OT a warning, liquor evaporates

Feb 21, 2011 5 Replies
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I'm not much of a drinker, and I noticed that even though I'd put the cap on tightly, the level had dropped in one bottle. And what was left didn't seem any stronger.



Another bottle had never been opened, but the level there dropped too. It turned out that the paper or foil or whatever going 3 inches down the neck of the bottle had come off the bottle and it was evaporating without ever having been opened.



Neither cap would tighten until I squeezed it enough to distort it a little. Before that, the cap threads were bigger than the bottle threads.



Admittedly, it was years since I had drunk from one or gotten the other.



I think the lesson is, Drink more.


mm wrote the following:

Unless you live alone, the answer can be more easily explained.

I busted the seal on a 20+ y/o gift fifth of Gilbey's gin a few years ago. The level in the bottle had receded 0.25 - .5 inch and it tasted like gin that had no alcohol content.

Not much worse than fresh Gilbey's, but it still hurt to dump it... -----

- gpsman

All alcoholic beverages have this problem. This is true of wines as well. Ethanol has a lower boiling point than water, a higher vapor pressure.

An "Angels Share" of 2% is lost each year in making Scotch.

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Is it worth the loss to age a Scotch or wine? I can tolerate the loss, YMMV.

Jeff

I *have* noticed that the mice have been a little tipsy lately.

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