Step 7: Check and Sample

After a week, the sampling begins. Open each jar and use a straw or spoon to take a small taste. See if the flavor of the spices, vanilla and tea are strong enough in each batch of bourbon.  "At this point it’s up to the maker’s palate to determine whether to keep the infusion of each element going or to combine the parts and use,” says Esmon. The mixtures won’t really go bad, but she recommends capping the infusion at a month. “The tea will infuse the fastest, but you want it to be bitter, so that’s okay,” she explains. Esmon says to proceed on a week-by-week tasting basis if a single week doesn’t produce powerful enough results.