Alcademics.com

New Booze: 110-Proof Tapatio Tequila

Here are some new spirits launching. The text is taken from these brands' press releases.

Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco Tequila (May 2013)

Carlos Camarena, the iconic distiller of Mexico’s 75-year-old Tequila Tapatio brand has launched a 110-proof Tequila. Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco (55% alc. by vol.) was distilled at Alteña Distillery from 100% estate-grown blue agaves in the Arandas Highlands of Mexico. Under Master Distiller Carlos’ Camerena, the agaves were hand-selected for ripeness and slow-baked for four days. After being crushed, the agave ‘Mosto’ was fermented in small wooden fermenters using their proprietary 75 year-old yeast culture. The ‘Mosto Muerte’ was then double-distilled in small (90-250 gallon) Alambiques Tequilano copper pot stills and aged lightly in stainless.  

Suggested retail for Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco is $48 (1 Liter). It is available in CA, WA, OR, TX, NY, NJ, CT, FL and MO.

Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario

Ron Barceló Celebrates 30 Years Since the Introduction of Ron Barceló Imperial with a Limited-Edition Release of Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario. Each year since Miguel Barceló first created Ron Barceló Imperial in 1980, private reserves of this prestigious ten-year-old blended rum were set aside for two years of additional aging.  Aged in barrels made from selected cuts of white oak, these reserves, some from the Bordeaux house of Château d’Yquem, each with different grades of toasting, were blended to create the limited edition Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario in 2011.

Only 9,000 bottles of the Imperial Premium Blend are bottled annually, and of that 9,000 only 600 are allocated to the United States where this Dominican rum was recently introduced. The Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario is 43% alcohol by volume.Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend retails for $120.00 per 750ml bottle and is currently available for sale in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. For more information or to request an interview, please visit www.ronbarcelo.com 

 

Sia Scotch (June 2013)

SIA Scotch Whisky, a blended whisky distilled in Scotland and matured, blended and bottled by Douglas Laing & Co., Ltd., is heading for US shelves. Created by Scotch Enthusiast, licensed bartender and former Creative Director Carin Luna-Ostaseski, SIA is a blend of Speyside, Highlands and Islay malts, specifically created to appeal to a contemporary palate. The product is initially available in San Francisco.

SIA (43% ABV) is expected to be on shelves beginning in June with a retail price of $44.99 (750ml). SIA is imported by Spirit Imports, Inc. of Sunrise, FL. Named after the Gaelic word for the number six, SIA is the first Scotch to be funded through Kickstarter, the crowd sourcing website that is commonly used to fund start-up projects such as films or tech innovations. For additional information, visit www.SiaScotch.com.

UV Vodka Salty Watermelon and Peach (May 2013)

Phillips Distilling Company (Phillips) today announces two juicy new flavor additions to the UV Vodka portfolio, UV Salty Watermelon and UV Peach. Just in time for summer, the new flavors extend UV Vodka’s award-winning selection to 19 flavors. UV Salty Watermelon is the world’s first salted fruit flavored vodka. The flavor was inspired by memories of eating salted watermelon during hot summer days. Phillips experimented with various amounts of salt with all-natural watermelon flavors until they arrived at the blend of sweet, ripe watermelon and a hint of salt to bring out the flavor.

UV Vodka is distilled four times for premium quality and activated carbon filtered to ensure the highest level of purity and the perfect pH balance. UV Salty Watermelon and UV Peach are available in all bottle sizes with a suggested retail price of $12.99 for a 750mL bottle.

Five Gabriel Boudier Liqueurs

21st Century Spirits, a Los Angeles-based importer and producer of wine and spirits, extends its import portfolio holdings with France's Gabriel Boudier to include five new liqueurs. Four of the five new liqueurs will broaden the Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range from 8 to 12 liqueur flavors with the addition of premium flavors: Caramel, Hibiscus, Darjeeling Tea and Vanilla and Cognac. The fifth Gabriel Boudier introduction is a special dedication to the late French Chef, Bernard Loiseau whose collaboration with Gabriel Boudier to create a unique cherry and chocolate liqueur blend lives on through the Gabriel Boudier Bernard Loiseau Morello Cherries and Chocolate Liqueur bottling, now available to U.S. purchasers nationwide.

The Caramel, Hibiscus, Darjeeling Tea and Vanilla and Cognac flavor additions to the Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range join the original Mixologist Range portfolio, including: Lychee, Apple, Maraschino, Orange, Parfait Amour, Pomegranate, Ginger and Williams Pear.

Suggested retail pricing for a 750 ml bottle of the existing Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range, as well as all five new liqueurs, including Gabriel Boudier Bernard Loiseau Morello Cherries and Chocolate Liqueur is $30 USD.

Malibu Island Spiced Rum (May 2013)

Malibu Island Spiced is Caribbean rum infused with coconut, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. A first for the spiced rum and spirits categories, Malibu Island Spiced takes a lighter approach, using Truvía® all natural sweetener to give you the full flavor you love with fewer calories. With only 70 calories per serving*, this light amber rum is 30% alc/vol (60 proof), and retails at a suggested price of $16.99 for 750 ml.

Reserve Jean de Lillet 2009 (April 30, 2013)

Maison Lillet announces the release of Reserve Jean de Lillet 2009 (SRP $39.99), a limited-edition vintage cuvee. This premium reserve of Lillet is a unique creation blended with the 2009 vintage wine from the Sauternes region of Bordeaux.  Similar to its other varieties, the Jean de Lillet then adds an orange liqueur crafted from sweet orange peels from Spain and bitter oranges from Haiti, a small amount of quinine from Peru is also added to the blend. The aperitif then went through a more extensive aging process - similar to a Bordeaux grand cru - including 12 months in French oak barrels, a third of this time in new oak barrels. Jean de Lillet can be enjoyed immediately but will also improve with age (recommended aging is ten to 15 years).

The concept of assembling vintage cuvees was important to the Lillet brothers and the Maison has kept this age-old winemaking tradition going through the production of Jean de Lillet cuvees, which he started in 1993.  The name Jean de Lillet is a tribute to the Lillet family’s earliest known ancestor who settled in Podensac, France, in 1680.Beginning April 30th

Jean de Lillet will be available for purchase through Astorwines.com as well as select New York and San Francisco retailers.

Bols Yogurt Liqueur (June- August 2013)

The product is made from natural ingredients, with no added colorants, with an ABV of 15%. Made from the highest quality fresh yogurt, Bols Yogurt Liqueur has a unique sweet and sour taste profile, and a natural, smooth flavor making it a perfect, versatile ingredient for mixability. It’s unique in the sense that it doesn’t curd when used with sodas or fresh juices in contrast to other well known cream based liqueurs. It has a very low fat percentage which makes it the perfect addition to current food and drink trends. The suggest retail price for a 750ml bottle is $17.99. Bols Yogurt Liqueur will roll out in Florida by June 1 and in California by July 1 with plan for a national roll out in August 2013. 

Absolut Elyx (April 2013)

Every part of the production of Absolut Elyx, from seed to bottle to distribution, is performed within a 15 mile radius of Ahus in the Skane region.  At the heart of the old Absolut distillery where Elyx is perfected, stands a single column continuous distillation unit made entirely of copper and dates back to 1921.  The copper surfaces inside the column have a catalytic effect on some of the trade compounds in the spirit, removing unwanted impuritities and adding a remarkably smooth texture.

The Absolut Elyx bottle is shaped like a modern decanter with real copper accents.  With a suggested retail price of $49 a bottle for a 1L, Absolut Elyx is being  launched in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.  Select other major metropolitan markets will be added over time as the product is discovered and advocated by consumer and trade influencers. 

Johnnie Walker Double Black (April 2013)

This formerly limited-edition version of Johnnie Walker is joining the permanent line. "The deeper, more intense flavors of Johnnie Walker Double Black derive from the combination of selected aged, naturally smoky whiskies and whiskies matured in deep-charred oak barrels, all carefully blended to bring out the smokiest flavors," commented Master Blender Jim Beveridge. 

Johnnie Walker Double Black is now available nationwide with a suggested retail price of $40. For more information, please visitwww.JohnnieWalker.com/en-us. 

 

High Rise Vodka (Spring 2013)

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. is launching High Rise Vodka in limited markets. 

High Rise uses the finest, softest winter wheat from the Finger Lakes region of New York and the pristine limestone water that flows through the glacial soils of the landscape. The Vodka has been distilled five times to produce an aromatic and creamy Vodka suitable to the era.

High Rise Vodka will be launched this spring in 11 markets in the United States. The 80 proof flagship Vodka will be complemented by two flavors – Cherry and Citrus. Available in three varieties, (50ml, 750 ml, 1.75L), the product will compete in the premium Vodka segment at $12.99 for 750ml and $21.99 for 1.75L. For more details, visit www.highrisevodka.com.

 Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka (April 2013)

Deep Eddy introduces Ruby Red, a refreshing ruby red grapefruit infused vodka made with quality, all-natural ingredients including 100% pure cane sugar and spring water from an aquifer deep in Texas Hill Country. Ruby Red will be available in stores beginning April 2013.Ruby Red is free of artificial coloring and high-fructose corn syrup. Consumers can purchase Ruby Red in four sizes: 50 ml, 750 ml, 1 liter and 1.75 liter.

Ruby Red is available for sale in the following states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arkansas and Washington D.C. More states will be added in the months to come.For more information about Ruby Red and the Deep Eddy portfolio, please visit www.deepeddyvodka.com.

 

Absolut Cilantro (May 2013)

Poised to capitalize on ever-expanding cocktail curiosity, ABSOLUT CILANTRO is a contemporary and vibrant flavor expression that combines the distinctly aromatic essence of cilantro with the zesty notes of ripe, juicy lime.

Like all ABSOLUT VODKA Flavors, ABSOLUT CILANTRO is made with all natural flavors and no sugar added.  Available in May 2013, ABSOLUT CILANTRO (40% ABV) will be offered in 50ml, 750ml and 1L sizes and will retail for a suggested price of $20.99/750ml.

 

 

Avua Cachaca (April 2013)

Later this month Americans will get their first taste of Avuá Cachaça available in two expressions – Prata (unaged) and Amburana (wood aged). The spirit will initially available only in New York. Avuá, like all Cachaças, is presented as a first press product rather than rum which is often distilled from molasses, a byproduct of sugar. Avuá sets itself apart by being produced by a modest family distillery that’s been in operation since 1923 in a small, lush town in a valley four hours north of Rio de Janeiro. Working with their third generation distiller, who happens to be one of the few female distillers in Brazil, they developed a formula composed of spirit aged in a rare Brazilian hardwoods known as Amburana.  For more information about Avuá, please visit www.avuacachaca.com

 

Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland

In my search for information about water sources used for various spirits as part of the Water Project, I came across Uisge Source, a company that bottles waters from different regions in Scotland.

The waters from Speyside, Islay, and the Highlands are meant to be representative of the waters used by distillers in those regions to make scotch; for dilution of drinks in the bourbon-and-branch style.

As I learned in the book Whisky on the Rocks, even distilleries next to each other may have different water sources, so it shouldn't be assumed that all the distilleries in an area use waters just like these in their whisky, but it seems like a good place to start.

The really cool thing about Uisge Source that it's not just water they sourced from these regions; they actually tell you about the chemistry of the water. 

Islay’s Ardilistry Spring produces water with higher natural acidity which is created by filtration through peat.

St Colman’s Well in the Highland region produces a hard water, high in minerals due to filtration through porous and brittle red sandstone and limestone.

The Cairngorms Well in the Speyside region produces a soft water, low in minerals as a result of being filtered through hard rock such as granite.

And they give a chart of each water's properties. I love charts! (Click to make it bigger.)

As you can see from the chart, the Highland water is full of minerals including calcium and magnesium. Islay water is high in potassium, chloride, and sodium, and has a lower (more acidic) pH. Speyside water is low in nearly all minerals and has a slightly higher (more basic) pH than the other waters.

So: How do they taste? Happily, they sent me some to experiment with. 

Uisge Source Taste Test

Speyside: Tastes quite dry. I notice this in distilled waters without mineral content, though at 125 ppm dissolved solids this still has a lot more minerals in it than my tap water. There is a granite taste to the water as well - not a creamy soft minerality but a hard one. 

Highland: I measured the total dissolved solids (TDS) in this one at 225 ppm. It tastes softer in body and sweeter than Speyside. It's also more earthy. 

Islay: At 183 ppm TDS it is halfway in mineral content between the other two, but this water has the most flavor- it's got a pronounced dirt/earthiness to it but I also taste grainy minerality. 

Then the natural test would be to try different whiskies with the different waters, so that's what I did. The results were surprising!

Tasting Uisge Source with Scotch

I tried a 25-year-old Highland single-malt with each water, and a 10 year-old cask-strength Islay with each. I was surprised to find that each whisky tasted best with its regional water! Maybe I just got lucky - I didn't measure quantities down to drops and such, but I really didn't expect these to align.

The Speyside water made both the Islay and Highland whisky taste sweet. The Highland water brought out honey notes from whiskies, but it was totally in synch with the flavor profile of the Highland scotch where it wasn't a perfect fit for the Islay. The Islay water brought out the creme brulee and smoke of the Highland scotch which was good but not the typical flavor profile I associate with it, while it did the same for the Islay scotch to great effect. 

This could all be in my head (and down my throat at this point) but I was surprised at how much these waters with subtle differences brought out pronounced differences in the whisky. Awesome. 

 

Looking to buy Uisge Source? Unfortunately it's not in the US yet, though they tell me they're in talks with an importer and I'll share the news when it's available. They have a list of retailers on the site for UK customers and you may find it in duty-free shops in some airports. 

--

The Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. The research for the project is supported by Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

 

 

Related articles

Announcing the Water Project on Alcademics

The Geology of Scotland and the book Scotch on the Rocks

Making Mineral Water: Starting from Scratch

A Few Whiskey Discoveries

I attended Whiskies of the World in San Francisco this April and made a few discoveries. Here are some notes.

Tasting Highlights:

• Exclusive Malts (and independent bottler new to the US) Littlemill 1988 24 year old was terrific. 
• Mezcalero mezcal batch #7, which will be out soon, uses three different agaves. It is delicious. 
• Gordon and MacPhail Old Puteney 21 Year Old was terrific, and  Old Pulteney's own 21 and 30 year old expressions were a treat as always.
• Samaroli is an Italian independent bottler of both rare rums and scotch whiskies. I tied a Bunnahabhain and a Caol Ila that were both excellent. They brought some rums to sample but someone stole the box! 
• Willett Rye - I've had this before and like it a lot but didn't realize that it's the only rye on the market that is charcoal-filtered in the Tennessee whiskey style. 

Other notes:

Kavalan Single Malt is made in Taiwan and aged in various full-sized casks. They have one aged in an ex-fino sherry cask that I didn't get to try, unfortunately, but I did try another aged in a wine barrel that was really juicy. I also tried a bourbon cask-aged whisky. While it's not the greatest whisky I've tried by a long shot, it is really impressive as t is only four years old but it tastes far superior to most products of its age. Dr. Jim Swan, who helped develop the product, said that they get all the barrel interaction they need after about three years, but then keep it in wood (somehow sealed to have no more angel's share and no more wood interaction) for another year for labeling reasons. I think he said the angel's share was above 10% and despite the hot weather they don't temperature control their warehouses; they just distill it differently to accommodate its fast aging. Fascinating. 

Lost Spirits Distillery is doing some crazy shiz. They are making American single malts in Monterey and peating it up to 110 ppm phenol with Canadian forest peat, and then aging in various wine casks. They taste pretty young but the peat is wild- I'd call it swampy, even. The distiller said, "We get as much hate mail as fan mail." 

Tomatin is a Highland single-malt that made a big impression and ended up being a topic of discussion for a bunch of us. It's tasty scotch on its own, but what impressed us more is that it is very reasonably priced - the 30 year old can be found for $250. This is definitely a brand to watch. 

 

Related articles

New Booze: Highland Park Loki and Knappogue Castle 16-Year Irish Whiskey

The Geology of Scotland and the book Scotch on the Rocks

Announcing the Water Project on Alcademics

Soon Everything Will Taste Like Mezcal

The Geology of Scotland and the book Scotch on the Rocks

In my studies of water in spirits and cocktails, I picked up the book Whisky on the Rocks: Origins of the 'Water of Life' by Stephen and Julie Cribb. The book is about the geography of Scotland and how that influences the water sources for scotch whisky. 

It turns out Scotland's geology is pretty varied between very old (2900 million years) and new (60 million years), with large faults that divide the country into different areas, rift valleys, metamorphosed Dalradian rocks, schists, volcanic islands, and more. I don't know what most of those words mean either.  

Distilleries in Scotland draw their water from streams, rivers, springs, reservoirs, wells, and other sources. Even within a single distilling city like Dufftown, water comes from several different sources. The water used for scotch whisky seems to be just as varied as the whisky produced there.

One of the most interesting and useful passages in the book (to me), comes from an early page.

The primary source of water is rain, but what happens to rainwater before its arrival at the distillery affects its chemistry and thus the uniqueness of the resulting malt whisky. The rain may end up as a stream or river, in a loch or a reservoir, coming from the rock as deep or shallow boreholes, or as a spring high on a hillside. 

If it falls on bare mountains made of crystalline rocks it will flow rapidly downhill as streams. This water has little chance to interact with the underlying rocks and often has a low mineral content. It will be acid and soft. 

On the other hand if the strata are more permeable, or have many joints and fractures, the rain will percolate into and through the rock, dissolving it and increasing the water's mineral content. Limestones and sandstones, for example, yield water rich in carbonates or sulphates; such waters will be neutral or slightly alkaline and hard. 

'Soft water, through peat, over granite' was the traditional and still oft-quoted view of the best water for distilling. Remarkably, out of the 100 or so single malt whiskies, less than 20 use water that fits this description. 

Though the book covers how geography influences the water sources for scotch and the paths it takes to get to the distilleries, it doesn't really get to deep into how that water then influences the distillation and importantly the taste of scotch, noting that it is just one factor along with peat smoke, still shape, and aging that may influence the final product. But of course, that's a big question that I'm researching in my Water Project.

Some facts about water sources for whiskies from the book (keeping in mind it was published in 1998 so it may be out of date):

• Water for Laphroaig is acidic due to quartz mountains and peaty lowlands, but the mineral content in the water is low.
• At Bunnahabhain on the same island, in contrast, spring water is piped from the hills without passing over peat. The spring from which it is sourced is rich in calcium and magnesium so the water contains more minerals.
• Bowmore's water takes a long path to the distillery passing through quartites, limestones, sandstones, and through peat.  
• Tamdhu uses well water beneath the distillery and is the only Speyside whisky using water from the River Spey.

 Those are just a few tidbits from the book, which is only 70 pages but rich with diagrams of the geography of the regions being discussed. It is definitely a geography book rather than a whisky book, and can be a little hard for the novice (me) to parse. That said, I have a feeling that the more I learn about water and its effects on fermentation and distillation, the more I'll refer back to this book. 

--

The Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. The research for the project is supported by Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

Which Distilleries Have Floor Maltings?

As I mentioned in a post about my visit to Laphraoig, only a few scotch whisky distilleries do their own malting. 

Floor malting is the historic technique of preparing barley for fermentation; turning it into malted barley. Most of the 100 distilleries in Scotland purchase malted barley from commercial malting plants, and most (all?) of the distilleries that do floor malting also purchase additional malt from commercial malters.

Read more about floor maltings here.

Today I just read about another scotch whisky distillery re-starting their floor malting, so I thought it would be good to create a list. 

Distilleries that do floor malting are: 

• Laphroaig, Islay
• Bowmore, Islay
• Kilchoman, Islay
• Highland Park, Orkney Islands
• Springbank, Campbelltown
• The Balvenie, Speyside
• Benriach, Elgin, Speyside

As for American and other countries that do floor maltings (for beer or whiskey), that will be a list for another day. 

I Peated in your Scotch: A Trip to Laphroaig

In June I took a short trip to Islay, Scotland to see how Laphroaig single-malt scotch whisky is made. Islay is an island off the coast of Scotland known for its smoky, peaty whiskies.

What Laphroaig does differently from other scotch producers, as you'll read, is:

• Floor maltings
• Separation of malt flavoring (with peat smoke) and malt drying
• An uneven number of pot stills
• Quarter Casks

Floor Malting

Laphroaig is one of six scotch makers that floor malts some of its own barley. Floor malting is the historic technique of preparing barley for fermentation. Most of the 100 distilleries in Scotland purchase malted barley from commercial malting plants, and most (all?) of the distilleries that do floor malting also purchase additional malt from commercial malters.

The other distilleries that malt their own barley are Bowmore and Kilchoman on Islay, Highland Park on Orkney, Springbank in Campbelltown, and The Balvenie in Speyside on the mainland. (Other brands including BenRiach have announced considering it.)

 In floor malting here at Laphroaig, barley is soaked three times at room temperature (simulating spring rains), then spread out over a floor where it will begin to germinate. During four days in the summer (seven in winter), the malt is turned over with rakes to reduce heat build-up and release Carbon Dioxide that builds up in the piles. Then it is dried to halt germination.

Traditionally, the wet barley was dried over the local fuel source, be that peat (thick blocks of muddy decaying vegetation from bogs, on its way to becoming coal), or actual coal in the case of Highland distillers that had access to coal from the railroads. Now that other sources of energy can be used to blow hot air through the barley to dry it, smoke isn't necessary in the flavor of scotch. From commercial maltings, distillers can specify the level of smokiness they want their malt made.

Harvesting Peat

But for distillers with floor maltings who want smoky scotch, that means harvesting the local peat to burn for fuel. We donned Wellington work boots and headed out into the bog.

The peat for Laphroaig is all harvested by hand. The procedure is to first cut off a top layer of grassy soil that hasn't decayed enough yet and place it on the next row over so it will keep decaying. Then peat is cut in long brick-shaped pieces by pushing down into the muddy peat with a special peat cutting tool, then placing it on the surface grass to dry outdoors.

 

 Click through the images below to see me harvesting peat.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 

 

The seaweed and other Islay plant-rich peat harvested here imparts more "peaty" (earthy and medicinal) flavor characteristics to the barley than peat harvested from the mainland (which may be comprised of other vegetation), which imparts more wood smoke flavors.

After the peat dries outdoors (but before it is too dry, as moist peat gives off lots of the desired smoke), they bring it back to the distillery where it is time to use it to dry the wet barley on the floor of the malting house.

I Peated in Your Scotch

Wet peat is moved into the drying room, which sits a floor above a big boxy fireplace like on a steamship. Down below, peat is shoveled into the fire and the smoke rises to the room above to engulf the wet barley with smoke aroma. I took a turn throwing some peat onto the fire so you could be drinking my handywork in ten or so years.

Laphroaig is unique in that first they flavor the barley with smoke for 17 hours, and then after that they pump hotter dry air through it for an additional 19 hours to fully dry the barley. Other floor malting distilleries do the flavoring and drying steps together.

This longer, slower flavoring and drying method changes the flavor profile of the barley, and the finished product - it doesn't just make it smokier. According to Master Distiller John Campbell, when we talk about the phenol profile of a whisky we're talking about 5-7 flavor components. The process of flavoring the barley at Laphroaig particularly brings out 4-ethyl glycol guaiacol and creosole components, present in other whiskies but not to the same extent as in Laphroaig.

The malted barley made at the distillery is mixed with malted barley made just down the road at the Port Ellen maltings, along with malted barley from the mainland as well. Now it's time to ferment and distill.

Fermentation and Distillation

The water source for Laphroaig is a large reservoir a ways from the distillery, uphill. 

The dried, malted barley is then ground up and put through the "mashing" process. Hot water is added to the barley and this inspires the enzymes released through the malting process to break the starches into fermentable sugars.

Next they collect the sugary water and discard the solids, adding yeast to allow the sugar water to ferment over 55 hours into a beer. Then it's ready to be distilled.

At most scotch whisky distilleries, the stills come in pairs. A larger still (wash still) performs the first distillation, and a smaller one (spirit still) paired with it takes on the second distillation.

Here at Laphroaig, things are weird. There are 3 wash stills and 4 spirit stills. The 3 wash stills are all the same size, but there are 3 small spirit stills and 1 big one with twice the capacity of the small ones.

One batch of fermented beer fills up 5 wash stills, so what they do is run 3 wash stills to go into 3 small spirit stills, then 2 more wash still runs to go into the one big spirit still. 

Campbell says that the large and small spirit stills produce different tasting whiskies, but it's because they run the larger spirit still distillation too fast. (They've been doing it for 40 years that way though, so he's not about to change it.) The big still produces heavier, slightly oilier spirit as opposed to the lighter, sweeter, fruitier spirit that comes off the smaller spirit stills. Regardless, they blend all these together before putting it in barrels.

Barrel Aging

The spirit is 136 proof after distillation (68% ABV), but they put it into the barrel at 127 proof, which is common in the industry.

Nearly all Laphroaig is aged in ex-Maker's Mark barrels. On Islay, they have 8 warehouses holding 50,000 casks. As is now the norm in Islay scotches, they also age some of their stock on the mainland. However, Campbell says that he believes the majority of the whisky used in the single-malt Laphroaig (as opposed to stuff sold to other brands for blending) is aged on the island. He says aging on the island imparts earthier, saltier notes to the whisky.

The warehouse we visited is four floors tall and is the largest warehouse they use. Campbell says they get great flavor out of the whisky aged in this warehouse, but less color extraction from the wood as in their other warehouses. (The other warehouses are covered with metal and get hotter than the oceanside warehouses with their thick walls.) But putting together the barrels for the final products is the job of the blender.

 The Range

10 Year - This is 70% of Laphroaig's single-malt sales. Minimum of 10 years aging in ex-bourbon casks.

Quarter Cask - After aging 5-11 years in ex-bourbon barrels, a blend is made and then it is further aged in "quarter casks" for 7 months.

Quarter casks are a quarter the size of a sherry butt, though they are made out of ex-bourbon barrels. They hold 30 gallons as opposed to 55 for bourbon barrels. These smaller casks impart more wood influence into the spirit in a smaller amount of time.

Triple Wood - This starts with the Quarter Cask liquid, then it is aged for an additional 2 years in ex-oloroso sherry casks.

I made the point that since quarter casks are actually made out of ex-bourbon casks, this is technically only two woods, not three. Lies! Maybe they should have called it triple barrel instead...

PX - This is the same product as the Triple Wood (that is actually double wood), except for those additional 2 years it is aged in ex-Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry barrels instead of oloroso. This bottling is only available at duty-free.

18 Year Old - A minimum of 18 years in ex-bourbon barrels.

Cask Strength - This is the 10 Year Old at cask strength. Previously this was a blended product so that each bottle tasted the same (called Original Cask Strength), but now they release this in batches, so it should be a little different with every batch.

A Beautiful Day on Islay

In tomorrow's post I'll share technical details about how Laphroaig single-malt scotch whisky is made, but how about today we just look at some pretty pictures of Islay, Scotland?

Most of these were taken in Port Ellen, not far from the Laphroaig distillery. 

Port Ellen Hotel, Where I Stayed

The big blue building is a grain silo for the Port Ellen maltings

Fettercairn Distillery Visit- Single Malt Scotch Whisky Distillery Tour

Last week I visited the Isle of Jura, The Dalmore, and Fettercairn distilleries in Scotland. These brands are all owned by White & Mackay. This post is about visiting the Fettercairn distillery. 

(Fettercairn marked with red pin. Map made with Google Maps)

From The Dalmore distillery we went on yet another gorgeous drive over two mountain ranges to reach Fettercairn, a distillery named after the town where it is located. As you can see on the map below, after you come down from the mountains where much of the vegetation is heather (brown at this time of year) like low scrub bushes, you hit the eastern farmlands with rich soils and plenty of water coming off the hills.  

The Fettercairn distillery is about a five-minute walk from the center of Fettercairn with its one pub and stone arch commemorating a pit stop from Queen Victoria. It is surrounded by fields and there are cattle grazing across from the distillery. 

The distillery is full of much original equipment from 1824 with a few technological improvements. They no longer do floor maltings (I think only five or six distilleries still do) but otherwise things look pretty old-fashioned here. 

(Fettercairn Distillery. Cows in foreground.)

The mash tun is an old copper-topped one with mechanically-driven (see below) stirrers inside. The drainage at the bottom of these older mash tuns is different from newer models, so to compensate the barley must be ground to a courser level. 

(Above: Copper-topped mash tun. Below: Inside the mash tun.)

The distillery also has wooden washbacks where fermentation happens. Most wooden washbacks I've seen are made from Doug Fir pine from Oregon. 

(Wooden washback)

Unlike at The Dalmore distillery that uses the brown-colored peat-rich river water, Fettercairn uses water from an underground spring for mashing, fermentation, and reducing to barrel proof. It is crystal clear and rich with minerals- you can taste a sort of metallic-granite flavor and it is very drying in the mouth, almost a tannic feeling. 

(Stills at Fettercairn)

Fettercairn has two pairs of stills and the still for the second distillation (the "spirit still") has a pretty unique feature. 

On yesterday's post about The Dalmore I noted that the still has a reflux box (don't know the technical name for it) in which cold water runs around the top of the neck of the still to encourage only the heavy flavor molecules to cross over. 

At Fettercairn they do this  in a different way: during the part of the distillation when they're getting the heart of the spirit (the part that will actually be put in barrels rather than recycled), cold water runs down the outside of the neck of the still.  I've never seen anything like this on a still before. 

It's hard to capture in pictures, so I took this short video. I think this is supercool, but I'm a nerd. 

After the whisky is distilled and put into barrels it is stored in traditional dunnage warehouses- old, earthen floor warehouses in which barrels are stacked no more than three-high. There are thick walls and in this case a slate roof. The walls are super moldy and reminded me a lot of the aging warehouses in Cognac. 

In these dunnage warehouses (about 12 of them for Fettercairn, all local), there is not a great deal of temperature difference between the top and bottom row. This is quite different from a racked warehouse (think of the tall bourbon warehouses), in which casks are stacked several stories high and temperature, evaporation, and rate of aging vary greatly in different parts of the warehouse. 

Now for the bad news: Fettercairn is not available in the US. Even in Scotland its pretty rare to find it as a single-malt. They released a new bottling called Fior that's really tasty and they can't keep it on the shelves. They also sell some 30-year-old and 40-year-old expressions but who can afford such things? 

 

We tasted several barrel samples and they were really wild- a 2004 ex-bourbon had a salty finish and a bourbon grain taste. A 1997 sherry refill cask sample tasted fruity-savory with flavors of sundried tomato and cranberry. The 1974 and 1973 ex-American oak hogsheads were insane floral explosions of lilac, jasmine, rose, and other candied flower flavors. 

I assume that most all Fettercairn goes into blends, as most whisky goes toward blends even if it is from a notable single-malt. I do wish they sold this single-malt in the states because:

1. It tastes good.

2. Unicorns!