never thought to Google.

1. Make sure you’re ready to open

Sealed whiskey isn’t at risk of what Blake calls “flavor drift.” But the moment you crack the seal and pour a few drinks, you’ve started the countdown clock, which only gets faster the more you drink.

“More headspace means more air,” Blake says, “which means quicker oxidation.”

2. Drink open bottles within three to six months

Whiskey may have a longer shelf life than beer or wine, but it’s not as long as people think. Although whiskey or bourbon doesn’t technically spoil or expire in the traditional sense, Blake recommends drinking opened bottles within three to six months to avoid flavor drift.

“After a while, whiskey can adopt earthy, graphite, off-putting, textile-y flavors you really don’t want,” Blake says.

Photo by Chandler Bondurant

3. Pour into smaller bottles

For everyone who keeps a bottle or two of the good stuff for important moments, Blake says it’s best to abandon the original bottle.

“Just pour the whiskey into a smaller bottle with less headspace and less oxygen,” he says. “It’ll keep longer that way, and you can keep the original bottle to show off if you want.”

4. Don’t display on a bar cart

Stable temperature is a must when it comes to long-term storage of whiskey. Keeping any bottle in a location where the temperature shifts frequently — like, say, a bar cart by a sunny window — will cause the whiskey to expand and contract, absorbing oxygen along the way.

Both opened and unopened bottles should be stashed in cabinets away from temperature-shifting sources like stovetops and vents.

Photo by Chandler Bondurant

5. To avoid problems, just drink it

Blake is a firm believer that whiskey is meant to be drunk, not hoarded.

“The flavor drift will be slight at first, but if you let [whiskey] sit half-finished for too long, oxidation will change the intended profile a distiller was aiming at,” he says. “At that point, you’re not getting what you paid for.”

And with the price of bourbon being what it is today, don’t we all want to get what we’re paying for?