Alcolog

For those in the know, WhiskyFest Chicago took place last Friday night, and I've been in Chicago for the last week attending various events and tastings leading up to the event. It's been a long week of scribbling notes, taking pictures, and chatting with friends (both old and new). Oh, and drinking. Lots of drinking. My mind is still sorting through approximately 100 new spirits... including a cognac. Not sure how that one slipped in there.

I gathered up a lot of topics that I'd like to focus on in the coming weeks. This week helped me remember why this weblog is out here: to fill in the missing gaps of information about alcohol. Some of it's a bit esoteric, while other parts are mundane. But one of the magical things about the Internet is that you can focus on the stuff that's interesting and skip over the boring parts.

In closing, I want to thank everyone who helped make WhiskyFest Chicago possible. The drinking public is enriched by your efforts, and the non-drinking public doesn't know what they're missing. So to Amy, Marty, Mike, John, Brian, Gregor, Ray, Mike, Derek, and did I forget a Mike? There were a lot of Mikes... Thank you all!

During the tasting, there were a few people who felt I misspoke when I referred to Laphroaig's parent company as "Fortune Brands". People in the industry tend to think of Laphroaig as being part of the "Future Brands" staple. Both are technically correct, though it's a bit more complicated than that.

The parent company that owns the Laphoraig distillery and brand is Fortune Brands. They are traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol FO. They have a subsidiary under that parent called Beam Global Spirits, which manages their entire liquor portfolio. From the name you can guess that Jim Beam is a prominent part of that portfolio; but it also includes brands such as Canadian Club, Sauza, Courvoiser, and DeKuyper.
Underneath Beam Global is a company called Future Brands. They are the sole distributor of Fortune Brands spirits within the USA.
If you buy Laphroaig at the wholesale level in the USA, you're probably getting it from Future Brands. If you're getting it outside the USA, it's probably from Maxxium. It's all the same company, and is more or less transparent than company relationships like Pernod Ricard or Diageo.

Of course my blaming of some person in Kentucky dictating the whims of production Scotland is misapplied. Fortune Brands is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. It's probably more appropriate to point to the headquarters location rather than connecting Jim Beam Brands as being a Kentucky business. International business is way more complicated than a finger of blame, but it makes for easy scapegoats.

About a month ago, I led a Scotch tasting at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Over the next few days, I will be posting the notes I used, and ending with some of the questions people asked during the event.

This is the second set of common questions raised during the tasting.

Do some of these single malts end up in blends?
Most likely, yes. I know that the Diageo brands end up in Johnny Walker and other blends from them. Highland Park is part of the Famous Grouse blend, also owned by Edrington. Laphroaig's parent company produces Teacher's Highland Cream, but there isn't any Laphroaig in that. Instead, Laphroaig is included in the Black Bottle blend from Burn Stewart. I don't know for sure if Auchentoshan and Glenfarclas avoid being blended, but since most Scotch produced ends up in blends, there's probably some of each of those in some blend somewhere.

What's in a Dry Rob Roy?
Scotch, dry vermouth, and bitters. It's essentially a Manhattan, but with Scotch replacing the rye.

Why do so many Scotches have "Glen" in the name?
A glen is a small, narrow valley. So the names literally translate to "valley of..." and could be a reference to the river (Glenlivet), a nearby town (Glen Moray), or just something about that valley (Glenfarclas). Another common term is "ben" and translates to "mountain of". Ben Nevis, for example, is a Scotch named after the highest point in Scotland. And "Loch" translates as lake. Loch Lomond is the lake at the base of Ben Lomond.

What does it mean when you say "peaty"?
For generations, peat moss was the cheapest fuel available in Scotland. This smoke gave off a pungent smell of iodine and would permeate everything near the fire. This was true of the malted barley that needed to be heated to stop the germination process. As a result, Scotch has historically had some amount of peat flavor in the final product and really defined Scotch's characteristic flavor. These days, the heating of the malted barley is done with natural gas heat which won't impart that peaty flavor. Instead, peat is burned nearby to create that flavor. The various levels of peat are requested by the distillery (most malting takes place off premises). So Caol Ila and Ardbeg get their malted barley from the same location, but order the level of peat to get each other's distinct flavors.

About a month ago, I led a Scotch tasting at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Over the next few days, I will be posting the notes I used, and ending with some of the questions people asked during the event.

This is the first set of common questions raised during the tasting.

Why did you pick the list?
I picked the list of Scotches as an attempt to cover a broad range of regions and styles. The main goal was as an introduction to the various kinds of Scotch one can expect at a well stocked bar or reputable liquor store. The last whisky, the Laphroaig 30, was what I considered to be Town Hall's best whisky, so that was the first whisky picked. Then the Auchentoshan as the best lowland on offer, and then the Cragganmore. The middle three were picked for their dominant traits: Highland Park for its dry fruitiness, the Glenfarclas for sherry, and the Talisker for being double matured.

Lowlands are lighter than Highlands?
It's a generalization, but yes. The three remaining Lowland distilleries have very light offerings compared to their brethren to the north. There's nothing intrinsic that causes that, since these are preferences of the master distiller. But generally the regions will produce a unique single malt that conforms to what people expect from a region. Distilleries have an incentive to do that because many of their customers have regional preferences. Making something in the highlands that tastes like a Highland will ensure those customers are not disappointed.

What do you mean by "Bourbon" casks?
This means that the first thing to fill the cask was American Bourbon. Casks are classified as to what filled them first, be it Bourbon, sherry or Port. Scotch cannot use "new oak" barrels and therefore must re-use someone else's barrel for aging. Most Scotch produced today uses Bourbon barrels, primarily because American law requires that all Bourbon be aged in new oak. This creates a unique relationship between Bourbon and Scotch, since they are excluded from using casks that each require by law.

Is there something that defines what can be called Scotch?
The Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 is quite clear on what can be called "Scotch Whisky". Additionally, the European Union has stepped in recently to protect the regional terms of Scotch, so that anything referred to as "Highland Whisky" would need to be from Scotland. But ultimately Scotch must be:
-Made from water and malted barley (though grain can be added to this)
-Processed into a mash (a soupy mix of the above two)
-Grains converted to sugar naturally from the enzymes created during malting
-Fermented with yeast
-Distilled to less than 95% alcohol, so as to preserve some of the original flavor
-Aged in oak casks smaller than 700 liters
-Bottled at an ABV of at least 40%., and
-Only water or caramel color added to the final bottled product.

About a month ago, I led a Scotch tasting at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Over the next few days, I will be posting the notes I used, and ending with some of the questions people asked during the event.

The fifth whisky of the night was Talisker's Distillers Edition from 2005. Talisker is distilled on the island of Skye off the east coast of the Scottish mainland. Since it's part of the Diageo Distiller's Edition line, this means that it's double matured. What this means is that the spirit is aged in standard Bourbon barrels, and then later is transferred to a second kind of barrel to age for at least a few more months. In the case of the Talisker, it spends about ten years in the first barrels, then transferred to Amoroso Sherry casks for a couple more years. The 2005 edition was distilled in 1993, so roughly twelve years split between to the two kinds of casks.

Distiller's Editions are limited edition, and each year they might change what they decide to do with the various varieties. The fact that we were tasting a 2005 edition in 2008 suggests that it's a bit of an old stock. Once the distributor and the bar run out, you won't be able to get any more of it. So if you're really blown away by a limited edition, make sure to get a lot of it.

The last of the night was the only Islay: The Laphroaig 30. The island of Islay is known for its smoky, peaty whiskies... sometimes referred to as "band-aid" whisky. Laphroaig is currently owned by Fortune Brands. They produce brands such as Jim Beam and Knob Creek to name a few. As mentioned before in the convenience of Bourbon and Scotch's requirements on casks, Fortune Brands is most likely supplying its former Beam casks to Laphroaig to keep them in the family.

The Laphroaig 30 is a very old whisky, two to three times older than the other whiskies in the tasting. And like with the Talisker being a limited edition, this whisky is rare. But not because it's a limited edition. Within the last few months, the parent company decided that it would stop producing the 30-year and replace it with a 25-year expression. The ten year old espression is being phased out and replaced by their quarter-cask expression. The 15 year is being phased out as well, possibly replaced by the cask strength or a 12 year old. This is scarcity, in a nutshell. The 30-year old stock that's available now will not be replenished. It will likely be many years before the 30 year old is re-introduced, if at all. Eventually what'll happen is that the local distributors will run out of stock, followed closely by the liquor stores. Bars will be able to stretch out their stock for a while longer, but the bars will be the last place you'll find the 30 just before it all runs out.

So if you like the Laphroaig 30 and have access to it; relish it. Because someone down in Kentucky decided that Scotland shouldn't produce it anymore.

The third Scotch is a Highland Park 12, from the island of Orkney. It's produced by the Edrington Group. This, along with The Macallan, are the primary single malts blended into The Famous Grouse which is the most popular whisky in Scotland. Highland Park is the northernmost distillery in Scotland. It, and its island neighbor Scapa, are on the island of Orkney which is just off the northeast corner of the Scottish mainland. Farther out from there are the Shetlands, if you're familiar with that name.

One thing about the Highland Park line is that, in America, it comes in at 43% ABV. Most Scotch will tend to be at 40%. It's not a major difference, but the higher the alcohol content the easier it'll be for the drink to numb your tongue. It's always a good idea to have plenty of water on hand either to dilute or to drink between sips.

The fourth whisky of the night, Glenfarclas 17, is from Speyside. It's a sherried whisky, meaning that it was aged in casks that formerly held sherry. This is the traditional method for aging Scotch, and the use of Bourbon casks is fairly new. The story goes that sherry was brought from Spain to England in oak casks. It didn't make sense to send empty casks back to Spain, so the innovative Scots bought them up and used them to store their whisky. This started the tradition of using used oak barrels, which is a contrast from American Bourbon that's aged in new/unused casks. This contrast led to the now common practice of using used Bourbon barrels to age Scotch.

Sherried whiskys are notable for how they tend to dry out the mouth. The most common example of this is The Macallan, but you'll also notice that in the Glendronach as well. This can be a turnoff, but it's at least an easy way to pick up that you're drinking a sherried whisky.

About a month ago, I led a Scotch tasting at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Over the next few days, I will be posting the notes I used, and ending with some of the questions people asked during the event.

The first Scotch of the tasting was a Lowland, the Auchentoshan 10. Ironically enough it was not on the menu at the time of the tasting. Instead, they had the Three Wood expression. That doesn't have an age statement, but is roughly aged for eight years in Bourbon casks, then for various periods of time in sherry and port casks.

The Auchentoshan 10 is a light, accessible whisky. If you're familiar with Irish whiskies, it will be fairly similar. Auchentoshan is rather unique in that it's one of the last Scotches that's triple distilled. Irish whiskey is also, generally, triple distilled. Most Scotch is double distilled. As a result, the Auchentoshan will be a bit lighter due to that third distillation.

The subject of pronunciation did come up during the tasting, and my advice was that if you make a half-hearted attempt to prononuce the name, then no one should fault you for trying. The Auchentoshan website used to have a recording of the distillery manager pronouncing the name, but it looks like that went away in one of their site redesigns. If you want a good transliteration, shoot for "Ockh-in-tosch-in" and you'll be mostly right. And if you have a menu, there's no shame at pointing at the name.

The second Scotch is the Cragganmore 12, from the Speyside region. It's a bit more floral, herbal, and honeyed when compared to the Auchentoshan. Cragganmore, as the label implies, is one of the most complex whiskies you can find. It's produced by Diageo, the makers of Johnny Walker, and is their Speyside representative in their line of Classic Malts. These are six to eight distilleries selected from their brands to represent specific Scotch regions. A second Classic Malt, the Talisker, is represented later in the evening.

Cragganmore is rather interesting because it is such a complex single malt, but isn't as well known as other Diageo brands like Lagavulin and Oban. This means that it's a relatively inexpensive Single Malt Scotch, but its price is well below its stature.

About a month ago, I led a Scotch tasting at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Over the next few days, I will be posting the notes I used, and ending with some of the questions people asked during the event.

First, an introduction. The tasting involved six Scotches: A lowland, two Speysides, two Highlands (Islands), and ending with an Islay. The first three had lighter tones, and the second set of three were more robust.

Now an overview of Scotch. It's a whisky, from Scotland, hence the name. The six Scotches were single malts, which means they come from a single distillery. There are approximately 100 distilleries in Scotland, and most of their whisky is put into blends. The largest variety and most uniqueness are in the single malt category. And though you can legally call it Scotch once its aged at least three years, most single malts won't carry the distillery name until the whisky is at least ten years old. The oldest whisky at the tasting was a 30 year old, but most of them were in the teens (12-18).

The regions typically break down as the Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, and Islay. Depending on who you talk to they might mention the Islands or Campbeltown, but they're all used to geographically classify the distilleries. Lowlands tend to be lighter, the Islays more peaty, the Highlands more smoky, and the Speysides more floral. These are broad-stroke generalizations, but safe expectations when dealing with single malts.

There's two things I try to avoid around here: Excuses for not posting and self-promotion. But considering the circumstances, I'm willing to look the other way this time.

Posting took a bit of a back seat lately because I've been preparing a Scotch tasting here in Minneapolis. The final details are set and I can now say that I will be hosting the tasting this weekend at the Town Hall Brewery. The event will start at 5:00pm on Sunday (January 20th) and run for about a couple hours. I will be going through a list of six Scotches collected from Town Hall's offerings. They are:

Auchentoshan 10
Cragganmore 12
Highland Park 12
Glenfarclas 17
Talisker Distiller's Edition (2005)
Laphroaig 30

Tickets are $40, and as of tonight there are about 25 tickets left. You can reserve your spot in advance by stopping in at the bar or calling them at 612-339-8696.

Whereas there are exceptions in beers and a common traits in wine, liquor as a universal truth, does not improve once placed in a bottle. The contents, at best, can stay the same as once they're bottled. But as mentioned before, distilled liquor can suffer some bad effects once it's put in the bottle. But in some contexts, that static nature of liquor can be a good thing. Especially when proper storage and care is performed on the aging bottle.

In some context, a bottle of liquor is a time capsule. Not just in the label, but the contents themselves. Once a liquor is bottled it becomes a point on a timeline. That bottle will remain static but the world around it will change. Countries change their names, distilleries close, and copyrights change hands. But that bottle, and the label on it, will never change.

This phenomenon is the glory of the astute liquor buyer (either at the wholesale or retail level) because they can come across some rare finds when shopping around. Months ago I came across a local liquor store with some curiously old bottles. I didn't buy them at the time, but their presence gnawed at me until I stopped by and bought a few bottles. Only after I got them home did the age of the bottles really set in.

The first, most common, was Buchanan's Black & White Belended Scotch Whisky. This is still available and is probably unchanged, but it's not really sold in the US anymore. Once the merger that formed Diageo happened in 1997, Black and White was one of the casualties of the merger. It's still available in France, Venezuela, and Brazil. But none is shipped to North America anymore. Any bottles found are likely holdovers from the days when the brand was owned by United Distillers. The way to be sure is to look at the name of the importer.

The second, most interesting, was the Glenfiddich Special Reserve Pure Malt/Single Malt. This bottling pre-dates the Cardow/Cardhu debacle of 2003 that tainted "pure malt" forever. Instead this harkens back to a time, again in the late 1990s, when Scotch was finding its footing in the drinking culture. Back then it was more important to distinguish between blends and malts than to specify ages or the origin from a single distillery. So this bottle is the progenitor of the Glenfiddich 12 - the staple of the William Grant line of single malts. What makes it very interesting is that its taste profile is notably different from the modern Glenfiddich. It's more buttery/marshmallowy than modern Glenfiddich. Possibly a sign of changing times, or at least the maturation/aging of a master blender's taste.

The last bottle, and possibly the most special of the set, is a Black Bull Blended Scotch Whisky. This also dates from the late 90s, isn't likely to ever come back. A few years after this was bottled, a sprightly Austrian company called "Red Bull" contested the trademark in the US. The local importer at the time was either out of business or in no position to contend it, so the trademark went inactive in 2002. Red Bull trademarked "Black Bull" but only for non-alcoholic drinks. Later, the new owner of the brand, registered it in the US but did not start bringing the brand back. Later, a US company started marketing a "Black Bull Vodka" and so the chance we'll ever see the Black Bull Scotch in the US any time soon is quite slim. End result? The bottle I'm holding on to now will be part of a dwindling stock of Black Bull in the US - unlikely to be refreshed and definitely will never be the same.

An epilogue: This moment of clarity would not be possible for two very important players. The first was a diligent liquor manager at the store, ensuring that these bottles did not suffer the same fate as the All Saints brands. These were well preserved specimens of history.
Second, I would like to thank these bottlers of the late 90s for having the foresight to use screwcap closures because they avoided the fright of cork taint. Sure cork is a romantic closure - but it sure isn't a long-lived one. stryrofoam barriers and plastic/metal screwcaps preserved these beautiful bottles for nearly a decade. Had they been cork, I'd expect that the bottles would be worthless today.