Scotch Addict

I only recently discovered the fine work of the The Sixteen Men of Tain in the form of Glenmorangie: The Original (their ten year expression) and was impressed by the depth of flavors. It stood up quite nicely against my “daily” dram of Glenlivet 12 (I don’t drink it daily… but I easily could!) and was comparably priced, so it was nice to discover something I could enjoy if I wanted a slight change of pace.

So this weekend, in a trip to New York, we stopped by Viscount Wines and Liqours with some friends to pick up wine for their wine tasting party. As they shopped for wine, i wandered over to the scotch section and took a look. I wasn’t specifically looking for Glenmorangie but when I saw the unmistakable amber box, I noticed there were several right beside it.

As it turns out, Glenmorangie has about half a dozen special finishes:

• Lasanta – Finished in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks
• Quinta Ruban – Finished in Portugese port pipes/casks
• Nectar D’Or – Finished in Sauternes casks, Sauternes is a French dessert wine
• Sonnalta PX – Finished in Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks
• Astar – Matured entirely in “Artisan casks”

Several other distilleries offer finishes in sherry and port pipes, after years in a bourbon cask, but Glenmorangie is the first one I’ve seen that offers a version finished in Sauternes casks. (upon further research online, I see now that several distilleries offer Sauternes finishes)

(Photo: rollanb)

General Glenmorangie

The WSJ has a fantastic article on Japanese Whisky that any whisky aficionado should read. It’s mostly on the state of Japanese whisky production, with looks at several several distilleries, three years after Nikka Whiskey Distilling Co’s 21-year old Takesuru Pure Malt secured the best blended malt awards at the Whisky magazine awards.

At almost every liquor store I’ve been to, there’s always been a bottle of Japanese whisky available and I’ve never had the opportunity to try it out. I think part of me is hesitant because it’s Japanese, whose whisky making tradition is but a toddler compared to the Scots. However, I think it’s fun to try something new so the next time I go to the store, I might take one home with me. One difference, which I’m eager to see how it affects the spirit, is that the distillation process is coal-fired, which is unique nowadays.

One thing that is the same… whisky in Japan is spelled without the E.

General Japan

One of the most entertaining parts of the Macallan Distillery tour was the section on the art of coopering, or barrel-making. I always implicitly knew that the barrel played a significant role in the taste of whisky but until the tour I never had a name for the art, coopering, nor any basic understanding of what led to what.

One of the biggest factors, besides the maturity time, has to do with the type of wood the barrels are made of. The wood itself is almost always oak, though at times spiritmakers have experimented with other hardwoods. With oak, you have two options – French Oak and American Oak. In many years past, the differences between the two were more pronounced as French Oak, with its tighter grains, imparted its flavor more slowly. However, as American coopering started adopting some of the French coopering practices (splitting staves along the grain and air-dry seasoning for 24 months), the differences have diminished over time.

Having sampled Macallan’s new make whisky (what goes into each barrel), I can definitely say that the aging process in the barrels really gives scotch its depth of flavor.

Reference American Oak, Cooperage, French Oak

The above is a Whisky Tasting Wheel taken from Whisky Magazine, via Scotch Blog, and I posted it here because it’s one of several “whisky wheels” out there. Whisky wheels are great because the fun in sampling different whiskies is in finding the subtle aromas and flavors. It’s hard to know what to look for if you don’t have a map, especially when you’re a novice like me, so having a wheel available can help. I wouldn’t get too carried away though, as trying to smell fresh laundry or hot sand (both are in the Sandy part in the Sulphury wedge) might leave you more confused than anything else.

When I enjoyed the Laphroaig last week, I could distinctly smell the medicinal aroma, which makes sense in such a peaty scotch. But looking back, I didn’t get any tar, diesel oil, or seaweed (not that I was supposed to).

In the end, the whole experience of enjoying whisky is very personal and everyone’s palate is different, so while this should give you diesel, don’t sweat it if you can’t get the flavors you read in some tasting notes.

Reference Laphroaig, Whisky Wheel

Via WHISKYhost Blog, I give you a short sixteen minute video of highlights from the documentary Scotch Whisky: The Myth and the Magic:

General Videos

Last week, my wife and I met some college friends at Corks, a restaurant in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. It had been quite some time since we’d been to Corks, the last time was for Baltimore’s 2007 Restaurant Week, because it’s not very often that we go into Baltimore for dinner. Back then, I hadn’t developed a liking for Scotch so I didn’t really keep an eye out for what they had available.

This time, armed with a little more experience, I spied several well known bottles on the shelf. They had your basic bar standards, Glenlivet 12 and a Glenfiddich, as well as a Macallan Fine Oak 17 that looked appealing. However, tonight I was in the mood for something with a little more punch and noticed they had a fairly healthy bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask.

Laphroaig is an Islay, which is generally characterized by a peatiness and smokiness completely absent from Speyside scotches like Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Macallan. What’s special about the quarter cask? The story they tell is that when whisky was transported by mules or packhorses, a barrel was too heavy so they used quarter casks. In those smaller casks, the whisky would continue to mature and be in greater contact with the oak – imparting more of the wood’s flavor into the dram.

How much more? It’s 30% more contact, by their calculations. To help maximize the flavor, they decided to bottle the quarter cask at 48 percent alcohol by volume, up from the standard 40 percent. Besides the additional maturation, higher alcohol by volume, the whisky is not chill filtered because it hadn’t been invented back when pack animals were used to transport the whisky!

Here are Laphroaig’s tasting notes:

• Colour: Autumn gold
• Nose: Slight peatyness, smooth, velvety, coconut, creamy aroma with water.
• Taste: Soft velvet moderates peatyness
• Finish: Creamy, zesty orange

When I enjoyed it, the peatyness and smoke were very evident. I think this has more to do with my own whisky experience, I enjoy mostly Speysides at home (a problem I must remedy in my next trip to the store), and less an indication of how strong those flavors are in Laphroaig. Also, there was a slight medicinal nose that persisted the entire dram. On the palate, it wasn’t as sweet and dry fruity as Speysides, those flavors likely dominated by the peat. I didn’t get any coconut, as the notes say, but the finish did hint of oranges once the heat of the higher ABV subsided.

I’d love to get this and the 10 year old Laphroaig side by side for a real comparison.

Tasting Notes Laphroaig, Laphroaig Quarter Cask