![\"Infinitybottle\"](\"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/6a00d8345190b469e202788066c8b9200d-350wi.jpg\" "\\"Infinitybottle\\"")
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I've never been one to jump on a bandwagon. (for one thing, I just keep falling off.) So now that the cool kids over at PUNCH<\/em> have declared them pass\u00e9<\/a>, last week I started an infinity bottle<\/a>. Not to create a house blend<\/a> or as a mode of self-expression<\/a>: the much more prosaic truth is that I realized I had a bunch of whiskey bottles with only a bit left in them, and I don't have a ton of shelf space. I did have a couple of old one-liter 86 Co. bottles<\/a> on hand, though. <\/p>\n Since I took the above screenshots, I've tasted an ounce from the bourbon infinity bottle. Not bad! A little burny, but has that mellow sweetness and baking spice, with a smidgen of pepper as well. This does make me respect master blenders even more; blending whiskey is an art, even when you're not trying to ensure consistency from batch to batch and across multiple barrels. I'll never forget attending a Spirited Dinner at Tales of the Cocktail one year, in which Trey Zoeller of Jefferson's Bourbon<\/a> gave a talk about blending bourbon (N.B.: he's very, very good at it<\/a>)<\/span> and invited some participants to blend their own live on stage. Suffice to say that his years of expertise very much showed.<\/p>\n It's nice to have the pressure off, though: this is something for me and for my friends. I don't need it to be amazing. I like that it's an ever-changing history of the things I've tried, and that's good enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I've never been one to jump on a bandwagon. (for one thing, I just keep falling off.) So now that the cool kids over at PUNCH have declared them pass\u00e9, last week I started an infinity bottle. Not to create a house blend or as a mode of self-expression: the much more prosaic truth is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ingredients"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Screenshot_20220114-020904\"](\"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/6a00d8345190b469e20282e13f5bdd200b-250wi.png\" "\\"Screenshot_20220114-020904\\"")
That first PUNCH<\/em> link above led me to the Infinity Bottle app<\/a>, well worth the $2-3 it costs, which lets you record what you've stocked your bottle with, how much of each spirit you put in, and will even keep track of the running proof, volume, pours, and any notes you might have. Though one of my rules for myself was NOT to overthink this, it's kinda neat to see the cumulative effect of all these different whiskeys, and I imagine it'll be interesting to chart the bottle's evolution. I actually started two infinity bottles, one with bourbons and one with ryes. (though I really like High West's Bourye<\/a>, I thought it wiser not to attempt combining the two, at least for this novice blender.) My only other rules were to try to mix the rarer whiskeys with the more common ones, and not to crack open any sealed bottles just to add them to the infinity bottle. (When I get around to opening some things I have on the shelf, such as the Elijah Craig 12<\/a> I snagged before it went NAS<\/a>, or the Willett Family Estate Bottled Rye<\/a>, they'll be fair game. I don't want to be precious about this. When I next open a bottle of new stuff, I'll throw in a couple ounces too.) And I'm happy to mix the top shelf with the very-good-but-hard-to-find (I miss the days when Buffalo Trace wasn't allocated and was readily available)<\/span> and the more-prosaic-but-still-very-drinkable. After all, like a solera system<\/a>, every pour from an infinity bottle contains at least a trace amount of everything that's ever been in there, so I'm getting a teensy bit of Stitzel-Weller whiskey from the Blade & Bow<\/a>, for instance, and a bit of the Michter's 20 Year Single Barrel<\/a>. And on the rye side, every sip will get a little bit of Red Hook Rye<\/a>, one of the most spectacular whiskeys I've ever been lucky enough to taste. (I looked up what a different bottle from the same barrel as mine sold for at auction…gulp<\/em><\/a>. No regrets, though, as this is special stuff that's meant to be enjoyed.)<\/p>\n![\"Bottles\"](\"https:\/\/cocktailians.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/6a00d8345190b469e20282e13f6363200b-640wi.png\" "\\"Bottles\\"")
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