Of all the terms to rise into common use amongst whisky drinkers these days, the “neck pour” is one of the more interesting concepts. So what is the neck pour? Is it good or bad? Does it even exist? Read on….
In very simple terms, the neck pour is the very first dram to be poured out of the bottle when you first break the seal and pop the cork on a whisky. By this definition, it is thus the whisky that was sitting in the top of the bottle (i.e. in the neck), and is the first portion of liquid to be consumed from your new purchase. The reason the term exists in the vernacular is because of the perceived observation by many that it tastes different to the rest of the whisky in the bottle….well, at least when you subsequently return to the whisky at a later time. (That’s the important bit, as we’ll explore shortly). In real life, it plays out along the lines of someone observing, “The neck pour wasn’t very impressive, but when I returned to the bottle a few days later, I suddenly found it far more enjoyable.”
So is the neck pour somehow different to the rest of the whisky? Does it have some different chemical composition or character by virtue of being at the top of the bottle? A rational analysis of the situation should dismiss that notion immediately: After all, bottles get moved, displaced, and handled in such a way that the contents of the bottle are mixed and homogenous. So what’s really going on, and is there any merit to the perceived change in the character of the spirit after the first pour?
As was hinted at above, the variable and catalyst here is time. And, hand in hand with that is the phenomenon that is commonly described as – for better or worse – oxidation. Now, oxidation is a complex beast, and if you want to get familiar with all the ins and outs, you could read Whisky & Wisdom’s feature piece, Oxidation – does whisky go off in the bottle? As we discussed in that article, the change that whisky undergoes is not true oxidation in the scientific sense of the term. (In science, oxidation is the loss of electrons from one species to another, and requires that the other species gains those electrons). However, for better or worse, oxidation is the word that the wine and whisky communities commonly use to describe the changes that occur to drinks when they “breathe” or are simply exposed to air.
In this sense, then, the change and difference we occasionally perceive between the neck pour and the rest of the whisky can be one of the following, or – more likely – a combination of the following:
- Oxidation: When you pop the cork and pour out your first dram, you are introducing air into the bottle. The introduction of air sets in motion changes to the whisky. Some of the lighter volatiles that may have been present in the spirit pre-opening are allowed to escape/evaporate, and the whisky may have a different character when you return to it a day, a week, or a month later. Depending on the actual chemistry of the spirit (i.e. the presence of volatiles and lighter esters), some whiskies will be prone to exhibiting more change than others after the removal of just one dram from the bottle.
- Time: It is rare to hear people speak of the neck pour if the bottle is opened and mostly consumed in a single session. (For example, cracking a bottle amongst friends and putting a serious dent in the contents that same day or evening). The concept of the neck pour invariably revolves around situations where the first dram is consumed on Day 1, and then the second dram is poured on Day (1 + x). Obviously, the bigger the value of “x”, the more time elapses and the more scope there is for change in the presence of air in the bottle.
- Apples and oranges: As any experienced whisky drinker will confirm, how you perceive the same whisky on different occasions is never consistent or the same. Your perception of a whisky and how it tastes is a function of variables such as the time of day, what other things you’ve eaten or drunk in the preceding hours, your mood, your state of alertness and concentration, and your general health. When you try the same whisky on different occasions, say three or four days apart, all those parameters and variables that influence your palate’s assessment will likely be different. As such, you’re not really comparing apples with apples. The trick is to acknowledge you may be holding an orange.
So, on the above basis, yes, the neck pour does exist. On the same basis, there should also be a shoulder pour, a chest pour, and a bottom pour. But no one talks about those, do they? And the reason for that is deeply rooted in psychology. The reason why the neck pour is a thing is because it’s so closely tied to our expectations. When you open a bottle for the first time – particularly an expression you’ve never tried previously and you’re keen to discover – we make demands on that whisky: We demand that it meet our expectations. It has to justify the price we paid for it, or justify the hype we heard about it, or justify the story on the label, or its rarity, and so on. And so the first pour out of the bottle is being judged and interrogated with, arguably, a higher level of scrutiny. And it is, indeed, judged. We pass judgement on the neck pour; we subsequently give the whisky a metaphorical score; we pigeonhole/categorise it; and we form our opinion.
It’s when that first opinion is in any way negative that the neck pour becomes a thing and also (hopefully) becomes the reference point for the whisky’s future salvation! For it is under those circumstances that we return to the whisky a few days, weeks or months later and try our second dram from the bottle. And it is then that we seemingly discover the whisky has improved. You’ll rarely, if ever, hear someone say, “The neck pour was delicious, but the whisky absolutely fell apart a week later.” No, it’s always the other way around….the whisky has improved since the neck pour.
The truth is, some whiskies need the benefit of the neck pour being poured out. Whether it be due to bottle shock; a higher concentration of volatiles; or just the need for some interaction with oxygen, there are a growing number of big-name whisky expressions that seem to consistently benefit from the introduction of oxygen into the bottle (via a neck pour) and then being given a week or two to settle. It has not gone unnoticed that many of these consistent performers are cask-strength or high-ABV bottlings.
So what’s the takeaway here? Perhaps think of the neck pour as being the equivalent of a book’s cover. And as you all know….never judge a book by its cover.
Cheers,
AD
PS…if you enjoyed this article, you might also like our other “explainer” articles:
Oxidation – does whisky go off in the bottle?
The complete guide to peat and peated whisky
The whisky lover’s complete guide to sherry
The complete guide to oak, casks, & whisky maturation
The 1980’s Heavy Metal guide to whisky
The complete guide to non chill-filtered whisky
Whiskies definitely change in the bottle, but I think it’s generally very overstated due to the “apples and oranges” and expectations points you mention above. Corks aren’t a perfect seal, and whisky has been in a vat and before that a wooden barrel “breathing” for a long time prior to being bottled – so the idea that it only starts changing because we’ve taken a pour from the neck doesn’t particularly make sense… Yet a bottle that’s been unopened and untouched on a shop shelf for a year still has a neck pour 🤔
I would love for some of the bigger advocates of the neck pour to blind taste two samples from the same whisky – one that’s from a bottle that’s been open with the neck removed a month, and one freshly opened. The difference would be much smaller than their current perception.
While whisky certainly changes in the bottle, and usually for the better (at least in the first few months/year), “the neck pour” is, like “oxidation” just a common term that describes something else. I would use “fresh pour” and “environmental interactions” to describe these terms correctly, but as everyone knows what they’re refering to, they can stay. Bottom line – whisky will change, so the first dram would be different than later pours, but this has nothing to do with it sitting in the neck…
Great post!
You say no one speaks of the bottom pour, but I say otherwise. It does exist. My co-workers at my liquor store and others know it. It is the inferior dried, bitter and uncomplex leftovers at the bottom of a bottle that’s been sitting for weeks or more.