Alcolog

I tend to gravitate towards Lowland Scotches. They tend to be smoother, more wood and malt than peat and flower. They're also the underdog Scotch, rarely taken seriously by people who treat the loud Islays as the benchmark and anything less bold as inferior.
My oldest and most expensive Scotch is a lowland from St. Magdalene's in the town of Linlithgow. Most of my lowland Scotches are from closed distilleries (Rosebank, Littlemill, Linlithgow) who become harder to find as their casks get older.
Lowlands tend to be one of the "gateway" whiskies that can connect a lover of Irish Whiskey into Scotches. If you or one of your friends insists on Bushmills and thinks that all Scotch tastes like chewing on a Band-Aid, you might consider a Lowland from one of the still active stills of Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, or Glenkinchie.

Last night I picked up a bottle of Auchentoshan's Select bottling. It'd been at least a year since the last time I had this, so in a fit of nostalgia and price, I brought it home. This bottling doesn't have an age statement, but tends to land in the 7-9 year range. By that point the cut of the grain whisky is edged out by the wood and you have a young but smooth drink.

Auchentoshan is owned by Morrison Bowmore, and as a result the Auchentoshan distillery is one of the contributors to their McLelland's brand. If you would like to taste what this would be at around five years of age, the McLelland's Lowland would be the thing to pick up. It would be an educational exercise to get that, this Select, and the ten year bottling to taste how the whisky ages.

Thursday night was an evening with a dozen other whisky lovers meeting in the back area of Zipp's to try about ten different Scotches from Diageo/Johnny Walker. Their brand ambassador for the midwest brought these ten (from six different distilleries) as a way to expose these drinkers to the single malts they consider to be typical of the regions they represent. They were:
Glenkinchie (2)
Cragganmore (2)
Dalwhinnie (2)
Oban
Talisker (2)
Lagavulin
The cases of two expressions, the second was the Distiller's Edition for 2006. They were all nice, nothing too explosively great, but of them the Dalwhinnie Distiller's Edition was worthwhile enough to grab a bottle.
But the real experience was being able to pick the brain of a company represenative and answer many of the questions that you're not likely to find on the web.

On the subject of closed distilleries, the company position was that some distilleries are just not efficient enough. The style of the distillery can easily be replicated at a nearby location. That it's possible to replicate a Rosebank in Glenkinchie's stills.

As for Non-Chillfiltered (UCF) whisky, the company spins the perspective on its head. The feeling was that if it made that much of a taste difference that no one would filter the proteins out. The feeling is that the people pushing UCF whisky are using it as marketing and a way to make their product more unique and charge a greater price. The actual taste difference isn't that big to Diageo's distillers.

In all it was an informative night. This pretty much convinces me that I'll be at WhiskyFest in Chicago in April, so expect another post similar to this when that happens.

One of the more interesting trends in alcohol of the last few years has been the rise of the American microdistillery. America has a long tradition of small batch distilling of Bourbon and rye, but this latest set have branched into vodkas, gins, brandies, and European-style whiskies. Minnesota has one of the first of this class with its Shakers vodka. Oregon is one of the leaders of this new breed with a handful of its microbreweries like Rogue and Widmers branching out into distilled spirits. As a result of this explosion of small batch distilling, the diversity of selection in any given location can be quite refreshing.
Enter Iowa's sole entry in the batch of microdistilleries: Templeton Rye. It's hard to beat this offering in the realm of romance. During Prohibition, the town of Templeton used its ample supply of grain to create a sensational whiskey. Their booty ended up being the staple whiskey in Midwestern speakeasies and mob hangouts. After prohibition ended, the town went back to legitimate farming and other basic industries.
The recipe was gradually brought back to life and the town started making rye whiskey again. Since the fall of 2006, the distillery has been bottling about 120 cases of whiskey per day and distributing it within the state of Iowa. The next year's run will be shipped out of state, but if you want the stuff now you have to be lucky to find it in Iowa.
To clarify how hard this can be, I should explain the details of the last purchase. The bottles were filled on 12/29/06, and I purchased them on 01/10/07. The employee at the liquor store had put the case, the only case they had, on the shelf less than an hour before I arrived. By the time I left the store, there was one bottle left. I and two other people grabbed five bottles in less than ten minutes.
Why is this such a hit? Ultimately it's a rye unlike anything on the market today. It shares some of the best qualities of Bourbon, Canadian, and rye whiskies. Smooth, a little sweet and fruity, and a reasonable level of burn.
So look for this little gem in Iowa for the next few months and, hopefully, they'll have a distributor soon and people outside Iowa can start enjoying this again.

As people explore single malt Scotch, eventually they will stumble upon a bottle that claims to be from a familiar distillery but with a rather generic label. Skepticism sets in immediately and questions of whether or not this is legal spring to mind.
Not only are they legitimate, they are an interesting phenomenon known as Independent Bottling or "IB" for short. It's counterpart is "OB" and stands for Owner's/Official/Original Bottling depending on who you talk to. As near as I can tell, the IB phenomenon is exclusive to Scotch. This is fostered by the blended Scotch industry who rely on distilleries to sell whole casks to them so they can be mixed and added to their famous blends. Independent bottlers then have access to distillery stock that they can then age and then sell.
Many IBs are single cask expressions, which is rare within OBs. Bear in mind that "single malt" merely means it's a malted whisky from a single distillery. The distilleries will blend various casks from (most often) different ages and then put the youngest age on the bottle. The Macallan is/was known for only selling whisky that was of the age on the bottle, though I'm not sure if they're still doing that. Regardless even The Macallan is/was blending various casks together in order to maintain a certain level of consistency.
The IBs lack the volume of stocks to allow such things so most will bottle as a single cask and market it as two moments in time: The day it was distilled and the day it was bottled. This adds another layer of mystique since there's a chance someone will come across a day or date with meaning in their lives and buy the bottle on the spot.
One more favor for the IBs is that they corner the market on bottles from closed distilleries. You cannot get an OB of St. Magdalene because they turned it into flats after ceasing production in 1983. Rosebank is still around, but Diageo has no plans to start it back up again. But you can still get both of these in IBs, though with every bottling the price goes up. A classic case of supply and demand.

But how do they taste? It's hard to claim OBs are better or worse than IBs. OBs are more consistent, while IBs can show off some characters of a distillery that might be masked by a master blender. So it's better to say that IBs are just a bit different. That difference does suggest that it's good to try an IB of one of your favorite Scotches at least to see what the blender is working with. It might be worth it to try an IB of a distillery that you don't like and you might find that the IB is better than the OB from your perspective.

A small preface: This is not a rant. Some of my favorite whiskies are part of this trend to consolidate distilling multiple expressions of whiskies off of a single still. It allows a diverse selection while still keeping prices down for the consumer. It's more that consumers should be aware that just because a bottle has a place name on the label doesn't necessarily mean that it was made in that place.

Because whiskies are aged, it's possible for a closed distillery's product to keep surfacing for decades. These "silent stills" are revered for their scarcity and romance. Locations such as Caol Ila or Bruichladdich became so popular after they closed that the stills came back to life. But then you've got stills such as Longrow that can't really be brought back to life - so what's an owner supposed to do? Well, you can re-jigger your already existing stills and make something that tastes a lot like the stuff from the old place. Thus a silent still's voice comes back from the dead and throws its voice through someone else's still. In short - "Still Ventriloquism"

The boldest example of this is in Ireland. There's about fifteen brands of whiskey produced out of three (soon to be four) distilleries. Kentucky Bourbon has more stills, but about the same average of brands per still. The most diverse would be the Buffalo Trace still that's cranking out at least ten different spirits including Rain vodka.
Scotch is a bit less likely to have its stills throw their voices, but the trend appears to be coming to Scotland. Springbank's multiple brands are the first that springs to mind. There's also Bruichladdich going on a buying spree of closed Islay distilleries; potentially to produce three different Scotches from one primary still.
Then there's Diageo's announcement to build a huge new distillery in Roseisle and you're left wondering what its primary purpose will be. Diageo would have an uphill battle trying to market a new name. Heck, they opened Auchroisk over thirty years ago and they still market it under "The Singleton" name.

Wouldn't it make more sense for this still to produce all of those brands everyone is asking for? Rosebank - back on the shelf. Maybe satisfy those Coleburn diehards that are still out there. It's amazing what you can do with a high-tech still, ample raw materials, and a few juicy trademarks.

Most lectures about Scotch and its fine qualities will include a blurb about The Scotch Whisky Act. That law and its corresponding acts in the European Union and World Trade Organization set a relatively high bar for what can be called Scotch Whisky.
Intuitively, the first restriction is that it must be a whisky produced in Scotland. Correspondingly, The Scotch Whisky Act prohibits the making of any whiskies other than ones outlined in The Act. What does this mean? First, only malted barley, water, and yeast are allowed in the fermentation process. Second, it cannot exceed 94.8% abv during distillation. Then that spirit off the stills must be barrel aged for a minimum of three years. Said barrels cannot exceed 700 liters in size. Then bottling must be at least 40% abv and only caramel color can be added outside of the aged spirit.
Normally this little education in UK law is supposed to impress people. But there's a flip side to it - specifically that it makes bottling of dirt cheap Scotch rather hard. All drinks have some range of price and/or quality, and so there must be a cheap end to Scotch.
So once you have a spirit that can be called Scotch, then what? Bottling prices are largely fixed, so the cheaper the bottle the higher the percentage paid in just packaging. Then there's shipping costs which also do not discriminate based on price. Tack on an exchange rate that makes export to the US unfavorable and you end up with the bottom end for price for Scotch in Minneapolis weighing in at $10.99 per liter.

But this isn't all doom and gloom, for a quick shopping spree uncovered seven different brands of cheap Scotch available at that price in Minneapolis: Crawford, Claymore, Tyler & Lloyd, Old Smuggler, Scoresby, Bulloch Lade, and Cluny. So either these are all just names for the same stuff or there's actual competition at the bottom of the barrel.

As it turns out, each of the seven do have their own distinct tastes. The Claymore, for example, tasted a lot like a middle-of-the-road Canadian Whisky. All of them had a weak peat, salt, and malt taste to them. If any of them were mixed with soda or sour, you'd be hard pressed to taste the difference between these and a higher end Scotch like Whitehorse, J&B, or Cutty Sark.

And that's really the primary motivation for these Scotches. They really are intended to be mixed into cocktails or served over the rocks. These aren't brands people seek, but countless numbers drink them every night and don't know their names. To them, they're all "Scotch".

To be clear, I am not about to pour any of these down the drain. Once I assembled the bottles together I realized that by the end of tonight I could have seven liters of alcohol, each bottle with a quarter shot poured from each. I don't expect to drink these quickly, but I do plan to drink them. They're actually not that bad, and definitely some of the better cheap drinks out there. In a way it's almost a backhanded compliment to The Scotch Whisky Act for ensuring that even the cheapeast Scotch is at least minimally drinkable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Old Smuggler left and I intend to drink it.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.