# Liquor Decanters



## BluegrassEsq

I've googled high and low, but can't seem to find the answer, but given this sites followers am sure I will receive the answer forthwith...

Which liquor goes into which decanter?!?


----------



## Miket61

The short answer: It doesn't matter.

The medium-length answer: the goal should be to easily distinguish between liquors of the same color that are used or served differently. Gin and vodka, Bourbon and Scotch, etc.

The long answer: There is a rule of etiquette that one doesn't serve at table with commercial packaging. Which is why in better restaurants they bring out ketchup in a ramekin, and in lesser establishments they plop a bottle of Heinz on the table. It could be argued that by displaying the packaging of a premium brand, one is inappropriately bragging.

Liquors stop aging when they're bottled in glass, so there's no benefit or detriment to putting them in a decorative decanter. Port, which is part wine, part liquor, will often develop significant sediment, so there is a practical reason for transferring it to a wine decanter before serving.


----------



## MikeDT

I would say any liquid which may have sediment which needs separating out before it's poured into a glass. Wine been a good example. Decantation is the process of separating the sediment from the liquid.


----------



## Chouan

Grape products go into a round decanter, grain products into a square decanter. Simple. Except that liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Benedictine, Manderine Napoleon, etc. aren't decanted.


----------



## BluegrassEsq

Chouan said:


> Grape products go into a round decanter, grain products into a square decanter.


That's what I was looking for. But what do I do with the others--gin, rum, etc.?


----------



## Centaur

Actually the shape of one's decanters is entirely discretional. It really doesn't have much effect on the flavour. Most people nowadays serve wines and spirits from the bottles in which they are purchased, but decanting red wines _can_ have a beneficial effect, and a predominantly spherical decanter, which ensures the wine has an enlarged surface area once decanted, allows the wine to breathe. As for spirits, the shape of the decanter is neither here nor there, but squarish is probably more traditional. Most people just use those silver engraved badges to distinguish gin from vodka etc. When it comes to gin and whisky however, I would always prefer to see it in its original bottle.


----------



## Epaminondas

Has any one succumbed, liked me, to the fear that alcohol leaches lead from the crystal decanter and stopped using decanters for storing spirits? Somebody mentioned this to me about a decade ago and it appears science backs it up and now I've stored my decanters away, but I sure miss the aesthetics.....


----------



## Centaur

Epaminondas said:


> Has any one succumbed, liked me, to the fear that alcohol leaches lead from the crystal decanter and stopped using decanters for storing spirits? Somebody mentioned this to me about a decade ago and it appears science backs it up and now I've stored my decanters away, but I sure miss the aesthetics.....


I haven't heard of this happening - it sounds very theoretical and highly unlikely, as the lead is chemically bonded within the glass. In any case, I live in a Victorian house with lead pipes, so worrying about lead from my decanters is hardly top of my agenda.


----------



## Epaminondas

Centaur said:


> I haven't heard of this happening - it sounds very theoretical and highly unlikely, as the lead is chemically bonded within the glass. In any case, I live in a Victorian house with lead pipes, so worrying about lead from my decanters is hardly top of my agenda.


I know - I feel silly about worrying about it. My great uncle, who is 92, told me that toothpaste used to come in lead tubes - If true, given his age and mental acuity, it seemed to have had no ill-effects. But, I did see a couple of studies/articles on-line corroborating this leaching effect. Obviously, the longer the liqour stayed in lead crystal decanters, the more lead was found in the liquid. I guess I should just let it go and enjoy using them.


----------



## JJR512

Miket61 said:


> The long answer: There is a rule of etiquette that one doesn't serve at table with commercial packaging. Which is why in better restaurants they bring out ketchup in a ramekin, and in lesser establishments they plop a bottle of Heinz on the table. It could be argued that by displaying the packaging of a premium brand, one is inappropriately bragging.


I'd rather they just plop a bottle of Heinz on my table. To my personal taste, Heinz is the only brand good enough to bother with, and I'd rather know than experiment to find out.


----------



## Miket61

Epaminondas said:


> Has any one succumbed, liked me, to the fear that alcohol leaches lead from the crystal decanter and stopped using decanters for storing spirits?


If you purchase a lead crystal decanter today, odds are it will come with a sticker, tag, or note informing you that lead crystal is known to the state of California to contain lead, which is a dangerous substance.

One might think that only an idiot would not know automatically that lead crystal contains lead, but I once asked a salesperson what was in a crystal advertised as "lead-free." She insisted there wasn't anything, they just didn't use lead. I explained to her that crystal without lead is glass.


----------



## JJR512

Research done into this issue (leaching lead from crystal) has shown that alcohol does indeed leach lead from crystal. However, this process takes time. It is recommended that you not use lead crystal decanters for storage, but it is safe to use them for a few hours while you're having a dinner party or whatever. It is also safe to drink from crystal glasses.

More can be read about this here: https://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/wine/lead-crystal.asp

Personally, I am comfortable drinking from lead crystal stemware. (The issue of decanters is moot for me, since I'm not that fancy, but it ever comes up, I'd be fine following the advice in the article.) However, I would not allow my children to drink (or eat) anything that's been in contact with lead, period.


----------



## Earl of Ormonde

BluegrassEsq said:


> That's what I was looking for. But what do I do with the others--gin, rum, etc.?


I must ask, why do you want to put spirits into decanters? Spirits don't need decanters.
Wine, port, madeira yes, but not spirits.

I know it was popular decades ago to do so for show, but it isn't necessary. And most people nowadays, especially whiskey drinkers, are very interested in looking at the bottle.

Personally I think serving spirits like whiskey, rum, gin from a decanter is rather naff and very outdated.


----------



## Chouan

BluegrassEsq said:


> That's what I was looking for. But what do I do with the others--gin, rum, etc.?


Gin and rum wouldn't really be classified for decanter use, as these, when decanter etiquette was pronounced upon, were considered as "common" drinks, not drunk by the people to whom etiquette would apply, except for Naval Officers, who would be expected to leave their uncivilised behaviour in their Wardroom. Vodka wouldn't even have been known of, except as a spirit drunk by barbaric Russians and Poles. Later on, gin, vodka and rum would have been considered as spirits used only in cocktails, which would be prepared elsewhere and served in a glass, so a decanter wouldn't have been necessary anyway.
Brandy and whisky/whiskey would be drinks that would be poured at the table, so would be decanted.


----------



## turban1

*gosh, you people know so many rules!*

prowl around good UK antique shops and one sees a lot of sterling labels hung around the necks of decanters, used by the rich in the 18th and 19th centuries, some for gin, whiskey, rum and of course for claret, madeira and port and so forth. a wealthy young friend collects only 18th century labels from a narrow range of prestigious silversmiths, only for champagne! So I guess that was once served from a decanter, but swiftly or one supposes that the fizz would disappear.


----------



## Earl of Ormonde

Yes, If orgot to mention those decanter neck labels on their chains.


----------



## Chouan

In England champagne used to be drunk from silver tankards rather than glasses.....


----------



## Shriver

Centaur said:


> Actually the shape of one's decanters is entirely discretional. It really doesn't have much effect on the flavour. Most people nowadays serve wines and spirits from the bottles in which they are purchased, but decanting red wines _can_ have a beneficial effect, and a predominantly spherical decanter, which ensures the wine has an enlarged surface area once decanted, allows the wine to breathe. As for spirits, the shape of the decanter is neither here nor there, but squarish is probably more traditional. Most people just use those silver engraved badges to distinguish gin from vodka etc. When it comes to gin and whisky however, I would always prefer to see it in its original bottle.


Why would you want to see the original bottle?

Do you despise and mistrust your hosts? Why go see them then?


----------



## Douglas Brisbane Gray

Chouan said:


> Grape products go into a round decanter, grain products into a square decanter. Simple. Except that liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Benedictine, Manderine Napoleon, etc. aren't decanted.


I have never seen a square ship's decanter!

Traditionaly in Scotland Port and Claret are served in a jug called a "tappit hen" .


----------



## Chouan

Douglas Brisbane Gray said:


> I have never seen a square ship's decanter!
> 
> Traditionaly in Scotland Port and Claret are served in a jug called a "tappit hen" .


I've never seen a "Ship's Decanter" on a ship!


----------



## Douglas Brisbane Gray

Chouan said:


> I've never seen a "Ship's Decanter" on a ship!


No neither have I, and I have been served spirits in the wardroom before, I bought one for my mum's birthday some time ago and her house is on top of a hill 30 miles from the sea


----------



## wiredroach

I prefer decanting spirits into a glass with ice and storing it there for a brief period of time....


----------



## SvenSven

*lead poisoning, decanter shape, and the serving of ketchup*

As to the old wives' tale about lead from lead crystal decanters and glasses leeching into the alcohol, I wasn't having much luck finding authoritative responses to this issue either and so I posed this question to Waterford. On August 27, 2012, they responded with,

"Avoid storing food or beverages in crystal containers for extended periods of time.
Best practice is to decant the liquid into the decanter for serving purposes and then decant it back into its original bottle for storage. This will help preserve the product's finish and avoid evaporation which may result in a ring forming at the liquid interface or sediment adhering to the base, which may be difficult to remove.
Thank you for your email, and allowing us the opportunity to address your concern"

That seems clear enough to me to keep my decanters empty unless I am having a party although I don't have to so paranoid as to be filling the decanters while my guests are approaching my front door nor do I have to be emptying them before my guests reach their cars at the end of the night.

****************

As to any "rule" about the shape of a decanter being matched to contents you wish to pour in, I don't believe there is a good answer out there. Chouan gave a reasonably plausible answer that grape products go into round containers which Centaur followed up on regarding decantation of red wine may be benefited from a spherical decanter. From a purely aesthetics standpoint, I like my scotch and whiskey in square-ish bottles but that is simply a matter of personal taste (and innate sophistication).

****************

I generally don't like to argue with people about ketchup or even catsup, but I could not overlook Miket61's comment and JJR512's response. I would ask for your consideration of the following.

I dislike ketchup in its own bottle since most establishments eternally refill those bottles, which means that the bottle has never been fully cleaned out which further means that since its original placement on the restaurant's table 20 years ago, an untold number of customers have stuck their germy fingers or their used, nasty knives inside the bottle in order to unblock it thus keeping the infestation of nasty organisms growing on a daily basis assuming that the ketchup hasn't yet hardened thus safely locking the germs within a crystalline structure at the bottom of the bottle in a similar manner to Jurassic Park's dinosaur DNA that was trapped in Amber.

Give me my ketchup ramekin, please.


----------



## Langham

SvenSven said:


> I dislike ketchup in its own bottle since most establishments eternally refill those bottles, which means that the bottle has never been fully cleaned out which further means that since its original placement on the restaurant's table 20 years ago, an untold number of customers have stuck their germy fingers or their used, nasty knives inside the bottle in order to unblock it thus keeping the infestation of nasty organisms growing on a daily basis assuming that the ketchup hasn't yet hardened thus safely locking the germs within a crystalline structure at the bottom of the bottle in a similar manner to Jurassic Park's dinosaur DNA that was trapped in Amber.
> 
> Give me my ketchup ramekin, please.


It can get much worse than that. At school, a friend idly unscrewed the top of a daily-used ketchup dispenser to find the container was writhing with maggots.


----------

