I have a heavy crystal decanter I’ve been using for years. A while back I was having some guests for a week, and thought I’d save some money and grabbed a bottle of Jim beam to put in it, as opposed to the higher end I tend to go for, because none of my guest cared about Bourbon. I noticed the level going down further than I had consumed. This has never been an issue before, so I figured someone had just nipped it while o was asleep. The next day, there was condensation on the inside, and the level had dropped further.

Since I’d been using the decanter for so long, I assumed the frosting on the stopper had rubbed off and it no longer sealed.

When it was empty, I refilled it with larceny, my standard, and to my surprise, it didn’t evaporate at all for weeks.

Last night, I refilled it with beam again, and this morning, it had dropped and there was condensation on the side.

What really confused me, is Jim beam has a lower alcohol content than the Bourbons I usually fill the decanter with, so I would think it would evaporate as readily.

Why does only this one brand evaporate?

Quick searching gave me no results

Tldr: Why does Jim Beam evaporate in my decanter while nothing else does?

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com
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    1 month ago

    Different alcohol sources evaporate at different rates.

    An experiment:

    • Zero out a scale with a glass
    • Put 4oz of Beam in the glass
    • Zero out a scale with another glass
    • Put 4oz of the other bourbon in that glass
    • Record total weight of each glass
    • Wait 24 hours
    • Weigh them again to see change
    • Pour fresh glasses
    • Try all 4 back to back to compare alcohol taste

    My guess will be that unless you have a coffee or herb scale, you probably won’t see a measurable difference, but you’ll be able to taste more of a difference in the Beam.