Macallan is one of my favorite single malt Scotches and this holiday season, shipping in November, Macallan will be offering a new eye-catching dazzling box for all your gift giving needs (hint hint, nudge nudge). A photo of the new box is to the right. The bottling will be their most well known 18 Year, aged in Sherry Oak casks from Jerez, Spain (as opposed to their Fine Oak line), so nothing about the Scotch itself changes. What you get, for the same price, is a limited edition dazzling box that will definitely shine in your Scotch case or bar.
I visited the Macallan distillery about a year ago, took part in their Most Precious Tour and had a fantastic time. I sampled everything from their New Make Whisky to their 30 Year Fine Oak and can say that my favorite was the Macallan 18. The 30 Year was fantastic but you simply can’t beat the quality and price point of the Macallan 18 (around $150 for 750 mL).
If you aren’t sure what to get your favorite Scotch loving friend this winter, consider an old favorite in a fancy limited edition box. 
Did you know that there hasn’t been a new distiller in Scotland in over 30 years?
That’s why it’s such big news that Diageo has opened a new distillery in Speyside to produce more of their blended Scotch whiskies – Johnnie Walker, Buchanan’s, Old Parr, and J&B. I’m not myself as big a fan of blended whiskies as I am of single malts, though I do enjoy the occasional blend from time to time. The facility cost £40 million, three years, and is located at Roseisle on Speyside with fourteen copper stills and an annual product capacity of 10 million liters. It’ll be one of the most environmentally sustainable distillers with most of its by-products recycled on site. Expect the taste the whisky it produces in 2012.
Balvenie is one of my favorite distilleries and the Balvenie 15 is very often my go to scotch these days. I really enjoy its fruitiness, subtle oakiness, and general sweetness (vanilla?) as a way to help wind down after a long day. Normally I can enjoy a peatier scotch but usually not for too long, as the heavy peat flavor starts to wear on me. So when I heard that Balvenie would be producting a 17 year bottle aged in a peated cask, I was intrigued.
The smoky and peaty flavors you find in classic Islays are usually introduce when the barley is being roasted. In the days of yore, they would roast the barley over peat, using it as a fuel source since it was abundantly available on the island, and that smokiness was infused into the barley. In years past, Balvenie has produced a peaty scotch in its Islay Cask, which put Balvenie scotch into a cask that once held a Islay scotch (thus imparting some smoky and peaty flavors).
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Much like how Champagne is sparkling white wine from Champagne, France, scotch is whisky produced in Scotland. When it’s produced anywhere else, it’s known as whisky (or whiskey in the United States). Since whisky is distilled fermented mash (like beer) aged in barrels, it’s not surprising to learn that many geographies produce whisky. Much like how the varied Scotches have different characteristics based on geography, from the water they use to the barrles, from the way the wheat is dried to how much the barrels are roasted, geography plays a big role in the final flavor.
That’s why I’m eager to dry a Japanese whisky. They’ve grown in popularity to give sake, the country’s best known alcoholic beverage, a run for its money. I’ve seen Suntory’s Yamazaki brand in stores lately but I was surprised to learn they’ve been in business for over a hundred years! In fact, the founder of Suntory, Shinjiro Torii, hired a distiller, Masataka Taketsuru, who studied in Scotland (Taketsuru later went on to found Nikka, another major producer).
I’m eager to give it a try!
Consumers pushing beyond sake to Japanese whiskies
[Associated Press]
I received an email from Laphroaig about two weeks explaining a new Scotch Whisky Association rule that requires all cask strength single malt Scotch whiskies to display a bottling date and batch number on each bottle. Laphroaig used to bottle all their cask strengths at 55.5% ABV but with the new rules, they’ll be bottling each batch individually with varying strengths and expressions. Since the cask strengths will no longer be blends of several casks, each will have slightly more distinction from bottling to bottling.
I’m not entirely sure why the rules were changed but it’ll certainly add a small little twist to each, here are the stats of Batch #1 of Laphroaig’s Cask Strength:
Batch 1 Facts
ABV: 57.8%/115.6 proof
Batch Date: February 2007
Tasting Notes: A full blast of massive peat smoke and seashore salt leads to a fading sweetness at the finish.
Batch Quantity: 5,100 bottles
Glenfiddich produced 61 bottles of a whisky that has been maturing in a cask (casks?) for 64 years and this past week they auctioned one of those bottles off. The bottle fetched 25,200 pounds, or $37,245, from an unknown purchaser over the telephone. It’s not the most anyone has ever paid for a bottle, by a long shot, but it’s a sign that Scotch whisky is still selling strong.
The whisky in the bottle was distilled on July 17th, 1937 and bottled on October 24, 2001. Quit a long period of time!
The math of this is quite simple – there are 7 calories per gram of alcohol. To find out how many calories are in a shot of whisky, we simply need to convert that into grams, then calculate the grams of alcohol based on it’s proof, and multiply by seven. Simple right? A shot of anything is generally 1.50 fluid ounces, which is 41.7 grams.
Whisky can range in proof, starting at 80 proof, but we’ll stick with some simple math. Let’s go with 80 proof, or 40% alcohol, which gives us 16.68 grams of alcohol. If each gram has 7 calories, we know now that a shot of whisky has about 116.76 calories.
If you have a 43% ABV whisky, that’s 125.517 calories.
And if you drink a cask strength whisky at 60% ABV, then you’re talking a whopping 175.14 calories.
What Does John Know? that Glenfarclas has released a 40 year old whisky to their offerings. Glenfarclas will now have two 40 year old offerings, the new 46% ABV and the existing limited edition 43% Scottish Classic that was limited to 600 bottles.
Here are the tasting notes from the Glenfarclas website:
Colour: Rich dark mysterious Gold
Nose: Reminiscent of relaxing in an old leather armchair while eating walnuts and chocolate covered raisins.
Flavour: A sweet initial taste, orange segments dipped in liquid chocolate. Then a lovely flavour of burnt brown sugar at the back of the mouth
Finish: The dry finish oozes big tannins and more rich dark cocoa beans. Let the whisky breathe a little or add a drop or two of water to fully open up the dram
It seems fairly priced at £350.
Last week, I had the chance to visit Birds of a Feather in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland as part of a bachelor party. I know what you’re thinking, a Scotch bar for a bachelor party? It’s not typical but then again, neither was the bachelor. I, for one, wasn’t complaining. I’d heard about Birds of a Feather but never had the chance to visit and was glad we had it on our list of places to go that night.
I didn’t bring a camera but if you can imagine an upscale pub setting, put in an area of a Baltimore rowhome, you can imagine what it looks like inside. When you walk in, the bar, and it’s imposing wall of single malt and blended Scotch bottles, is to your right. To your left, along the wall, are some tall stools and tables. About twenty feet or so, there is a small hallway that leads to a back room area with large comfortable seats and tables. It’s a room that looks like it was designed for cigars and Scotch, though smoking indoors was banned a short time ago.
They have a wide selection of Scotches at very affordable prices. I don’t remember what they were but their list is available here and I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. We didn’t try anything on their menu but I imagine I wouldn’t have been disappointed there either.
If you want to learn more, here’s a glowing 2007 Baltimore Sun article.
Very friendly, not stuffy and certainly not snobby, and definitely a fun stop if you’re a fan of Scotch.
(Photo: flickr4jazz)
When people refer to Scotch whisky, they spell whisky without an ‘e.’ When they refer to the same golden or amber elixir produced in the United States, they spell whiskey with an ‘e.’ What gives?
As it turns out, the original spelling of the spirit is whisky without the ‘e.’ However, sometime in the 1800s, American distilleries wanted to differentiate their product, produced in similar fashion, from the Scottish version. In general, Scotch Whisky is spelled without an ‘e’ and any other whiskey (Canadian, Irish, etc.) is spelled with an ‘e.’ It’s unclear where the Japanese single malts fit in as they go without the ‘e.’ (Yamazaki for example)
Of course, this is not a rule followed universally and there’s no way to enforce it. In fact, a Boozin’ Blog they looked at the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms guidelines, to see if they required any nomenclature rules, and saw no consistency either.
In the end, tradition and ceremony dictates that Scotch is whisky without an ‘e’ and everything else has an ‘e.’