Showing posts with label whisky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whisky. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Whisk It All Out! – An Overall Guide to Whiskey
Unless you’re one of the few nice people around who hasn’t even savored a drop of liquor in their whole lives, chances are that you’re at least marginally familiar of the drink whiskey. Whiskey – which is also spelled by other without the letter E – is the name used for a wide variety of delicious and distilled liquors that are produced from grains and later on aged in oak casts. Due to its grain content, a lot of people believe that whiskey is a good type of liquor to drink. In fact, there are numerous couples both in the United States and Europe who prefer to feed their babies whiskey rather than milk or water.
Whisk It that Way: How to Drink Whiskey
In the old days, Puritans had a very specific etiquette when it comes to drinking whiskey. For them, whiskey must be purely enjoyed from a tulip-shaped glass with a dash of still water. The addition of still water is necessary to maximize the uniquely delicious aroma of whiskey. Keep in mind that ice actually mutes rather than strengthens the aroma of whiskey.
Examples of whiskey-containing cocktails are the Manhattan, Whiskey Sour, Irish coffee and the very much simple ginger ale for people who are not used to drinking whiskey or any liquor for that matter.
How Do You Whisk It: The Different Kinds of Whiskey
The type of grain used in a certain mixture is usually the sole differentiating factor for the various kinds of whiskey available in the market today.
Scotch Whiskey – these drinks are usually distilled twice and aged for at least three years
Irish Whiskey – whiskey of this type would have to undergo distillation thrice and then spend at least four years in oak casts before it can be considered “drinkable”
American Straight Whiskey – these drinks require the use of a mash bill containing at least 51% or anything less than 80% of a single grain. The aging process must take place in new barrels made from American white oak that are charred prior to use.
Malt Whiskey – this term is only used for whiskeys made from 100% malted barley and nothing else. A single-malt whiskey on the other hand is exclusively produced by just one distillery and is the most expensive type of whiskey that’s out in the market. Its one-distillery production makes it taste highly distinguishable from other malted whiskeys.
Pure Pot Still Whiskey – a kind of Irish whiskey, pure pot still whiskey is produced mainly by combining malted and unmalted barley.
Blended Whiskey – this is the name used to describe whiskies of different kinds that are blended together and contains straight whiskey as well as neutral spirits; its production process permits distilleries to preserve quite a consistent flavor and mellower than single-malt whiskeys.
Places to Whisk It: Significant Geographical Locations in the History of Whiskey Production
Scotland – Although all types of whiskey are made in Scotland, their favorite type of whiskey would be single-malt Scotches. Scottish people also prefer to call whiskeys as “whisky”. Well-known Scottish brands of whiskey would be Glenmorangie, Chivas Regal and Glenlivet.
United States – The producers of whiskeys such as Bourbon, Tennesee and even the home brewed whiskey version called Moonshine, North America is also fond of calling Scotch whiskeys simply as “Scotch”. Jim Beam Black Label and Jack Daniels are examples of Popular American brands of whiskey.
Ireland – Because of their triple distillation and 4 year aging process, Irish whiskeys are acclaimed for their extra smoothness and flavorful taste. Famous Irish whiskey brands would be Connemara and Tullamore Dew.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Origin Scotch and Irish Whiskey
The origin of Irish whisky is a little cloudy, no one is actually sure when it was 1st created, it is summised that brewing started sometime in the 12th century.
Irish whisky is barley, malt whisky made in Ireland. Irish whisky resembles Scotch whiskey in that its ingredients and formulation is slightly different.
Note that Irish whisky is written differently.Peat is almost never used when malting Irish whisky, resulting in a whisky with a smoother, sweeter flavour. In most Irish whiskys, the smoky, earthy flavors of Scotch are absent.
Common wisdom says that the Irish invented whisky, but it is speculated that the Scots perfected it. Both claims are open to doubt, if "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," then "perfection is on the tongue of the glassholder." In other words it is a question of taste. The word whisky comes from the Irish Gaelic term "uisce beatha" which translates as "water of life" ("uisce" is pronounced ish-ka).
There are fewer distilleries of Irish whisky than there are distillers of Scotch. Economic difficulties in the last couple of centuries have led to great number of mergers and closures.
Currently there are only three distilleries operating in the whole of Ireland (although each produces a number of different whiskies.) Irish whisky, like Scotch, comes in several forms. Like Scotch whisky, there is single malt, (100% malted barley and grain whisky.
Grain whisky is much lighter and more neutral in flavor than single malt and is almost never bottled as a single grain. It is instead used to blend with single malt to produce a lighter blended whisky.
Unique to Irish whisky distilling and something that the scotch have never followed on, is pure pot still whisky (100% barley, both malted and unmalted, distilled in a pot still). The "green" unmalted barley gives the pure pot still whisky a spicy, unique Irish quality. Like single malt, pure pot still is sold as such or blended with grain whisky.
Irish whisky is believed to be one of the earliest distilled beverages in Europe, dating to the mid-12th century). The Old Bushmills Distillery also lays claim to being the oldest licensed distillery in the world since gaining a license in 1608.
The History of The Irish Coffee
The Port of Foyne was a busy air traffic point between Europe and United States in the 1930s and 1940s, carrying a diverse range of people from refugees and Royal members. It was the winter of 1934, the flight from Foyne left to New York in extremely bad weather that eventually caused the flight to return. Chef Joe Sheridan working at the restaurant in the terminal building offered tired passengers the coffee drink mixed with a quality Irish whiskey. One American passenger asked if that's Brazilian coffee, and the chef answered, "that's Irish coffee."
In 1952 Jack Koeppler, owner of Buena Vista in San Fransisco brought the Irish Coffee recipe back to the United States and made it famous. Every year, the Foynes Flying Boat Museum holds an Irish Coffee Festival in August. The festival has the world's best Irish Coffee making competition.
The Original Irish Coffee
Joe, Sheridan, Foynes Flying Boat Museum
Cream - Rich as an Irish Brogue
Coffee- Strong as Friendly Hand
Sugar - Sweet as the tongue of a Rouge
Irish Whiskey - smooth as the Wit of the Land
In a warm stemmed whiskey goblet, pour one jigger of Jameson Irish whiskey. Add one spoon of brown sugar and fill with strong black coffee within one inch of brim. Stir to dissolve the sugar and top off with whipped cream, slightly aerated by pouring it over the back of a spoon. Do not stir after adding the cream as the true flavor is obtained by drinking the hot coffee and Irish whiskey through the cream.
The Classic Irish Coffee
- 2 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 5 - 6 oz freshly brewed strong black coffee
Stir thoroughly and top off with a layer of heavy whipping cream, poured gently over the back of a spoon.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Talisker Scotch Whisky
Sometimes when you are thanking a long-dead distiller for building his still in such a stunning location, you wonder at the insanity that led him to settle on such a remote spot. Talisker is one of those places: situated high on the northwest coast of Skye in Scotland, it looks back to the jagged ridge of the Black Cuillin, out into the stormy Atlantic Ocean. Even taking into account the reviled Skye road bridge, this isn't an easy place to get to by road, but it was the sea that proved Talisker's saviour, perhaps its raison d'etre.
'Everything would have been brought in by sea, by puffer,' says the distillery's new managing director Alastair Robertson. 'And everything went out in exactly the same way. The sea was critical to its survival - there had to be a sea link to get the place started.' It might explain why Skye, the largest of the Hebrides and a place famed for its thirsty population, has only ever had one distillery; although iron in the rock, the brutality of the Clearances and the subsequent anti-establishment stance of the
Skye people could also have played a parr. Still, Talisker remains a frontline malt: UDV, thanks in part to the tireless enthusiasm of its former manager Mike Copland, and is a major player in Johnn:e Walker. The workforce may have shrunk since the days when it malted all its own barley, but it remains a mighty dram. Pean water, heavily-peated malt and long ferments provide the foundations, but Talisker's seem lies in the still house and, specifically, in thr strange wash stills. 'Every distillery, thankfully, has something unique about it." says Alastair.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Springbank Scotch Whisky
SPRINGBANK The decline of Campbeltown as a distilling capital came suddenly. Of the 21 distilleries that Barnard visited, only two are still in existence and one of them, Glen Scotia, is open only intermittently. The good news is that you will soon be able to buy five different Campbeltown malts; four from one distillery - the legendary Springbank.
A resolute pillar of tradition, family-owned Springbank is the only malt distillery where the entire process from malting to bottling is carried out on the same site. In fact, flying in the face of convention, the firm reintroduced floor malting in 1992. 'People tell us that our hands-on approach is special,' says Ewan Mitchell, who handles marketing. 'Because it has been in the hands of the same family for so long, our chairman is determined to keep it the way he inherited it. Fortunately we've got a good reputation and consumers want to see it as people-based. Our independence is obviously as important to them as it is to me.'
But is Springbank just an anachronism in today's industry? 'The industry is becoming less and less traditional,' says Ewan, 'but we're against change for change's sake. It's easy to impose new methods but lose sight of the product. At the end of the day we control the bottled product from start to finish.'
For manager Frank McHardy, tradition makes a difference to the quality of the spirit. 'People are totally involved in the product,' he says. The guys have to work it, make the malt, mash it and distil it - there's total involvement. We're also employing 25 people in Campbeltown and, given the economy of Kintyre, that's very important.' Frank's tour of duty has seen him manage Bruichladdich on Islay and Bushmills in Northern Ireland, before returning to Springbank; thus he has run three very different distilleries in the 30-mile radius which most historians agree is the cradle of whisky making.
His Bushmills' experience is proving particularly useful in developing Springbank's latest addition, a triple-distilled unpeated malt called Hazelburn, which is due to appear in 2002.
TASTING NOTES
Springbank 10-year-old
46%ABV full, malty nose with some sea air, spice, pigskin and toffee apple. Very smooth and sweet to start then a fusillade of flavours -dried herb, butter, salt, smoke, vanilla pod, moss and flowers. A great package.
Springbank 15-year-old
46%ABV Well balanced between vanilla, creme brulee, salty sea air burnt range and smoky wood. A silky mouthful though the wood is a little prominent then a splash of sea spray on the finish.
Springbank 21-year-old
46%ABV Amber colour. Peach, raisin ozone, smoke, fluxing between caramelized orange and salt. Smooth start, then some heather, raisin, clootie dumpling coconut matting and the signature salty finish.
Springbank 1966 Local Barley
54.4%ABV Huge nose mixing coal bunker, sweetly ripe fruit, hickory wood and almost rancio-like aromas of mushroom, leaf-mould, anise and smoke. Explodes on the palate: biscuity, then some toffee, hickory chips, smoke and sea air. A fascinating mix of sweet and sour.
Longrow 10-year-old
Attractive mix of muted/turfy peat smoke with a perfumed rose-petal lift. A drop of water kindles the peat fires but always balanced by a lavender/rose-scented perfume. Silky, briny with a rich coal-tar/perfumed finish.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Some Facts About Whiskey Or Whisky
When discussing whisky the first thing that needs to be know is that there are two legitimate spellings. The Scotts and Canadians spell whisky without the “e”, while the Irish and Americans spell it with an “e” as in whiskey. This should be the first indication that the world of whisky is a very complicated one and has many regional differences in taste and production. This is part of what makes whisky such an interesting and enjoyable spirit.
Historically it is believed that the Irish were the first to make whiskey, however the Scotts have also laid claim to being the first whisky producers. The Irish used the term “uisce beatha” ("Water of Life" in Gaelic) to describe whiskey, so it must have been important.
Both the Scottish and Irish make whiskey the same way, except for the malting and distillation process. In Scotland the malted barley is roasted over open peat fires to dry, this results in the grain picking up the peat flavour. In Ireland, the malted barely is dried in closed ovens, and is never exposed to the smoke. The process of mashing and fermentation is much the same for both countries. In the distillation step, the Irish, most of the time, distill their product three times, which results in a very pure distillate which makes Irish whiskey exceptionally smooth. The Scottish distill their product twice and this results in more flavour in the spirit.
In North America there is Canadian whisky and American whiskey, which has a number of regional classifications including Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey. Each product in North America is unique and is regulated by the government. Canadian whisky is the number one imported spirit into the United States and is second in consumption only to vodka.
American whiskey has a number of regulation depending on the definition of the product. Bourbon must be made from fermented mash of not less than 51% corn, rye, wheat, malted barely or malted rye grain. It cannot be distilled at a proof higher than 160 and must be stored in new oak barrels at a proof of 125 or less. Blended American whiskey must be made from at least 20% whiskey aged two or more years with the remainder made from unaged neutral grain spirit. American corn whiskey must be made from a minimum mash of 80% corn. Tennessee whiskey follows the same regulations as Bourbon, but is charcoal filtered (Lincoln County Process), so it does not qualify as a bourbon.
Canadian whisky must be ages for at least three years, but for the most part the Canadian government allows the expertise of the distiller to define the characteristics of the final product so there are no limits on distillation proof or barrel requirements. Any Canadian whisky that is aged for less than four years must have the age listed on the bottle. Most Canadian whisky is aged for six or more years. Canadian whisky is generally a blended spirit. The term “blended” means that the final product is made from a number different types of distilled product. For example, a Canadian whisky may be composed of corn, barely, wheat and rye distillates that have been aged in selected used or new oak barrels. Some Canadian producers put all of the grains in one vat and ferment them as a whole and pre-blend and age the distillate. Other producers ferment each grain individually and age each distillate separately and then blend a final product from a mixture of spirits. Most Canadian whisky is distilled twice.
This article has only scratched the surface of the whisk(e)y world. There are many regional characteristics of whisky and many other counties are producing this fine spirit. It would take a lifetime to explore the complete world of whisky, but it would be a worthy attempt.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Grants Scotch Whisky
As the whisky industry continues to consolidate, the days of family-owned distiller/blenders is fast becoming a memory. William Grant & Sons is one of the few noble exceptions, proving that a family firm compete with the UDVs of this world by being as self-sufficient as possible.
Every firm uses its own malts as the core of its blends: Grant's can draw on the Dufftown triumvirate of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie, although it still buys or exchanges over 40 other malts for its blends. Grant's also uses its own grain whisky from its distillery in Girvan, which it bottles as Black Barrel.
The need to keep as many of the fillings in-house was the rationale behind building Kininvie in 1990. Constructing a new distillery is always a slightly nervy experience, as you can never be 100 per cent certain how the malt will turn out, how it will mature or how it will behave in a blend. Thankfully, Grant's ever-modest master blender David Stewart is happy with Kininvie's performance so far. 'We built it to give us a fruity note for the blends,' he explains. 'I've been using it in Family Reserve for the past four years and eventually it may end up in the 12-year-old, though we still don't know what a 12-year-old Kininvie will be like'.
Kininvie's arrival doesn't mean the malts it replaces are immediately taken out of the blend, as the process is a gradual one involving constant balancing and rebalancing of flavours and components in the blends. What is certain is that Kininvie won't disturb the graceful, sweet and complex Grant's style; wherein David uses the clean, quick-maturing Girvan grain as a platform for some powerful interplay between the malts.
While the Dufftown core remains the same in the Grant's range, he uses lighter malts in Clan McGregor and Family Reserve, and meatier players such as Cragganmore, Highland Park and The Macallan in older blends. 'There may be more malt in the older blends,' he says, 'but don't underestimate the grain. It does provide flavour as well'.
G RA N T' S One of the most famous families in whisky, the Grants had already built their Glenfiddich distillery three years prior to the launch of their blend - originally Standfast, now Family Reserve.
TASTING NOTES
Grant's Family Reserve
A fragrant nose, mixing honey/lime blossom, pear and light smoke. Very soft toffee/vanilla start before a good, subtle interplay between malt and grain, and a crisp and deliciously nutty finish.
Every firm uses its own malts as the core of its blends: Grant's can draw on the Dufftown triumvirate of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie, although it still buys or exchanges over 40 other malts for its blends. Grant's also uses its own grain whisky from its distillery in Girvan, which it bottles as Black Barrel.
The need to keep as many of the fillings in-house was the rationale behind building Kininvie in 1990. Constructing a new distillery is always a slightly nervy experience, as you can never be 100 per cent certain how the malt will turn out, how it will mature or how it will behave in a blend. Thankfully, Grant's ever-modest master blender David Stewart is happy with Kininvie's performance so far. 'We built it to give us a fruity note for the blends,' he explains. 'I've been using it in Family Reserve for the past four years and eventually it may end up in the 12-year-old, though we still don't know what a 12-year-old Kininvie will be like'.
Kininvie's arrival doesn't mean the malts it replaces are immediately taken out of the blend, as the process is a gradual one involving constant balancing and rebalancing of flavours and components in the blends. What is certain is that Kininvie won't disturb the graceful, sweet and complex Grant's style; wherein David uses the clean, quick-maturing Girvan grain as a platform for some powerful interplay between the malts.
While the Dufftown core remains the same in the Grant's range, he uses lighter malts in Clan McGregor and Family Reserve, and meatier players such as Cragganmore, Highland Park and The Macallan in older blends. 'There may be more malt in the older blends,' he says, 'but don't underestimate the grain. It does provide flavour as well'.
G RA N T' S One of the most famous families in whisky, the Grants had already built their Glenfiddich distillery three years prior to the launch of their blend - originally Standfast, now Family Reserve.
TASTING NOTES
Grant's Family Reserve
A fragrant nose, mixing honey/lime blossom, pear and light smoke. Very soft toffee/vanilla start before a good, subtle interplay between malt and grain, and a crisp and deliciously nutty finish.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Glens Whisky
Glen Ord
At a glance, the fertile plains of the Black Mr Horn a pretty fine site for a distillery quality supplies of barley, some peat from illy hansons ground, pure water..
Given the fecundity of the area it Is perfectly logical that UDV, Glen Ord has one of its main makings on the market, making Glen Ord one of only three distilleries to produce all its own malt on site (the others being Tamdhu and Springbank).
Because it's uncommon to look inside a 11 dern commercial makings, this vitally important element in making malt whisky needs to be glossed over. When you walk into a vast majority of distilleries, the tour starts at 11 at the mill and the skill of the people in the malting area is forgotten.
Glen Ord, for example, makes the malt for six of UDV's plants, including Talisker, and each of the distilleries needs a slightly different specification of malt-peating level, moisture content, even variety. When you are processing 1,000 tons of barley a week and hitting those tight specifications week in, week out, that's some achievement.
So, is Glen Ord makings with a distillery attached, a distillery with a makings, or a hybrid of the two? For a few years recently it seemed that the distillery had the upper hand. It was to be UDV's trump card, and it deserved to be. Today it seems to have been quietly dropped, but don't tell that to Barbara Ogilvie, Glen Ord's ambassador.
Barbara is the latest in a long line of women to run the distillery - at one Mini' I litre were five female malt masters working in the Hour makings - and has an irrepressible lovr nl 'her' malt. The visitor's centre is more of a community museum than the usual showcase and her tales of illicit distilling, mild knowledge of modern distilling and mulling are encyclopaedic.
TASTING NOTES
Glen Ord 12-year-old
Freshly turned earth, sultana and cake mix/malt on the nose. Clean and smooth on the palate, with some clootie dumpling, sugared almond and spice balancing the sherry wood
At a glance, the fertile plains of the Black Mr Horn a pretty fine site for a distillery quality supplies of barley, some peat from illy hansons ground, pure water..
Given the fecundity of the area it Is perfectly logical that UDV, Glen Ord has one of its main makings on the market, making Glen Ord one of only three distilleries to produce all its own malt on site (the others being Tamdhu and Springbank).
Because it's uncommon to look inside a 11 dern commercial makings, this vitally important element in making malt whisky needs to be glossed over. When you walk into a vast majority of distilleries, the tour starts at 11 at the mill and the skill of the people in the malting area is forgotten.
Glen Ord, for example, makes the malt for six of UDV's plants, including Talisker, and each of the distilleries needs a slightly different specification of malt-peating level, moisture content, even variety. When you are processing 1,000 tons of barley a week and hitting those tight specifications week in, week out, that's some achievement.
So, is Glen Ord makings with a distillery attached, a distillery with a makings, or a hybrid of the two? For a few years recently it seemed that the distillery had the upper hand. It was to be UDV's trump card, and it deserved to be. Today it seems to have been quietly dropped, but don't tell that to Barbara Ogilvie, Glen Ord's ambassador.
Barbara is the latest in a long line of women to run the distillery - at one Mini' I litre were five female malt masters working in the Hour makings - and has an irrepressible lovr nl 'her' malt. The visitor's centre is more of a community museum than the usual showcase and her tales of illicit distilling, mild knowledge of modern distilling and mulling are encyclopaedic.
TASTING NOTES
Glen Ord 12-year-old
Freshly turned earth, sultana and cake mix/malt on the nose. Clean and smooth on the palate, with some clootie dumpling, sugared almond and spice balancing the sherry wood
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Glens Scotch Whisky
Glen Garioch
Despite being one of the most fertile parts of Scotland, Aberdeenshire has very few distilleries. In 1995 it looked likely to have one less when Morrison Bowmore (MBD) mothballed Glen Garioch, in the little town of Oldmeldrum. Much to everyone's surprise they reopened it two years later - in time for its 200th birthday - and gave Fraser Hughes his first managerial job.
Fraser is overseeing a radical shift in Gier. Garioch's style. For years, MBD had hammered on the peat, but now the malt i-unpeated. A new yeast strain is being usec and the cut has been narrowed, resulting :r. i gorgeously-sweet and fragrant new make. 'Not many people get the chance to be in charge and be in at the start of such a huge transformation,' says Fraser. 'I'm really excited about it. 10 years down the line this will be a winner.'
The superb malt barns could produce three-quarters of the distillery's needs and Fraser is clearly itching to get them going again. Successful trials mean it is a distinct possibility that the smell of kilning malt could once again waft over the village, whici has been rejuvenated since the reopening. 'Five of the original staff came back when we reopened, even though they had taken new-jobs elsewhere,' he says. 'That shows the faith they have in us. We have to repay that, by making good spirit.'
Eleven jobs have been created and, if malt barns and warehouses reopen, more could appear. It seems to run counter to industry practise. 'I don't believe all that computerisation is whisky making,' says Fraser. 'You need that personal touch. It's hard to explain, but it should never be likes conveyor belt. Nothing beats being hands« it's graft and sweat that makes whisky.
'I've worked my way up from the floor. Not many people can say that these days and, sadly, not many people will have that chance. I'm lucky and it keeps your feet on | the ground.' A manager and a whisky to watch out for.
TASTING NOTES
Glen Garioch 8-year-old
Some turfy/peaty notes, with bonfires and a bint of sherry. Smoky, roasted flavour with a lick of ginger on the finish.
Glen Garioch 15-year-old
Pungent, intense mix of fresh ginger, fabric conditioner and leather car upholstery.
Despite being one of the most fertile parts of Scotland, Aberdeenshire has very few distilleries. In 1995 it looked likely to have one less when Morrison Bowmore (MBD) mothballed Glen Garioch, in the little town of Oldmeldrum. Much to everyone's surprise they reopened it two years later - in time for its 200th birthday - and gave Fraser Hughes his first managerial job.
Fraser is overseeing a radical shift in Gier. Garioch's style. For years, MBD had hammered on the peat, but now the malt i-unpeated. A new yeast strain is being usec and the cut has been narrowed, resulting :r. i gorgeously-sweet and fragrant new make. 'Not many people get the chance to be in charge and be in at the start of such a huge transformation,' says Fraser. 'I'm really excited about it. 10 years down the line this will be a winner.'
The superb malt barns could produce three-quarters of the distillery's needs and Fraser is clearly itching to get them going again. Successful trials mean it is a distinct possibility that the smell of kilning malt could once again waft over the village, whici has been rejuvenated since the reopening. 'Five of the original staff came back when we reopened, even though they had taken new-jobs elsewhere,' he says. 'That shows the faith they have in us. We have to repay that, by making good spirit.'
Eleven jobs have been created and, if malt barns and warehouses reopen, more could appear. It seems to run counter to industry practise. 'I don't believe all that computerisation is whisky making,' says Fraser. 'You need that personal touch. It's hard to explain, but it should never be likes conveyor belt. Nothing beats being hands« it's graft and sweat that makes whisky.
'I've worked my way up from the floor. Not many people can say that these days and, sadly, not many people will have that chance. I'm lucky and it keeps your feet on | the ground.' A manager and a whisky to watch out for.
TASTING NOTES
Glen Garioch 8-year-old
Some turfy/peaty notes, with bonfires and a bint of sherry. Smoky, roasted flavour with a lick of ginger on the finish.
Glen Garioch 15-year-old
Pungent, intense mix of fresh ginger, fabric conditioner and leather car upholstery.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Glenmorangie Scotish Whisky
Glenmorangie
Single Highland Rare Malt Scotch Whisky
Few distilleries have been as transformed I the malt explosion as Glenmorangie. 'In til 1970s there were two stills and we were selling five cases of malt a year," says manager Graham Eunson. 'Now we've go( eight stills, we're the biggest selling malt in little chance that success will breed complacency here on the northeast coast; for this is a firm that is forever asking why trying out new ideas, trying to grasp the elusive secret of Scotch. You might expect space-age control panels, but you won't find any.
'I've yet to be convinced of the benefits) computerization in a distillery,' says Graha 'And I'm yet to be convinced that the capit expenditure needed to install computerization justifies laying a man off. you replace a mashman with computer equipment then you have to employ an evei more expensive engineer to solve any problems.' That was music to the ears of Brian Gilmour, who was mashing as we chatted. He was turning valves, nudging the temperature this way and that, and always listening; for, as he explained, part of his jol is knowing the significance of each sound -whether it's the change in pitch of the pump or the switchers girning away. 'The fact it's manual keeps you involved,' he says. 'It giv< it that personal touch - and there's always something to be done!'
It means that Glenmorangie's long-running 16 Men of Tain campaign is no PR gloss. Neither are these old guys looking back with rose-tinted glasses. This is a youni team well aware of the needs of today's J industry, but faithful to tradition. 'I'm a traditionalist, but a realist as well,' says Graham. T don't believe in change for change's sake and altering production to cu the workforce is beyond me. Can you imagine if Glenmorangie was the 16 megabytes of Tain?'
The workforce here understands their distillery's little quirks - from the use of ha water to the tall, slim stills that stand like elegant pillars in the cathedral-like stillhou Their height and narrowness means not only this there's considerable interplay between vapour and copper, but that only the lightest Vti pours can force their way to the top. But running four wash and four spirit stills at-the •mme time takes great skill, especially as some of them behave differently. The longest serving man here, Kenny McDonald, has had .1 running battle with Number Two wash still tor years,' says Graham. 'You can come in and he's yelling at it. It just doesn't behave.'
The water and stills each play their part in creating Glenmorangie's spicy, pear-drop and apple character, but it is rounded out and given added complexity by a wood policy, masterminded by Bill Lumsden, that's among the tightest in the industry. Not only does the firm now insist on using only ex-Bourbon casks made from air-dried wood from certain slopes in the Ozarks, but it also controls what type of warehouses are used to age the Glenmorangie stocks.
The 10-year-old, for example, has a recipe for first and second fill wood, so certain types of casks are placed in certain types and areas of warehouses. They are pinning it down to the microclimate within each warehouse. With an ever-expanding range of finishes and plans to release a malt made from barley grown on its own farm, the range just keeps growing. Graham believes this is the difference between a malt-led company and a blend-led one.
I worked for a blend-led firm before this and you were a number. The people who took the decisions on whether you are open or shut didn't know who they were affecting or how their decisions impacted on people and communities. The guys here have strong feelings about Glenmorangie's success. They are the custodians of the distillery and the fact that they make something that's known worldwide gives them enormous pride.'
TASTING NOTES
Glenmorangie 10-year-old
The benchmark distillery style: pear drops, light orange and citrus fruit, light spice and a crisp note. Delicate but with a good, smooth and soft body.
Glenmorangie 15-year-old
finished in new wood 43%ABV Creme brulee, orange peel and vanilla. Light spice and a hint of sooty wood. A mix of bracing air and vanilla on the finish.
Glenmorangie Cellar 13
aged in first-fill casks A fragrant nose with apple blossom, fresh pear, ozone and lemon icing. Soft and long, with a great mix of blossom-like top notes, a creamy palate and a salty tang on the end. Brilliant. Finishes all 43 %ABV
Port Wood has touches of anise, red fruit, spices and a long rosehip syrup finish; Sherry Wood has full-on oloroso notes, tending to nut and spice with some cake mix and pear; and Madeira Wood is a fascinating mix of dried mushroom, spice and charred wood ending with a salty tang.
Single Highland Rare Malt Scotch Whisky
Few distilleries have been as transformed I the malt explosion as Glenmorangie. 'In til 1970s there were two stills and we were selling five cases of malt a year," says manager Graham Eunson. 'Now we've go( eight stills, we're the biggest selling malt in little chance that success will breed complacency here on the northeast coast; for this is a firm that is forever asking why trying out new ideas, trying to grasp the elusive secret of Scotch. You might expect space-age control panels, but you won't find any.
'I've yet to be convinced of the benefits) computerization in a distillery,' says Graha 'And I'm yet to be convinced that the capit expenditure needed to install computerization justifies laying a man off. you replace a mashman with computer equipment then you have to employ an evei more expensive engineer to solve any problems.' That was music to the ears of Brian Gilmour, who was mashing as we chatted. He was turning valves, nudging the temperature this way and that, and always listening; for, as he explained, part of his jol is knowing the significance of each sound -whether it's the change in pitch of the pump or the switchers girning away. 'The fact it's manual keeps you involved,' he says. 'It giv< it that personal touch - and there's always something to be done!'
It means that Glenmorangie's long-running 16 Men of Tain campaign is no PR gloss. Neither are these old guys looking back with rose-tinted glasses. This is a youni team well aware of the needs of today's J industry, but faithful to tradition. 'I'm a traditionalist, but a realist as well,' says Graham. T don't believe in change for change's sake and altering production to cu the workforce is beyond me. Can you imagine if Glenmorangie was the 16 megabytes of Tain?'
The workforce here understands their distillery's little quirks - from the use of ha water to the tall, slim stills that stand like elegant pillars in the cathedral-like stillhou Their height and narrowness means not only this there's considerable interplay between vapour and copper, but that only the lightest Vti pours can force their way to the top. But running four wash and four spirit stills at-the •mme time takes great skill, especially as some of them behave differently. The longest serving man here, Kenny McDonald, has had .1 running battle with Number Two wash still tor years,' says Graham. 'You can come in and he's yelling at it. It just doesn't behave.'
The water and stills each play their part in creating Glenmorangie's spicy, pear-drop and apple character, but it is rounded out and given added complexity by a wood policy, masterminded by Bill Lumsden, that's among the tightest in the industry. Not only does the firm now insist on using only ex-Bourbon casks made from air-dried wood from certain slopes in the Ozarks, but it also controls what type of warehouses are used to age the Glenmorangie stocks.
The 10-year-old, for example, has a recipe for first and second fill wood, so certain types of casks are placed in certain types and areas of warehouses. They are pinning it down to the microclimate within each warehouse. With an ever-expanding range of finishes and plans to release a malt made from barley grown on its own farm, the range just keeps growing. Graham believes this is the difference between a malt-led company and a blend-led one.
I worked for a blend-led firm before this and you were a number. The people who took the decisions on whether you are open or shut didn't know who they were affecting or how their decisions impacted on people and communities. The guys here have strong feelings about Glenmorangie's success. They are the custodians of the distillery and the fact that they make something that's known worldwide gives them enormous pride.'
TASTING NOTES
Glenmorangie 10-year-old
The benchmark distillery style: pear drops, light orange and citrus fruit, light spice and a crisp note. Delicate but with a good, smooth and soft body.
Glenmorangie 15-year-old
finished in new wood 43%ABV Creme brulee, orange peel and vanilla. Light spice and a hint of sooty wood. A mix of bracing air and vanilla on the finish.
Glenmorangie Cellar 13
aged in first-fill casks A fragrant nose with apple blossom, fresh pear, ozone and lemon icing. Soft and long, with a great mix of blossom-like top notes, a creamy palate and a salty tang on the end. Brilliant. Finishes all 43 %ABV
Port Wood has touches of anise, red fruit, spices and a long rosehip syrup finish; Sherry Wood has full-on oloroso notes, tending to nut and spice with some cake mix and pear; and Madeira Wood is a fascinating mix of dried mushroom, spice and charred wood ending with a salty tang.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Glenfiddich Scotch Whisky
Glenfiddich
Nothing is straightforward in whisky. Here is a distillery which makes the biggest selling malt in the world, but still uses coal-fired stills, a technique most distillers have abandoned for being too expensive and liable to give variable results.
It's a light dram produced from tiny stills, when industry wisdom maintains that small equals big.
Only Glenfiddich and Springbank make, mature and bottle on the same site. To be the manager of all of that must be daunting, but lan Millar is up for it. With 25 years' experience in 10 UD distilleries, lan knows how to get the most out of a plant.
As a modern distillery manager he has to balance the need for a plant to be cost-effective, while preserving the tradition which uniquely impacts on the distillery's character. 'The lower the cost per litre, the greater the margin,' he says.
'So whisky production is all to do with lowering the cost of the make.' Unromantic? A distillery manager's job has always been about getting the best possible yield from the malt, without impacting on quality or character.
Bring three managers together in the same room and you can bet that within minutes they'll be bragging about how high their yield is. Be will be boys. lan is obviously enjoying the challenge! managing such a high-profile place. 'This i such a diverse site.
We have floor malting Balvenie, we have three distilleries Kininv is also on site, one of which is coal-fired, we've a cooperage, we're maturing all the stocks on the one site and bottling it here« well. Working for a smaller company has enabled me to get involved in areas such as wood purchase, which I've been unable to access in the past, so personally there's a new depth to the job.'
As a new boy, it also means that he relied on the experience of his staff. 'Work with people is the joy of this job,' he says
A lot of people here have been brought up in rhe whisky industry. Their fathers, inii It's and grandfathers have worked here lirli in1 them. They've great pride in what they tin .ind are steeped in tradition.
Developing his skills is, he feels, fundamental to developing the Glenfiddich tick. 'Traditionally, the distillers and brewers haven't been given enough credit for what they have done. The way things are developing it's the integrators who are taking more responsibility, whereas in the past they would look up and ask, what to do.
'We didn't give them an understanding of the process,' he adds. 'If people are more involved and have more responsibility you are more likely to monitor the quality of the spirit. If they're not involved, it's down to you.
Glenfiddich is up there to be shot at, but no matter what the rest of the trade or the critics say, it keeps on selling. Its site may be a tourist trap (but then it does give free tours), and it may be seen as a sign of weakness or innocence to say you like a dram of 'Fiddich, but can millions of consumers be that wrong?
OK, it's not the greatest malt in Scotland, but it has never claimed to be. In its standard issue it's a perfectly decent (and mixable) drink - a Strauss waltz rather than a Mahler symphony. The newest expressions, the likes of Solera, Millennium and 25-year-old, point to a degree of substance behind the froth.
TASTING NOTES
Glenfiddich Special Reserve
Hay-like and grassy, with some pear. A sweet start, with a touch of peanut brittle on the finish. * Glenfiddich 12-year-old A malty/oatcake nose with some grassiness. Sweet in the mouth with a mix of white chocolate and gorse. A spicy, creamy little number ivith a tingling finish
Glenfiddich 15-year-old Solera Reserve
A mix of dried fruits and milk chocolate on the nose. Touch of fruit and some walnut/orange sherry notes. Crisp, with a finish of fresh raspberries, chocolate and cream.
Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve 18-year-old
A waft of cereal/bran notes and some sherry wood. A little peat smoke and mocha. The finish has a bint of caramel.
Glenfiddich Millennium Reserve 21-year-old
Lovely nose of fresh flowers, nuts and ripe red plums. Soft and quite chocolatey to start; velvety, with a mix of vanilla pod and coffee bean on the very long finish. Subtly charming.
Nothing is straightforward in whisky. Here is a distillery which makes the biggest selling malt in the world, but still uses coal-fired stills, a technique most distillers have abandoned for being too expensive and liable to give variable results.
It's a light dram produced from tiny stills, when industry wisdom maintains that small equals big.
Only Glenfiddich and Springbank make, mature and bottle on the same site. To be the manager of all of that must be daunting, but lan Millar is up for it. With 25 years' experience in 10 UD distilleries, lan knows how to get the most out of a plant.
As a modern distillery manager he has to balance the need for a plant to be cost-effective, while preserving the tradition which uniquely impacts on the distillery's character. 'The lower the cost per litre, the greater the margin,' he says.
'So whisky production is all to do with lowering the cost of the make.' Unromantic? A distillery manager's job has always been about getting the best possible yield from the malt, without impacting on quality or character.
Bring three managers together in the same room and you can bet that within minutes they'll be bragging about how high their yield is. Be will be boys. lan is obviously enjoying the challenge! managing such a high-profile place. 'This i such a diverse site.
We have floor malting Balvenie, we have three distilleries Kininv is also on site, one of which is coal-fired, we've a cooperage, we're maturing all the stocks on the one site and bottling it here« well. Working for a smaller company has enabled me to get involved in areas such as wood purchase, which I've been unable to access in the past, so personally there's a new depth to the job.'
As a new boy, it also means that he relied on the experience of his staff. 'Work with people is the joy of this job,' he says
A lot of people here have been brought up in rhe whisky industry. Their fathers, inii It's and grandfathers have worked here lirli in1 them. They've great pride in what they tin .ind are steeped in tradition.
Developing his skills is, he feels, fundamental to developing the Glenfiddich tick. 'Traditionally, the distillers and brewers haven't been given enough credit for what they have done. The way things are developing it's the integrators who are taking more responsibility, whereas in the past they would look up and ask, what to do.
'We didn't give them an understanding of the process,' he adds. 'If people are more involved and have more responsibility you are more likely to monitor the quality of the spirit. If they're not involved, it's down to you.
Glenfiddich is up there to be shot at, but no matter what the rest of the trade or the critics say, it keeps on selling. Its site may be a tourist trap (but then it does give free tours), and it may be seen as a sign of weakness or innocence to say you like a dram of 'Fiddich, but can millions of consumers be that wrong?
OK, it's not the greatest malt in Scotland, but it has never claimed to be. In its standard issue it's a perfectly decent (and mixable) drink - a Strauss waltz rather than a Mahler symphony. The newest expressions, the likes of Solera, Millennium and 25-year-old, point to a degree of substance behind the froth.
TASTING NOTES
Glenfiddich Special Reserve
Hay-like and grassy, with some pear. A sweet start, with a touch of peanut brittle on the finish. * Glenfiddich 12-year-old A malty/oatcake nose with some grassiness. Sweet in the mouth with a mix of white chocolate and gorse. A spicy, creamy little number ivith a tingling finish
Glenfiddich 15-year-old Solera Reserve
A mix of dried fruits and milk chocolate on the nose. Touch of fruit and some walnut/orange sherry notes. Crisp, with a finish of fresh raspberries, chocolate and cream.
Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve 18-year-old
A waft of cereal/bran notes and some sherry wood. A little peat smoke and mocha. The finish has a bint of caramel.
Glenfiddich Millennium Reserve 21-year-old
Lovely nose of fresh flowers, nuts and ripe red plums. Soft and quite chocolatey to start; velvety, with a mix of vanilla pod and coffee bean on the very long finish. Subtly charming.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Four Roses American Whisky
Driving up to Seagram's Four Roses distillery makes you feel strangely like Warren Gates at the start of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. This bizarre lemon-coloured confection of a Mexican-style ranch seems incongruous with Kentucky's gentle rolling grasslands and tree-lined hollows. Thankfully, master distiller Jim Rutlege is more hospitable than the patriarch in Sam Peckinpah's violent film classic.
This is the last remaining Kentucky outpost of the mighty Seagram empire: in fact, until the firm's Lawrenceburg plant in Indiana reopened it was the only Seagram distillery in the United States - stark evidence of the decline that beset the American whiskey market from the 1970s. That hasn't stopped Jim making a pretty classy whiskey at Four Roses, with 'pretty' being the operative word.
It's a given that every distiller has his or her own technique, but Four Roses stands apart from its colleagues in Kentucky. Perhaps it is Seagram's Canadian roots showing through, but no other distillery in the state makes such a range of different base whiskies.
With five yeast strains being used on the two mashbills-one with 75 per cent corn, the other with only 60 per cent-Jim has 10 subtly different whiskies to blend into the Four Roses style. When you drop in different distilling strengths and different ages you've got a pretty complex package of flavours.
'We feel that you get most of the flavour from the small grains,' says Jim. 'In our case that means rye and some malted barley.' He then explains that, contrary to popular belief, bourbon-makers don't use malted barley solely for its enzymes, but for flavour and another little-known property. 'Malt does two things,' he says. 'There's the enzyme conversion which begins to break down starch molecules and change them into soluble and therefore fermentable, sugars, and also liquefies the corn slurry by breaking down its molecular structure'.
Jim therefore adds malted barley twice during cooking (mashing). First, the corn is cooked at a high temperature with some malt, to help liquefy the thick gloop; then the temperature is dropped and rye is added (this stops rye balls forming and cuts down the risk of bacterial infection in the ferment). Then the temperature is reduced once more and the malted barley (along with some backset) is added for its enzyme.
The mention of backset triggers a long and patient explanation about pH levels, consistency and soleras. 'The backset comes from the bottom of the still and is high in acidity,' says Jim. 'It is put into the cooker and the fermenters to get the correct pH. As the ferment proceeds, the pH drops and turns sour.
You know by the smell and taste how far it is advanced. It is science and art combined'. Jim places a priority on careful monitoring of the process, from smelling the grains as they arrive, right through to the end of the distillation - and on to maturation. 'I'm looking for a rich, sweet aroma from the new spirit,' he says. '
But to do that you need to have built-in good flavours to begin with, and they are first generated in the ferment. You can run a still wrong, but you can't make your basic material any better'.
Even the maturation is different here; in a single storey palletized warehouse, rather than the traditional racks. But, hey, who is to say what is right and what's wrong? The end results - the precise, pretty, spicy Yellow Label and the richer, complex Black Label -are bourbons of the first order.
TAST1NG NOTES
Four Roses Yellow Label
Gentle and lightly oaked, with fragrant lemon notes. A great mixer. * * *
Black Label
Firmer and smokier, with hickory wood, honey and a crisp rye-accented finish
This is the last remaining Kentucky outpost of the mighty Seagram empire: in fact, until the firm's Lawrenceburg plant in Indiana reopened it was the only Seagram distillery in the United States - stark evidence of the decline that beset the American whiskey market from the 1970s. That hasn't stopped Jim making a pretty classy whiskey at Four Roses, with 'pretty' being the operative word.
It's a given that every distiller has his or her own technique, but Four Roses stands apart from its colleagues in Kentucky. Perhaps it is Seagram's Canadian roots showing through, but no other distillery in the state makes such a range of different base whiskies.
With five yeast strains being used on the two mashbills-one with 75 per cent corn, the other with only 60 per cent-Jim has 10 subtly different whiskies to blend into the Four Roses style. When you drop in different distilling strengths and different ages you've got a pretty complex package of flavours.
'We feel that you get most of the flavour from the small grains,' says Jim. 'In our case that means rye and some malted barley.' He then explains that, contrary to popular belief, bourbon-makers don't use malted barley solely for its enzymes, but for flavour and another little-known property. 'Malt does two things,' he says. 'There's the enzyme conversion which begins to break down starch molecules and change them into soluble and therefore fermentable, sugars, and also liquefies the corn slurry by breaking down its molecular structure'.
Jim therefore adds malted barley twice during cooking (mashing). First, the corn is cooked at a high temperature with some malt, to help liquefy the thick gloop; then the temperature is dropped and rye is added (this stops rye balls forming and cuts down the risk of bacterial infection in the ferment). Then the temperature is reduced once more and the malted barley (along with some backset) is added for its enzyme.
The mention of backset triggers a long and patient explanation about pH levels, consistency and soleras. 'The backset comes from the bottom of the still and is high in acidity,' says Jim. 'It is put into the cooker and the fermenters to get the correct pH. As the ferment proceeds, the pH drops and turns sour.
You know by the smell and taste how far it is advanced. It is science and art combined'. Jim places a priority on careful monitoring of the process, from smelling the grains as they arrive, right through to the end of the distillation - and on to maturation. 'I'm looking for a rich, sweet aroma from the new spirit,' he says. '
But to do that you need to have built-in good flavours to begin with, and they are first generated in the ferment. You can run a still wrong, but you can't make your basic material any better'.
Even the maturation is different here; in a single storey palletized warehouse, rather than the traditional racks. But, hey, who is to say what is right and what's wrong? The end results - the precise, pretty, spicy Yellow Label and the richer, complex Black Label -are bourbons of the first order.
TAST1NG NOTES
Four Roses Yellow Label
Gentle and lightly oaked, with fragrant lemon notes. A great mixer. * * *
Black Label
Firmer and smokier, with hickory wood, honey and a crisp rye-accented finish
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Dewars Bnj Whisky
Everyone loves a good bargain, right? This is especially true when shopping for potentially expensive things like a set of barstools. Getting cheap barstools doesn't mean you have to marry the manager at the local furniture store. In fact, there are several ways to go about finding cheap stools that don't look 'cheap.'
If new barstools are not essential, garage sales are often a great way to find excellent bargains on used barstools. Most experienced garage sale holders know that all prices are negotiable. So, after a careful inspection of the stools in question, offer the owner half what he's asking. You will find that in more instances than not, the seller will accept a price significantly lower than he's asking - especially if the sale's been going on for more than a couple of hours.
Another good option for cheap used barstools is online at big auction sites, like Ebay. These sites are like huge garage sales, only they're all in one place and you don't have to fight the traffic, the weather, and all the rest of the unpleasant aspects of shopping in person.
If deals on new barstools are what you seek, one option is to get out the yellow pages and call local furniture and billiards stores to find out if anyone is having a sale on them. Sometimes you'll find that stores will take less than the listed price, even when there isn't an advertised sale going on. This happens when merchants have been sitting on inventory they need to move. Just ask. That may be all it takes to get cheap barstools from a local provider.
The aforementioned online auction websites are another place to find nice bargains on new barstools. Merchants selling new stools will sometimes place them on Ebay to clear their inventory. If you check the site often, you can find truly awesome deals on great barstools.
Finally, take some time to find several websites selling barstools. If you're not in a hurry to buy some cheap stools, what you'll discover is that most of the bigger sites have seasonal and clearance sales from time to time. Waiting for one of those may save you a bundle!
If new barstools are not essential, garage sales are often a great way to find excellent bargains on used barstools. Most experienced garage sale holders know that all prices are negotiable. So, after a careful inspection of the stools in question, offer the owner half what he's asking. You will find that in more instances than not, the seller will accept a price significantly lower than he's asking - especially if the sale's been going on for more than a couple of hours.
Another good option for cheap used barstools is online at big auction sites, like Ebay. These sites are like huge garage sales, only they're all in one place and you don't have to fight the traffic, the weather, and all the rest of the unpleasant aspects of shopping in person.
If deals on new barstools are what you seek, one option is to get out the yellow pages and call local furniture and billiards stores to find out if anyone is having a sale on them. Sometimes you'll find that stores will take less than the listed price, even when there isn't an advertised sale going on. This happens when merchants have been sitting on inventory they need to move. Just ask. That may be all it takes to get cheap barstools from a local provider.
The aforementioned online auction websites are another place to find nice bargains on new barstools. Merchants selling new stools will sometimes place them on Ebay to clear their inventory. If you check the site often, you can find truly awesome deals on great barstools.
Finally, take some time to find several websites selling barstools. If you're not in a hurry to buy some cheap stools, what you'll discover is that most of the bigger sites have seasonal and clearance sales from time to time. Waiting for one of those may save you a bundle!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Laphroaig Scotch Whisky
Laphroaig
There's little doubt that you've arrived in peat country when you drive into the courtyard at Laphroaig and the kilns are on. Ardbeg may be more heavily peated, Lagavulin more smoky, but if it is an uncompromising belt of pitch, peat oil, tarry ropes and iodine you want, this is the place to come - and that's the way manager lain Henderson likes it. lain is another old school graduate, a man with an in-depth knowledge of the industry and who isn't afraid to share
'The reason why whisky is made herei because the water is right,' he says. 'It hasi minerals and flows [like Ardbeg and LagavulinJ over peat, picking up some phenolics from the start.' Like Bowmore, Laphroaig has retained its floor makings, and not for the sake of tourists. 'There's something magic about them,' says lain." you're an accountant you'd get rid of the but there are certain phenols which you < only get from maltings.'
He stands in the middle of the kiln, the sooty, fragrant reek hanging in the air around him. 'This is our heritage,' he purrs. 'That's what is missing a lot of distilleries today. It's difficult for i non-whisky man to understand that, bur r isn't just a process, it's a living, breathing thing. You can see it happening, see the smoke going through the barley, working its magic.
Unusually, Laphroaig ages its malt for a month after kilning to get a better yield. Tut isn't an exact science,' admits lain. 'It's a craft, it's seat-of-the-pants stuff at time. "So we may be more scientific and know a lot i about ethanol, but ultimately it's the hand of the person that matters - particular ly in the maltings and the still house.'
It's impossible to pinpoint what gives Laphroaig its personality, but the floor-malted barley, the peating level, the small stills and the long spirit cut are all key factors. lain is another believer in the importance of the wash still on spirit character. 'It characterizes the spirit.you create the flavour in the first and clean in the second.
'The shape, the size, the angle of the lie pipe all give us that flavour.' As does the wood, which is all ex-Bourbon casks. want a bottle of sherry, I'll buy one.states lain, killing that topic, though the magnificent 30-year-old shows the potential combination of this exceptional dram and exceptional sherry butts.
TASTING NOTES
Laphroaig 10-year-old Cask Strength
57.3 %ABV Ultra-crisp malt fresh from the kiln with layers of tar, lap sang souchong, orange, germoline, and peat fires on the beach. Crashes into the mouth with a mix of bonfires, iodine and crisp malt. Long, smoke-filled finish. Savour and tremble at its power. * * * »(*)
Laphroaig 15-year-old
43%ABV The peat has dried down, leaving behind a smooth, oily/creamy nose with hint of tar. Sweet and surprisingly mellow to start, with a slow-burning peat smoke flavour building up towards the finish. * * *
Laphroaig 30-year-old
43%ABV A complex, nose of dried peel, tar and sweet perfume. It's Laphroaig mellowed into old age - all leather armchairs and peat fires. Starts smoky, then fruit, then the tarry ropes/iodine, all building relentlessly before finishing with a burst of rich smoky fruit. Great balance. * * » * *
his opinions. This is his kingdom and a to_r round his distillery quickly becomes a tour_ round the industry.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Chavis Scotch Whisky
Trying to get a blender to explain what his or her job involves is never easy. Not because they are secretive, far from it. They're almost relieved to have a chance to tell their story.
It's just that the intricacies of blending are complex that strange analogies have to be employed: orchestras, football teams, actors cars, cakes, houses - all appear in the blender's lexicon. Colin Scott, master blender at Chivas Brothers, is a master of the art. Created by firm of high-class Aberdonian grocers who began blending whiskies in the 1840s, Chh Regal has been Seagram's flagship Scotch since 1949. It is Colin, however, who has overseen the recent explosion of Chivas brands, including the superb 18-year-old a^ the awesome Oldest.
Colin feels it's important not to get hung i over numbers. 'How many malts and grains I go into the blend isn't important,' he says. 'What is important is always having Chivas the glass.' The one constant is Strathisla. 'Making a Chivas blend is like building a house; with malts as the bricks, grains as th«j mortar and Strathisla as the foundation. Chivas Regal is one shape of house, 18-year old is grander and Oldest is a castle!'
They may be individual brands, but then is a distinct family resemblance. 'The brand have a thread running through them ... richness, smoothness and roundness of flavours. You use different bricks to chang the flavour profile, while retaining the character,' says Colin. 'That means manipulating the range of available flavou (different malts, grains, wood types, ages) and creating different but similar teams. Chivas 18- isn't 12-year-old aged for a further 6 years, it's a different team.'
To make matters more interesting, each team is in a constant state of flux. 'Consumers don't want to see character or quality alter, but to preserve them you mu make changes,' urges Colin. 'If you have one pot of whiskies to use in a blend, you must j always also have another pot which thou contains different whiskies will have the same flavour as the first. Because you knc what is in each of the pots, you know wh any differences are and can therefore find ways to narrow any gap between them.
That second pot is like footballers sitting on the bench. We know how they perform, so are job is to make sure what ever ones we use they'll make chavis. CHIVAS The Chivas brothers owned a high-class grocery business in Aberdeen and started blending whiskies (for, among others, the Royal household) in the 1880s.
Regal appeared at the turn of the 20th century and was another light Spey'side-dominant blend to make it big in the United States during Prohibition. It was bought by the Canadian distiller (and one-time bootlegger) Sam Bronfman in 1949 and is still a major player in the US and Far East markets.
TASTING NOTES
Chivas Regal 12^year-old
Deceptive weight behind the apparently light mix of grass, apples and cereal on the nose. A grassy, almost mossy start to the palate, it crisps up deliciously mid-palate. * * * (»)
18-year-old
A magnificent melange of currant leaf, orange pulp/peach cobbler, barley malt and turfy smoke. The palate explodes with flavour, but always in that elegant, restrained family style. * * * * * Oldest
The finest in the range. Peatier still, with a rich, complex mix of citrus notes (tangerine, lemon) heather, fruit and spicy grain. Stunning. *****
It's just that the intricacies of blending are complex that strange analogies have to be employed: orchestras, football teams, actors cars, cakes, houses - all appear in the blender's lexicon. Colin Scott, master blender at Chivas Brothers, is a master of the art. Created by firm of high-class Aberdonian grocers who began blending whiskies in the 1840s, Chh Regal has been Seagram's flagship Scotch since 1949. It is Colin, however, who has overseen the recent explosion of Chivas brands, including the superb 18-year-old a^ the awesome Oldest.
Colin feels it's important not to get hung i over numbers. 'How many malts and grains I go into the blend isn't important,' he says. 'What is important is always having Chivas the glass.' The one constant is Strathisla. 'Making a Chivas blend is like building a house; with malts as the bricks, grains as th«j mortar and Strathisla as the foundation. Chivas Regal is one shape of house, 18-year old is grander and Oldest is a castle!'
They may be individual brands, but then is a distinct family resemblance. 'The brand have a thread running through them ... richness, smoothness and roundness of flavours. You use different bricks to chang the flavour profile, while retaining the character,' says Colin. 'That means manipulating the range of available flavou (different malts, grains, wood types, ages) and creating different but similar teams. Chivas 18- isn't 12-year-old aged for a further 6 years, it's a different team.'
To make matters more interesting, each team is in a constant state of flux. 'Consumers don't want to see character or quality alter, but to preserve them you mu make changes,' urges Colin. 'If you have one pot of whiskies to use in a blend, you must j always also have another pot which thou contains different whiskies will have the same flavour as the first. Because you knc what is in each of the pots, you know wh any differences are and can therefore find ways to narrow any gap between them.
That second pot is like footballers sitting on the bench. We know how they perform, so are job is to make sure what ever ones we use they'll make chavis. CHIVAS The Chivas brothers owned a high-class grocery business in Aberdeen and started blending whiskies (for, among others, the Royal household) in the 1880s.
Regal appeared at the turn of the 20th century and was another light Spey'side-dominant blend to make it big in the United States during Prohibition. It was bought by the Canadian distiller (and one-time bootlegger) Sam Bronfman in 1949 and is still a major player in the US and Far East markets.
TASTING NOTES
Chivas Regal 12^year-old
Deceptive weight behind the apparently light mix of grass, apples and cereal on the nose. A grassy, almost mossy start to the palate, it crisps up deliciously mid-palate. * * * (»)
18-year-old
A magnificent melange of currant leaf, orange pulp/peach cobbler, barley malt and turfy smoke. The palate explodes with flavour, but always in that elegant, restrained family style. * * * * * Oldest
The finest in the range. Peatier still, with a rich, complex mix of citrus notes (tangerine, lemon) heather, fruit and spicy grain. Stunning. *****
Monday, March 1, 2010
Bells Scotch Whisky
Bells
Caol Ila is an exception though. Most distilleries are stubborn individuals. 'If we seriously wanted to change Mortlach could we do it?' she asks. 'No, you'd get a corrupted spirit. We always have to keep within the parameters of what the distillery character is'.
It's a polite way of responding to criticisms that the bigger the firm the more likely it is that all their whiskies will taste the same. Ask Turnbull the same question and he visibly twitches. 'People think if you're big you don't care about quality and all the whisky is the same,' he says. 'In reality, our size has allowed us to do the opposite. We're more aware than anybody that we need the character of the 27 distilleries to come through. The Walker, Bell's or J&B character is paramount. We won't kill the goose that laid the golden egg'.
But there's no doubt that the in-depth research done by UDV into new make character, distillery character and wood ageing has made the bean counters in head office question the logic of one firm having 27 malt distilleries and two grain plants (and a 50 per cent share in another). After all, with all this research, isn't it possible to take a more cost-effective option and make all the malts and blends on one site? It's what the rest of the world does.
Turnbull's heard it all before. 'I'm always having to deal with people parachuting into this industry with smart ideas,' he sighs. 'They assume they're dealing with a bunch of numpties who have never had a good idea in their puff for the last 100 years.' So he called their bluff. 'I said, fine, let's build the biggest f—in' distillery'in the world. There's just one drawback, you'll have an oil refinery and I don't see many tourists going to Grangemouth. Whisky sells because of the romance'. Scratch any whisky person and a romantic soul peers out, these people have a passion for their job and their product. The men emptying thousands of casks in the disgorging hall, working in the vast warehouses, the coopers in the noisy, steamy joke-filled cooperage are the unsung heroes of the industry.
As for Christine, ask her about Walker and she becomes positively poetic. 'Walker Red is cheeky and in your face, Black is gorgeous, Blue is positively luxurious. They've all got that Islay thread and a different interplay of lingering flavours. Christ!
I'm sounding like someone from marketing!" The bottom line is that in Johnnie Walker and J&B they have two of the greatest blends in the world. To be able to produce them in such volumes and retain such high quality standards is an incredible feat. But who gives them a second thought? 'We've concentrated on malts for 10 years now,' says Christine. 'Classic Malts helped grow the market and that's great, but now it's time to make that link from them into the blends. We've got to recognize blends for what they're worth. I'm proud of these brands, they're not faceless products'.
BLACK & WHITE James Bucbanan was one of blending s greatest characters and the man who, from the 1880s onwards, brought blended Scotch to the attention of the English middle classes - thanks to his creation of a lighter style of blend, which he renamed Black & White, in 1904. Once a major player for DCL, it's now sadly rather lost in UDV's massive portfolio.
TASTING NOTES
Black Sc White A hint of heather on the light nose, with plenty of fresh grain and light smoke. A crunchy almond centre with some mint toffee and a hint of smoke mid-way through. WHITE HORSE Created by Sir Peter Mackie, the despotic, eccentric blender (and owner of Lagavulin), White Horse always wore its Islay heart on its sleeve, until recently. Now repositioned as a 'fighting' blend, it has been toned down slightly to appeal to a new audience.
TASTING NOTES
White Horse
Some ripe apple and a hint of smoke on the nose. The palate has an immediate whack of turf/peat. Dries out in the middle, then broadens and becomes quite sweet. * * (*)
TASTING NOTES
Bell's 8-year-old
Mellow, fragrant nose with good depth of flavour. Some fruit cake, light perfume, leather, cocoa and cereal. Soft and chewy. Take time to rediscover it. * * * * (*)
BELL'S Perth wine merchant Arthur Bell started blending in the 1860s, but it was his son 'AK' who first sold the whisky as Bell's in 1904. Still the UK's largest-selling whisky, its reputation suffered during the 1970s when overproduction brought quality crashing down. Relaunched as an 8-year-old in 1994, it is unrecognizable as the bad old whisky it briefly became.
Caol Ila is an exception though. Most distilleries are stubborn individuals. 'If we seriously wanted to change Mortlach could we do it?' she asks. 'No, you'd get a corrupted spirit. We always have to keep within the parameters of what the distillery character is'.
It's a polite way of responding to criticisms that the bigger the firm the more likely it is that all their whiskies will taste the same. Ask Turnbull the same question and he visibly twitches. 'People think if you're big you don't care about quality and all the whisky is the same,' he says. 'In reality, our size has allowed us to do the opposite. We're more aware than anybody that we need the character of the 27 distilleries to come through. The Walker, Bell's or J&B character is paramount. We won't kill the goose that laid the golden egg'.
But there's no doubt that the in-depth research done by UDV into new make character, distillery character and wood ageing has made the bean counters in head office question the logic of one firm having 27 malt distilleries and two grain plants (and a 50 per cent share in another). After all, with all this research, isn't it possible to take a more cost-effective option and make all the malts and blends on one site? It's what the rest of the world does.
Turnbull's heard it all before. 'I'm always having to deal with people parachuting into this industry with smart ideas,' he sighs. 'They assume they're dealing with a bunch of numpties who have never had a good idea in their puff for the last 100 years.' So he called their bluff. 'I said, fine, let's build the biggest f—in' distillery'in the world. There's just one drawback, you'll have an oil refinery and I don't see many tourists going to Grangemouth. Whisky sells because of the romance'. Scratch any whisky person and a romantic soul peers out, these people have a passion for their job and their product. The men emptying thousands of casks in the disgorging hall, working in the vast warehouses, the coopers in the noisy, steamy joke-filled cooperage are the unsung heroes of the industry.
As for Christine, ask her about Walker and she becomes positively poetic. 'Walker Red is cheeky and in your face, Black is gorgeous, Blue is positively luxurious. They've all got that Islay thread and a different interplay of lingering flavours. Christ!
I'm sounding like someone from marketing!" The bottom line is that in Johnnie Walker and J&B they have two of the greatest blends in the world. To be able to produce them in such volumes and retain such high quality standards is an incredible feat. But who gives them a second thought? 'We've concentrated on malts for 10 years now,' says Christine. 'Classic Malts helped grow the market and that's great, but now it's time to make that link from them into the blends. We've got to recognize blends for what they're worth. I'm proud of these brands, they're not faceless products'.
BLACK & WHITE James Bucbanan was one of blending s greatest characters and the man who, from the 1880s onwards, brought blended Scotch to the attention of the English middle classes - thanks to his creation of a lighter style of blend, which he renamed Black & White, in 1904. Once a major player for DCL, it's now sadly rather lost in UDV's massive portfolio.
TASTING NOTES
Black Sc White A hint of heather on the light nose, with plenty of fresh grain and light smoke. A crunchy almond centre with some mint toffee and a hint of smoke mid-way through. WHITE HORSE Created by Sir Peter Mackie, the despotic, eccentric blender (and owner of Lagavulin), White Horse always wore its Islay heart on its sleeve, until recently. Now repositioned as a 'fighting' blend, it has been toned down slightly to appeal to a new audience.
TASTING NOTES
White Horse
Some ripe apple and a hint of smoke on the nose. The palate has an immediate whack of turf/peat. Dries out in the middle, then broadens and becomes quite sweet. * * (*)
TASTING NOTES
Bell's 8-year-old
Mellow, fragrant nose with good depth of flavour. Some fruit cake, light perfume, leather, cocoa and cereal. Soft and chewy. Take time to rediscover it. * * * * (*)
BELL'S Perth wine merchant Arthur Bell started blending in the 1860s, but it was his son 'AK' who first sold the whisky as Bell's in 1904. Still the UK's largest-selling whisky, its reputation suffered during the 1970s when overproduction brought quality crashing down. Relaunched as an 8-year-old in 1994, it is unrecognizable as the bad old whisky it briefly became.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Famous Grouse Scotch Whisky
Famous Grouse
Ask the Edrington Group's master blender, John Ramsay, what makes his drams different and he immediately proposes marriage. In the whisky-making sense, of course. Marriage used to be normal practice for blenders: before bottling, malts and grains would be brought together for a period of mingling. Most firms have abandoned the art, but Edrington sticks to the old ways, marrying its blends for six months and at reduced strength.
'The bean counters in most firms decided it wasn't helping the bottom line,' says John. 'But we ran an exercise to see if we were getting a benefit from marrying, and we were.' It's all down to maximizing flavour.
'When you add water to cask-strength malt, some components become unstable,' he continues. 'We give that time to settle, which means we can give the final blend a light filtration. If you don't do this you'll have to give it a harder filtration to get that stability - and then you lose some flavour'.
The process is made more complicated by his insistence on marrying blocks of blends. 'We'll combine malts and grains; reduce, marry and have Blend One,' he explains. 'Then we repeat the exercise and get Blends Two to Four. When it comes to bottling, rather than just using all of Blend One and then moving on, we'll use some from each batch. It's a form of whisky solera'.
But we skip ahead. Edrington's brands (which include Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark -which they blend for Berry Bros - Lang's Supreme and Black Bottle) start their lives as the new make samples from a host of distilleries, and are nosed by John every day. Then, like every blender, he has to work out how much new make to lay down, to satisfy potential demand for any of the brands many years down the line. It's this ability to assess new make and mature spirit that sets blenders apart.
John can stick his nose in a glass of Glenrothes 5-year-old from sherry wood and know if it fits 'the wee picture in my head', and also how that whisky will behave when combined with thirty others. While some of us may be able to pick out a few malts at a blind tasting, a blender knows not just what it is but whether it fits within the right parameters according to age and wood. It's an awesome ability, but this modest man hasn't allowed it to go to his head.
These blends are very different creatures: they don't just have different core malts, the wood recipe has also been carefully plotted. The sherry wood in the delicate Cutty comes from American oak; the richer Lang's uses Spanish oak and Grouse uses both. 'You want a fragrant sweet aroma in Cutty, so you use American wood and a Speyside malt like Tamdhu for sweetness, with some Bunnahabhain for freshness. Grouse is Speyside-based as well, but there is a lot of influence from Highland Park and the mix of sherry from Spanish and American wood'.
He uses a very Scottish analogy to describe the art of blending. 'It's like putting together a good soccer team. You need a strong central core, then you can tack the stars around that. It's useless if you haven't got that central core right.' But the unsung, hard-working midfielder in all the Edrington blends is North British grain. 'We use different grains: some for commercial reasons, but also to give different characters in the blend. We'll use Strathclyde when it's younger, as it matures quicker. North British ages well, so it will be used in older blends -it also rounds out the wood influence on older whiskies.
'A blend is a bit like a pasta with sauce,' John concludes. 'The grain is the pasta, edible but bland, and the malts are the sauce - a bit strong on their own, but together they're a great combination.' CUTTY SAR1C first made in 1923 by London wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, Cutty Sark was specifically made as a light-flavoured blend that would appeal to the American market, even though Prohibition was in force. It was smuggled into the United States by one Captain William McCoy and became so popular that people began demanding 'the real McCoy' as their choice of bootleg liquor.
TASTING NOTES
Cutty Sark Gentle, light nose with oat, butter, icing sugar and some delicate raspberry. A mix of cream and grass, with a touch of lemon sherbet on the finish. * * *
BLACK BOTTLE
Originally conceived by Aberdeen tea merchant Gordon Graham in the 1870s, Black Bottle passed through many different hands before landing in Highland Distillers' lap in 1995. John Ramsay has since reformulated it to be 'the malt with the heart oflslay' and uses all seven Islay malts in the blend. It's a brand to watch.
TASTING NOTES
Black Bottle 10-year-old
Islay personified: ozone, ginger, ripe fruit and ginger. With water, an intense smoky perfume leaps out, then mingles with soft cakey fruit before a blast of salt-spray halfway through. Stunning.
FAMOUS GROUSE Perth wine merchant William Gloag started blending whiskies in the 1860s, to warm the cockles of the huntin', shootin', fishin' set. In 1896 his nephew, Matthew, created The Famous Grouse. It remained a little-known classic until the 1970s, but since then has become Scotland's favourite dram, number two in the UK, and is spreading its wings into export.
TASTING NOTES
The Famous Grouse
A fat, juicy, succulent nose with a bint of menthol, lavender and a drift of smoke. Lovely weight on the palate, which is sweet, lightly spiced and tinged with peat. * * * * (*)
Ask the Edrington Group's master blender, John Ramsay, what makes his drams different and he immediately proposes marriage. In the whisky-making sense, of course. Marriage used to be normal practice for blenders: before bottling, malts and grains would be brought together for a period of mingling. Most firms have abandoned the art, but Edrington sticks to the old ways, marrying its blends for six months and at reduced strength.
'The bean counters in most firms decided it wasn't helping the bottom line,' says John. 'But we ran an exercise to see if we were getting a benefit from marrying, and we were.' It's all down to maximizing flavour.
'When you add water to cask-strength malt, some components become unstable,' he continues. 'We give that time to settle, which means we can give the final blend a light filtration. If you don't do this you'll have to give it a harder filtration to get that stability - and then you lose some flavour'.
The process is made more complicated by his insistence on marrying blocks of blends. 'We'll combine malts and grains; reduce, marry and have Blend One,' he explains. 'Then we repeat the exercise and get Blends Two to Four. When it comes to bottling, rather than just using all of Blend One and then moving on, we'll use some from each batch. It's a form of whisky solera'.
But we skip ahead. Edrington's brands (which include Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark -which they blend for Berry Bros - Lang's Supreme and Black Bottle) start their lives as the new make samples from a host of distilleries, and are nosed by John every day. Then, like every blender, he has to work out how much new make to lay down, to satisfy potential demand for any of the brands many years down the line. It's this ability to assess new make and mature spirit that sets blenders apart.
John can stick his nose in a glass of Glenrothes 5-year-old from sherry wood and know if it fits 'the wee picture in my head', and also how that whisky will behave when combined with thirty others. While some of us may be able to pick out a few malts at a blind tasting, a blender knows not just what it is but whether it fits within the right parameters according to age and wood. It's an awesome ability, but this modest man hasn't allowed it to go to his head.
These blends are very different creatures: they don't just have different core malts, the wood recipe has also been carefully plotted. The sherry wood in the delicate Cutty comes from American oak; the richer Lang's uses Spanish oak and Grouse uses both. 'You want a fragrant sweet aroma in Cutty, so you use American wood and a Speyside malt like Tamdhu for sweetness, with some Bunnahabhain for freshness. Grouse is Speyside-based as well, but there is a lot of influence from Highland Park and the mix of sherry from Spanish and American wood'.
He uses a very Scottish analogy to describe the art of blending. 'It's like putting together a good soccer team. You need a strong central core, then you can tack the stars around that. It's useless if you haven't got that central core right.' But the unsung, hard-working midfielder in all the Edrington blends is North British grain. 'We use different grains: some for commercial reasons, but also to give different characters in the blend. We'll use Strathclyde when it's younger, as it matures quicker. North British ages well, so it will be used in older blends -it also rounds out the wood influence on older whiskies.
'A blend is a bit like a pasta with sauce,' John concludes. 'The grain is the pasta, edible but bland, and the malts are the sauce - a bit strong on their own, but together they're a great combination.' CUTTY SAR1C first made in 1923 by London wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, Cutty Sark was specifically made as a light-flavoured blend that would appeal to the American market, even though Prohibition was in force. It was smuggled into the United States by one Captain William McCoy and became so popular that people began demanding 'the real McCoy' as their choice of bootleg liquor.
TASTING NOTES
Cutty Sark Gentle, light nose with oat, butter, icing sugar and some delicate raspberry. A mix of cream and grass, with a touch of lemon sherbet on the finish. * * *
BLACK BOTTLE
Originally conceived by Aberdeen tea merchant Gordon Graham in the 1870s, Black Bottle passed through many different hands before landing in Highland Distillers' lap in 1995. John Ramsay has since reformulated it to be 'the malt with the heart oflslay' and uses all seven Islay malts in the blend. It's a brand to watch.
TASTING NOTES
Black Bottle 10-year-old
Islay personified: ozone, ginger, ripe fruit and ginger. With water, an intense smoky perfume leaps out, then mingles with soft cakey fruit before a blast of salt-spray halfway through. Stunning.
FAMOUS GROUSE Perth wine merchant William Gloag started blending whiskies in the 1860s, to warm the cockles of the huntin', shootin', fishin' set. In 1896 his nephew, Matthew, created The Famous Grouse. It remained a little-known classic until the 1970s, but since then has become Scotland's favourite dram, number two in the UK, and is spreading its wings into export.
TASTING NOTES
The Famous Grouse
A fat, juicy, succulent nose with a bint of menthol, lavender and a drift of smoke. Lovely weight on the palate, which is sweet, lightly spiced and tinged with peat. * * * * (*)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Balvenie Scotch Whisky
Balvenie
Regional categorisation is a vexed issue in whisky: it may be a handy way of grouping distilleries together geographically, but it can be a tricky business identifying a stylistic continuity between all the whiskies in Perthshire or Speyside.
But if you can't claim that there is a 'Speyside style', or isolate certain qualities which make Speyside the best whisky-making region on the mainland, how do you explain such a concentration of distilleries in the area - a part of the Highlands which was, in the early days of whisky, a pretty remote part of the world?
David Stewart, William Grant's grandly-titled Malt Master, is happy to admit ignorance on this point. 'All of the quality distilleries are here in this central part of Speyside,' he says. That's the mystique of Scotch, We've all got highly-sophisticated equipment, but we can't tell what makes the difference'. He's pretty sure what makes Balvenie such a dramatically different dram to Glenfiddich, even though they share the same site and use the same malt and water.
The character comes from the still. Glenfiddich is coal fired, Balvenie is gas fired. The shape of the stills is different: Balvenie has bigger stills with shorter necks and that's where the flavours change. Maybe the ten per cent of floor-malted barley helps, but I think it's the stills.'
Other influential factors include great wood management and the use of old dunnage warehouses. 'It'i not just age th;ii makes whiiky great,' says David. 'It's age and wood.' This underpins his decision to make life interesting (or difficult) for himself by creating a Balvenie range in which each malt shows a subtly different wood influence.
If we were just to age the Founder's Reserve and do it as a 12-year-old or a 15-year-old, we wouldn't see much difference between them. We had to take a different route, so we produced Double Wood, [where the malt is aged for 10 years in ex-Bourbon barrels and finished in sherry butts]. Then we started doing Single Barrel, and at a higher strength with no chill filtering; then Port Wood and now vintage casks.'
This freedom to experiment is one of the advantages of Grant's family-owned status. 'We can do things quickly. The family is steeped in whisky, but we are encouraged to be innovative, we can go against the trend -with the Balvenie range, or with Black Barrel, where we were determined to make the only single grain whisky that really works.'
If the William Grant portfolio was The Byrds, then Glenfiddich would be Roger McGuinn and Balvenie would be Gene Clark, the underrated genius. David, as Grant's master blender, is in charge of the entire range, from malts to blends to single grain and whisky liqueur, and his special affection for Balvenie is obvious. 'I've been at Grant's for 35 years,' he says. 'It's been my only job
Regional categorisation is a vexed issue in whisky: it may be a handy way of grouping distilleries together geographically, but it can be a tricky business identifying a stylistic continuity between all the whiskies in Perthshire or Speyside.
But if you can't claim that there is a 'Speyside style', or isolate certain qualities which make Speyside the best whisky-making region on the mainland, how do you explain such a concentration of distilleries in the area - a part of the Highlands which was, in the early days of whisky, a pretty remote part of the world?
David Stewart, William Grant's grandly-titled Malt Master, is happy to admit ignorance on this point. 'All of the quality distilleries are here in this central part of Speyside,' he says. That's the mystique of Scotch, We've all got highly-sophisticated equipment, but we can't tell what makes the difference'. He's pretty sure what makes Balvenie such a dramatically different dram to Glenfiddich, even though they share the same site and use the same malt and water.
The character comes from the still. Glenfiddich is coal fired, Balvenie is gas fired. The shape of the stills is different: Balvenie has bigger stills with shorter necks and that's where the flavours change. Maybe the ten per cent of floor-malted barley helps, but I think it's the stills.'
Other influential factors include great wood management and the use of old dunnage warehouses. 'It'i not just age th;ii makes whiiky great,' says David. 'It's age and wood.' This underpins his decision to make life interesting (or difficult) for himself by creating a Balvenie range in which each malt shows a subtly different wood influence.
If we were just to age the Founder's Reserve and do it as a 12-year-old or a 15-year-old, we wouldn't see much difference between them. We had to take a different route, so we produced Double Wood, [where the malt is aged for 10 years in ex-Bourbon barrels and finished in sherry butts]. Then we started doing Single Barrel, and at a higher strength with no chill filtering; then Port Wood and now vintage casks.'
This freedom to experiment is one of the advantages of Grant's family-owned status. 'We can do things quickly. The family is steeped in whisky, but we are encouraged to be innovative, we can go against the trend -with the Balvenie range, or with Black Barrel, where we were determined to make the only single grain whisky that really works.'
If the William Grant portfolio was The Byrds, then Glenfiddich would be Roger McGuinn and Balvenie would be Gene Clark, the underrated genius. David, as Grant's master blender, is in charge of the entire range, from malts to blends to single grain and whisky liqueur, and his special affection for Balvenie is obvious. 'I've been at Grant's for 35 years,' he says. 'It's been my only job
Friday, February 12, 2010
Ardmore Scotch Whisky
There was a time you could spot a distillery by the smoke belching from its chimney. Now, most chimneys have been demolished as distilleries have switched from coal to steam.
Hughes recalls as a child watching glen garioch's chimneys being demolished brick-by-brick by a Glaswegian steeple jack. He came up the road, bouncing off the walls I had so much to drink,' Fraser recalls.
The manager said to him: "Surely mot going up there drunk?" he replied: i think I'd climb that if I was sober? Thankfully, the steeplejack's services have never been required at Ardmore, where the coal fires have been kept burning.
It is a site, built by Adam Teacher to provide fillings for his blend. 'Teacher got off the train here when he came to visit Colonel Leith-hay at Leith Hall,' says Ronnie .
Ardmore's brewer. 'He wanted to build a distillery and the Colonel pointed out there was water and a rail link here, one presumes the fact that the Colonel owned huge tracts of prime barley-growing country didn't enter into the equation.
:TASTING NOTES
Ardmore 1981 Gordon & Macphail bottling. Robust nose, with smoke, dried fruit and some cream. The palate is richly layered with smoke, malt and a teasingly spicy finish. *'' * For reasons best known to themselves Allied Domecq has yet to bottle Ardmore as a single malt- though rumours of a policy change persist. Thankfully, the independent bottlers have always managed to get their hands on some.
Hughes recalls as a child watching glen garioch's chimneys being demolished brick-by-brick by a Glaswegian steeple jack. He came up the road, bouncing off the walls I had so much to drink,' Fraser recalls.
The manager said to him: "Surely mot going up there drunk?" he replied: i think I'd climb that if I was sober? Thankfully, the steeplejack's services have never been required at Ardmore, where the coal fires have been kept burning.
It is a site, built by Adam Teacher to provide fillings for his blend. 'Teacher got off the train here when he came to visit Colonel Leith-hay at Leith Hall,' says Ronnie .
Ardmore's brewer. 'He wanted to build a distillery and the Colonel pointed out there was water and a rail link here, one presumes the fact that the Colonel owned huge tracts of prime barley-growing country didn't enter into the equation.
:TASTING NOTES
Ardmore 1981 Gordon & Macphail bottling. Robust nose, with smoke, dried fruit and some cream. The palate is richly layered with smoke, malt and a teasingly spicy finish. *'' * For reasons best known to themselves Allied Domecq has yet to bottle Ardmore as a single malt- though rumours of a policy change persist. Thankfully, the independent bottlers have always managed to get their hands on some.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wild Turkey American Whisky
One of the more intriguing aspects of bourbon's revival is the way in which its stubborn old guardians have been proved right. None more so than Wild Turkey's Jimmy Russell. A glance at the Wild Turkey distillery confirms that this place doesn't abide by convention.
As other firms are tidying up their plants, the iron-clad, black-painted Wild Turkey sits teetering on the brink of a gorge, steam rattling out of various chimneys. It is one of those places which feels alive, as if the plant is humming with the measured rhythm of the staff. And, overseeing it all, is the avuncular Jimmy.
Take a walk with Jimmy through his distillery - it may be owned by Pernod-Ricard, but this is Jimmy's place - and it comes alive. The swirl and changing colours of the ferment; the wheeze, hiss and whistle of the still - these are not inanimate functions, but part and parcel of a creative, living process.
No surprise, then, that he's a firm believer in the human touch. 'People are one of the most important things in making bourbon,' he says. 'It's people who are doing the work here, people with generations of experience. All these proud people feel that Wild Turkey is part of them'.
He talks of understanding the meaning in the weird music of the still. 'You have to have a stillman there, watching and listening to it. The sound tells him what is going on. We can hear a funny noise and know what's happening. You can't have that hands-on control with machines'.
Jimmy is no technocrat. His pride in his distillery and his whiskey springs from the heart. 'There are things which you cannot prove scientifically. You can't prove why copper works better than stainless steel, but you sure can taste the difference. So, for me, making whiskey is a craftsman's process, an artistic process if you like. That artistic element is coming back as bourbon's image improves, and small batch and single barrel brands appear. People are coming back to an old-fashioned way of making whiskey and old-fashioned flavours'.
This belief in flavour is a crucial factor in making Jimmy's the tastiest bourbon of all. "Old-fashioned' is often used in a derogatory sense, but when distillers such as Jimmy Russell use the term, they're talking of a style of bourbon made before the 'light is right' brigade began to throttle the industry to death. These days, people like him have been vindicated, as the whisky-drinking world (re)discovers flavour and complexity. They wanted us to go lighter and lighter, but we never did change,' he smiles. 'You'll see more and more flavoursome, top-end bourbons in the future: but we didn't have to change anything, we were already there!'
Everything in the production of Wild Turkey is done to maximize flavour. The mashbill is heavy on rye and barley malt, it's distilled to a lower proof than any other bourbon and aged for longer than average. Jimmy also insists on using 'the old, natural ageing process', by rotating the barrels in the warehouses - taking the barrels from the hot top floors and replacing them with those that have started on the cool lower floors. It gives a more even maturation profile for the Wild Turkey brands, though it's the middle floors which provide the whiskeys that go into the small batch Rare Breed and single barrel Kentucky Spirit.
Superb though they are, it's Wild Turkey 101° proof, 8-year-old which defines top-end bourbon. Uncompromising yet charming (like Jimmy himself), the fact that Hunter S. Thompson rates it as his favourite bourbon is no surprise, and speaks volumes about what to expect.
TASTING NOTES
Wild Turkey
80°proof Big nose, mixing geranium orange peel and dark fruit. Some smoke on the palate, which is rich with light cinnamon/perfumed notes, then a crisp vanilla/toasty finish. Solid stuff. ***
Wild Turkey 8-year-old
lOTproof Wonderfully rich and complex nose of acacia honey, caramelized fruits/creme brulee, faded roses and dried spices. Starts sweetly then sits heavily in the mouth. Hugely rich, mixing tingling sweet spices, honeyed fruits, vanilla and some red fruit. Succulent, and a meal in a glass. * * * * *
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
108.6°proof Slightly sweeter than the 8-year-old 101 °: more barley sugar/candy notes. Big and honeyed, with a light floral lift. Lovely mix of roses, fragrant spice, plum, nectarine and cigar box. A slow, soft start in the mouth, then a lift of charred wood, honeyed wood and a mix of chocolate and lemon on the finish
As other firms are tidying up their plants, the iron-clad, black-painted Wild Turkey sits teetering on the brink of a gorge, steam rattling out of various chimneys. It is one of those places which feels alive, as if the plant is humming with the measured rhythm of the staff. And, overseeing it all, is the avuncular Jimmy.
Take a walk with Jimmy through his distillery - it may be owned by Pernod-Ricard, but this is Jimmy's place - and it comes alive. The swirl and changing colours of the ferment; the wheeze, hiss and whistle of the still - these are not inanimate functions, but part and parcel of a creative, living process.
No surprise, then, that he's a firm believer in the human touch. 'People are one of the most important things in making bourbon,' he says. 'It's people who are doing the work here, people with generations of experience. All these proud people feel that Wild Turkey is part of them'.
He talks of understanding the meaning in the weird music of the still. 'You have to have a stillman there, watching and listening to it. The sound tells him what is going on. We can hear a funny noise and know what's happening. You can't have that hands-on control with machines'.
Jimmy is no technocrat. His pride in his distillery and his whiskey springs from the heart. 'There are things which you cannot prove scientifically. You can't prove why copper works better than stainless steel, but you sure can taste the difference. So, for me, making whiskey is a craftsman's process, an artistic process if you like. That artistic element is coming back as bourbon's image improves, and small batch and single barrel brands appear. People are coming back to an old-fashioned way of making whiskey and old-fashioned flavours'.
This belief in flavour is a crucial factor in making Jimmy's the tastiest bourbon of all. "Old-fashioned' is often used in a derogatory sense, but when distillers such as Jimmy Russell use the term, they're talking of a style of bourbon made before the 'light is right' brigade began to throttle the industry to death. These days, people like him have been vindicated, as the whisky-drinking world (re)discovers flavour and complexity. They wanted us to go lighter and lighter, but we never did change,' he smiles. 'You'll see more and more flavoursome, top-end bourbons in the future: but we didn't have to change anything, we were already there!'
Everything in the production of Wild Turkey is done to maximize flavour. The mashbill is heavy on rye and barley malt, it's distilled to a lower proof than any other bourbon and aged for longer than average. Jimmy also insists on using 'the old, natural ageing process', by rotating the barrels in the warehouses - taking the barrels from the hot top floors and replacing them with those that have started on the cool lower floors. It gives a more even maturation profile for the Wild Turkey brands, though it's the middle floors which provide the whiskeys that go into the small batch Rare Breed and single barrel Kentucky Spirit.
Superb though they are, it's Wild Turkey 101° proof, 8-year-old which defines top-end bourbon. Uncompromising yet charming (like Jimmy himself), the fact that Hunter S. Thompson rates it as his favourite bourbon is no surprise, and speaks volumes about what to expect.
TASTING NOTES
Wild Turkey
80°proof Big nose, mixing geranium orange peel and dark fruit. Some smoke on the palate, which is rich with light cinnamon/perfumed notes, then a crisp vanilla/toasty finish. Solid stuff. ***
Wild Turkey 8-year-old
lOTproof Wonderfully rich and complex nose of acacia honey, caramelized fruits/creme brulee, faded roses and dried spices. Starts sweetly then sits heavily in the mouth. Hugely rich, mixing tingling sweet spices, honeyed fruits, vanilla and some red fruit. Succulent, and a meal in a glass. * * * * *
Wild Turkey Rare Breed
108.6°proof Slightly sweeter than the 8-year-old 101 °: more barley sugar/candy notes. Big and honeyed, with a light floral lift. Lovely mix of roses, fragrant spice, plum, nectarine and cigar box. A slow, soft start in the mouth, then a lift of charred wood, honeyed wood and a mix of chocolate and lemon on the finish
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