Any Whisky Connoisseurs in our mist

sketchley

Can I throw a bottle of this in to the thread. I love this stuf. Although strickly speaking it's Whiskey not Whisky this one.



http://www.oldripvanwinkle.com/newbs/vw ... endocument

Paul E

The distillary at the top end of Arran at lochranza has some very nice whiskies, very smoooooth

Clank

pbt150 wrote:

Bottling year is irrelevant - ).

Sorry, but thats not correct.

Lets take a typical, say, 12 yr old Single Malt. Single means it comes from one distillery. 12 indicates the age of the youngest whiskey in the blend. Unless the whiskey is a 'single cask', then it will be a blend made from a combination of aged whiskeys from the same distillery. They do this to improve consistancy of the whiskey as like wine, a whiskey made in one year can be quite different from a whiskey, made in the same distillery a year later. The weatehr effects the waters used, the sugars in the malt etc.

So, it is possible from many distilleries to by bottlings from single cask. Each year will have their own character. Due to the individual characteristic nature of single cask (and the fact they're usually a higher proof), they fetch a premium price.

Place a few single cask bottlings of different years from the same distillery side by side and try them. You'll be able to notice the difference.

The story of infrequent distilling is also slighty misguided and the comment about the alphabetical listing of Islays is also b*ll*cks.

Zombie_donkey

Anyone tried Yamazaki single malt from Japan?

I am intrigued but always go for a safer bet when buying.

Lancslad

Sewinman wrote:

My dad worked in the rum industry and was told by a senior whisky man from Diageo that whisky does not improve much beyond 12 years in the cask and that most of the older more expensive whiskys are mainly marketing gimmicks to add some exclusivity to the brand and please foreign buyers who go for that kind of thing.

No idea if that is true though.

I was told this also by an ageing Scotsman who said your paying for the headache beyond 12 years.

Agent57

suzyb wrote:

So if you were looking for a whisky as a birthday gift

If I were buying a whisky as a birthday gift, I'd want to have a good idea of the type of whisky the person liked, regardless of age or year of bottling. For example, I like heavily peated whiskies (most of mine are from Islay), but I'm not so keen on unpeated varieties. I'll happily drink something like Lagavulin, Ardbeg or Laphroaig, but not be keen on The Macallan or Glenfiddich, say.

notsoblue

Question about the "Angels share"; does this have an effect on the flavour of the whiskey? Does the leakage/evaporation happen evenly or are certain compounds more likely to be lost thus increasing the concentration of some of the remainder?

rjsterry

Now I know received wisdom is that once it's bottled, the flavour, et al is 'fixed' but I've just opened an old bottle (labelled in fl. oz. and degrees proof, so must have been bought at least 30 years ago, but can't find a date anywhere) of JW Black Label. Tasted fine, but I felt mighty peculiar afterwards.

pbt150

Clank wrote:

pbt150 wrote:

Bottling year is irrelevant - ).

Sorry, but thats not correct.

Touche! Fair enough, I'm lucky enough to have tasted quite a few single-cask bottles of whisky, and I'd agree with what you said!

The general character of a particular single malt depends on time spent in the barrel, with some small variation between casks from the same distillery. But if I were buying someone a bottle of whisky for their birthday I'd look for one that's been in a barrel for X years, not one that was bottled in the year they were born.

alan_a

In answer to the topic question, according to the BBC I am officially a "Whisky Connoisseur"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14444948

The year of the roasting of the barley is increasingly becoming of more interest to the whisky industry - particularly with heavily peated whiskies.

Years which have good weather for a barley crop and then strong winds at the time of roasting mean that the barley takes on a more smokey aroma thanks to convection drawing more smoke through the malt house and out the chimney. This is particularly the case with Highland Park and Tobermory, although less peated whiskies such as Tulibardine are getting in on the act for marketing purposes.

As mentioned by an earlier poster real anoraks can tell the difference between whiskies pre and post the change of Masterblender / Mastermalter at a distillery.

Also as mentioned the single cask market enjoys the small luxury of segregation of quality by year of malting as well as age in barrel. This market however only makes up a tiny fraction of the overall whisky industry.

So in short... most Single Malt Scotch Whisky (99%) is referenced by age in barrel, some by date of malting and some by date of blending*.

*Note: Single Malts are also blended - ie many casks from the one distillery are blended together.

Blended whisky is many casks from several distilleries are sloshed about with Grain Whisky" to create something enjoyed by the mainstream.

alan_a

allen.coulson wrote:

If you are really interested, the Islay Malts re:

Ardbeg
Bowmore
Bruichlaiddich
Bunnahabhain
Caol Isla
Lagavullin
Laphroig.

You missed out Kilchoman.
http://www.kilchomandistillery.com/

alan_a

Clank wrote:

pbt150 wrote:

Bottling year is irrelevant - ).

Sorry, but thats not correct.

Lets take a typical, say, 12 yr old Single Malt. Single means it comes from one distillery. 12 indicates the age of the youngest whiskey in the blend. Unless the whiskey is a 'single cask', then it will be a blend made from a combination of aged whiskeys from the same distillery. They do this to improve consistancy of the whiskey as like wine, a whiskey made in one year can be quite different from a whiskey, made in the same distillery a year later. The weatehr effects the waters used, the sugars in the malt etc.

So, it is possible from many distilleries to by bottlings from single cask. Each year will have their own character. Due to the individual characteristic nature of single cask (and the fact they're usually a higher proof), they fetch a premium price.

Place a few single cask bottlings of different years from the same distillery side by side and try them. You'll be able to notice the difference.

The story of infrequent distilling is also slighty misguided and the comment about the alphabetical listing of Islays is also b*ll*cks.

What he said.

alan_a

NOte to self, must read entire thread before posting.

Then again, it is 4am and having just got home I must finish this rather delightful Clynelish 21yr old 50% cask strength I have in my glass.

Night night.

Agent57

Sketchley wrote:

Also big fan of Penderyn Welsh Single Malt Whisky

Penderyn's on my list to try - but specifically the peated one.

Clever Pun

mmm whisky

Agent57

allen.coulson wrote:

Ardbeg
Bowmore
Bruichlaiddich
Bunnahabhain
Caol Isla
Lagavullin
Laphroig.

That alphabetical sequence follows the pungency exactly

Dunno about that. I find Ardbeg very pungent; when I opened my first bottle, the immediate scent of TCP was overwhelming.

Agent57

Clever Pun wrote:

mmm whisky

Here's mine at the moment:



Yummy.

richred_uk

and mine - mostly Islays - including the Ride of the Falling Rain jersey from Islay's sportive

Back Row L-R
Laphroaig 15
Ardbeg 10 * 2
Auchtenoshan
Bruichladdich 3 * different Valinchs
Ardbeg Very Young

Front Row L-R

West Highland Way Ben Nevis 15
Talisker 10
Pig's Nose & Sheep Dip Miniatures
Eradour 10 Mini
Laphroaig 10 Cash Strength mini
Laphroiag 10
Dalwhinnie 15

[/img]

alan_a

Agent57 wrote:

allen.coulson wrote:

Ardbeg
Bowmore
Bruichlaiddich
Bunnahabhain
Caol Isla
Lagavullin
Laphroig.

That alphabetical sequence follows the pungency exactly

Dunno about that. I find Ardbeg very pungent; when I opened my first bottle, the immediate scent of TCP was overwhelming.

It is not quite absolute bollox, but bollow never the less.

Islay Malts can be split geographically North and South, with the southern malts of Ardbeg, Laphroaig & Lagavullin being the most pungent. The northern malts are still more salty and heavily peated than mainland whiskies, however they don't have that iodine aftertaste from the southcoast's seaweed.

Stiff_Orange

Alan A wrote:

Is that a bottle of aftershave on the extreme right hand side?

Agent57

Alan's well in the lead so far, I think.

I forgot one of my whiskies when taking the photo:

richred_uk

Agent57 wrote:

Alan's well in the lead so far, I think.

Doesn't that mean he has to invite everyone round to 'even up' the numbers?

Rich

alan_a

Stiff_Orange wrote:

Is that a bottle of aftershave on the extreme right hand side?

Yes, well sort of. It's Eau de Robidou. An excellent whisky that Glenfiddich made, but the SWA will not allow it to be called "Scotch Whisky" since it was made in oval shaped barrels and thus is not "traditional". It's 1 of 551 small atomisers.



Details can be found at http://blog.glenfiddich.com/

As for inviting you round for a dram... if you think my household selection is great you should come to see my Edinburgh Fringe show Whisky Fir Dummies. I have 60 bottles of malt for it. Yum Yum Yum.

SimonAH

Interesting tidbit is that scotch used to be clear and show oils when water was added (a bit like anis does). This wasn't popular with the American export market so now it's filtered to get rid of the oils and coloured brown with caramels.

alan_a

SimonAH wrote:

Interesting tidbit is that scotch used to be clear and show oils when water was added (a bit like anis does). This wasn't popular with the American export market so now it's filtered to get rid of the oils and coloured brown with caramels.

And the people who do this to uisge beatha need a boot in the baws. Non Chill filtered and non caramelised is best.

Clever Pun

I don't think there's a room big enough for JonGinges collection

jonginge

Erm, you are quite correct :oops:

First.Aspect

SuzyB you are completely correct. Does your boss look like this?

suzyb

First Aspect wrote:

SuzyB you are completely correct. Does your boss look like this?

To be fair to him, no. He's an ex-programmer so understands things better than someone else might.

He does however seem to expect us to be perfect, be able to read our clients minds and never forget anything.

sketchley

Agent57 wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

Also big fan of Penderyn Welsh Single Malt Whisky

Penderyn's on my list to try - but specifically the peated one.

Do you know how they get the peat in thier peated whisky? It's done by finishing in old sctoch barrells, there is no peat in the distilling process. When I was there I think they said the barrells were from Laphroaig but I cannot find a reference for that online so I maybe wrong and they may change them anyway.

To me it tasted very similar to Laphroaig and for that reason I was out.

My recommendation from Penderyn is the Sherrywood which is excellent, as for that matter is the more common (sainsbury's and tesco sell it) Maderia.