Whiskey Soap!

[SplendorSoaps]

I'm always up for a good soap experiment, and this one was a doozy! I was vending at a local whiskey distillery a couple of weeks ago, and the owner gave me some whiskey "char" to play with. I researched whiskey soap, and was a little disheartened that I found very few successful endeavors online, but I wanted to try it anyway!

I did a small test batch using 20% of my liquids as boiled down bourbon. I was really pleased that it didn't seize the batch! To half of the batter, I added ground whiskey "char" to see what would happen. It's curing now, but I can already tell that little if any of the whiskey scent came through the lye process. I can't wait to see how it works after a long cure! I'm curious to see if it actually adds anything to the soap like beer does, or if it's all label appeal. If it's all label appeal, I'd definitely use a cheaper bourbon next time! LOL

I wrote about it on my blog...is it okay to post a link here?

 

[BlackDog]

oooh, I'm a whiskey fan, so I'll be interested to hear how this turns out. I only drink it, don't have anything to do with the distilling, so I'm not familiar with the term "char" - what is it?

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I don't know much about the process either, but part of the process involves charring the inside of the whiskey barrels to give the bourbon a certain flavor. If I understand it correctly, sometimes the barrels need to be "re-charred". The char that the owner of the distillery gave me was still a little bit wet with bourbon, so it smells smoky and amazing!

 

[cmzaha]

I have made soap using whiskey as part of the liquid, also boiled down, but not any char, which I would assume is similiar to charcoal. Sorry to say I did not really notice any difference with the soap. But it makes great label appeal. I also make a Sugared Limoncello soap using Limoncello as part of the liquid and Lemongrass with Litsea. Again label appeal...At least beer and wine add bubbles to soap

 

[Relle]

Some links to read - I don't think too many have been successful, save the alcohol and drink it.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=47531
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=37886
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=7081
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=10184

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I have made soap using whiskey as part of the liquid, also boiled down, but not any char, which I would assume is similiar to charcoal. Sorry to say I did not really notice any difference with the soap. But it makes great label appeal. I also make a Sugared Limoncello soap using Limoncello as part of the liquid and Lemongrass with Litsea. Again label appeal...At least beer and wine add bubbles to soap

Limoncello soap sound amazing, even if you just leave the alcohol out and use a similar scent!

I've washed my hands with the whiskey soap so far, and it's not bad soap, but definitely not as luxurious as beer soap. It's only been a week and a half, so we'll see what happens after a longer cure.

Some links to read - I don't think too many have been successful, save the alcohol and drink it.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=47531
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=37886
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=7081
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=10184

I've seen some of these thread already. SMF was the first place I looked before even attempting this wacky experiment! LOL

Still, I think that there is something to be said for label appeal. Even if it's just a conversation starter with a customer, it opens the door for other sales possibilities. I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know how the soap itself turned out. I'm really curious about the batch with the whiskey charcoal in it!

 

[LoveOscar]

I'm interested in the result from the whiskey charcoal as well! Looking forward to it!

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I'll keep you posted! I'm not expecting anything miraculous, but it will be interesting to see if any of the bourbon fragrance comes back after a longer cure time (and if the charcoal will bring anything special to the game).

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I'm resurrecting this post because after almost a 7 week cure, I've tried out the whiskey soap that I made!

Both the whiskey soap and the whiskey with added "char" turned out to be nice hard bars, even with all veggie ingredients. As anticipated, the scent of the whiskey did not come through at all. I did notice that the lather is really nice with the whiskey addition, similar to beer soap. It's a little bit creamy with some fluffiness, which is a big plus for me because I love the bubbles.

The "char" soap was dark grey, and I definitely needed to grind the char down more than I did. It ended up being a little bit more scratchy than I would prefer. The char seemed to feel similar to soap with activated charcoal in it, scratchiness notwithstanding.

My final verdict is that while I feel that the whiskey addition did add a little something extra to the feel of the lather, the expense of making this recipe regularly would be very prohibitive. I think that the whiskey would have some definite label appeal (especially in my neck of the woods near Seattle, where craft EVERYTHING is big right now), but that could be accomplished with even a small token addition of whiskey in the recipe.

Just wanted to share that whiskey soap CAN be done! But should it? LOL :think:

 

[CaraBou]

Just wanted to share that whiskey soap CAN be done! But should it? LOL :think:

Sure it should! (And why didn't I think of that??)

 

[cinnamaldehyde]

Just wanted to share that whiskey soap CAN be done! But should it? LOL :think:

I've had a maple bourbon soap on my mind for a while now... this inspires me to get going on it!

 

[Arimara]

I don't know. Bourbon is pricey and I don't know if I could personally justify the price of making a soap with an ingredient like that. Rum on the other hand...