Mini Barrels--The Beginning

So Big Bowl took it to the next level with his Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (with photo! I'm still kicking myself for not having photographed the Sacher Torte). Looks good my friend, but those strawberries seem a bit watery, though the balsamic is a nice touch.

Speaking of balsamic, this is my latest hair-brained idea: mini barrels. These little puppies are charred white oak with a mini-spigot to boot that can hold 1 liter of liquid. The whole idea of these things is to age wine, liquor, or balsamic vinegar, and the charcoal will filter out the impurities over time.

With this in mind I took some Colavita balsamic (right barrel) and some of the finest Bulloch Lade blended scotch whiskey in a plastic bottle (left barrel). I didn't want to use real fine vinegar or scotch because I have no idea how if this is going to work. Apparently you need to rotate the barrel a quarter turn every three months. I filled them just yesterday and in May I'm going to turn them. I figure I could also give the stuff inside a taste at that time as well. I'll give an update in May and let you know how it goes. I suspect it's going to be some tasty stuff. Maybe if Big Bowl ever decides to come out East maybe he could sample some himself.