Oxidation... oooh, sounds sciencey.
Don't worry, no didactic lectures, formulae, or math here. I'm an arts person. But I do want to address a serious drinker's problem: oxidation, aka Booze Rot or Hooch Death.
Most people know that once opened a bottle of wine has a very finite lifespan. After a day or two - unless the air is pumped out of the open bottle using a vacuum system or something like it - it goes flat, loses flavor, and eventually becomes unpalatably gross.
But a surprisingly large number of people don't realize the same thing happens to hard liquor, just at a slower rate due to the higher alcohol content. Once you open a bottle, the clock starts ticking. Exactly how much time still seems to be very much a matter of debate - I've read anything from six months to four or five years, depending on the type of hooch and whether any steps are taken. Some people claim they taste a noticeable difference after only a few weeks, so it may be palate dependent. I'm sure climate also plays a part.
If any chemists are reading this, I'd love an expert opinion on rates of oxidation and all that. One opinion that is universally held, though, is that the most important factor is the air-to-whisky ratio. The more air in the bottle, the faster it dies out as the oxygen reacts to the alcohol. This correspondingly means the shape of the bottle is also a factor - a tall, thin bottle exposes less liquid to air than a short, fat bottle.
A classic experiment to prove this is to pour a glass of whisky, take a sip... then leave it out overnight or a day. Then sip again. It will taste "dead as a beef" as Faulkner would say. Flat, hollow, missing many flavors in the nose or the body, and usually with a tarnished finish.
Another factor is direct sunlight. The same UV rays in sunlight that cause sunburns will break down alcohol if it's left in the direct light for too long. There is a good reason wine is traditionally kept in cellars. This is also why most beer bottles are colored green or dark brown, and why those giant novelty-size store display bottles at liquor stores are usually colored water, and also why Scotch and other expensive alcohol is generally sold in those giant opaque boxes or cylinders.
But there are sorceries and sciences available to save your bottle. The classic method to delay the inevitable is to decant the booze into progressively smaller containers to limit the amount of air in the bottle. Once a quarter of the alcohol is gone, pour the remainder into a smaller bottle where there isn't any room at the top for air. And so on.
Another method is to find glass beads and drop them into the booze to keep the level high, thus limiting the amount of oxidation that can occur. As you drink more, you can drop more and more beads in to keep the level correspondingly high in the bottle. I've only read about this, and never actually seen it done, so I'm not sure how to keep the beads from dropping out when you pour from the bottle. A mesh? One of those plastic four-way vodka pourers?
Yet another modern solution I've heard of is to use those nitrogen canisters they sell at wine stores to extend the lifespan of wine. Vacuum pumps would also work. The same concept applies to any other alcohol, and replacing the air with inert nitrogen would definitely work. I have no idea if nitrogen would "color" the flavor, but if wine aficionados use it then it's probably a safe bet.
Conversely, take these lessons to the bar with you - don't order a glass of something whose bottle is nearly empty. Don't order something to sip if it has one of those pourers in the neck of the bottle - allowing air to freely flow in and out. Those are both recipes for disaster. Don't hesitate to ask a bartender to open a new bottle if it's a sipping liquor (Scotch, bourbon, cognac, et al.) and the old bottle looks tapped out or just old. A good bar will oblige.
The YouTube whisky legend Ralfy discusses this as well. I particularly like his flame method! So be cautious, my fellow partakers in the liquid gifts, and don't hoard your bottles after you open them - sip them down and fulfill their destiny.
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