Ask Away: Which closure do you prefer on a whisky bottle?

You might not always think about it, but whisky bottles come with different types of closures. Think plastic stoppers or screw caps. This week, we asked the Whisky Monkeys what they prefer.

I prefer a natural cork on my whisky bottle. Not for preservation, flavor, or any scientific reason. No, it’s all about that sound when you pull a cork from a whisky bottle. Music to the ears, nothing beats it!

The delightful pop of a cork is priceless, but in the end it’s what’s inside the bottle that counts. A screw cap doesn’t change that. In fact, if you store whisky for a long time, the cork can start to deteriorate. With a plastic stopper or a screw cap, you won’t have that problem!

I don’t really mind either way. Sure, some closures sound nicer or look better, but I probably care the least about what kind of cork or cap a bottle has. The most important thing to me is that it’s not a wooden cork that crumbles, because then my whisky’s ruined. Luckily, that almost never happens.

Daan has said most of it already. In the world of whisky, nothing beats the sound of a popping cork. I’ve also had too many corks break on me and ended up straining the whisky through a sieve. Plastic is a solid fix for that.

Cork remains my favorite closure despite the drawbacks of natural materials. That said, screw caps are ideal for long-term storage, because they don’t dry out. The same goes for synthetic corks, by the way. Ultimately, the choice depends on what I plan to do with the whisky. In the worst case, I can always decant it into a smaller bottle with a more suitable cap.

In this overview you can read more of our “Ask Us Anything” articles. Discover the Monkeys’ opinions on all kinds of whisky topics, whether it’s bottles from Asia, a standout Dutch expression, or something entirely different.