WHISKY IMPRESSIONS
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Privacy Policy

Australian Whisky: Part 2 - Present Day

9/11/2016

4 Comments

 
Following on from yesterday’s look at the history of whisky distilling in Australia, today I’m going to focus very much on the present (and future) and have a chat with three people from different spheres of the whisky industry; Niko Devlin, President of the Australian Whisky Appreciation Society (and the man responsible for this blog piece!), Frank McHardy, Chief Whiskey Advisor at the Whipper Snapper Distillery in Perth, Western Australia and Mark Coburn, who is currently in the process of building the Coburns Distillery in New South Wales. 

First though, let’s take a wee look at what is happening with whisky today. Fortunately things look a lot rosier than where we left it yesterday! The birth (rebirth?) of the modern Australian whisky industry is pretty much credited to one man - Bill Lark. In 1992 Lark fired up his small still at the Lark Distillery in Hobart, Tasmania, making him the first person to hold a distilling license on the island for 153 years. No mean feat, since in order to do so, he first successfully lobbied the Minister of Agriculture to change the 1901 Licensing Act requirement that stills had to be a minimum of 2700 litres. This change in law presumably paved the way for the plethora of small craft distilleries currently springing up all over Australia. 

While the number of distilleries has increased dramatically since Lark was established, the volumes produced nationwide remain very small. It would certainly seem that the current crop of Aussie distillers are focussing very much on quality over quantity. According to Deloitte, Australia currently produces around 360,000 litres per annum - that’s less than is currently produced in Campbeltown’s 3 distilleries (Springbank, Glengyle and Glen Scotia) and Campbeltown ain’t exactly a powerhouse in terms of Scotch whisky production volumes!
As far as I am aware there is now at least one distillery in every territory and state in Australia, except the Northern Territory (which caused me no end of problems when I was doing my Aussie whisky map as the NT covers a very large area!). The small island (well, small in Australian terms anyway - it’s nearly as big as Scotland!) of Tasmania, with its 11 distilleries and just shy of 2/3 of the total national production, could certainly be considered not just the cradle of this blossoming whisky nation, but also its Whisky Capital. Over here I’ve heard people refer to Tasmania as the Islay of Australia.
Picture
Available as prints, t-shirts, phone covers, all sorts of things really, from Red Bubble. Click the picture for the link!
Just for fun I decided to do a wee comparison between these two illustrious whisky islands. You can see the results for yourselves in the table below but basically it boils down to; Tasmania is over 100 times bigger and more populous than Islay but Islay produces 100 times more whisky. To put it another way, if Tasmania had the same concentration of distilleries as Islay, it would have 882 distilleries! Even at the rate the Australian whisky industry is growing, that’ll take some doing!
Picture
While Australian whisky is not that widely available in the UK as yet (ie you’re not going to find it on special offer in your local Tesco) you can find a reasonable selection (Sullivans Cove, Lark, Limeburners, Starward and others I’m sure) in specialist retailers. One thing’s for sure - if the Aussies are anywhere near as successful at marketing their New World Whiskies as they were their New World Wines, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of them in years to come!  

Anyway, enough chat from me, let’s find out what they have to say for themselves. First up is the man responsible for this whole map and blog post idea, Niko Devlin. 

Niko Devlin, Australian Whisky Appreciation Society

Why do you think so many new Australian whisky distilleries have started up in recent years?

​Well our modern industry only really started in 1992 with Bill Lark leading the way for all of us. Over the past decade Australians have begun to realize we actually have a whisky industry & people have decided to get involved at all levels. There's a boom going on here now with it seeming like there's a new distillery in the works every few months.


It's very exciting to see, now if we can just get our government to help the whisky industry in the same way it's helped the wine industry, the sky will be the limit for what we can achieve.


You mentioned that you are doing a bit of independent bottling - can you tell me a bit more about that? Are there many indie bottlers in Australia?


My AWAS partner Brad O'Riley & I have put together a small batch of casks for our Australian Whisky Appreciation Society members, 3x 30L ex-port casks made with 60+yr old port staves crafted by Master Cooper Andrew Young at Seppeltsfield Winery, we also have a peated 20L mystery cask. 


All of the spirit for our 1st batch comes from Archie Rose Distillery, the 1st distillery in Sydney since the 1800s, the team there does outstanding work & we feel very lucky to work closely with them on our 1st bottlings. We're working on putting together a series of larger batches with a view to build it up into a full time independent bottler business, sourcing casks & spirit county wide. We've also got a few little experiments going on, our 1st one being a Mead cask aged Rye, which I'm pretty sure is a world 1st. That was given out to the attendees at our AWAS 1st Birthday tasting.

There's only a handful of independent bottlers in Australia, the most renowned being Heartwood Malt Whisky, the owner Tim Duckett produces some of the best whisky on the planet.



Do you think Australian whiskies have any typical national or regional characteristics?.

Being such a young industry we're only in the infancy of defining our regional characteristics, with Tasmanian whisky blazing the trail for the rest of the country, it definitely has its own style, clean, full bodied & bold flavors with an oily spirit that has a fantastic mouth feel, the rest of Australian whisky follows in that style. There's loads of experimentation going on using a lot of single casks & small batch runs, taking advantage of our world renowned wine industry's  barrel stocks.



Do you have any recommendations for people trying Aussie whisky for the first time? (I know it's always difficult to single out favourites but even if it's just ones that you are particularly excited about or that are easier to find abroad than others!)

I'd say the easiest to find on the international market is probably going to be Starward, it's a great representation of  Australian whisky & they have a level of production that actually sees stock make it off shore. 
If you can find them, Lark, Sullivans Cove, Overeem & Heartwood are some of the best whiskies Australia has to offer.


How do you see the future for Australian whisky, both at home and abroad?.

Locally the industry is going from strength to strength with a large portion of releases selling out within hours. The infrastructure is slowly starting to build up to the point where hopefully over the next decade we can produce enough Australian whisky to take up shelf space abroad.  We still have a long way to go to catch up with other countries volume wise, but in quality we punch well above our weight.

Mark Coburn, Coburns Distillery, NSW

Why did you decide to start a distillery and why now? 

The seed was planted in me 14 years ago when I visited a small distillery in Queensland. The distiller had been an early business partner of Bill Lark, the grandfather of the Australian distilling industry. The distiller had moved from Hobart to the hinterland behind Queensland’s Gold Coast and was making flavoured liquors. I was fascinated by the process. Over the last ten years I have been working towards making the leap to setting up my own distillery. Along the way I came up with the idea that I wanted to be drinking my own 20yo single malt by the time I was 70. This year I turned 49, so it was now or never. 

It has taken me a while to work out where my love of distilling comes from. Note that it’s the distilling and not the whisky that came first. To put it into context let me explain; I believe that one of the sincerest ways to show love to another person is by cooking for them, I refer to it as 'putting love on the plate'. Whether it is a 36 hour slow cooked leg of pork or a breakfast omelette, I love cooking for family and friends. I am always looking for new techniques that will create a more enjoyable eating experience, regardless of the extra time or effort the process will take. Distilling comes into context when you learn that my other great passion is steam engines. I am a avid model steam locomotive enthusiast who loves to build and run working model steam engines. The thought occurred to me a few years ago that whisky distillation is the intersection of food and steam. 


Why did your choose the Southern Highlands of NSW as the location? 

First off, I live here! The area has rolling countryside with a proper four seasons which you don’t get in most of Australia. 
The distillery site itself covers 15 acres (6.2ha), of which 3 acres (1.5ha) is peat bog. It’s the only Australian distillery with their own onsite peat for smoking the barley. There are two types of amazing water onsite: Peat filtered lake water and four pure water springs. It’s a warm north facing site for those cold winter days, 725 meters above sea level with average summer temperatures of 14-24C, average winter temperatures 5-13C (100mm of snow last winter) and average rainfall of 700mm.

As a visitors centre is an important part of the business plan, we needed to be easily accessible to nearby towns and major cities. The site we have selected is 12 minutes from Bowral, Mittagong & Moss Vale (25,000 population), 1h 45m drive from Sydney, New South Wales, 1h 45m drive from Canberra, Australian Capital.


Where are you in the process?

The distillery site is being purchased now. Currently we are working on a round of capital raising through barrel sales. We filled an early round of barrel sales and now we have a limited number of barrels in our second offering via our 'Barrel Investment program’ 

​Very soon we will be producing product at another site while we wait for planning approvals for our new distillery to be granted. We will have licensing and planning approvals for on-site production within 12 months. The plan is that we can be releasing our first small cask whiskies by 2020-21. 


Do you have a particular style of whisky in mind and how will you achieve that?

We are planning to start by putting down five expressions that will represent the four seasons of the New South Wales Southern Highlands. 


Coburns Distillery will distill a triple distilled spirit. Our spirit will be produced in three separate 5000ltr stills, each still built to capture different characteristics. The three still concept is designed to give our distillers and blenders a broad range of flavour profiles in the new make spirit to then create desired style of each expression. To clarify, by having the option of a larger spirit still we hope to have the ability to cut the hearts cleanly into early, mid and late hearts thereby having the ability to be able to make distinct expressions from the new make. 


Our goal is to create a single malt that captures the essence of our region. In the process, I hope to create a way of life to hand over to my two daughters in the future. Not to mention the dream of sitting on my balcony over looking the distillery drinking my own 20 year old malt. 


Where do you see yourself and your whiskies in 10-20 years time?


We hope to have a substantial visitor centre trade to promote our region and add to that some international sales (and recognition) would be the dream come true. 


As I am now discovering, many new distilleries have started up in Australia in recent years - do you see this as an advantage or a disadvantage for you?
 

We hope that we can inspire and help many more distilleries to open in this area. Joadja Distillery is the only other whisky distillery in the area, we hope to work closely with the owners Elisa & Valero Jimenez to build the region’s whisky profile. The goal is to be able to have the Southern Highlands of New South Wales defined as it’s own whisky region within Australia.

How will your whisky stand out from the crowd?


By being exceptional in every aspect of what we do. From our cellar door hospitality, to our product branding & presentation, and most importantly by making an exceptionally well-crafted spirit we hope to let what we do speak for itself. 
Picture
The Coburns Distillery site - you can see the shedding in amongst trees on the other side of the railway line. The plan is to build a 60m long new build to house the distillery. The brown areas on the left and right of the trees are a 17,000 year old peat bog, the largest in Australia.

Frank McHardy, Chief Whiskey Advisor, Whipper Snapper Distillery, Perth (formerly Director of Production at Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries, Distillery Manager at Bushmills and I forget which Speyside distilleries - Tamnavulin maybe? Anyway, suffice to say Frank has been in the industry for over 50 years and is an absolute legend!) 

How did you get involved with Whipper Snapper?

​Alasdair Malloch and James McKeown contacted me a number of years ago with a plan to set up a distillery in Perth Western Australia . It seemed to be an exciting project and through our discussions a friendship was developed. Following that, Alasdair and James came to Scotland, spent some time here and we developed the plan from there.

What similarities and differences have you found between starting up a distillery in Australia compared to in Scotland?

One of the main challenges to setting up a distillery in Perth are the ranges in temperatures throughout the year . Coolish in winter but extremely hot in summer. One result of the temperature range can be the large loss during maturation which over the past two years has been measured at around 5 % alcohol per annum. Maturation is proving to be relatively quick though.
Distillers yeast has to be imported.
Good comparisons are the excellent quality of grain used in the processes, the water is pure and legislation regarding the production of spirit is fairly flexible and open to innovation.

What style of whisky are you aiming for and how is that achieved?

The Whiskey produced to date has been Bourbon style and trials are being done at present on a single malt .

The majority of single malt distilleries in Australia use similar processes, that is conventional mash tuns and traditional pot stills . What we do is slightly different in that we use two mash kettles, one of 1,000 litres and the other 4,000 litres. We have 10,000 litres of fermentation capacity in 7 washbacks of varying sizes and distillation takes place in a 16 plate rectifying column still by Arnold Holstein. 

At present we are using mainly new virgin American white oak barrels and producing in the region of 30,000 litres of spirit per annum.

Finally Frank, you’ve worked at distilleries in Scotland, Northern Ireland and now Australia. Anywhere else you’re going to add that list?

Currently I am also involved with Dartmoor Distillery in England and a proposed distillery in Israel . Who knows where else…could be Antartica, but don’t tell Richard Patterson - lots of ice there!!!

Good to see Frank is taking things easy in his retirement! - ed.

Massive thanks to Frank, Mark and Niko for taking the time to speak to me and help me with this blog post.

​If anyone wants to do any further reading on the Australian whisky industry, I can recommend the following, which I used as sources;

Nick’s Wine Merchants has a pretty extensive guide to Australian whisky and distilleries (past and present) 
The Australian Whisky Appreciation Society facebook page 
Deloitte Agribusiness article for some facts and figures
Northshore and Norlane Stories website for more information on the history of the Corio Distillery 






4 Comments

Australian Whisky: Part 1, History

9/11/2016

4 Comments

 
A few months ago I got a facebook message from a guy called Niko Devlin, who is the President of the Australian Whisky Appreciation Society, which went something like, “Hey, I like your distillery maps of Scotland. You ever thought of doing one of Australia?”. Now, I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even thought there were enough distilleries in Australia to fill out a whisky map! I knew there were a few in Tasmania, but turns out that was a bit of understatement. There are currently 11 whisky distilleries in Tasmania and 24 in mainland Australia. Who knew? Not me. So, with a LOT of help from Niko and a fair bit of jiggery pokery with distillery locations (there being a total dearth of distilleries in that top middley bit of the very big country that is Australia) I did up a distillery map of Australia.  
Somewhat embarrassed by my complete lack of knowledge about the Australian whisky scene I decided to try to find out a bit more and write a blog piece about it. So, I did a bit of reading. I picked Niko’s brains some more. Thanks to the wonders of facebook, I also spoke to a guy called Mark Coburn who is in the process of setting up a new distillery in the Southern Highlands of NSW. I then remembered that Frank McHardy, of Springbank fame, was involved with the Whipper Snapper distillery so I asked him some questions too. I then promptly forgot all about it until I was watching the BBC’s Scotch! programme the other day which reminded me that I really should write this blog piece (episode 3 had a bit about Australia in it)!
Picture
Prints available to buy from Red Bubble! Click on the picture for the link (I know, I know, shameless self promotion!)
When you think about it, it’s not really surprising that Australia has a thriving whisky scene. In fact, I think Dave Broom summed it up pretty well in his ‘World Atlas of Whisky’, “The most surprising thing about the Australian whisky boom is that it’s taken so long to happen. This, after all, is a country that was widely settled by Scots, is rich in malting barley and culturally is known to like a drink”.  ​
Picture
T-shirts also available to buy from Red Bubble! Click the pic. You know you want one...
So why did it take so long to happen? That’s what I’d like to know and what, so far, I still haven’t found an answer to! In trying to write this blog post, I’ve found myself getting endlessly distracted - I keep saying to myself, “I’ll just quickly check the newspaper archives” or “I’ll just do a quick google search and see what else I can find out about x” and a couple of hours later I’m still reading and haven’t actually written anything! Most annoying. (This is why my essay hand-ins at Uni always culminated in a caffine and chocolate fuelled all-nighter followed by a mad dash to get it printed off and into the professor’s cubby hole before the deadline.) Anyway I am getting distracted again, so in a bid to give myself (and you) a bit of structure, I have decided to split this post into 2 parts; Part 1 (today’s post): History and Part 2 (tomorrow’s): Interviews with some modern day whisky producers and bottlers.
You could say that the history of spirits and distilling in Australia dates back to the arrival, if not of the First Fleet in 1788, then certainly of the first free settlers in the 1790s. Rum and brandy appear to have been the spirits of choice; Sugar plantations were established in Queensland in the mid 1800s and rum production followed shortly afterwards. Maybe the taste for rum was brought over by the British Navy with the First Fleet? It would appear to be a lasting taste too; in the 1995 book ‘Classic Spirits of the World’, rum is quoted as being, “Australia’s second drink to beer, with the leading brand, Bundaberg, outselling Johnnie Walker by two to one”. (Incidentally in the same book, Australian whisky didn’t even get a mention!). Brandy making grew from a need for a grape based spirit to produce fortified wines (much more popular at the time than table wines). The knowledge of wine making as well as presumably brandy distillation had been brought over by early European immigrants. The number of brandy distilleries grew throughout the 19th century and in 1901 the first laws were drawn up to regulate the burgeoning industry. 

Despite the large numbers of Scottish and Irish immigrants though, and the wide availability of grains and beer, whisky distilling (of the legal type at least) didn’t really seem to gain a major foothold. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that whisky distilleries didn’t exist. They did. In fact, the first legal whisky distillery in Australia was established way back in 1822, in Tasmania. That’s 2 years before the Glenlivet, the “distillery that started it all” in Scotland.  However, unlike in Scotland, legal distilling in Tasmania was to be a very short lived affair. In 1839 the Distillation Prohibition Act banned colonial distillation altogether and it was to be another 153 years before anyone was granted a distilling licence on the island.
Picture
Contrary to what I previously believed though, this does not mean that no whisky distilling took place in Australia as a whole in those intervening years, although the latter half of the 19th century did seem to be pretty quiet on that front. I struggled to find much mention of whisky distilling at all until 1929, when the Corio distillery was opened in Geelong, Victoria, by Mr William H Ross, Chairman and Managing Director of the Edinburgh-based (yes, Edinburgh, Scotland) Distillers Company Limited. DCL held a 51% share in Corio, I think largely as a way to get round the high import tarifs at the time, and according to their 1930 annual report, there was then only one other whisky producer in Australia, which they had just bought a controlling interest in, thereby “securing an interest in the whole production of Australian spirits.”  Yep, you can tell they were the precursor to Diageo, can’t you?
By 1954, Corio was apparently the largest distillery in the Southern Hemisphere, having produced, in its first 25 years of existence, some 12 million gallons (about 48 million LPA) of whisky and 5 million litres of gin. This accounted for two thirds of the total Australian whisky trade and half the gin market! 

Quantity does not always equate to quality though, and it would appear that, certainly latterly, Corio’s reputation was questionable at best. One description I saw compared it to motor oil, another described it as “rot-gut” and apparently instructions from HQ (that would be DCL) were to produce something “no better than the worst scotch whisky”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The distillery continued in production right up to the 1980s though, when it was closed following massive financial losses.  It’s reputation not withstanding, the Corio distillery, through its comparative longevity if nothing else, clearly had an important role in the history of the Australian whisky industry. The article I read described the Corio brand as “leaving behind a twofold legacy; firstly, it was proof positive that whisky could be made in Australia, and on a large scale, and; secondly, that if it was ever to be done again the focus would have to be on quality rather than quantity. Thankfully that’s exactly what those in the present day industry have realised.”

So there you have it. I’m still none the wiser as to why the Australian whisky boom took so long to happen but I am slightly better informed as to the history behind it. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at the rebirth of the Australian whisky industry in the 1990s and what’s happening now. 

4 Comments

New Distillery Focus: Wolfburn

14/9/2016

2 Comments

 
My poor blog has been somewhat abandoned over the summer months (what little summer we had anyway) so this week’s news of the release of Wolfburn Aurora gave me the impetus I needed to get back to the keyboard and write my long overdue Wolfburn distillery focus.
Picture
Production Manager Shane Fraser with the new Wolfburn Aurora
Wolfburn started production in 2013, making it the first of the new distilleries I have written about to actually have legal whisky in their warehouses (Legal whisky which they very kindly sent me a sample of, but more of that later!). In fact, they now have 2 different products available as part of their ‘Signature Range’; Northland, released in February this year, which is matured in American Oak quarter casks and the newly released Aurora, matured in a combination of American Oak and first fill Spanish Sherry. 
I’m really looking forward to hearing what these guys have been up to as I used to work with Shane (Shane Fraser, Production Manager) when we were both at Glenfarclas. I know, I know, another Glenfarclas connection but you know that saying about there being only 6 degrees of separation between anyone on the planet? Well, I think when you’re talking about the Scotch Whisky industry you can probably reduce that to about 2 degrees! Let’s see what Shane has to say for himself anyway;

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location? 
In the faaaaaaar north of bonnie Scotland – on the Caithness’s north coast in the town of Thurso to be precise.  The project was originally to rebuild the old Wolfburn distillery – the original was built in 1821 and fell into ruin in the late 19
th Century – but in fact we ended up building an entirely new distillery just a few hundred metres from the site of the old one.  

Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now?  
​
I’ve been producing whisky for 26 years!  But for Wolfburn, it was the opportunity of a lifetime – to create a new single malt scotch from a blank canvass, a whisky that I could truly say I crafted from scratch. 
Picture
Wolfburn has now stolen (or reclaimed?) the title of "most northerly mainland distillery" from Pulteney
Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery? 
The journey started in 2011 – that’s when we put together the outline business plan.  Finessing the numbers took a long time because every little input has a knock-on effect.  For example, the size of the mash has a direct bearing on the size of the washbacks and the size of the stills – not to mention the amount of malt used per week, which then has an effect on the size of the malt bins, and the weekly running cost.  By the end of 2011 we had workable numbers, so we set about buying the land and getting planning consent – both of which happened in June 2012.  The civil engineering started shortly afterwards, and we simultaneously finalised our contract with Forsyths – they started installing the plant equipment in November 2012.  The build was completed in the new year and we went on spirit on 25 January 2013 – Burns Night!  Since then it has been non stop – we mash and distill six times per week, and lay down roughly 1,000 casks per year.  Bottling commenced in February 2016 and we have already sold a huge amount more whisky than originally forecast.  It’s been quite a ride! 


Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that? 
Wolfburn’s whisky is light and smooth – a nicely rounded whisky, which we hope is easy and pleasant to drink. Personally I prefer softer spirits and I’ve crafted Wolfburn so it’s a sweet and fragrant dram.  It already has quite a following, which is lovely to see. 


​Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward? 
​
There are so many challenges, it’s difficult to know when to start!  Maybe the biggest is to ensure that quality is maintained as high as possible at all times, even when we are doing something for the first time.  Sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day! 
Picture
Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique? 
​
Wolfburn is a very traditional distillery – we don’t have any automation, everything is done the old fashioned way, by hand.  We use a 1.1 tonne copper-topped mash and four stainless steel washbacks.   Our stills are a unique shape and were crafted by Forsyths of Rothes specific to our design.  The wash still capacity is 5,500L and the spirit still is 3,800.  Our fermentation is long and slow – around 75 hours on average.  This produces some wonderful sweet and floral flavours in the worts, which carry through to distillation.  The distillation is equally long and gentle – lots of time inside the copper ensures the spirit is completely free of harsh sulphurous compounds, and as a result is lovely and sweet.  
Maturation is all on site in our purpose-built warehouses.  We hand-select all our casks, which mostly come from Spain or America.  And we also bottle on site – Wolfburn is one of only a tiny handful of distilleries where everything happens in one place. 

Q. Who do you see as your target market? 
Anyone who enjoys fine quality single malt scotch, globally.  We have distribution in 21 countries globally. 


Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? 

We launched in Feb 2016, and have been selling ever since.  We’ll never produce anything other than whisky – it’s our expertise and it’s what defines us as a brand and as a business. 


​Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time? 

To be honest I am enjoying everything so much on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis that I don’t give much thought to long term plans at the moment!  If Wolfburn continues to grow, and we continue to produce such lovely whisky, I shall be very happy. 
Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?  We tried as much as possible to make it similar in process and scale to the original Wolfburn distillery.  A lot of the details have been lost in the mists of time – it would be great to find a bottle from the original distillery, but I doubt any still exist – but we are as faithful as possible to the old traditions employed in the Highlands. 

​Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when?  We’re open Monday-Friday by appointment only – please email [email protected]   And yes you can buy our whisky at the distillery. 

Picture
Sounds like Shane is having a ball up there! Let’s see what the end product tastes like then shall we? The lovely chaps from Wolfburn sent me a 3yo cask sample, matured in a quarter cask (like their Northland single malt). It’s sitting at 60.02% vol, so quite a bit higher than their bottling strength of 46%. I’ve drafted in Mark (my husband) to help with the tasting, which is a terrible chore for him I’m sure. Also, I don’t really go in for very detailed tasting notes - I’m very much a broad brush strokes kinda girl - but Mark’s much better at all the bullsh*t (oops, I mean tasting notes) so he’s written more detailed ones too.
​

My impressions first; it’s a really well-balanced, drinkable dram. It’s got a lovely mouthfeel that really coats the palate and leaves a wonderful soft smokiness. It doesn’t seem overly young, and certainly tastes older than it’s tender 3 years. I wondered whether the slight peatiness on the palate adds a certain maturity? Overall, I’m really impressed and very much looking forward to trying more expressions from this great Northern distillery. 
Picture
Not often you taste from a glass that's the same vintage as the whisky!
And now for Mark’s more poetic/bullshitty/detailed* (*please delete as appropriate) tasting notes;

On the nose he gets malty and vanilla notes, with touches of brown bread, peat and fresh cut sileage. There’s an oiliness there as well which makes him think of a petrol lawn mower. He also gets a fresh minerally/flintiness on the nose as well.


​On the palate he’s getting spice, pepper and poppy seeds with stale custard creams - think biscuity and creamy, not fresh cream but rather clotted cream or that cheap yellow ice cream you get in the supermarket - and then some soft smoke at the back of the palate.  There’s an initial burst of intense flavour which then fades away briefly before a surge of pebbles, smoke, pumice stones and gingerbread on the finish.  


All in all an excellent dram, although you might not get that impression from some of his tasting notes! He is a bit odd and insists that stale custard creams, sileage, pebbles and pumice stones are all meant in a good way!

Incidentally Mark visited Wolfburn in 2013, shortly after they started production, as part of his stag do celebrations. He even managed to take 2 photos while he was there (pretty impressive for a stag do I feel) which I have included in this article.

2 Comments

New Distillery Focus: Ardnamurchan

7/4/2016

2 Comments

 
My quest to become better informed about all the new Scottish distilleries has begun! My plan is simple; contact all the distilleries and ask them all the same questions so I (and therefore you) can firstly, learn more about their experiences, philosophies and future plans, but also (hopefully!) explore the differences between them. ​

First up is Ardnamurchan Distillery, owned by the independent bottler Adelphi Distillery Ltd. Now  independent bottlers acquiring distilleries is nothing new; think Signatory and Edradour, G&M and Benromach and Ian MacLeod and Glengoyne/Tamdu to name a few. As far as I know though, Adelphi are the first independent bottler to build their own distillery from scratch (Although Wemyss followed suit with the Kingsbarns Distillery a few months later). 
Picture
The distillery was officially opened on the 25th of July 2014 and has a capacity of 500,000 lpa. They also have a visitor centre so you can go and see for yourself how they are doing things. The bad news however is that Glenbeg is almost as isolated as Campbeltown so it might take you a while to get there!  It does look stunning though - I’m definitely going to have to brave the 4.5 hour drive to go and visit at some point soon.
Picture
Anyway, Alex Bruce very kindly agreed to answer my questions, so lets see what he has to say for himself;

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location?
We are in the tiny hamlet of Glenbeg, half way along the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula. The area was selected due to its abundance of very pure water, local natural resources (woodchip for the boiler), and local requirement for distilling by-products (draff, pot ale). Some of the surrounding area is also under the same ownership as the distillery.


Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now?
First, and foremost, because we wanted to return Adelphi to its distilling roots, but also because demand for Adelphi’s independent bottlings has outstripped its supply for some years now. This, coupled with a growing international distribution network, provided demand, route to market and a strong intention to make a quality whisky.
There has also been a bonus to the independent bottling arm through the reciprocating of Ardnamurchan new make for mature single casks of other makes.


Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery?
About 4 years from conception to final planning: in addition to finding the right site, this also included consulting on all aspects of renewable heat and power provision for distilling, looking at other new and existing projects worldwide, detailed market research, and finding the right architect and construction team.
In addition, there was an early requirement to reserve a manufacturing slot for the equipment.


Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that?
We are not trying to re-write any regional styles, just aiming to do the best we absolutely can: we are producing an unpeated and a medium peated spirit (6 months of each at the moment), filling into both ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks (the majority are 1
st fill).
The spirit is very fruity, quite creamy and viscous, with a peppery kick and decent levels of peat in the background in the peated version.
We hope to end up somewhere between Highland Park and Talisker in style (possibly with a hint of Springbank!)


Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward?
Plenty of teething issues to keep us busy, but none insurmountable:
1. Staffing, in particular for the VC in such a remote area
2. Trying to find the infrastructure to allow us to grow our own barley (100%) and have it dried and toll malted, both peated and unpeated
3. Working with a biomass boiler
4. Cash flow – keeping production running for several years without dipping into too much working capital or selling too many crown jewels.


Going forward:
1. Developing the existing markets, bringing on target markets
2. Developing a domestic presence
3. Staffing
4. Visitor numbers
5. Commissioning in house malting
6. Fluctuating material prices for malt and wood


Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique?
We use 100% Concerto varietal barley, most of it grown on our farm in Fife and toll malted by Bairds in Inverness. We have a Ruddock mill, feeding a 2 ton mash (the largest we could fit up the road); 4 oak washbacks (ex Cognac) and 3 SS washbacks; a 10,000 litre wash still and a 6000 litre spirit still. We use a single distillers’ yeast for the peated, and 2 distillers’ yeast (50/50) for the unpeated, fermentation times are 72 hours with a long weekend (when we are on a 5 day week) and 72 hours for each (when we are running 7 days).
All pot ale and draff is used locally, all spirit matured on site.


Q. Who do you see as your target market?
We will continue to expand our existing markets with particular emphasis on North America, Europe and the Far East.


Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime?
The first “mainstream” single malt will be released when we have enough mature stock that we feel is ready to vat and bottle.
We hope to release earlier maturing spirits and single malt in small batches to show the emerging style and quality.
No other products are planned.


Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time?
We would like to establish the Ardnamurchan brand worldwide with recognition for a quality single malt that is attainable in most specialist outlets.
A 40,000 to 60,000 case brand should be achievable within 20 years, and we would hope that the core of our existing team and ownership will still be involved to witness this achievement. 


Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?
From a flavour profile, as above: HP, Talisker, Springbank and backbone of Clynelish/Brora.
From a sales and marketing angle, I have huge respect for Billy Walkers brands, Arran, and Ian Macleods, so a mix of all of the above would be perfect.


Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when?
We are open 6 days per week from Easter to October, and 5 days (or on demand) during the winter months.
New spirit is available direct from the distillery.
Small batch releases of maturing spirit should begin later this year (2016)

Picture
Now I definitely want to go and visit! I can’t wait to try the final product either - especially since the style they are aiming for is a hybrid of 2 (or 3) of my favourite distilleries!
2 Comments

Helensburgh Charity Whisky Tasting

19/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

Last night my husband, Mark, and I hosted our first ever joint tasting. It wasn’t our idea. Rather a very good friend of mine had asked us both to host a charity whisky tasting to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support in Helensburgh and we couldn’t really refuse because a) I’ve known her forever and she’s one of my best friends and b) she knows first hand how vital a service Macmillan provides. 

Now, I’m not going to lie - we were both a little nervous about doing a joint tasting. We’ve both done hundreds of tastings over our careers but never together and never to raise money for a cause that was so close to us; Would enough people turn up? Would we be able to pull off a joint tasting without it ending in divorce? Would we make enough money?
Happily, all our fears were unfounded. We had a good turnout of around 60 people - some whisky enthusiasts, some novices and some that didn’t even like whisky but had come along because Rhona asked them to and it was for a good cause - We even managed to convert one of our non-whisky drinking friends!  (Yes, we do have some!) The joint tasting thing seemed to go okay too, at least after the first dram or two, and, between ticket sales and the raffle, we raised a fantastic £1640 for Macmillan. All in all, a pretty successful evening.

​We had a pretty good tasting line up too thanks to Mark’s current employer, Cadenheads, and my previous employers, Springbank and Glenfarclas, who very generously donated all of the whisky for the event.
The evening started off with Campbeltown Loch 21yo, followed by an 11yo Cadenhead’s Balmenach, limited edition Glenfarclas £511.19s.0d, Springbank 10yo, then a Cadenhead’s 1988 Sherry Cask Highland Park and then finished off with a 1984 34yo Caol Ila (also Cadenhead’s). There was no clear favourite with the crowd fairly evenly split on which they preferred. I’d be hard pushed to pick a favourite myself but think it was probably either the HP or the Caol Ila. I’ll certainly be asking Mark to get bottles of both for the house!​
Picture
Huge thanks to everyone that provided whisky, raffle prizes and came along to support the event. Who knows, we may even do more joint tastings in the future!
0 Comments

Springbank 16yo Local Barley - it's Flipping Good!

26/2/2016

2 Comments

 
Today is an exciting day - I have finally managed to get my hands on some of the new Springbank Local Barley! Now, I must admit, my expectations are fairly (unreasonably?) high for this one as one of my favourite drams of all time is the 1966 Local Barley, which I first tried way back in 2003 at the Vienna Whisky Fair when the lovely chaps from the Austrian Whisky Society very kindly gave me a dram from their bottle in the bar after the show. I remember being absolutely blown away, not just by the whisky, but by the fact that a group of people I had never met before that weekend would share such an old, rare whisky with me, just because they thought I would like it and be interested to try it. ​
I have been fortunate enough to taste the 1966 a few times since then, but it is that first taste, when I was brand new to the whisky industry and not long after I started working at Springbank that really sticks in my mind.

This 16yo Local Barley certainly has a lot to live up to! Not only that, but the barley was grown on my parents’ friends’ farm - I used to go to play at Low Machrimore when I was a kid. (Admittedly, that was a bit more than 16 years ago.)  They’ve retired now and sold the farm but it is quite something to think that I know the guy that grew that barley that made the whisky that I’m about to drink! 

Now, I must admit, on first impressions, I’m not blown away. Probably for the reasons I have just described. So, let’s try it again. Wow. What a mouthfeel - it’s fantastically thick and chewy. Really, really good. This is definitely one that improves with a bit of time in the glass (for me anyway). The finish is quite surprising as it doesn’t have any of the smokiness that I would normally associate with Springbank but rather a kind of pebbly mineral note. 
Picture
Love the fact that the label is a throwback to the iconic 1965 Local Barley.
Released this month, this is retailing at around £95 a bottle, although I have seen some bottles sell at auction (yes, already!) for more than double that. Which brings me on to a rant that I have now and again when the subject of escalating whisky prices comes up. As consumers, we often complain that whisky is too expensive, that prices just keep rising. Which is true, but look at it from the producers point of view. How annoying must it be to see someone (or many someones in this case) buy your bottles, not to drink and enjoy, but to immediately flip at auction, making themselves more money per bottle than both the producer and retailer combined? If the market is willing to pay that higher price, then it is totally understandable that the producer would want to increase their share of the profits to allow them to reinvest in the business. 
​

Using this Springbank Local Barley as an example, if Springbank were to charge an extra £20 a bottle (equating to an increase of about £50 on the retail price I would think) they would net themselves an extra £180,000 on a limited release of 9000 bottles such as this one. That’s a whole lot of man hours or casks or tonnes of barley that they are missing out on. In a way then, I think it is quite admirable that Springbank are only charging £95 a bottle for their latest Local Barley Release. I never thought I’d see the day when I considered £95 quid a reasonable price for a bottle of 16yo whisky but considering the price they could be charging (at least if auctions are anything to go by) and the increased costs associated with the local barley releases (small batch, lower yield, higher production costs etc) I think they’re doing pretty well.​

Picture
Low Machrimore Farm, in Southend, where the barley was grown for the 16yo (and the 1965) Local Barley.
2 Comments

Zut, alors! France 38 - Scotland 17

3/2/2016

5 Comments

 
Picture
My stylised (ie. not particularly accurate) whisky map of France
Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that the title of this post refers to a six nations rugby match, but no. It is actually the number of new whisky distilleries that have started production since the year 2000. Yep, you read that right, more new whisky distilleries have opened in France in the last 15 years than in Scotland.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in France over the last few years so naturally I was aware of a few of the French whiskies (Armorik, Eddu, PM, etc), but I had no idea there were now so many! The latest count puts the number at 42 whisky distilleries in France. 42! That’s more than a third of the total number in Scotland. 
With France being such an important export market for scotch whisky (it’s been the biggest export market by volume for the last 10 years at least) there are many, particularly in the mainstream media, who, on reading such figures, would be wringing their hands in despair and proclaiming the end of the Scotch whisky industry as we know it.
Let’s not be too hasty, though. According to Philippe Juge (whisky writer, France Quintessence  organiser, and all-round French whisky guru), while French whisky is in an extremely dynamic and exiting place, the total volumes produced are still very small. The biggest distillery in France has a production capacity of only 300,000 LPA, whereas the 3 largest malt distilleries in Scotland have a capacity in excess of 12,000,000 LPA each. I don’t think we need to be too concerned about demand for French whisky decimating the Scotch whisky industry just yet.  As Ingvar Ronde says in his 2016 Malt Whisky Yearbook, the vast majority of these new world distilleries  “produce small quantities of malt and will not influence the global whisky market, at least not when it comes to volumes. Their interest in new production methods and alternative raw material, on the other hand, has already triggered discussion”
Picture
Much more geographically accurate map of French distilleries. Courtesy of Whisky de France
And that, dear readers, is what I want to discuss with you; the production methods, raw materials and history behind these numerous new distilleries in a country that I know extremely well as a scotch whisky export market, but have only a passing acquaintance with as a whisky producer in their own right. 

When you think about it, it shouldn’t really be surprising that the French are producing whisky. After all, they have just as long and illustrious a tradition of distilling as we do in Scotland, maybe longer. The first written record of distilling in Scotland dates back to 1494 when Friar John Corr bought 8 bolls of malt with which to distill acqua vitae. The first recipe for distilling wine in an alembic appeared as early as 1300. The French have been producing top class spirits for centuries; Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados. If anything, the question should be not, ‘why have they started producing whisky now?’ but ‘why did it take them so long?’. 

​A recent article by Christine Lambert on slate.fr suggests that whisky was in fact produced in France some 300 years ago but the practice was lost in the mists of time because of an Icelandic volcano. Yes, you read that right. A volcano. Bear with me here. Apparently written records show that an ‘eau-de-vie made from grain, matured in wood’ (and if that’s not a description of whisky, I don’t know what is) was consumed at Stanislas’ Court in Lorraine in the mid-18th century. However, the volcanic ash clouds resulting from the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland in 1783 caused all sorts of meteorological chaos across Europe (particularly in France and the Netherlands) which in turn affected crops. A sort of rationing was put in place, and grain distillation was subsequently banned to preserve food stocks. Fruit distillation, however, was allowed to continue as it was a means of preserving the fruit.

It does seem crazy that the eruption of an Icelandic volcano in the 18th century could perhaps have shaped an entire country’s distilling history but then, an Icelandic volcano also managed to ground the entire European aviation fleet for several weeks in the 21st century (and I should know, I was in Paris at the time and had a very, very long train journey back to the North of Scotland), so it’s maybe not that crazy. 
Back in the present day though, what I find fascinating is the sheer variety within the French whisky category, if such a thing even exists. It is almost impossible to define ‘French whisky’ as a single entity. It is not a protected Geographical Indication (although Breton and Alsace Whisky are) so, while it has to stay within the legal definition of whisky as defined by EU Regulation EC110/2008,  there is huge scope for experimentation and individuality. 
Picture
EU Regulation EC110/2008
Picture
Wambrechies distillery
Picture
Castan Distillery
As Philippe Juge explained; “All Scotch whiskies are similar in that they use the same type of cereal, the same industrial yeast, the same production process, the same marketing. No two French whiskies are alike. Only the historic French distilleries (Warenghem, Rozelieures) make whisky like in Scotland. All the others do it differently; lots of different varieties of barley, lots of different cereals and psuedo-cereals (buckwheat) and lots of different types of stills. (cognac stills, armagnac stills, fruit eau-de-vie stills, portable stills)”

The distilleries themselves all have different roots as well, “a third of the [whisky] distilleries in France are existing spirits distilleries (fruit eau-de-vie, liqueurs, cognac, armagnac, marc, etc) with a great tradition and experience of distillation. A third are craft breweries who have also bought a still to start producing whisky from high quality beer (indigenous yeasts, unique yeast strains), paying particular attention to the cereals used (varieties, organic, etc). A third have been started from scratch so have no constraints and loads of possibilities (bespoke stills, vacuum distillation, etc)”.
Yes, French whisky is relatively new compared to Scotch, but they are not totally new kids on the block either. Ironically, at a time when age statements are disappearing from many scotch whiskies, they are just starting to appear on French ones. The first 10 yo French whisky came out in 2012 (Armorik) and the first 12yo in 2013 (Wambrechies). Philippe certainly thinks the future of French whisky looks rosy; “France has all the skills necessary to make her mark on the whisky market, both in France and abroad. In France because the French want to rediscover local products (locavore movement - Yep, I didn’t know what it was either but I googled it and apparently a locavore eats local, seasonal produce - Ed.) and today there is at least one distillery in each region of France. Since the terrorist attacks in 2015, they have become very proud of their country. (Bourbon sales exploded in the US after 9/11. It’s not a coincidence). Abroad thanks to the quality, luxury image that French wines and spirits already enjoy.” 

There are challenges ahead as well though. There are no big players and no one big blend brand so that means budgets are limited. (See, Diageo has its advantages - Ed.) Another potential problem is ‘fake’ French whisky. Since there is no legal definition, anyone could import grain spirit from Germany, India or Scotland, mature it in France and then sell it as French whisky.”  The creation this month of the ‘Federation du Whisky de France’, a trade body similar in scope to the Scotch Whisky Association, will hopefully help to protect and build the reputation of true ‘Made in France’ whisky though.

Certainly where food and drink are concerned my experience is that when the French do something they do it well so I, for one, am very excited to see what the future will hold for their many different whiskies. We may have to wait a wee while til we see a ‘French Whisky’ shelf in our local booze shop here in Scotland, but until then, I will just have to content myself with a spot of whisky tourism next time I’m in France (if there’s a distillery in every region, I shouldn’t be too far away from one, no matter where I go on holiday!). 

As to whether the Scots should be worried, I’ll leave the final word to Philippe; “Brandy is made all over the planet but everyone knows that the best brandies are French with Cognac and Armagnac. It’s the same for sparkling wines - they’re made everywhere in the world, but the best is Champagne. Today the best whisky is Scotch. And that’s great. French whisky just wants to be that little bit better.  Like we’ve done with Cognac and Champagne. Give us a bit of time!”​

…I think he’s joking. Cheeky Frenchman!
5 Comments

Whisky - the great leveller

30/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
While browsing through one of the many Vintage Cocktail books on the (free!) online EUVS Library, we came across this fantastic verse extolling the virtues of whisky punch. 

The book was written in 1892 but I think the line about 'levelling all distinctions' holds true today (if we forget about the punch bit and just concentrate on the whisky). Whisky is a great leveller - it brings together people from all different countries, backgrounds, ages and unites them all in big, warm, haze of whisky geekery.
I have had many great conversations with total strangers about what whisky is in my/their glass - I don't know whether drinking vodka or gin would provide quite the same opportunities for striking up random conversations.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't yet discovered the joys of the EUVS Vintage Cocktail Book library, you really should! (Assuming you are into cocktails that is. If not, you probably won't find it quite so interesting). They have loads of old, presumably out of print (and copyright), books available to read and download, and not just in English. I particularly like the description of the anglo-american bars in Paris in one of the French books (1927 Petits et Grands Verres). Some of the cover designs and illustrations are fantastic too!
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Old vs New, A Comparative Taste Test, or 'I got love for you, if you were born in the 80s'

18/1/2016

0 Comments

 
I have just discovered that, unbeknownst to me, my husband has recently been buying lots of random old bottles at auction. The most recent purchase being a bottle of Bell’s from the 80s. 
What’s a wife to do?… Suggest a comparative taste test, naturally! 


I was very excited to discover that not only has he been buying whisky from the 80s but also other spirits, including a bottle of Ricard from the 80s that he picked up for the bargain price of £4. Now I must confess, I have a huge soft spot for pastis, Ricard in particular, after spending a year living in Aix-en-Provence when I was a student. I felt terribly sophisticated, at age 19, sitting sipping (ok, slugging) Ricard and chain smoking Gauloises in the pavement cafés of Aix, instead of necking pints and shots in the student pubs of Sauchiehall Street. Nearly 20 years on (eeek!) I am still very partial to a wee glass or two of Ricard as an aperitif, even in the depths of Scottish winter (although it does taste much better on a sunny terrace in the South of France)

Anyway, enough nostalgia. Back to the matter in hand, the comparative taste test, which was now  to include the1980s Ricard vs the current Ricard as well as the 1980s 12yo Bell’s vs the current NAS Bell’s.  After a quick trip to Tesco to pick up a bottle of Bell’s (since we didn’t have any in the house) and a detour via Mark’s office to pick up the 1980s Ricard that he had secreted there (doubtless along with a few other bottles he hopes to sneak into the house at a later date) we were good to go.


​We started with the Ricard since it is traditionally an aperitif. In the interests of fairness, we decided to do the tasting blind so I would pour Mark’s drinks while he was out the room and vice versa. Our efforts were thwarted though when the current Ricard turned out to be much darker than the 80s one, so it was immediately obvious which was which. No matter, we pressed on regardless.
Picture
Very little has changed in the bottle and label design - a simplified and sharpened label design and bespoke bottle, but still instantly recognisable as the same brand.
Now, I will confess to fully expecting the two whiskies to be quite different, but I had no such expectations of the Ricard. How wrong could I be? These were two very different drinks. And I’m not just talking about the colour. Both were good but Mark and I both found the 1980s one to be much lighter and fresher, both on the nose and on the palate. If anything I’d have expected it to be the other way round. The current offering seemed less expressive on the nose but more intense with a thicker mouthfeel on the palate. We tried them both neat, then with water and ice, first at about 3:1 (which is how we would both normally drink it) then at the Ricard recommended 5:1. I found I preferred the 1980s one neat and at 3:1 but at 5:1 it got a bit lost. I think the modern version stands up better to the Ricard recommended dilution. Both are extremely drinkable though.
So, on to the whiskies. Bell’s bottled c.1980s vs Bell’s bottled c.2015. Around a 30 year age difference in terms of bottling date. In terms of actual declared age, our 1980s bottle carries a 12yo age statement, whereas today’s one, as with many whiskies, is NAS (Bell’s having dropped their most recent 8yo age statement a number of years ago). This one was better suited to a blind tasting as the colour is more or less identical. That said, it was immediately obvious to us both which was the old bottling and which the current one. We both preferred the old one. The current one, to me, seemed much more one dimensional, although to be honest, it was still much better than I expected! 
Picture
Old and new Bell's - very different (although I do like the bell shaped neck on the new bottle) with all the different mixers. Please don't try this at home.
​That assessment changed though when we decided to follow up the neat tasting by trying both offerings mixed with water, soda and coke (on the basis that in the 1980s, and to a lesser extent today, most blends would be drunk mixed rather than straight). What can I say but yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck! The 1980s one was ok mixed, (it had a nice spicy, gingery note when mixed with coke) but the present day one was just horrid. There’s no other word for it. The mixers seemed to bring out the worst in it, accentuating the bitter, caramel notes and masking any of the vaguely pleasant ones. Ice improved things a bit, mainly cause it cooled it down and masked the flavours even more, but really not recommended. It was much better neat. Not something I thought I’d say about Bell’s but hey ho.
Conclusions then. The generally held belief is that, unlike wines, spirits do not mature/change once bottled and yet in this taste test both the pastis and the whisky are markedly different. Why is that? I’ve always been very sceptical about the so-called ‘old bottle effect’ in older (as in bottled a long time ago rather than matured for longer) whiskies, but this may have changed my mind. However Mark (who has tried many more old bottlings than I have) doesn’t find it in all old bottlings so maybe it is down to changes in production or maturation rather than the whisky/spirit continuing to evolve in the bottle? Or maybe it is a case of evolution, as in, there are tiny, imperceptible changes in character/flavour each year; when you compare this years bottling against last years they are virtually indistinguishable but if you compare this years bottling against one that was bottled 10, 20 or 30 years ago then the differences are much more marked. 
I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ll definitely be seeking out more old £4 bottles of Ricard at auction - much cheaper and just as drinkable, if not more so, than the current offering. Not so bothered about the Bell’s, past or present, though!
0 Comments

Scotch on the Rocks as Canadian Whisky Crowned Best in the World?

19/11/2015

7 Comments

 
Picture
If you are a whisky drinker and are on any social media network you can’t possibly have missed the big news that Jim Murray has awarded his 2016 ‘Whisky of the Year’ award to Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye. Yep, last year was a Japanese whisky and this year it’s Canadian. Scotch Whiskies are, once again, notable by their absence with Jim’s top 5 reading as follows;​

  1. Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye
  2. Pikesville 100 Proof Straight Rye
  3. Midleton Dair Ghaelach
  4. William Larue Weller Bourbon
  5. Yamazaki Mizunara
Surprising results? Maybe, when you consider them from the consumer’s (ie, our) point of view. However, when you look at it from the point of view of a self-proclaimed whisky guru trying to shift copies of the 13th Release of his ‘Bible’, it is perhaps a little less surprising. After all, controversy generates publicity (as we have seen today!). And as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity! Had his Top 5 contained for example; Highland Park 18, Talisker 18, Glenfarclas 21, Springbank 12 Cask Strength and Lagavulin 16 (just plucking some random, good, solid whiskies (in my opinion anyway) out of thin air here!) then would the mainstream media still be writing articles about this book? I would guess not. After all, ‘Scotch Whisky Best in the World’ is not quite as attention grabbing (read, book selling) as ‘Scotch on the Rocks, as Canadian Whisky Crowned Best in the World’.
Also, let’s face it, anyone that is really into their whiskies takes anything Jim Murray (or any other whisky taster, with perhaps the exception of Serge) says with a large sackful of salt. I imagine a large proportion of his books are bought as Christmas presents (anyone else think the timing of the Release is purely coincidental?) for people with a vague interest in whisky or just starting out in the world of whisky. Some (Most?) of whom will surely be disappointed when the ‘Best Whisky in the World’ is not to their taste. 
Picture
And anyway, regardless what the results are, the fact remains; this is the opinion of one man. Key word here: opinion. Just because he describes something as the ‘Best Whisk(e)y in the World’ does not mean that it is, or that other people think it is (even though the press seems to think his word is gospel - I think the title of the book goes to everyone’s heads.) 

Finally, as far as I am aware, Jim Murray only samples whiskies which have been sent to him for his Bible, so only companies that send him whisky are in with a chance of winning the ‘Best Whisky’ accolade. (When I worked at Springbank and Glenfarclas, his researcher would get in touch asking for samples of anything we’d like tasted. I imagine this is the case for everyone.) Bigger companies probably have a much bigger sample budget than wee ones so therefore are in with a bigger chance of getting the coveted title. 

I should point out at this point that I have not tasted Crown Royal Northern Harvest so have no idea whether the accolade is justified or not. I’m almost temped to get myself a bottle to find out, but that would mean they have won darnit!


7 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Whisky Impressions is run by Kate Watt. Previously at Springbank and then Glenfarclas, I now design some whisky related stuff and write about it, and anything else that takes my fancy, on this blog.

    Archives

    January 2019
    November 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All
    Adelphi
    Ardnamurchan
    Australia
    Australian Whisky
    Australian Whisky Appreciation Society
    Ballindalloch
    Beer
    Bells
    Books
    Cadenheads
    Campbeltown
    Caperdonich
    Casks
    Christmas
    Christmas Jumpers
    Cider
    Coburns
    Cocktails
    Commissions
    Compass Box
    Competition
    Corks
    Crafts
    Distilleries
    Drinks
    Dufftown
    Dumbarton
    Duty
    Fakes
    France
    French Whisky
    Glasgow
    Glasgow Distillery Company
    Glenfarclas
    Glengyle
    Glenrothes
    Glen Scotia
    G&M
    Hazelburn
    History
    Jim Murray
    Kilkerran
    Lark
    Local Barley
    Loch Lomond Group
    Lost Distilleries
    Luxury
    Macallan
    Map Prints
    NAS
    New Distilleries
    Not A Luxury Whisky
    Pastis
    Photography
    Piping
    Pricing
    Raki
    Ricard
    Spirits
    Springbank
    Stills
    SWA
    Tastings
    Tax
    T-Shirts
    Whipper Snapper
    Whisky
    Whisky Bible 2016
    Whisky Festival
    Whisky Shop Dufftown
    Wine
    Wolfburn

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Privacy Policy