When I first heard that Balvenie were to release another version of the Single Barrel, this time a 12 year old, I got rather excited. Having always been a fan of the Single Barrel 15 year old, this newest expression was sure to get my lips smacking.
Single cask whiskies are a perfect time-shot of maturation, with each cask delivering a different and unique character to the whisky resting within and with no other casks married into batches, finding them is a rare treat. I say rare, because normally single cask expressions are limited in number. By their very nature, there is only as much as the cask can hold and once gone, never to be replicated. Normally it’s the selection of a malt master who will tend to discover a certain cask, resting and maturing at just the right pace which seems to be delivering a certain style, still in keeping with that of the distillery but a perfectly unique example. So when Balvenie decided to set aside casks to mature their whisky, releasing these after 15 years as single cask bottles it was a great opportunity for many more people that usual to sample some great drams. With each bottle being numbered and dated you could actually work out the age as not all seemed to be right for release at 15 years and if you do a little maths you can find examples of Balvenie Single Barrel 15 year old actually at 16 & 17 years and older.
This new 12 year old has been rested in First Fill casks of ex-bourbon. That may sound a little strange, calling a cask first fill if it’s actually second hand, but in the scotch industry we refer to cask use when it is used here. So an ex-bourbon cask is “first filled” with scotch, use it again and it becomes a refill cask. If the whisky was matured in a brand new cask, with no previous contents then it is know as “virgin cask” such as used by Deanston but few distillers use these as the powerful notes can sometimes be overpowering.
The Balvenie Single Barrel 12yr
Bottle number: Unknown (trade sample)
47.8% abv Non Chill Filtered
Ex-Bourbon Cask
300 bottles max per cask
Appearance: Warm rose gold
Nose: As you would expect from Balvenie, the signature notes of honey, dried citrus peels and light spice are immediate. But there is a hit of sliced pear and vanilla ice cream which seems to dry out the nose somewhat, which isn’t surprising considering the 47.8% abv. Apple blossom emerges to give a floral element and ties everything up in a well structured bouquet.
Palate: Rich and honey sweet with perfect grip of cinnamon spice. The fruity notes of dried peel and a hint of pineapple roll through the palate with a pear tarte tatin sweetness. A malty backbone with deep woody vanilla holds it all together.
Finish: Sweet spicy honey all the way with a dry oak tail.
Summary: Although bold at this level of ABV, I didn’t think the addition of water was required and that shows how well integrated the spirit and cask has become. Big, it certainly is but what impressed me is the integration of flavour as they raised and dipped around a thick mouth-feel. There is a lot going on, but thankfully all in the same direction rather than challenging the palate too much. Well worth seeking this one out and with an RRP of just under £50 I think Balvenie will need to lay a few more casks down.
For other Balvenie Reviews click the links: 17 Double Wood, Tun 1401 batch 5, Dream Dram, 40 year old.
Tags: 1401, 15, 17, Balvenie, barrel, bottle, bourbon, built, Cask, character, cooper, craft, Deanston, distiller, dram, ex, family, fill, fine, first, floor, found, Glenfiddich, grant, hand, held, help, honey, last, malt, maltying, master, mature, New, notes, number, Old, owned, past, rare, refill, release, rest, review, sample, Scotch, Scotland, select, selection, Sherry, single, tasting, tun, unique, whiskey, whisky, william, year
Having just returned from the recent “Warrior Release” of Highland Park, I wasn’t quite expecting another release to follow so soon, nor was I prepared for the intriguing manner in which this latest HP expression has made its way out into the world. 
My postie is a very nice lady but she does have a habit of arriving at an ungodly hour and on this occasion remarked with her usual cheerfulness “Oh you are dressed!” which nicely set the discombobulated tone of the day as I struggled to wake up and remember if I had been inadvertently naked when I last saw her! The mystery continued when I opened the delivery to find an intriguing unmarked black box and the black envelope within holding a disc of paper on which were printed strange symbols and letters. It took a while for me to work out that it was actually a flexagon which when refolded in certain ways would deliver different messages. Three in fact. The crossed legged man wrapped in a serpent, and the lines “All is not what it seems” and ” A serpent stirs in the smoky shadows”. Had I upset someone so much they had sent some kind of death threat to me? Friends in the industry were also sent the same package and as we “tweeted” our thoughts, we tried to work out who it was from and what it was all about. The image did seem familiar and after a little more searching we found out it was to do with the second in The Valhalla Series from Highland Park- “Loki”
Got to love Google.
So this morning, a second parcel arrived. Similar black box, similarly plain looking package and yes I was dressed. Inside was a tube, with an origami serpent guarding a small bottle. Fortunately this time, the mystery was solved – the bottle had a label on it.
So who is Loki? From Norse mythology, he was a helper to the gods, but also a shape shifter and trickster seemingly causing them more problems than helping. I always thought, taking the word of the great Stan Lee, that he was the brother of Thor and the son of Odin , but apparently not and his name is set deep into ancient writings far beyond the modern portrayal of him. Anyway, with glass in hand it was easy to see why this slithery character was chosen as this whiskies name sake as the nose, palate and finish seems to shift and change at every approach. stirring stuff indeed.
Gerry Tosh, Global Marketing Manager says, “Thor was the first of its kind, a true quality malt built around an individual’s personality. This proved massively successful and it sold out globally. Loki will continue to take Highland Park and The Valhalla Collection into new territory.
While everyone will recognize the definite ‘Highland Park-ness’ of this 15 Years Old Single Malt, it will be the unexpected and surprisingly smoky dynamics that will really get palates excited and mouths talking. This is unlike any expression that has come before and will beguile and fascinate with its complexity and trickery. Remember, all is not as it seems.”
Highland Park “Loki” 15year old
The Valhalla Series
47.8% ABV
European cask and peated cask.
Limited to 21,000 bottles
RRP £170
Appearance: Rose gold with like honey.
Nose: Artist oil paint, fresh squeezed orange juice, hessian cloth, fresh hay, linseed oil, warm honey blossom, rich malt, licorice root and a note of perished vulcanized rubber. Smoke never really appears, taking the form of the rubber note instead. Well developed but very complex.
Palate: A syrupy and rich beginning with burnt butter, walnut oil, busts of peat smoke and charred meat making up the start of the palate. Vanilla sauce over dried tropical peels of grapefruit and papaya, woody birch sap honey follows with ginger spice and ends with molasses licorice and lime preserve coated with peat smoke.
Finish: Dried peel, chunks of charred wood and earthy spices all fight for palate possession as the smokey finish grips in.
Summary: From first nosing this whisky, to the initial taste, then going back to it after a few minutes it had become three very different drams. Unmistakably Highland Park, yet at the same time layered with citrus and a level of peat smoke far greater than normally expected. But give it a minute and it switches round, the smoke dies, the warm spices emerge and the citrus calms. Then try again. Nothing is as it seems.
Tags: 15, aroma, barrel, Cask, character, distill, distiller, distillery, dram, european, fact, favourite, fiction, film, flavour, Gerry, global, god, heavy, Highalnd, holywood, Lee, light, limited, Loki, malt, marketing, mystery, New, Norse, nose, notes, nothing, oak, Old, Orcadian, origami, Orkney, Park, peat, Peated, release, review, Scotch, Scotland, Scottish, seems, seprent, series, Serpent, Sherry, single, smoke, smokey, smoky, Stan, taste, tasting, Thor, Tosh, truth, unknown, Valhella, whiskey, whisky, year
Glemorangie have added a new expression to the Private Collection range. The collection, comprising of Sonnalta PX, Finealta and Artien will now be joined by the Ealanta which means “skilled and ingenious” in the Gaelic tongue. Dr Bill Lumsden, Director of Distilling and whisky creation at Glenmorangie found this newest experiment shortly after joining the team and carefully watched over it, moving the casks to another location within the warehouse where he felt they might benefit more until their release.
What most unusual about this 19 year old whisky is that it has been fully matured in brand new American oak cask which, having had no previous spirit in which to calm the flavours are typically full of buttery vanilla. Its a brave move as most in the scotch industry will avoid the use of such cask mostly due to the youthful and full force character found within. A few years holding bourbon and it calms, softens and is gentler to the scotch which will eventually fill it to the brim. Of course, there is another reason- cost. New casks are expensive and we (us canny Scots) tend to purchase 2nd hand from the bourbon industry, but of course, this is Glenmorangie- a company renowned for its fine wood selection as it has shown before with releases such as the Quinta Ruban (port finish) so its safe to say I was approaching this one with some delight indeed. If anyone can get this right, its the good doctor.
And oh how right he has!
Leaving it non-chill filtered and with an abv of 46% there is plenty of juicy mouthfeel and a full palate to handle the expected vanilla and new oak abundance. But there is so much more going on.
Glenmorangie Ealanta Single Malt Scotch Whisky
46% ABV
Non Chill Filtered
Virgin American Oak maturation
19 years old
RRP: £69.95
Appearance: Antique gold with bright brass.
Nose: Immediately rich with orange citrus, flamed orange peel and concentrated oils laid over butter, vanilla creme brulee and maple syrup. Lots of stewed fruits rise behind the initial bright citrus, calming everything and allowing the real depth of this whisky to talk. Butterscotch Angel Delight and Cornish clotted cream.
Palate: Its bursting with vanilla and sweet fruity notes, raisin, golden sultanas soaked in light rum. Some dryer wood notes creep in, holding everything in place before turning nutty- Brazil, macadamia and a light toffee sauce coating.
Finish: Its a long lasting playful whisky, tipping between edgy rich citrus, butter and nuts.
Summary: Certainly there is no doubt where this spent the last 19 years, and true to form Dr Lumsden has indeed looked after this well. For those who are already fans of the lighter style of Glenmorangie at its younger age, you might find this a challenge but for all the right reasons you should keep coming back to it.
Tags: American, Atrien, Bill, Cask, chill, collections, collector, distiller, distillery, Dr, dram, ealanta, filtered, Finealta, Glenmorangie, Lumsden, malt, mature, New, notes, oak, perfect, private, Quinta Ruban, review, reviewed, Scotch, Scotland, Scottish, select, selection, single, Sonnalta, taste, tasting, type, Virgin, whiskey, whisky, wood
You know that feeling of panic that sets in when you loose something like a set of keys and you are on a tight schedule, slapping pockets, turning over sofa cushions in a frantic attempt to discover their hiding place. Horrid isn’t it, but when you eventually find them the rush of relief is great. Or when you remember about a possession you haven’t seen in a while, you know you have it, but its just not been in your life and when you do stumble across it again, its welcomed back and put to good use.
So imagine if you happened to stumble across a cask of 40 year old whisky that you didn’t realise you had. Just how would that feel? Well, you could ask Ian MacMillan, Master Distiller at Bunnahabhain because thats exactly what happened to him when he found some ‘Turney’ casks, which were filled with Bunnahabhain whisky over 40 years ago by Glasgow wine merchants J G Turney. I suppose its difficult to imagine how you ‘forget’ a few casks, but as Bunnahabhain store around 21,000 casks at the distilleries warehouse on Islay, (some of which will make its way into the superb Black Bottle blend) it becomes a bit easier to understand.
Bunnahabhain has long been a favourite of mine and I have used a number of bottles including the duty free releases of Darach Ur in my Dramatic Whisky events to show people that not all whisky from Islay is peated as is the popular misconception about whisky regions. Therefore, I was more than delighted to reciev a sample of the newly discovered 40 year old Bunnahabhain which was accompanied by a illustration from the label created by Iain McIntoshScots illustrator, which depicts the journey this rested malt has undergone.
Bunnhabhain Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40 Years Old
Limited release of 750 bottles
ABV 41.7% vol. Un-chillfiltered
RRP: £1999
Appearance: Burnished copper with rose gold
Nose: Candied orange, vanilla wax cande, nougat and heather honey. Light earthy spice, ginger bread and balsa wood all very well integrated and still lively. Waxed leather saddle with lavender and violets round off the nose.
Palate: Orange oil with a mineral note, almost diesel like before rounded malt and ginger spice open the palate up allowing deeper vanilla and earthy spice to grip hold. Seems to sit on top of your tongue for a while before sinking in. Very little wood element which is surprising considering the age.
Finish: Clean yet spicy, again almost a mineral/fuel-like dryness before light oak and vanilla linger.
Summary: Certainly lively for its age and and unsurprisingly complex but its this assertive spice that perhaps shows the greatest departure from the classic Bunnahabhain style. Its heading towards a dryer style of whisky, perhaps held together with the waxy element before becoming too oaky.
Right, I’m off to search down the back of the sofa for my keys again.
Tags: 40, aged, biggest, Black, blend, Blended, bottle, bottled, Bunnahabhain, buy, Cask, cost, Darach Ur, distiller, dram, drink, duty, expensive, found, free, Glasgow, hand, hardest, iain, Ian, ice, illustrator, island, islay, keys, latest, limited, lost, MacMillan, malt, master, McIntosh, Old, oldest, peat, Peated, price, rare, regions, release, released, rest, review, reviewed, Scotch, Scotland, Scottish, sinlge, source, tasting, warehouse, water, whiskey, whisky, Years
It’s pronounced “Bal-cone-ys” for those who don’t know, a fault line running east to west through Texas and in particular very close to Waco where in 2008 Chip Tate decided he would build a whisky distillery. Being the first in Texas since prohibition, Chip pretty much had a clean sheet to start from and set about gathering information, along with some plant and material, in what was to be a very hands on approach in the creation of the Balcones Distillery. With guidance from Jim McEwan of Bruichladdich in the form of a summers intense training, Chip set about literally building the distillery himself, even turning his hand to the creation of the copper pots stills that his spirit would eventually flow from. Hardly new to the alchemy of alcohol, Chip had a diploma in brewing and had consulted in the craft brewing revival that had taken place around America but it was whisky that caught his attention and taking this amount of time and effort with every aspect was sure to pay off.
These small craft distillers are seeing a rise in popularity, just like the craft beers before them, and it is no surprise that we see the likes of Balcones and Hudson to name just two, start to make there way across the Atlantic to our shores. But are they any good? Well, I have reviewed Hudson before here and below are my thoughts on four out of the seven available releases from Balcones. And before anyone points it out, Chip does not use the American “e” in naming his whisky most probably because it’s not quite what you might expect and as a result wants to keep it away from an instant association with Bourbons and American Whiskey. Chip is also using small bespoke built casks, and not all are brand new as bourbon production requires, playing with a few different sizes and varieties of cask to enhance and support the whisky he is creating. The results overall is a youthful spirit with a mature flavour and plenty of character. Certainly the quality of production is transparent in every sip, but somehow Chip has also managed to negate any discussion of age which is a bold move into a marketplace seemingly transfixed on age V’s quality with many unable to understand that young (not immature) can be great.
So first, whats it made of? Most American whiskies will be made up of a mixture of grains, know as the mash bill, and in particular a higher proportion of yellow corn with the remainder of the mash consisting of varying amounts of rye, wheat and barley.
Balcones “Baby Blue” for instance, is produced from 100% blue corn. Blue corn is not something I was terribly familiar with and have to say is something I don’t think I have ever tried in its natural form, but it is apparently an old varient of the yellow corn we know here in the UK. Popular in Mexico and the southern areas of the U.S., it has around 20% more protein and a lower glycemic index than the rest of the corn family which in turn tends to produce a sweeter, nuttier flavour when processed into food stuffs. So just how well will it transfer into a whisky?
Balcones Baby Blue Whisky
100% corn
2 years average age
46% ABV Non Chill Filtered
RRP – £54
Nose: Rich notes of honeycomb dusted with cocoa, light clove and cinnamon then earthy notes of jute fibre and ginger with caramel/butter.
Palate: With all the finding from the nose transferring to the palate with a slight amplification to the spicy elements.
Finish: Prickly yet sweet. A good balanced finish of spice and toffee.
Balcones True Blue 100
100% Blue Corn
Heavy char cask
ABV – 61.5% Non Chill Filtered
RRP – £67.95
Nose: Fresh pressed apple juice, hard toffee covered with milk chocolate, heavy waves of cinnamon, cedar wood and “Crunchie Bar” (honeycomb in chocolate) warming spices of clove/mace.
Palate: Rich earthy spices and “chewy” wood, thick creamy chocolate and deep red fruits of cherry/kirsch, cranberry. Cutting with water rounds out the fire and balances the spices and fruit.
Finish: A lingering spicy finish with a dry end akin to cider.
Balcones No 1 Texas Single Malt
100% Malted Barley (Golden Promise-Berwick)
European Oak
ABV- 52.7% Non Chill Filtered
RRP – £74.95
Nose: Banana bread, frangipani, cherry clafoutis, linseed oil over plums and apricots with a malt undertone.
Palate: Initial fruit bread with a slightly tropical edge, good youthful grip and warm vanilla spic. Cocoa nibs and malt towards the mid palate.
Finish: Chewy malt with chocolate and nutty spice.
Balcones Brimstone
100% Blue Corn (smoked with Texas bush oak scrub)
ABV – 53% Non Chill Filtered
RRP – £64.95
Nose: Prune fruit, flint and hickory smoke. Liquorice root with a slight iodine edge and faint rubber/laytex glove. Notes of clove and amber with a deep aromatic character.
Palate: Arbrouath smokies, chewy herbal elements of light clove and “Oddfellows”. Vegetal smoke with vanilla and touches of dry oak after liquorice.
Finish: Fabulously integrated and lingering. Each element found in the nose and palate makes itself know time and time again.
Young it may be, American whiskey it certainly isn’t and following rules it never will – but it has the quality within and like all craft distillers, there is a noted difference in the delivery. I’m glad to see this brand make it over here, although the PPR’s are a little above budget for most who might wish to explore something different, at least there is nothing to fault with the product itself.
All four whiskies tasted will be available from The Whisky Exchangefrom the first week of November. For more information, contact Emily Harris at May Fox Communications.
Tags: alcheny, alcohol, America, American, baby, Balcones, Berwick, bespoke, blue, bourbon, brew, brewing, brimstone, bruichladdich, built, bush, Cask, charred, chip, copper, corn, craft, distiller, distillery, dram, drink, european, exchange, fault, fire, glycemic, Grain, hand, heat, hickory, honeycomb, Hudson, index, malt, mexico, oak, peat, prohibition, protein, scrub, single, small, smoke, smokey, Spice, still, tate, texas, UK, USA, waco, whiskey, whisky
The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show is but a distant memory for most now, but of course the problem often remains that I never get a chance to catch up on all the lovely samples I end up with. However, thanks to a recent email from The English Whisky Company informing me of their newset batch of releases, namely the Founders Private Cellar Single Casks, I was reminded of the three samples I tried at the show. A quick scan through the old faithful Moleskine notebook revealed a rather well set out list of tasting notes (it must have been early on I tried them!)
James Nelstrop, founder and owner of The English Whisky Company, along with his team of distillers David Fitt and Iain Henderson have been carefully watching some selected cask of rather curious concoctions (more about that later)- but then they can do what they want cant they.
And thats exactly what they have done.
During the whisky show, David gave me a small bottle of new make spirit and asked me for my thoughts on it. It was (one of) Davids little experiment with, as he put it “anything that will go through the mash”. David used to be a brewer, so is pretty familiar with various barley types and the yield and resilience of them. It was just another day at the office for David when he was offered free range of the distillery to see what he could produce. He must have felt a little like a kid in a sweet shop which is probably why he chose chocolate malt as well as malted barley, crystal malt , oats, rye and wheat to make up his mad brew. If you ever get the chance to meet David and buy him a pint- As I have on many an occasion, he will probably go for a porter style ale- dark and rich in both colour and flavour, bursting with chocolate an coffee notes. So its unsurprising to find that the resulting new make was- to say the least, complex and delicious with heady notes of whole pears dipped in milk chocolate- I cannot wait to see how that turns out once its spent a respectable amount of time in oak- and I am sure the choice of cask will be just as experimental. Having tasted the new make, I would expect an ale or rum finish to partner well.
Anyway- at the show I also had the chance to sample the three new single cask releases which are just as “experimental” and as they were released on October 17th (yesterday as this blog was written) it seemed a good time to share my notes- well, except that the distillery have already sold out of all but the Peated Sauternes!
Triple Distilled
Cask No. 0116 Filled 12th Sept 2007
Bottled 19th Sept 2012
60.8% abv
Appearance: Apple white with pale gold
Nose: (with water) Apple sponge cake with elderflowers and an undertone of malty warm buttered chocolate digestive. Elements of hedgerow and blackcurrant leaf with a slight eucalyptus oil rubbed into fresh oak.
Palate: At first, bright and youthful with vanillin and oak but quickly opens (with water) to reveal similar creamy notes found on the nose mixed with fresh, edgy herbs and fruit. Eucalyptus becomes more mild aniseed.
Finish: Rounded to the end with a slight coca feel and light oak.
Summary: Not for the feint hearted and certainly requires a drop of water before jumping in, but with this much going on at just 5 years old- it stands it in good stead for the future.
Peated Sauternes cask
Cask No.0787 Filled 12th Sept 2007
Bottled 1st Oct 2012
61.1% abv
Appearance: Wet hay with yellow gold
Nose: Very savoury with acorn, mushroom, weetabix, and burnt toast spread with apricot jam. Brown wrapping paper. iodine and wet and dry sandpaper.
Plate: Creamy and initially sweet then driving peat powers through releasing delicious grippy spice. White pepper with burnt rubber and ginger root.
Finish: Lingering peat “bite” with earth tones dry the palate but leave you licking your gums for more.
Summary: A great balance between spirit and cask. Still available to buy at £125 RRP.
Port Cask
Cask No. 0859 Filled 20th June 2007
Bottled: 21st Sept 2012
59.3% abv
Appearance: Pale marmalade with a rose hue
Nose: Jammy notes of blackforrest gateaux, kirsh and cinnamon. A “fresh” notes of cut nettle stems and perhaps tarragon before the plump fruitiness becomes darker and more straw-like.
Palate: Strawberries and cream with cracked black pepper. Cream vanilla fudge and an earthy note of mushroom butter. Light cinnamon spice helps dry the palate.
Finish: The fruit turns earthy, but in a good way, allowing the spice and vanilla to linger a little longer.
Summary: Soft, fruity, candied yet not overly sweet this is a perfect balance of cask and spirit.
I really like the mindset of this company, a simple approach to creating interesting products- unencumbered by tradition or bureaucracy they are chipping away at the traditionalists one by one who cannot deny that, it might not be scotch, but its a damn fine dram.
Tags: ale, American, andre, barrel, beer, book, bourbon, Cask, cellar, chocolate, coffee, crystal, curious, David, distilled, distiller, england, English, ex, experiment, experimental, fitt, Founders, Henderson, hogshead, iain, james, make, malt, moleskine, nelstrop, New, non, norfolk, notebook, oats, peat, Peated, pink, pint, Port, porter, power, private, reserves, rum, rye, Scotland, select, selection, single, smoke, strength, strong, style, suaternes, triple, wheat, whiskey, whisky, wonky
Look at most labels on a bottle of whisky and you will see indicators (in most cases, poor ones) of what’s inside. Age, distillery, finish or maturation, the strength etc. Some brands are even kind enough to indicate what the contents might actually taste of which seems to be a radical move as it is certainly not the normal practice. Now and then you will see the words “non-chill filtered” which indicates another process the whisky has undergone (or not) before bottling.
Great. So it’s non-chill filtered. That’s reassuring to the purchasing consumer isn’t it and helps him justify the price based on those words and the higher alcoholic level. Well no, actually it does neither. Labels on whisky are still, like labels on French wine, unfathomable to most and no indicator of the quality within. Brands seem to be approaching this from two sides, either wholeheartedly throwing out the rule book such as Balblair, Glenrothes, Wemyss and others. But others seem frightened of alienating the old guard of customers who might be shocked not to see a highland cow on a label, or a misty glen of reassurance that it’s authentic and traditional scotch. What a load of bollocks.
Anyway, I could go on (and on and on) about various aspects of this, but I want to concentrate on just one. The chill filtered bit.
Chill filtration is a process employed by some distillers at the point between removing the matured whisky from the cask and bottling it. All whisky is filtered to remove any residual particles that may be have been picked up from the cask itself by passing it though fine gauze or absorption filters. This can be done without chilling the whisky and simply passing it through the filter. But this simply approach leaves fatty acids, fusel oils and other hydrophobic elements in the whisky which will cause a haze when the whisky is cold or the whisky will turn cloudy when water or ice is added.
By chilling the whisky those elements responsible for causing a change in appearance will clump together and become too large in their composition, stopping them getting through the filter. The haze is only noticeable in whisky below 46% ABV, although it all depends on where the distiller has chosen to “cut” the still run.
Once the still is heated, the heads or foreshots are the first parts in distillation to come over the still and contain some of the lightest alcoholic elements such as methanol. From then on, various compounds will each in turn become activated and vapourise and pass over the neck for collection. Distillers will usually direct this first run back into the wash still for re-distillation. The later part of the run know as the tails or feints is where we see the temperature of the spirit in the still reaching top levels, and thus the start of water elements coming through along with the heaviest alcohol elements (fatty acids and fusel oils). Each element has it’s place in creating the style and character of the whisky, but it’s the choice of the distiller to decide the point where he switches from diverting the heads to collecting the heart and again switching off as it enters the feints stage.
The longer you wait or cut into the feints, the more heavier elements you bring over the still neck which will produce an oily spirit, heavy and rich. If the wash is from pleated barley, then you will actually want to hold a deep cut as the phenolic elements which carry the smokey nature are found in this latter part of the process. You can see this most apparent with Islay examples such as Laphroaig Quarter Cask which is at 48% abv against something much lighter such as The English Whisky Company Chapter 6. Pop a sample of each in a glass, say 50ml and add 5 ml of water to each and see the difference. Laphroaig will haze much more as the cut from the still is deep into the feints to ensure the classic phenolic and oily nature of the whisky is maintained. The English example, which is unpeated, cuts early in the run, avoiding the weightier elements and as a result, the haze is a lot less….in fact, David Fitt, the master distiller at TEWC indicated recently that even at 43% abv their spirit did not have a haze, despite being no-chill filtered.
Many people believe that chill filtration will cause some of the congeners (the esters, aldehydes, acids and higher alcohols contained in the distillate) are hampered and as the elements “clump” together in the cold state, they trap some of the other elements that would otherwise pass through, effecting the final character. I’m not entirely sure this is the case or if it is would we be able to pick up the change? What I do know from the many tasting we have held with Dramatic Whisky is that consumers note the “oily” and heavier mouth-feel to the whisky which most of the time helps belay the higher alcoholic amount and creates a rounded, fuller whisky.
Tags: acids, Balblair, bottle, bottling, Cask, chenistry, chill, congeners, cut, David, distill, distillation, distiller, dramatic, English, esters, fatty, feel, feints, filter, filtration, finish, fitt, foreshots, fruit, fusel, Glenrothes, haze, heads, heart, islay, label, Laphroaig, malt, maturation, methanol, mouth, oil, science, Scotch, Scotland, single, still, strangth, tails, thick, whiskey, whiskies, whisky
There are things in life you purchase or do and you just know you made the right choice. You might have deliberated for quite some time before making the steps to create it or purchase it, but at the completion, you know it was worth it.
On a recent trip to Edinburgh, A friend of mine took me through the entire production history of Church’s shoes, an item I have long promised myself. They are not just shoes, they are the best shoes made in the world and the last remaining brand to be fully made in the UK. Although they are owned by Prada, the production remains in Northampton and none of the process is outsourced, unlike many of the other UK luxury shoe brands- even my beloved Grensons have part of the build take place in other countries.
Church’s was founded in 1873 by Thomas Church and his three sons Alfred, William and Thomas Jr., who could count on family experience in the production of handmade men’s shoes dating back to 1675. They were pioneers in shoemaking, actually creating the first pair of “left” and “right” shaped shoes and “in six widths in every conceivable style and material”
It takes over 8 weeks to create a pair of mens shoes, with over 250 manual operations taking place before it leaves the factory. A craft approach to the shoes which delivers exceptional quality and ever changing innovation.
I had to try a few pairs on to “experience” the history- and of course the pair I instantly took a liking to were the most expensive! The Shannon, in burgundy, made with horse leather….if it wasn’t for the £545 price tag, I would be wearing them now as I type this. All good things come to those who wait (and my friend does offer an amazing discount!).
If those shoes were in my possession now, I would have also worn them to the Savoy hotel today to taste the latest batch of the tun 1401 release from Balvenie.
The ‘tun’ is a marrying tank into which selected casks are emptied and held for a short period to integrate before being bottled, this being the 5th release. The first batch was released just at the distillery, the second made it on to the UK domestic market whilst Batch 3 hopped over to the USA and number 4 was only available in Travel Retail (Duty Free). The tun holds around 2000 litres so each release is quite limited and of course, each differs. This latest was from just 9 selected casks, 4 ex sherry butts and 5 ex bourbon. Each cask is hand pumped into the tun, using an original cast hand pump which is reputed to have been used by William Grant himself. It really doesn’t get much more authentic than this- the innovative ideas of the master distiller David Stewart connecting with the tradition and history of the distillery.
David, who is approaching his 50th year at Balvenie, and is the longest serving distiller at any Scottish (or the world) distillery, was making a rare appearance to discuss his selection process and final marrying of the 9 casks, the oldest of which was from 1966 with the rest from around the 70′s. Within this latest batch were whiskies between 21 to 46 years old. David is a pioneer of whisky and was in fact the individual who started to use sequential maturation in different wood (shifting whisky from one cask to the next to enhance flavour). A common practice these day is every distillery in the world, but before David had brought this innovation, it was unheard of – like left and right shoes!
Its all about hand crafting, personal selecting, careful nurturing and holding the whole process in house to ensure consistency and quality control. Fortunately, this bottle of skilfully crafted whisky will retail for £161, thats nearly three and a half bottles per pair of Church’s…bargain! If only I didn’t want both.
Balvenie tun 1401 Batch No.5
50.1% Non chill filtered
Appearance: Golden Copper with light virgin olive oil greenness.
Nose: Big honey, clove spice and trails of coca powder at first with the richness of the sherry butt coming through later. Lots of lively sappy wood and fresh fruits underpinned with rich citrus, cherry and molasses. Rolling around is an unusual (for Balvenie) waxy/carbolic notes with a floral element.
Palate: Huge chunks of spicy honey, rich cooked fruits and then a chocolate/coffee bitterness calms the sweetness to reveal those malty notes and a hint of smoke (some of the casks are old enough to show this historic character). Chewy wood notes of sweet maple and cedar.
Finish:Lingering sweetness of fruit perfectly balanced with bitter cocoa nibs and woody elements.
There are plenty of other similar ties with Church’s and whisky- like the use of oak to build the sole of the shoes, the continued innovation in technique, but above all its the craftsmanship and care that is put into producing each one. Something that will hopefully remain for a very long time. Or at least until I can afford them!
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