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.