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Oak Dominoe Comparo

Here is the thread for our two intrepid domino experimenters to list their experiments. Hopefully with weekly photo updates.

If anyone else has data, questions or experience please feel free to join in. B-)

StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

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  • edited February 2014

    This is 2 days in the hot sun, on a tin roof.

    These are the normal dominoes.

    Cant wait to try the new ones.

    5L and 5 dominoes so 1 per L

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  • Dang, looks good. I finally want to visit.
    Beer on tap and a pool table? If so I need to book a ticket to Australia.

    Shrimp on the barbie in the family room? I'm missing out!

  • "These are the normal dominoes."

    Normal / Abby Normal

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited February 2014

    So just got home and what do i have sitting under my welcome mat? A package from punkin and to my surprise it was the following

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    I just took some photos of each individual to see if you can tell the difference between them.

    US Medium

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    French

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    Vanilla

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    US Heavy

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    Exciting things to be done and lots to be drank.

    My experiments won't be able to get started until i return from overseas which is the start of march. Won't have anything fresh until then. Have had a family emergency come up and leaving O/S on Friday.

    I'll give up some smelling notes in the next post. Just gotta clear my nose up to try and narrow this stuff down =))

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  • Generally the French oak are shorter staves than the American Oak. They are very uniform in size where the American can be anywhere from 2"long to six inches long, the French are all about 3 inches long. So if anyone ever gets bags mixed up or looses tags on large lots, that's the best way to tell.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Package arrived today, pics and start testing on the weekend.

  • edited February 2014

    Saturday I setup a white shelf and background for some photo shots, comparing dominoes sent by @punkin a generous amount.

    I'm starting with 1L jars, but after just one day I don't think they are large enough, and I think I put too many sticks in each (3) perhaps 1 per liter would be better.

    Anyway in order they are Vanilla, US Medium, French, US Heavy, and a bag of home brew shop "Whiskey Chips"

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    Jars Just filled with 65% diluted. Made from 50% corn, 25% wheat, 25% barley, sugar head wash, 5th or 6th generation, stripped then bubble plated out at 85-90%.

    Jars in order left to right are Vanilla, US Medium, French, US Heavy, "Whiskey Chips", and 1.5lt of 1 stick of each domino.

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    OK, its started....

    fadge

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  • I'm very interested in the vanilla and how that goes.
    Vanilla is one of the most favorite of my 50 to 60 vices.

  • edited February 2014

    OK after just 24 hrs this is the results in color so far... And they all actually smell like real Whiskey, no tasting yet however. I will make up some labels for each jar to make it easier when at work this week.

    Vanilla and US Medium

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    US Medium and French

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    French and Heavy

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    Heavy and HB Whiskey chips

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    Chips and 1 stick of each

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    Group shot

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    more to follow later

    fadge

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  • Wow awesome... Thanks

  • More than awesome, now I want to start my own trial.
    And dispose of all the failures!!

  • It all looks delicious! :-bd

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  • Good work Fadge, looking forward to the tastings over the coming weeks. =D>

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • How long do you oak using these dominoes? It seems that they work fast.

    OD

  • edited February 2014

    We barrel age the ujsm here for 2-3 years and finish off on the domino's. It's a kind of two stage process she has set up for the finishing. They start in 4l cookie jars with 3-4 sticks and colour up fairly quickly over a few weeks, then they are tipped into a large 10-15l stainless canister that also has some sticks in and we draw from that in a solara type arrangement to break down when she needs a bottle made.

    The bit that makes it hard to define is that we don't remove the older sticks as we renew the spirit, we just add a couple more dominoes if it seems to be slowing down.

    Eventually the jar or drum gets too full of dominoes so we swap em all out for a couple new ones and the process starts again (the spent dominoes are brilliant in the smoker).

    This makes it hard to quantify in my case when people ask me how many to use per litre etc. @stubbydrainer worked it out to the sq MM how much he preferred of new domino but i can't remember what his preference was. In the end it's like all the ageing products, you can use a lot to work fast or a little to work over a longer time period.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • The colors are just beautiful. Amazing how much the visual affects one's saliva glands.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I know, it looks great and the different woods seem to be imparting different colours.

  • edited February 2014

    With the dominoes giving color in such a short time, would overoaking occur in a shorter time too? Using charred oak barrel stave chunks it usually takes me at least a couple of weeks to color up like the ones illustrated. I am not doubting the quality or efficiency, just asking.

    OD

  • edited February 2014

    Ok, one week has passed, a few more pics taken yesterday - 7 days on the wood.

    @olddog yea reckon I should have only used one stick per liter, but 3 sticks are in each, color up in 1 day!

    I have been checking them daily and cant really say they seem to have changed too much, they do however smell ok as well.

    Some sink, some float, the heavy surprised me with the lightest color followed by vanilla and the 4 variety's in the large jar.

    I did try to taste test both straight at 65% and watered down to half that, but far too many drinks the night prior combined with far too much hot chili ( I added) and spice at a Vietnamese restaurant has basically killed my taste buds for a few days (and yea both ends suffer !!)

    Vanilla and US Medium

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    US Medium and French

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    French and Heavy

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    Heavy and HB Whiskey chips

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    HB Whiskey chips and a mix of 1 stick of each

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    Group shot

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    More later

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  • I made a bottle up for her of the vanilla/heavy combo the other day, she hasn't broken into it yet. Just with a few finger dips i can say that it really does have a wack of vanilla, i'll sit down with a small glass if i remember one evening.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I would also appreciate some feedback from the US side of the planet. So far the vanilla notes are very popular. Looking for your best mover Punkin

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited March 2014

    Most popular by far is the medium toast US Oak Dominoes. Second most popular order would be one medium french, one medium US, one heavy US. I only stock these atm in dominoes.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited March 2014

    This is the result of my aging.

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    On the left: staves of a used American Oak Whiskey Barrel, too much vanilla for me

    Center: the same but I put a a few staves of French Oak for 4 days. The overwhelming vanilla taste is less. Next time I leave the French Oak a bit longer.

    On the right : 1 year in used Whiskey Barrel with some French Oak staves. A bit over-oaked but I mixed it with the left and center rum and the result is amazing. This is the first time i mix different aged rums and am very happy with the result. You can mix till you like it, for color and taste.

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  • edited March 2014

    OK so finally got the chance to do a run on the w/e and put these on the oaks. As @fadge put 3 per liter for his tests I thought I'd just put the 1 per liter.

    Each domino is roughly 100mm each

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  • edited March 2014

    I've got 1L of each on the go at the moment and we'll so how shes goes. Tomorrow I'll upload another shot to see how shes going for color.

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  • edited March 2014

    After 24 hours the color is coming along nicely

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    I really am surprised as @fadge mentioned in his that the heavy toasted is the lightest of the lot. I'll give them a quick taste test sometime this w/e to see how they are coming along but from the smell the vanilla is quite strong. I'd say the strongest of the lot

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  • edited March 2014

    OK, my tests are now on week 3, 21 days on wood, all colors starting to even out a tiny bit. Vanilla and Heavy still the lightest. All smell good, but totally different, I honestly cannot believe they all started from the same base. It like having 6 whiskeys.

    I've done a taste test, but it is so hard to put words into a proper description of my tastings.

    The one that I disliked the most was home brew shop "oak barrel chips", actually just tastes and smells like stale wood. I had been using these for the last 18mths and though they where OK!, nothing compared to the samples @punkin has sent.

    Vanilla is strong, but seems to need time to mellow out a bit.

    US Medium, tastes OK, again needs to mellow.

    French, so much color but is almost drinkable after only 3 weeks.

    Heavy is a bit of a surprise, light but flavor, not ready to consume.

    Chips, well they will not be used ever again.

    Mixed dominoes, THE standout, I could drink this one straight up on ice as it is.

    It was 1.5L with one each of the dominoes, color is very light when taken back to 40% ABV, but has a nice taste and more mellow than the others. I'd say it would be because single variety tests have 1 lt with 3 sticks, was too much wood perhaps.

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    fadge

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  • Nice write up.

    These will be perfect it seems for the guys doing custom "formulation" for the various establishments looking to contract out their own label.

    Can you blend a small measure of the various samples and comment?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Hows this going guys? haven't had an update for a couple of weeks.

    Some of the US people who got samples may have some first impressions by now as well? :!!

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I started my test only a week ago, but I can say that the dominos themselves look great!

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