Scotch Addict

One of the best parts of the Macallan tour was the special barrel/art of coopering section they had above the warehouse. In it, they explained the difference between American oak and French oak, barrel construction, and other aspects of coopering.

Did you know that a barrel has a standard volume of 36 gallons? I didn’t, I figured barrel was a general term for a container of that general size and shape. Well, to make things more interesting, there are actually many varying sizes of “barrels,” some of which have very funny names:

• Firkin – 9 gallons
• Kilderkin – 18 gallons
• Barrel – 36 gallons
• Hogshead – 54 gallons
• Butt – 108 gallons
• Tun – 216 gallons

Firkin – It’s an old English term derived from a Middle Dutch word vierdekijn, which means fourth. It’s appropriate because a firkin is a fourth of a barrel in volume.

Kilderkin – Again an old English term derived from Dutch but it doesn’t mean half, it just means small cask, but it is a half barrel.

Hogshead – I wasn’t able to find the origin of the term but it was standardized as 54 gallons by an act of Parliament in 1423.

Butt – This size in wine is called a pipe, so when The Balvenie Portwood Finish 21 states it was finished in Port pipes, it means barrels of this size.

Tun – It sounds like ton because it shares the same origin though the latter refers only to mass/weight.

It’s always interesting to learn a little bit of trivia!

(Photo: schlaeger)

Reference Butt, Cooperage, Firkin, Hogshead, Kilderkin, Macallan, Tun, Volume

[Slide 6 of the Slideshow]

Time has an incredible slideshow looking at the art of coopering at the Speyside Cooperage. If you aren’t familiar with the term, a cooperage is where whisky casks are made and the art of coopering is the craft itself. On a recent trip to Scotland, my wife and I tried to visit the Speyside Cooperage but arrived after it closed so this slideshow is the next best thing.

If you fancy another Time article, here’s a good one titled Whisky Business worth a look as well.

General Cooperage, Speyside

I first tried The Balvenie DoubleWood (12 Years) in England at my friend David’s home in Beverly last Thanksgiving (had a great Thanksgiving meal too!). Well, it wasn’t until only recently that I bought a bottle for myself (two in fact, I forgot I already had an unopened bottle when I bought another in duty free two weeks ago) and it wasn’t until last night that I uncorked it.

At the time, what struck me about the DoubleWood was that it was matured in both whisky oak casks and oak sherry casks. The term “whisky oak casks,” listed on the label of the bottle, refers to bourbon whisky casks purchased from bourbon producers in the United States. US law states that bourbon casks may only be used once, so after the first use they’re useless to bourbon producers! The second cask of oak sherry is known as a finish, where the whisky is allowed to spend six to twelve months in a cask once used for sherry and picks up a bit of flavor.

Last November, my experience with scotch had been very limited. I was familiar with the smokiness and peatiness of Islays, as my friends had taken a liking to Laphroaig and Lagavulin (and to a certain extent Talisker). I was also familiar with the easy going clean and smooth flavors of Speysides, but it wasn’t until The Balvenie that I had something quite as sweet.

Tasting Notes

I get a strong vanilla on the nose and a hint of fruit sweetness, though I can’t place what fruit it is. Tasting is a thoroughly enjoyable experience as it’s sweet with a bit of spiciness. It benefits from breathing, as the strength is very present, and I used the time as an opportunity to continue sniffing it. The finish is warm and inviting but not terribly long, just long enough until the next taste.

(at some places the Balvenie DoubleWood is listed as 40% abv, my bottle was listed as a 43% abv)

Tasting Notes Balvenie, Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year

Linsey at Lush Life tries a taste from an expensive bottle of The Dalmore, which costs a staggering $176,000 a bottle, though it’s unclear what the exact name is (not that it is that important, wasn’t like I was going to buy some!).

Check it out, quite entertaining:

Lindsey tastes The Dalmore from Lush Life on Vimeo.

The man doing most of the talking is none other than the famed Richard Paterson, Master Blender at Whyte & Mackay.

Video Richard Paterson, The Dalmore, Whyte & Mackay

I’m a huge fan of Glenlivet, one of the reasons why I visited them only a week ago near Tomintoul, Scotland. The tour of their distillery was a lot of fun, more on that later, but my real treat of Glenlivet wasn’t until I visited the World Duty Free store in Heathrow Airport. I visited the store, which you can’t possibly miss, last year after a trip to England and picked up quite a few bottles of Scotch, many of which still sit on my shelves, and this time I wanted to get some more.

I started talking to one of the salespeople and we got to discussing The Glenlivet. I told him about how I had visited the distillery, something he wanted to do, and I told him I enjoyed the 18 when he asked if I was interested in trying out the XXV. I had been looking at their taster’s try earlier and didn’t really see anything I wanted to try (mostly younger maturities of brands I was already familiar with), so I was surprised when he opened up the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of the XXV.

The Glenlivet XXV was silky smooth and spicy, reminiscent of their 18. You could tell it was finished in sherry casks because it had a definite sweetness. The tasting notes say it has raisins with a floral nose but I was lost in the nutty spiciness. Overall, it was a fantastic dram and what you would expect with a bottle priced at £175.00 retail. This would rank as the second most expensive dram I’ve ever sampled, second only to the Macallan Fine Oak 30 year, priced at £321 at the Macallan Distillery.

I enjoy scotch but the thought of spending £143, or about $236, on a single bottle was a bit much. I’m not against spending money for quality, but I don’t think I have the ability to truly appreciate and enjoy scotch of that caliber. With that being said, I think my money is better spent buying three or four bottles of more affordable scotch.

That’s when I took a look at The Glenlivet 21, which was a fraction of the price (£68.99 retail). The salesperson surprised me even more when he said that he has the 21 too, pulling it out from the secret compartment to let me try a bit. I enjoyed the 21 a lot, it lacked the spicy finish of the XXV and the nose had a lot more fruit and cinnamon. I’m glad I tried it because otherwise I would never have bought it! £68.99 (it was much less in duty-free) is a lot to spend on a brand you like when you don’t know what the scotch will be like, £68.99 is not a lot for a 21 year old scotch you know you’ll enjoy.

The real lesson here is that you should try before you buy and try it in duty free for free.

Tasting Notes Duty Free, Glenlivet 21, Glenlivet XXV, The Glenlivet

While in Edinburgh, we stopped by the Scotch Whisky Experience. The Scotch Whisky Experience has a restaurant and scotch bar in the basement, with the restaurant cleverly named Amber.

While we were waiting for a table, we stopped by the bar which boasted a selection of three hundred scotches. While we didn’t count them, it certainly looked as if they had close to that number!

We sat at the bar, enjoying a few drams as you would expect, and chatted up Steve, the young man working the bar. We asked him what he enjoyed, what he thought was the best value (Glen Goyne 21 was his choice as best value if you like a smooth and long finish, as a bottle is a great price for a 21 year scotch, though his first pick was the Balvenie Double Wood, also one of my favorites).

Eventually, he pointed out the Amber Macallan. None of us had heard of it before, though later internet research would reveal it is hated by most whisky enthusiasts (rightfully I think), and my friend had to try it. Just one sniff of the bottle was enough to dampen my interest!

It’s not whisky and if you try even a little bit with the expectation that it is, then you’ll hate it. However, if you accept it as it is, a liqueur, then it’s actually quite nice. You’ll need no tasting notes, as the maple syrup and pecans practically assaults you from the glass (when I sniffed it from the bottle nose, the maple syrup flavor dominated everything).

My friend, Rick, enjoys anything sweet. This liqueur was nearly perfect for him and that gave me a chance to try it. Since it smelled so strongly of maple syrup, I was surprised by its mouthfeel. It was like a regular whisky, not like a syrup despite its smell! The flavor of pecans is unmistakable and mixing it with the syrup actually gave it a flavor similar to hazelnut.

I was glad to have tried some of it (thanks Steven!) but there’s no way I could have more than a sip. It’s said that it goes well over ice cream, not surprisingly, but I can’t imagine drinking a whole glass of it. I do have to give Macallan points for creativity!

Tasting Notes Amber, Macallan, Scotch Whisky Experience