Homevattings and living bottles..?

[michel]

I'm aware of the fact that it's some sort of rude, to post a poll when you're a newby to a group... but please forgive me as I can't suppress my enthusiams about homevatting, and I'm very curious about what other people might think about it... or even better: have tips/tricks and hints...

The first time I homevatted was by accident: After finishing a Springbank 12, I poured some Glenlivet 18 in the same tumbler... Result: A great, new 'malt'. The nose was obvious influenced by the Springbank, while the palate was still balanced, round and obvious Glenlivet...
After this discovery I started experimenting with a 'living bottle' and more home-vattings... and I have to say that I really enjoy 'playing a masterblender', that it has deepened my knowledge about the brands, and their qualities, but most of all: that it's fun, and creates great new taste-sensations sometimes...

On the other hand I'm aware of the fact that a good single-malt is something extraordinary itselve. Perfected by many big 'noses'... and who am I to add something to that..?
So most of the times I leave a bottle just like it is: perfect. But sometimes, a bottle isn't that great (to my palate), and I have to homevat it... for example the Ardbeg 17 was not my cup of tea. I really adore the 10 and Uigeadail, but that 17 was just dull on my palate... So I added some of the Ardbeg 10 and: voila! It made the vatting one of my most succesfull ones.

I've read some posts about 'homevatting' on this board (and some 'recipes' are worth trying I suppose) but still I would really like to have an idea about how many people 'do it' (in terms of percentage...).

thanks,
Michel

[Matt2]

Not rude at all on this forum, we welcome new members posting polls.

[skywalker]

Off course I do homevatting, every malt that I don´t enjoy as a single is poured into the vatting. Therefor I ended up with 4 litres of vatting that I still don´t like.

Torsten

[JimHall]

I do but it normally just means adding somthing peaty/smokey to something that is not.

[rthomson]

I haven't done it. Primarily because when I've had the few bottles I really couldn't get excited about I kept thinking that if I let it sit a little longer the composition may change a bit, perhaps in time I'll develop an appreciation for it, etc. I don't know, maybe I'll consider it in the future. However, even when I had one I wasn't particularly fond of I can't say that I've had another open that I was willing to experiment with in that manner.

Keep experimenting, though. The way you describe Springbank 12 and Glenlivit 18 it does sound intriguing-

Ron

[Lawrence]

I have a 'living' bottle although to be fair it's near death, it's half full of whiskies that led me to the conclusion that life was too short to waste any more time on them. I now use this bottle to 'season' two Christmas cakes once a month every month for a year. The cakes will be ready in December and are simply wonderful. I gave the vatting a little more depth with a shot of a'bunadh.

[Deactivated Member]

If not rinsing the glass out before pouring the next dram counts, then yes, all the time. But as for intentionally mixing malts for synergistic effect, no, never. I would never say that it was heretical--it's your whisky, do what you want with it--but I can't say the idea really interests me. I'm still absorbed in learning what individual distilleries can do.

[Lord_Pfaffin]

Whisky is made for drinking, or at least the brands that i can afford. If i grab one off the shelf that doen't agree with me, then i'll doctor it to a drinkable format. Part of being an excellent cook is knowing witch flavors and spices to add or cut with. Adding water will usually provide more of a clue witch way to go. I am very hesitant to do anything right away in most cases, even addin water, as i believe that there is a"malt-barrier", for lack of a better term; whereby ones taste-buds have to adjust to a new direction in flavor. I've said before, breaking through the malt-barrier can be like getting in a dust-up with a stranger that becomes your best friend. Yet sometimes when you just want to clear-up that odd-ball, patience be damned go ahead experiment.

[hir0]

i've found at 50:50 ratio, Clynelish 14 and Talisker 10 compliment each other very well. i'm having one now - delicious. (of course i only mix in the glass and only every now and then)

[Deactivated Member]

Now that sounds kind of interesting. I'm almost tempted to try a mix of Talisker cs and MMcD Clynelish 1990. But you know, that Talisker is just too precious. Maybe a dram of the Clynelish in an unrinsed glass after the Talisker.

[WestVanDave]

I had never dared to do such a thing - but the other night - after hanging out with Jim Murray, following a week of tasting evenings Jim doctored up an amazing combination - done just in the glass - and some very extreme choices went into the mix...

I don't want to misquote (or give away any secrets)... and for fear of the wrath of Oliver that's all I'll say for the moment... apart from: I think I'll be giving some "homevatting" a try.

Cheers, Dave.

[Jeroen Kloppenburg]

I had great fun exploring this myself as well, it also helped me understanding profiles of different whiskies a lot.

One if the things I have greatly enjoyed doing is extending the life of expensive or rare malts. This really works, and on some occasions allowed me to almost double the lenght of life from some bottles.

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