We asked some of our whisky experts their thoughts on infinity bottles - the process of adding your leftover whisky to an empty bottle, and decanting future leftovers into this same bottle, creating your own "blend."
The infinity bottle has passed from the realm of "lockdown projects" and into the real world, with some whisky bars now offering their own infinity bottles (also called Solera bottles, fractional bottles, and a raft of other nicknames). As this form of "amateur blending" has quickly developed from a novelty into an art form, we ask the experts if they have had much experience with the concept, and whether they had ever experimented with one themselves?
Brett Gleed, Store Manager, Inverness
I have, indeed. As you can imagine, I have acquired a fair few samples over the years, and so getting round to trying them all is not always possible. So instead of having loads of different samples lying around, I simply add them to my infinity decanter (in a considered manner of course). It's always a pleasant surprise when I revisit it, and a great way to train the pallet!
Luke Crowley Holland, W Club Manager
Working in the industry you tend to acquire lots of samples, but usually - if I wasn't drinking them - they'd find their way into cocktails, Irish Coffees, etc. After tastings went virtual, I was suddenly hosting tasting after tasting at home and was left with literally hundreds of little sample bottles with five to ten millilitres of whisky at the bottom. The obvious move: infinity bottle. Dreadful decision altogether. The bottle was undrinkable muck. Which is a shame, as it's made up of some stunning and very rare whiskies. My conclusion? I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
James Bowker, House of Suntory Brand Ambassador
I actually maintain two infinity bottles. I don't tend to put American whiskeys in - I'm not really an American whiskey drinker. I've got one that's a peated infinity bottle. The peated one does use unpeated whisky, so my rule is that peated isn't allowed in the unpeated one and that's the only rule.
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The original feature is from the Summer 2022 edition of
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AUTHOR
Frances Wilson
Frances joined the team in January 2022 after earning a degree in Journalism & Creative Writing and English. Having spent more than four years working in retail alongside experience as a freelance writer, Frances uses her creative flair to produce our magazine Whiskeria.