Is the whiskey “NECK POUR" just nonsense? 

I've heard people say "Don't judge a whiskey by a neck pour" and honestly I think it's our version of "Don't judge a book by its cover." Don't judge a whiskey based on the first taste. Try it a couple times on different days, when you're in different moods, different environments. I think it just comes down to reps and context.

Come for the whiskey knowledge. Stay for the newest episode of Magic Spoon

That time you anxiously skip a RU-vid commercial so you can more quickly get back to the commercial.

Fantastic Job Editor!!!! You are the glue that holds this channel together!

No other youtube channel works harder for their sponsor you guys make me not want to skip the adds lol

It was refreshing to see Rex being the recipient of this episodes shenanigans. He's a real G for this one, cause I know that man absolutely hates eggs😂

I’ve noticed a significant difference after half a bottle. Was literally talking to a friend about it couple nights back

So I actually noticed this without hearing about it; my buddies dad turned me on to Redbreast 12 and I loved it, so I picked up a bottle for myself... I noticed it tasted drastically different then what he poured me, so I put it on the shelf and didn't touch it for a while. When I went back and tried it again, I noticed it had developed those flavors that I fell in love with when I tried it the first time. Since then I've always had a glass as soon as I bought a bottle and then let it sit on the shelf for a while before really breaking into it. I absolutely had NO idea this was a thing!

I feel like another variable to consider is that even the "neck pour" isn't completely virgin and free of air exposure. Whiskey being bottled by hand or even on an automated line is exposed to air before being corked and packaged. As far as I know, they don't fill the empty space in the neck with an inert gas like argon before corking the bottle and packaging, so there still is air getting in there and reacting with the whiskey at the top. It isn't exposed as long as a bottle that was opened once or twice at home and left on the shelf for months or a year, but still.

Should start doing triangle tests, it's more accurate to help see if you can find the odd one out. Plus, more whiskey to drink!

My theory has always been that its not the whiskey itself changing, but us getting accustomed to it. We only pay attention to the neck pour when its a new bottle we havent had yet, so the neck pour is probably the first time we've had it. It takes several glasses to really get a feel of a new whiskey

I bought a bottle of Angel's Envy recently, I was not too fond of the "neck pour" it was astringent much like an unripe persimmon. I went back to it a week later and the astringency was gone. I have the impression that the "neck pour" effect is real, but to what extent it affects a whisky is probably down to what kind of whisky it is.

Briana is so descriptive when she's describing what she gets on the nose and what the products taste like! Also, props for the Sublime shirt.

I did a whisky tasting months ago where I had a whisky that blew me away. It was incredibly complex, sweet and (I thought) lightly smoky. I got a bottle of it and had the first dram and it was completely different... basically just tasted like an ashtray. A few weeks later I tried it again and it was like I remember it the first time! Obviously completely unscientific but I’ve definitely experienced it.

Biggest change in favour is to drink your whisky room temperature or slightly warmer.

I'm willing to bet the "neck pour" myth, like you said, comes from changes from peoples pallets. I opened a bottle of Redbreast 12 and thought I had found Nirvana on the first pour, and then thought the rest of the bottle was just ok.

For me neck pour is an experience that happens when you try a new style/variety/bottle of whiskey for the first time. Your brain hasnt had a chance to figure it out. So all you taste/smell is what is most forward. Once your brain has had some time away from it, you're more likely to find things you were missing. It happened to me with my first bottle of Octomore. Hated it at first, but coming back to it a month later, it gave me all the malt/cereal richness behind the smoke since my brain knew what to expect. And now I own something like 40 bottles just from Bruichladdich alone. :P

The editing. The editing. Masterful! Good day MBs!

That last neck pour was brilliant.

Had a Macallan Edition No. 2 that I bought for my wedding 2 years ago. Neither of us liked it right as we opened it, but a couple of days later my wife and I loved it. I've experienced it first hand but only with Macallan.

This channel consistently had the best Ads. Well done Whiskey Tribe!

I never really thought the neck pour changed a whiskey, but once I get between the top of the label to mid bottle is where I start to notice a change (more so in a rye too). But it’s like Rex mentioned at 21:34 ...depends on how much you’re opening and closing the bottle. Loved this one, cheers! 🥃

I’ve noticed the most significant differences between the neck pour and when you get past the shoulder with Peated whiskies and least noticeable with bourbons and blended Scotch.

I guess Cory needed a drink to calm his nerves from working with The Modern Rogue.

Haven’t watched the video yet but for me, the “neck pour” being different than the rest of the bottle is definitely true-at least with some bottles. The neck pour for Old Forrester 1920 was TERRIBLE. It was so bad I almost cried for spending as much I did on it! After a week, it began opening up and it eventually became one of my favorite bottles of whiskey ever.

I recently opened a Glen Scotia 15 y/o single malt and WHOOO-BOY what a Funk! Both on the nose and taste. After going past the shoulder it noticeably settled down.

You guys are so fun to watch. My self I'm a single malt drinker , and I'm still exploring, For me a three digit bottle is $$ Yes they get opened and put away . I have noticed a corked bottle.will change for better or worse ? . I have noticed the change my self. I'm thinking about getting distilling . Your tube channel is so watchable " Fun & educational " . Cheers and thumbs up

Magic spoon ... I just can't right now. You guys are another level

I think there probably is a psychological effect where we are just excited to open a new bottle... you know. That could be a thing also.

A really good idea for an episode! My worthless two cents...the "neck pour" really isn't just the "neck pour." It really depends on the whiskey. Some are already where they need to be from the beginning. One of my theories is that the degree of filtration and proof(not just age or the unique attributes of that particular whiskey) tend to indicate whether something needs more or less time to open up, either in the glass, or in the bottle. One of the most dramatic differences I experienced was with the Bardstown Discovery batch 3 as well as a bottle of Tomatin 18. I really didn't care for either until they were almost half down. In the case of Tomatin, it was really harsh at first. After it sat there for a few months, when I came back, it was a completely different animal. Whiskey definitely opens up in the glass as it interacts with the air, and as the bottle gets lower, it can almost be "pre-opened." Meaning, it doesn't need as much time in the glass to open up. In order to test this, you would really need two identical bottles(same batch), and have one at least half way down for over a month. I would do this with a dozen or so different bottles, and blind test with a larger group of people. The less information the testees(that's a fun word to say) have, the better. There should be at least 3 samples per pour. Sometimes they might all be from the same bottle to control for the placebo effect. And, you need to do it multiple times over the course of at least a week, to account for our fluctuating palate. But...who has time for that. Another idea to test how whiskey opens up as it interacts with the air, is to use a wine aerator. Try this with a freshly opened bottle. Compare a straight pour with another that's been aerated at least a few times.

I died during the commercial - brilliant … pure, brilliance 🤪🤪🤪

Thoughts on a single bottle experiment. Use some sort of thin gauge needle to go through the cork, aspirate the appropriate amount of whiskey into a sealed glass vial of some sort with minimal air introduction. Now you have a more or less sealed, air tight sample of the neck. Then you can go ahead an open the bottle cork and let the air come in as is the normal process. Theoretically, the sealed sample will be exposed to minimal amounts of air as you store it along with the bottle.

"It tastes better once you get past the neck pour" just sounds like a futsy excuse for a refill. Am I right or am I right?

Love this episode! Picked up a Balcones Pot Still early last winter. The first two pours were TOTAL chocolate covered cherries. Haven't found that note since.

I care about whiskey but after watching so many videos of you guys, I think I would still watch your videos if I stopped caring for whiskey! Top quality content and great entertainment value!

Now, I'm super interested in seeing you guys do a video about the Private Preserve wine preserver and its effects on whiskey.

Greg Vangsness here. Try this with a bottle of Lagavulin 16 that is a quarter full (& opened for a few months at least) and a brand new bottle. The New bottle is definitely more closed/tight and I'm gonna say sharper more marine and iodine than one that has had time to oxidise in good ways and shows up the citrus notes to a greater extent. Cheers. (Oh, AND I prefer the L16 when it has oxidised! I open a new bottle, taste to create some space, and leave it alone for a couple of weeks before I use the bottle again. Friends have tried the challenge you put your minions through, on me, and I pick many many whiskies time and time again. It's become a party trick with the bottles I have in my small collection.)

I appreciate this episode! I would have been surprised if there had been any evidence of a difference between neck pour and non-neck pour... I just can't imagine how that could possibly make an appreciable difference. Not a definitive take down, of course (chemical analysis would do the trick), but for people who have tasted so much whisk(e)y to not be able to distinguish anything beyond what could attributed to palate acclimation or drift tells me that I would have a LONG way to go in my journey before giving even the slightest consideration to this kind of thing.

"Drink to me only with thine eyes" 17:20 "That's not what I meant"

I don't often taste much of a difference between the "neck pour" and the rest of the bottle, but my first pour of my first bottle of Green Spot tasted like paint. My roommate said he tasted straight alcohol and poured his out. Glass 3 a few days later was fantastic and I tasted all the flavors most people find in Green Spot.

I've noticed a difference between first pour and pours months later, but it's usually only after the bottle is like half gone. I've always assumed it's the extra air, but it could also be what I ate that day or the mood I'm in.

To me the neck pour has always been the most delicious to me. This probably is because that's also the first time I'm tasting the whisk[e]y. So far on my whisk[e]y journey, apart from an accidental order of 2 Wild Turkey Rare Breed bottles, I've yet to buy a bottle twice. And yeah, the experience of the neck pour on the second bottle of Rare Breed wasn't the same as the first.

I definitely find whiskies harsher when I first open a bottle. Always assumed it was either how it's been kept or simply that my palette takes some time to adjust, especially since I only drink 1-2 bottles a year.

A good way to check if people can tell the difference between two things is pour 3 glasses, and see if they can tell the odd one out of the 3. Because if you just pour two, people might think they sense something when they actually don't.

My first bottle after discovering you MBs was Monkey Shoulder. At first I didn't like the musty nose nor the palette. But surprisingly, after the neck pour, I started to to notice the sweetness and I started to like it. I don't attribute this to the neck pour but rather to me getting more assimilated to the whiskey. The same thing happened to me with Ardbeg. Didn't like it at first. The smoke was overwhelming. But then I found myself craving that smokey goodness.

So funny I found this episode now. I just opened my first bottle of Elijah Craig Private Selection. When I opened it last week, the neck pour I absolutely tasted quite a bit of musty ness that was a bit unpleasant. Last night I had two more and that mustiness is gone and I love it!

Pre and Post - neck pour whiskeys might also differ a lot because when opening, you change the air from the distillery (or bottling plant, if shenanigans are afoot) with the air of wherever you, the whiskey opener, are at.

This was a great one! Talk about weekend cartoon for grown ups, had everything, including Rex getting shot with eggs! For more fun experiments look into triangle tests, where you use two samples alike and one different, and have the person pick the odd one out.

Interestingly I have experienced this with two very different whisk(e)ys, both were absolutely stunning when first opened but deteriorated markedly after a time. The second one I experienced this with was only a few weeks ago, when first opened, stunning (consumes about 1/4 of the bottle with friends, after about 3 weeks, tried it with another friend and it was still good but different and not quite as smooth as the first pour (I did think at the time that it was just me tasting it differently), after watching this video, I tried it again (after another couple of weeks) and it is now very different to what it was when first opened.

It would be interesting to see the neck pour and lower down in the same bottles, I've had many whiskies where I couldn't "handle" the neck pour but as I got below the shoulder the whisky became much easier to "handle" and even amazing

This is interesting. I don't know how scientific it is, but I've definitely noticed flavours changing, evolving, opening up and whatnot over time the longer some bottles sit in my cabinet after that initial opening, especially with my rums (though i have an Old Forester bourbon that's mellowed out quite a bit over time too). Might bear more testing, i guess that'll come with time. Cheers!

Love the story and the conversation. Worth relaxing over a dram and debating. Cheers!

05:07 “Hay Adjacent” is my new favorite term. Thanks, Rex! Lol

I've noticed that some whiskeys change a lot and some remain virtually unchanged. But as you said, you might need to get a quarter of the way into the bottle to notice those changes. Things like peated whiskeys open up and become a little bit less astringent. And sherry, port, wine finished whiskeys get a little sweeter, lighter, and more fruity. Whiskeys like rye and bourbon might be too wood heavy to notice a change.

That's completely true though. I didn't know that the "neck pour" was a real thing, but I've noticed on my own that I enjoy a whiskey much more after I've gotten down into the bottle a bit. Often on the first pour I am just like "eh, ok", and then after I get into the bottle suddenly it really opens up and I find a much richer flavor.

Having one or two drams of whiskey after dinner is something I truly enjoy. To me, many neck pours can be sharp/harsh/ethanol-y/disjointed. I usually notice differences in the 3rd or 4th pour. Tamer, more rounded, profile opens more. Not to move the goal posts, but the opened bottles in your "anecdotal Nickelodeon" experiment appear to have one pour worth of air space. I'm guessing there'd be a nominal change. I've noticed a more drastic change with finished bourbons and ryes. Armida and Seagrass definitely became more rounded and easier to approach. Seems if the finishing is heavy handed (like Rabbit Hole Derringer), the change may not as noticeable over time. High proof juice loses a lot of its profile notes and potency in the last third of the bottle if kept for too long. Most recent example was Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B519 - died when I went back to it after sitting at 1/3 full for 8 months. I drink mostly at home, so rarely have extraneous influences on how I interpret a bottle. I almost always go through a "pregame warmup" of brushing and flossing my teeth, scrape my tongue and rinse mouth with plain water to assure as level of a playing field when I drink. Usually don't drink two to three consecutive days to reset my palate.

The biggest barrel drift I have ever experienced was Koval's Burbon. I am still questioning whether or not they changed the recipe. I didn't even taste them back to back. I opened a new bottle, sipped it, and it was like everything I specifically liked about that burbon was gone.

That Magic spoon ad totally had me confused for a sec until I realized it was the sponsor

Y'all are the most fun people on RU-vid.

This explained why the first sip of my new Whiskey is so different than the rest of the bottle!

I grabbed a bottle of Larceny recently. Never tried it before. First few pours on it we're awful. Bitter, tannic and tasted like corn husks. I left it in the cabinet about a week and it got 100% better. Then became sweet and actually drinkable. Still had a hint of the corn husks. Almost poured it out, it was that bad. Glad I waited.

Question: for neck pour, post neck pour, or even late pour, would shaking the bottle affect anything? (Aeration, consistent flavor, etc.)

I've found the neck pour dilemma to only really be a factor for bourbon; specifically old (10+ yr) or high proof bourbon. I was truly disappointed in my 14 yr Sam Houston until I came back to it months later; now it's fantastic. Same with McKenna 10 yr bib, neck pour is fine, but then it always seems to get better with time. Stagg Jr. is nearly undrinkable out of a fresh bottle, but after it breathes it's amazing. I've never had an issue with neck pours from my Scotch, Irish, or Japanese whisky.

I notice a distinct difference from the first pour and a second, usually weeks or a month or so later. I have a good size whisk(e)y collection, and being a pro brewer, beer tends to be my regular drinker. Early on in my whisky exploration, I noticed if I didn’t care for a whisky and then came back to it after a month or so, I usually liked it more. I find oxidation is good for whisk(e)ys that have a more aggressive fusel ethanol profile. I usually tell new people to whisk(e)y, if you don’t like a new bottle, give it a couple weeks (less if your bottles are stored in a warmer environment) and try it again. Some distillers talk about volatile offgassing in the neck, but the density of whisk(e)y is pretty uniform, and pouring it doesn’t mean you’re getting what’s just at the top, so it has to be oxidation that is what’s giving you that change. I find it’s more obvious in Scottish whiskies than US. And it gets worse with time and headspace. I have this terrible Kirk and Sweeney 23 yo rum that I pretty much forgot about/ignored for a few years that’s about half empty. Had some a week or so about, and it’s not even drinkable anymore. I don’t mix spirits with sodas (and don’t really drink soda either), but this one is only drinkable with something like Coke at this point. I have some whisk(e)ys that have been open for almost a decade and they are still decently palatable.

When is Rex going to embrace his destiny and star in a Kenny Rogers biopic?

Using bottles that have been open for a year is pretty generous and more than fair for the sake of this experiment. Neck-pour zealots often claim the whiskey "opens up" in as little as the first week, or even some hours! I hope this vid makes some people think twice about giving wacky advice on neck pour on the Tribe FB page. (we all know it won't tho)

I honestly think that the difference in taste is usually found in the very first drink because it is someone’s first drink of the day. Their palate is not acclimated yet so their is a larger impact on the first taste. You know, trying that new bottle on a fresh palate to not have the flavor effected by a previous drink, but really affecting it more due to being the first drink and your mouth nerves are still pissed off

Glad to see you use Slane. My favorite budget Irish

I used to sit near a co-worker, and she would sometimes exclaim "balls!" just like Brianna did in this video. Seemed so unique, I never expected to hear anyone else do that.

You guys should do an episode on whisky tempature from ice cold to hot n see the flavor differences

In my experience you’ve got to go with a slightly higher proof bourbon (or peaty whiskey), not sealed with a metal screw cap. They have a tendency to breathe a bit and even leak at times. Cheers!

I love your guys willingness to try these little weird myths.

Good dad joke at the end there Rex!

I personally feel like if a whisky is very heavy on the ethanol for the initial pour lends itself well to leaving it a few weeks but it is so hard to tell without doing the side by side you have done. Maybe my mind set is just different when I go back to it. One I find it has worked on every time is the James E Pepper Barrel Strength Rye.

Nice! I have 2 bottles that over a short time have gotten better. Henry McKenna 10yr and ECBP A122 both went from hot fire not much flavor to warm and flavorful:)

Dat Magic Spoon commercial somehow transported me back to my childhood and Saturday morning cartoons. Help. I'm now stuck in the 80s.

The neck pour is when I pour it down my gullet.

When I read the title I thought "neck pour" was when the whiskey sticks to the bottle instead of falling in the glass

Happy World Whiskey Day to you all MB!!!

I used to live in DFW & drive to Austin every other month. Loved Austin. These guys make me want to visit Austin again, but this time it would end up being around 24 - 36 hour journey. smh.

The only whiskey I’ve ever had that seems to have a large impact from neck pour is Willet. It really does seem to improve when you get past the neck pour. But the neck pour is around 1/4 of the total bottle.

I had a bottle once, I think it was Thistlefinch Rye, where I swear up and down that the first pour tasted distinctly like green apple skins. In fact, it was so appley that my wife and I both had to check the label to make sure it wasn't a flavored whiskey. After that first pour though, green apple notes were buried in the background (if we could find it at all) and the thing tasted much more like raisins and oatmeal. Was this some kind of "neck pour" effect? Was the whiskey just interacting with something we had eaten that day? Were we just under some kind of weird delusion? To this day I couldn't tell you for sure.

When you pour a container out, it doesn't only pull from the top. Since you're rotating the bottle sideways to pour, you'll be getting the front or back of the bottle (whichever is pointing up), not the top. The only way to properly separate the top from the bottom is with a straw while the bottle is upright.

I feel that Brianna🤣🤣 I probably do that once or twice a week. My eyes be burning.

I find the neck pour vs unopened to be more of a myth because there isn't enough time for the air to oxidize the whisky. However, once you get closer to about a quarter or third of the bottle poured I find there to be a more noticeable difference. The effect also varies depending on the whisky. Biggest validity I have is finishing off a bottle of the Classic Laddie one night, and opening a new bottle of the Laddie the next night and noticing enough of a difference for me to question what I had tasted. It wasn't a large difference, I can tell you that much. Granted that was a bottle that I had been drinking and finished over two months so I don't have a quantitative method of figuring how much air interaction had occurred.

I've noticed a big difference in the Glenfiddich Solera 15 after 1/4 of the bottle, and about a month of being open. It started out with a weird sour wood thing going on, but lost that eventually.

The only bottle I found that changed was JW Green. Or maybe I just warmed to the flavour...

I've only once noticed a difference in a bottle from neck pour to later on - took a bottle of Powers I hadn't liked (it tasted plasticky) to my Dad, then tried it again a few weeks later and it'd lost that and I liked it, and have never had the flavour I didn't like in subsequent bottles. It was the only time I've experienced a noticeable difference.

I've been using an aerator for years. But, it's the type that you hold over the glass. I use it on higher proof stuff so I don't have to add water.

Honestly I assumed "neck pour" meant you hold the bottle by the neck when you pour. I got a lot to learn.

After watching this episode the biggest mystery to me is what Magic Spoon cereal is made from. If it’s grain free sugar free gluten free soy free and nut free I have to assume that they have somehow compressed air into little crunch bits.

This channel is the best at advertisment. And I mean all advertisment!

So before watching, i am a firm believer in the neck pour purely for the fact that many times i have cracked open a new bottle, and i either didn't like it, or it wasn't as good as i had hoped. And then months later i come back to it and i like it more from then on 🤷 If i went back and forth on it, that might just be differing taste day to day, or what i ate before trying influencing it. But without fail, i have liked it everytime i tried it after. Also, there are some i never end up liking, so it isn't me just liking everything eventually lol

I found a huge difference in WT101. couldn't get any cherry from the neck pour, it tasted just like salted caramel. Then, the next day, there was all the cherry I couldn't get before

I love this channel. Thanks guys.

I've had whiskies radically change but they can do so multiple times and not just in the neck pour and usually, this happens after days and not "as soon as the neck pour is gone its good" but then again I can adapt as I drink it etc.

I’ve got a different experience between the neck-pour vs rest of bottle for my kilchomans and yoichi (normal & grande) .. for the others, it’s been a similar experience

I think the biggest factor in this is that most people that have a collection of whiskeys might take individual shots over the course of several months allowing a lot more air to be exchanged through the bottle giving a much greater impact

those ads are just so good

Great and informative episode.