The Infinity Bottle

Not an MCU installment, nor a magic promise.

If you, like me, are known as the whisk(e)y/cocktail aficionado in your family/friend group, there are certain gifts that you acquire. Whiskey stones (both rock and stainless - they have a very small niche where they’re worth using), glassware, books, the fancy garnishes (if you’re lucky). And last but not least, the whiskey decanter.

The whiskey decanter, a holdover from the time when distilleries didn’t bottle their own product. Instead they shipped out barrels to taverns, who may be kind enough to package a to go pint and quart bottle for you. So to display it at home, you wanted something a little fancier than the plan bottle from the corner tavern.

They held on after this for quite a while out of tradition and a form of conspicuous consumption that didn’t cost much. Even if the decanter cost several hundred, it doesn’t matter if you’re filling it with rotgut.

So… what to do with a whiskey decanter? They’re not well suited for decanting wine, and if you’re anything like me, there’s only a handful of bottles that you keep in stock enough that you could keep refilling a decanter. Even in that case, why would I pour the liquor out of a perfectly good bottle into another one? Thankfully, there is an answer:

THE INFINITY BOTTLE

Hopefully, that landed as dramatically as I intended. A better name for an Infinity Bottle, in my mind, is a house blend. The concept is that as most whiskies are blends of various bottles, blending your preferences will result in a unique flavor that matches your house.

The way to build your blend is to start with some simple rules to keep the flavors coherent:

1. Stick to a single base spirit. No one is blending spirits outside of a Long Island Iced Tea.

2. Go with simple rules. I went with a whiskey bottle, my rules were no Scotches (they can be overpowering) and no adjunct/flavored/rested whiskies. So no cherry cider finished bourbon, no nocino finished bourbon, and no beer finished bourbon.

3. Add the first/last/both ounce to the bottle. I fed mine with about an ounce of what I had on my shelves that met the criteria, and kept it up by adding the first ounce of new additions to the bottle.

You can go as wide or as narrow as you’d like for your bottle. It is meant to indicate your personality after all. If you want a different bottle for each region of Scotland, you can do it. If you would like to blend your gins, and see what results, you can do it. If you want to blend your vodka, well… it should wind up the same, but do it! Rum lends itself quite well to this, especially if you want to lean into Tiki.

Few things offer up hospitality more than being able to offer someone a pour from your own house blend bottle. The flavor of the bottle will adjust and change over time as different expressions get added to it. It also provides a nice change of pace drink that you know you cannot get anywhere else.

So break out those old decanters, and put them to good use.