What Should You Do If A Cork Crumbles In Your Whiskey Bottle?

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Some of the best store-bought whiskey brands are sealed with a natural or synthetic cork stopper. Corks allow a tiny amount of air into the bottle to enhance the aging process, and most of the time, uncorking a bottle of whiskey is easy. But what should you do if the cork breaks apart and crumbles into your bottle? The good news is that your whiskey isn't ruined and the cork bits won't affect its taste or quality. Still, you'll probably want to remove them before pouring a glass.

You should first use pliers or tweezers to pull the pieces of cork out of the neck of the bottle. If that isn't successful, push the pieces into the bottle with a straw or flat blade. Then decant the whiskey into another bottle and use a coffee filter or cheesecloth to strain out the cork fragments. If you are going to return the whiskey to its original bottle, rinse it out first to remove cork residue. After you have poured the whiskey back into the bottle, recork it with a new cork or silicone stopper.

The most common reason corks crumble is decomposition or degradation due to how the bottle is stored. If your whiskey has been stored on its side or in a dry, low-humidity, or hot environment for a long time, or if the cork was improperly inserted or removed, the cork may degrade. You can keep whiskey corks from crumbling by storing your bottles upright in a cool, dark place with stable temperature and humidity, and using proper uncorking and recorking methods.

To open a whiskey bottle with a standard cork, you'll need to use one of the many different types of corkscrews. The user-friendly wing corkscrew is a popular choice. First remove any foil or wax covering the cork, then position the corkscrew's tip in the center of the cork. Twist the corkscrew slowly downward until the arms or wings on the side rise up. Then slowly push the arms down again to pry the cork out of the bottle. If the cork feels stuck, very gently rock the corkscrew from side to side while slowly pulling up.

If the whiskey bottle has a T-shaped cork that looks like a flat, round bottle top, you can usually remove it by grasping it tightly with your fingers and gently twisting it while pulling it upward. If the cork is stuck, you can use an Ah-So corkscrew, also called a two-pronged corkscrew. Insert one prong on each side of the cork and gently rock the corkscrew back and forth, then twist it to pull the cork out. 

If the cork is old and damaged, you can use The Durand corkscrew. To recork a whiskey bottle, clean the cork by rinsing it under water. Then place the bottle on a flat, stable surface and gently twist and push the cork back in. If the cork is damaged or old, you should use a wine stopper, a new rubber stopper or cork, or even use the same method we recommend for saving leftover Champagne if you don't have a cork or stopper.