New to the Lounge?

I've noticed, perhaps due to my L337 H4X0R skillz that there is a significant proportion of readers who are new here. Some of you arrived by searching for my name on the Internet (hello!). Others looked up particular whiskies I've mentioned, or the Whisky Works kit I used. One of you even found yourself here by Googling "whisky cheers fun photo." I hope you found what you were looking for.

In any case, this post is just to orient new visitors to what's going on, or to recap for those who need such a thing. If you know what this place is all about, feel free to skip this one.

The posts can generally be clustered into six separate groups based on a particular project. Not every post is listed below, but most of the interesting ones should be. Some of you may be excited to note that I've started using labels to make navigation a bit easier. Anyhow, here's what we have:

1. Setting Up Your Kit

My first experiences setting up a home ageing kit and examining a ridiculously young whisky can be found in the following posts. There's also a discussion about the maturation speed one can expect in small, living-room-appropriate casks as opposed to 200 to 500 litre barrels typically used in the industry.

• The Heavenly Combination of Whisky and Geekdom
• Perfume
• Colour
• The Wee Cask
• Nosing Around
• Transubstantiation!
  
• Notes from Abroad
• Much Like a Zombie, I Want Your Brains
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Wellington Street Cellar
  

2. Emu Oloroso Cream Sherry

I chose to treat my cask with a sherry before the whisky, and that took four weeks. To follow that experiment from fruity beginning to complex end, read these in order:

• On the Near Impossibility of Finding Oloroso in Ottawa
• Sherry, Bourbon and Oak
• Five Days of Sherry
• The Sherry, Ten Days Later
• The Ides of Sherry
• The End, and the Beginning
  

3. Whisky Works Blended Malt

The kit that I bought was called "Whisky Works" and contained a bottle of whisky of the same name. After the sherry had worked its magic, the Whisky Works went in and stayed there for nine weeks. The end result was darned tasty. You can follow this experiment in the following posts, in order:

• Week 1: Where's PT Barnum When I Need Him?, One out of One Noses Agree: Delicious and A Tasteful Discussion
• Week 2: A Second Look, Sweet! and A New Taste Sensation
• Week 3: The Third Time's a Charm and A Nose by Any Other Name...
• Week 4: Turn, Turn, Turn
• Week 5: Goodness Gracious and Clash of the Titans
• Week 6: I'm Too Sixy and David, Meet Goliath
• Week 7: Like the Steps to Heaven
• Week 8: Whom do You Appreciate? and NKOTB In the House
• Week 9: 350mL and Dressed to the Nines
  

4. McClelland's Islay Single Malt

Apparently a 5-year-old Bowmore in disguise, I chose the youngest whisky I could find for the next experiment. I was really impressed with how it changed, starting as it did from a rather unpleasant beginning but ending up being quite nice and similar, though clearly not identical, to a more mature Bowmore. It lived in my cask for just over five weeks, and you can read it from beginning to end here:

• Week 1: If Only I Could Unremember...
• Week 2: In Pursuit of a Silk Purse
• Week 3: Where's the Kaboom? There was Supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom? (did nobody catch the Marvin the Martian reference? Sheesh!)
• Week 4: Just Like Don Quixote...
• Week 5: Grab a Fork For Me, Will You?
• Week 5.5: The King is Dead...
  

5. Glen Parker Speyside

I'm hoping to do the impossible: somehow make a Glen Parker drinkable. We shall see. It's still early going, but I intend to update this post as I go so the list will remain complete. So far the only posts relating to this experiment are:

• Week 1: ...Long Live the King!
• Week 2: Aesop's Tortoise
  

6. Other People's Experiments

Other people like my good friend Rob and a fellow I've never met in person named Alex have sent in some tidbits about their own whisky-ageing projects. I've even had the chance to sample some home-aged whisky from other people now. You can read all about these in any order you choose. And if you've got a kit on the go, feel free to share your stories - I'd love to find out how other people are doing, and this is as good a place as any to share tips or warnings.

• Notes from Abroad (yes, I know it's linked above as well, but it did come from someone doing his own experiment, so it belongs here, too)
  
• Show and Tell
• You're About to be Robbed!
• Odds and Sods
• Battle Royale!
• The True North Strong and Free