Starting out

How to start an infinity bottle this weekend

2 minute read · The Blending School

You need three things: a clean vessel, a few whiskeys you already like, and a record. Total time, about ten minutes. The bottle does the rest for years.

Step one: the vessel

A clean 750 ml bottle or decanter with a good seal. Rinse it with hot water only, no soap, and let it dry completely. If it once held whiskey, even better. A glass stopper or a fresh cork both work; the seal matters more than the style. More on choices in what to blend in.

Step two: the founding pours

Pick two or three whiskeys you genuinely enjoy and pour 2 to 4 ounces of each. Do not overthink the combination; a bourbon, a rye, and something a little hot is a classic start. The founding pours set the bottle's opening character, but nothing is permanent here. That is the whole point.

Step three: the record

Write down each whiskey, the amount, and the proof. From those three numbers everything else can be computed: the blend's proof, the composition, and later, how much of each pour survives. If you skip this on day one, you can never fully recover it. Day one is the cheapest day to start the books.

Step four: the ritual

From here the pattern is: open something you like, give the bottle an ounce or two. Pour yourself a glass whenever you want one. Taste the bottle every few weeks and notice how it moves. Some keepers add on a schedule, some only on occasions, some only whiskeys above a proof floor. The rules are yours to invent, and house rules covers the common ones.

The first taste

Give the founding blend a week to settle before you judge it, because blends need a little time to marry. Then pour a small glass, taste it next to one of its parents, and enjoy the strange fact that you just made a whiskey that did not exist last week.