Quick Aging in General
Firstly STIKs or wood chips or any other wood product is not a magic fix for a poor quality whisky or a 24 hour transformation of any spirit, beer or wine!
Aging is aging and takes time, the big difference with using STIKs is that this time is dramatically reduced. You can have a great mixing whisky in three weeks or a sipping whisky in three to six months.
WHISKY STIKs & FLAVOUR STIKs
You can use a WHISKY STIK or two in a 750ml bottle (the stick will fit the neck of any 750ml bottle) to age either a bottle of neutral sprits, Vodka, Gin or budget whiskey to give it a bit more body and create a unique mixer for your next drink or cocktail. You can reuse your STIKs, after each use the STIKs will produce flavour and colour slower but flavours will be subtler and even the dark toasts less harsh.
But where STIKs really shine is when you add them to your home distilled spirits!
Using a mix of the different WHISKY STIK toasts to impart a barrel aged look and taste to your grain whisky, add a FLAVOUR STIK or two to give it a unique flavour, Hickory is one of our favourites!
Colouring will start to develop within hours depending on the type of toast, darker toasts produce colour faster but the taste can be harsher and the spirit must be left longer to mellow as the alcohols combine with the wood extracts. Taste often to see how the flavours develop. You can leave it on the STIKs to continue to age or when you reach the required taste take the STIKs out and let the spirit age and mellow (don’t forget to save your STIKs for your next brew!), this can take from a few weeks to a few months depending on your taste.
Experiment!
We have found that for quick colour you can age 15 % of your spirit on dark STIKs and then add it back to the batch that has been on the lighter toasts for a smoother finish. Once again experiment, enjoy your mix, post your results on the comments section of the community results blog post, maybe browse what others have put together.
For neutral spirits the skys the limit! You can really let your imagination run wild, mix up the flavours and record your results and see what works for you and your particular taste.