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If you've always enjoyed your whiskey neat, it's time to pump the brakes. There's a reason why you always see whiskey aficionados adding a few drops of water from a pipette into their glasses of liquor. It might seem like an unnecessary move, but a tiny bit of water has been proven to improve the flavor of whiskey's primary flavor compound, known as guaiacol, enormously. When whiskey is slightly diluted, the overall ethanol in the drink is reduced, which frees the guaiacol and allows it to come to the forefront of its flavor more effectively.

This can be a great trick for cheap whiskey, which can tend to taste too alcoholic, with the ethanol note dominating and any subtlety covered up by that harsh flavor. Although you'll never make it taste like a bottle that's three times as expensive, you'll still give it a little flavor boost and make it more drinkable. Importantly, though, avoid adding too much water to your whiskey. You don't want to completely dilute it, as you'll end up making it taste flat.

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Every now and again, a food hack floats around online that sounds a little too good to be true. When it comes to cheap whiskey, one specific flavor hack pervades above the rest and involves adding in a few ingredients to bolster its maturity and complexity. It's often recommended that to improve cheap whiskey, you can take a combination of vanilla extract, dry sherry, and liquid smoke, and add it to your bottle. The vanilla extract creates a caramelized note in the whiskey, which comes from the aging process, while the liquid smoke gives it that woody flavor. The sherry, meanwhile, creates an aged taste, with its winey, briny flavor balancing out the other two additions.

It sounds like a kinda wild solution to your whiskey problems, but it kinda works. Although adding these ingredients doesn't allow your whiskey to rival the flavor of a genuinely aged product, they will deliver a boost of sophistication to your drink — and at the very least, they'll help to mask any harsh alcoholic notes. Just ensure that you don't add too much of your ingredients: You want about 1/8 of a teaspoon of liquid smoke, a touch more vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of sherry per 750-milliliter. bottle. Any more than that, and you'll make your whiskey taste off. Oh, and use bottled vanilla extract instead of making your own.

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One of the main problems with cheap whiskey is that it can just be way too heavy on the aromatics. A lot of the time, manufacturers will try and cover up the limitations of their product with harsh wood flavors or overpowering flavor notes, which just come across as too insistent and slightly bitter. These traits can also unbalance a bottle of whiskey, making the general experience of drinking it pretty nasty.

One of the quickest ways to balance out these overpowering notes is to add a touch of sweetness. A tiny squirt of simple syrup, honey, or maple syrup can work wonders to round out a whiskey, with the sugary flavor taking the sting out of overwhelming smokiness and making your drink more pleasant. You need to be careful here, as adding too much can take your whiskey in the other direction, and make it overly sweet and just kinda weird tasting. Add a small bit of sweetener at a time to your glass, stir it in thoroughly to allow it to dissolve fully, and then do a taste test.

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Cheap whiskey may not be great for using on its own, but it can work as an excellent base for other drinks. Although you can throw it into a sugary cocktail and mask its taste entirely, we prefer to honor it while simultaneously transforming it into an easily drinkable beverage of its own. The way to do this is by infusing the liquor with other ingredients, and creating a whiskey liqueur in the process. By adding some vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks, or other spices to your whiskey, allowing it to steep, and then adding a sweetener like maple syrup or honey, you can make an after-dinner drink that masks any cheap tastes.

The best thing about making a whiskey liqueur is that you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like, and add whichever flavors you desire. Plus, you don't have to just stick with whiskey. You can mix a combo of whiskey and spiced rum to make a multifaceted, dynamic liqueur, or combine two different types of whiskey for something more subtle.

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If you want the secret to making cheap whiskey taste better, just look in your fruit bowl. Simply take a couple of apples and slice them up into rounds, before placing them in a large jar and adding your bottle of whiskey. Let the mix steep for around a week, making sure you taste it every couple of days, before pouring it out into a new bottle or container.

@join_jules

Apple Infused Whiskey Best results let it sit for about a week but taste every two days! Use a bigger jar than I did for this video too 🤪 Apple Infused Whiskey The perfect Fall infusion! 1 750 ml bottle of Whiskey or Bourbon 2 Gala apples 2 Green Apples 1 star anise 2 cinnamon sticks 4 cloves 1 tsp vanilla extract 2-3 slices fresh ginger Slice apples and place them into a large jar to fill the jar about halfway full. Add in spices and fill the jar up with bourbon or whiskey. Let infuse for several days. Xoxo, cheers! #joinjules #applewhiskey #whiskey #infusion #drinkrecipes #fallrecipes #thanksgiving #holidayrecipes

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When you do this, you'll end up with a sweet, tart edge to your whiskey, which masks any artificiality and makes it taste so much more round. Using a balance of apples works best here, so that your liquor doesn't develop one overt flavor note; ideally, you want a mix of sourness and sweetness. If you like, you can also add in some fall spices like cinnamon and cloves, which can help to balance out some of the tartness from the apples — or you can let the fruit shine through.

Cheap whiskey can often lack the nuanced smokiness of a well-aged product. When you pay less, you sacrifice the craftsmanship and time that can go into creating this drink, and can instead end up with a beverage that's young, flat, and tastes overly alcoholic. There's a trick to getting some of that woody flavor into your whiskey into your drink, though, and that's by using an infusion spiral.

American Oak Infusion Spirals are like mini-barrels that you can place directly into your whiskey. These spirals can be snapped into smaller pieces for individual bottles, or you can add the full thing into a couple of gallons. You leave the spiral to soak for around four to six weeks, before withdrawing it from the alcohol. These intensely fragrant pieces of wood add not just flavor, but color, making your whiskey look more caramelized and rich. They won't totally replicate the flavor profile of a great whiskey, but they won't do a bad job of making your cheap drink taste richer.

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One of the tricks to making whiskey taste better is not just the type you buy, but the glass you drink it from. Opting for the wrong glass can diminish all of a cheap whiskey's potential flavor notes; even if it's on the less expensive side, it'll still have some kind of flavor profile and certain tastes and aromas that will come to the fore. You can trap these aromas and make your whiskey more drinkable by using a tulip glass, which has the perfect shape to create a well-rounded flavor. Although your whiskey won't completely transform, it'll still taste a little better than if you were using the wrong receptacle.

As for which glasses you should avoid, it's generally a good idea to steer clear of anything that has too wide of a rim. This can allow the aromas of the whiskey to dissipate, leaving you with something flat and poorly balanced. Plastic glasses should also generally be avoided, as they completely ruin the experience of drinking whiskey. Oh, and don't just drink it straight from the bottle, folks. College ended a long time ago.

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One of the problems with cheap whiskey is that it often doesn't have any of the layer of spiciness, vanilla, or caramelization that we come to expect from the good stuff. Thankfully, there's a simple way to infuse these into a cut-price option, and it's likely sitting in your pantry. All you need is a bag of Earl Grey tea. Pour your whiskey into a jar, and then place a tea bag inside it, allowing it to infuse for around 10 minutes before taking it out. Once you pull it out, your whiskey should have taken on some extra flavors, with a slightly floral undertone from the Earl Grey, as well as gently caramelized and spicy notes.

Importantly, this method's success will be largely down to personal taste. Although it will definitely add shades of flavor to your whiskey and help to pull back on its acridity, you might also find that it alters the taste too much. However, if you're lumped with a bottle which has absolutely no complexity at all, it can be a quick fix for your problems.

Most of us have enjoyed a hot toddy in our time, which combines whiskey, lemon, honey, and spices to make a warming drink that soothes the senses when you're sick. However, you can skip a lot of these components and simply apply heat to your cheap whiskey to give it a boost. This technique applies the same principle as warming sake does, with the idea being that heating the whiskey can bring out its sweeter, earthier tones. It also helps to take the edge off any harsh, overly alcoholic flavors, and balance out the beverage.

To warm up your whiskey, you can use an Electric Sake Warmer, heat it through in a pan on the stove, or pop it in the microwave for a couple of seconds. When doing this, though, you need to be careful. You don't want your whiskey to boil here, or even to become too hot. If it does, it'll lose any of its nuance, and may burn off some of its alcohol. Plus, it goes without saying that you'll have to enjoy warm whiskey to benefit fully from this trick. Leave that ice in the freezer, folks.

Have you ever wondered why people swirl whiskey? Well, we'll tell you. Swirling is done to increase aeration in the drink, which can help the whiskey's aromas release and the flavors balance more effectively. There are times, however, when a simple swirl won't suffice. Although more expensive whiskeys may just need a touch of aeration to improve their flavor, cheaper ones can benefit from slightly more heavy duty methods.

Introducing the whiskey pump. These handy contraptions create a combination of aeration and infusion, to both balance and introduce additional flavor. You place your whiskey into one side of the pump and some wood chips into the other, and then use the pumping mechanism to push the drink through the wood and into a glass. The whiskey will come out slightly foamy, thanks to the additional air being pushed into it, and will take on whatever flavor note your wood chips have. It's a good way to increase the caramel, toasty notes in your whiskey, and to generally make your drink taste more well-rounded and full.

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If you're willing to wait a while, one smart little piece of equipment can allow you to add flavor to your whiskey in a totally hands-off fashion. Simply grab yourself a small 1 Liter Oak Aging Barrel from Amazon and pour your whiskey into it. Leave it to mature for however long you wish, and then serve your whiskey directly from the barrel. The drink will take on all the oaky notes of the wood, and the longer you leave it, the more flavorful and rich it will become.

Importantly, you should avoid doing this for whiskeys that have already been aged, as they can become just way too full-flavored and woody. If your cheap whiskey's already heavy on smoky notes, it'll need some other way to balance it out, like adding some vanilla or sweetness. Plus, these barrels can be a little temperamental, with reports of whiskey leaking or being absorbed by the wood. You'll need to make sure you temper your barrel first and apply any barrel wax that comes with it.

Anyone who's ever tried ginger wine will know how delicious spicy it is, and whether it's alcoholic or non-alcoholic, it'll still have a serious kick. That kick can work wonders with cheaper whiskeys. One quick hack for cut-price whiskey is to add a dash of ginger wine into the mix, which can add a touch of sweetness and spiciness without altering the flavor of the liquor too much. It can also give your whiskey a slightly fresh taste, thanks to the fierceness of the ginger.

Folks who have tried this trick recommend using Stone's Original Ginger Wine, but the truth is that you can opt for any reputable brand and it'll still do the trick. Crucially, though, you need to be sparing here. While ginger wine can improve whiskey, it can also take its flavor in another direction entirely. You want to retain the smoky, woody notes of your drink, so avoid the temptation to totally dilute it. Start with around a tablespoon of wine per bottle of whiskey, do a small taste test, and add a little more if you think it needs it.

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If you want to add some sugariness to your whiskey, it can be tempting to reach for a liquid sweetener. However, while ingredients like honey and maple syrup can be effective at imbuing the liquor with more flavor, they can also be slightly aggressive. Add just a bit too much, and your whiskey will start to taste like a cocktail — and can also take on a strangely medicinal note that can make it even worse than before.

To avoid this, add sweetness through subtler means by using raisins. Take a handful of raisins, place them in a jar, and add your whiskey. Leave the mixture to steep for around a week, taste-testing it every day or two until it's reached your desired level of sweetness. In addition to imbuing your whiskey with natural sugars, the raisins will also give it a hint of maltiness that can balance out any overpowering smoky tastes.

The best thing about this trick? Once you take your raisins out, you can then reuse them. Pop them in a container in your fridge, and then when you're ready, bake them into a fruit cake or mix them into some ice cream. Your dessert will be boozy, rich, and delicious, and the raisins will remain wonderfully sweet (and will still be good at giving you energy).