Tag: Malt

Quarantine Bottle Kill #5: Longrow Red 11 Year Cabernet Sauvignon Cask

Just because we’re in quarantine doesn’t mean that there can’t be a theme. Aside from sparking joy by eliminating bottles from the booze cart that is. So next up on the quarantine bottle list is the cousin to the last, the Longrow 11 Year Red: Cabernet Sauvignon Cask.

For all single malts produced in Scotland the brand must be identified with the distillery. Hence the Macallan whiskey being made at the Macallan distillery, the Jura at Jura, Laphroaig at Laphroaig, and so on. This seems intuitive yet it’s absolutely not how things are done here in the US. While there are a few eponymous distilleries most of them produce dozens of other brands as well. For example, Jim Beam not only produces Jim Beam but Bookers, Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, Old Overholt, and the many variations there of. 

This makes Longrow rather unique as it’s brand but not a distillery. Part of the reason this is allowed under Scottish law is that the brand is intrinsically understood to be produced at Springbank Distillery and the name of the distillery appears on every bottle. Larged embossed letters proudly proclaim “Springbank” above every label. But also, the style of Longrow is drastically different than its cousin allowing for a true separation and not just a label change on the same liquid.

Longrow, unlike Springbank, is heavily peated. There is actually a scientific way to measure the “peatiness” of a Scotch. It’s called Parts Per Million, or PPM, and is used to determine the phenol level after kilning but before distillation. Essentially the longer the malted barley is exposed to the peat fire during kilning the higher the peat and PPM. Longrow clocks in at 50 PPM which means it’s technically even peatier than the notorious peat bomb, Laphroaig which clocks in at 40 PPM.

So, here is a heavily peated Campbeltown Single Malt with less than a hundred casks produced every year at a non eponymous distillery. If that’s not enough to peak your interest then the Cabernet Sauvignon Cask will. Every Longrow Red release spends some of its formative years in a red wine cask, similar to the recently emptied Springbank Burgundy. For this release it spent the first seven years in ex-Bourbon barrels and the last four in a Cabernet Sauvignon cask.

To cap it all off the Red is bottled at Cask Strength clocking in at a whopping 104 proof meaning none of those big flavors are lost.

NOSE: Assertive smoke, raspberry, cherry,
PALETE: Leather, sea salt, smoke, darker fruit, blackberry, a touch of sweetness and a strong tannic backbone
FINISH: Long and dry yet juicy. Reminiscent of sea air with those red fruits returning.

This is a complex little dram. There’s a beautiful salinity that provides the throughline for Longrow while the tannin and the fruit lent from the Cabernet Sauvignon cask shines through at almost every level without being overwhelming. Surprisingly, I actually enjoy this one with a little water in it. The high proof gets in the way of some of the more delicate flavors that I really enjoyed in the Springbank Burgundy that are also present here.

All in all, this bottle actually feels like a perfect quarantine metaphor: subtle yet aggressive, complex yet needing a bit of hydration, and packing a hell of a punch.

Whiskey Wednesday: Hitting Johnnie Green’s Stride

Johnnie Walker is a striding behemoth, straddling the world as the number one selling Scotch whisky brand. It’s so popular that “What makes Johnnie Walker Blue the best?” is a Google search autocomplete. It’s so popular that due to knockoffs and literal bootlegs there are more bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label sold in India every year than are actually produced for the entire world.

            With this level of popularity the level of disdain and outright backlash for Johnnie Walker that abounds is almost inevitable. Something so popular could never actually be good. Yet, amongst its vast palette of labels there abides a quality and constancy that’s earned its place on back bars across the globe. It also contains one of my all time favorite colors and bottles: Green.

            Johnnie Walker, the Scotch Whisky, began its long walk in the 1819 when the father of John Walker, the actual Scotsman, died. The family sold their farm and invested in a grocery in Kilmarnock, Scotland in 1820. Grocery stores were a different breed in the 1800’s and many grocers would make their own house blends of whisky. This became much more prominent after the Excise Act of 1823 deregulated many of the laws on the distillation of whisky and more importantly greatly reduced the taxes on distilling and selling. In short order the teetotaling John Walker was selling his own blended malt whisky called Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky. John passed away in 1857 leaving the company to his son Alexander Walker who would usher in the beginnings of the company’s global dominance.

This rise in popularity began with another act completely outside of Alexander’s control, the Spirit Act of 1860. For the first time it was now legal to blend malt and grain whiskies together, thus creating the blended whisky style that is the core of Johnnie Walker, as well as the vast majority of worldwide Scotch sales.

Alexander also took advantage of the newly arrived railroad to make connections with shipping captains to create a larger distribution network. This expanded shipping reach combined with a more approachable, lighter style of Scotch whisky literally made inroads with new drinkers.

            The increase in global shipping also led to the development of the iconic square bottle in 1860. The square shape allowed more bottles to fit in the standard shipping containers as well as greatly reduced breakage during transit. Alexander was also responsible for tilting the label at its jaunty angle across the bottle allowing for larger print as well as making the bottle more recognizable from a distance.

            It was the Third Generation of Walkers that added the final touch with a rebranding in 1909 that first saw the “Striding Man” added to the labels. They also had the companies three blended whiskies officially renamed to White Label, Red Label, and Black Label. The White Label was dropped during World War I but the Red and Black remain the core of Johnnie Walker to this day.

            With demand for Johnnie Walker Scotch spread across 120 countries the company began purchasing single malt distilleries to ensure  consistent supply and blends.  Beginning with Cardhu in 1893, they followed it up with the Coleburn Distillery, The Clynish Distillery and Talisker, before capping it off with the legendary Mortlach Distillery in 1923. Then in 1925 the company joined Distiller’s Company, which was purchased by Guinness in 1986, which then merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to form Diageo, the largest liquor conglomerate in the world. 1997 is also an important year because it marks the reintroduction of Blended Malt Whisky to the Johnnie line up. Originally called Johnnie Walker Pure Malt my favorite bottle received its chromatic designation as Green Label in 2004.

            In a lot of ways the Green Label is a return to that very first John Walker blend. Being a blended malt it is comprised of completely single malt whiskies, which means none of the grain whisky that Alexander introduced and the helped spread the brand across the globe. Diageo is vague on the specific details, listing it as a blend of malts from the Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Scottish Isle malts which is essentially saying it’s made up of Scotch from Scotland. But digging deeper you can find the names Cragganmore, Linkwood, Caol Ila and Talisker as the primary malts. It also carries a 15 year age statement, meaning the minimum age of every malt in the blend is at least 15 years old, making it one of the oldest constantly available Johnnie Walker blends.

            In a lot of ways this blend is at the root of Johnnie Walker’s history which is why it’s so surprising to me that it’s always felt like the redheaded stepchild of the family. It was “discontinued” in the Western markets around 2012 with plans to focus the brand in Asia. A massive shift in Chinese regulations brought the brand back globally in 2016. Yet it is still often passed over, ironically, because it isn’t as ubiquitous as the Black and Blue.

            Or maybe it’s a victim of Johnnie’s success. The sun never sets on the empire of Johnnie Walker yet it is an empire built on that addition of grain whisky to its single malt base. It’s a lighter style with more mellow flavor and the Green is rich and almost overly opulent in comparison. Someone who enjoys Black label might not find the Green to be their cup of tea. On the flip side the type of drinker that would truly love an aged-stated, blended malt is probably also the kind to turn up their noses at the mere mention of Johnnie’s name.

            Or maybe it’s that people still don’t truly understand what a blended malt is. It’s a misunderstood style just like Green Label is a misunderstood bottle. But the fact that it is so misunderstood and overlooked just makes it all the more endearing to me. I’ll gladly quaff a dram when I can find it.

NOSE: A light touch of seaside smoke, vanilla, dry oak and baking spices

PALETTE: Decadent and rich. Raisins, dried plums with a touch of that seaside air and a whiff of sherry. Slightly nutty, with a bright mid palette.

FINISH: A relatively quick, clean finish that leaves a lighter impression that the rest of the experience. It ends with lingering oaky sweetness mixed with a hint of smoke.

Whiskey Wednesday: Baller American Single Malt

1 Comment

It’s a distinctly American thing to look at a creation of another group or country and say, “Yeah, I can do that.” We’re big fans of adopting ideas from others, filtering through our own cultural lens, and then exporting those back to the rest of the world. The cocktail is just that, and even our quintessentially American Bourbon whiskey has its roots in immigrant traditions being adapted to our local grain sources.

And it’s hard to scream about cultural appropriation of Japanese Whisky when Masataka Taketsuru lifted the blueprint straight from Scotch makers, even going so far as to be told he was to dogmatic about doing things “the Scottish way.’ But adapting and borrowing is exactly what St. George is doing with their Baller Single Malt Whiskey. And they’re totally aware of it. Distiller Lance Winters honestly describes the Baller as “a California take on the Japanese spin on Scotch whisky.” A California take on old world traditions is kind of the St. George trademark.

Jorg Rupf founded St. George Spirits as an eau de vie distillery in 1982 and in the 35 years since then has developed a massive reputation for quality and experimentation. download-1.jpgAlthough the eau de vies are still a major part of the distillery, the portfolio has expanded to include such wide sprawling products as a California Agricole Rum, an Absinthe Verte (which became the first commercially available American Absinthe after the lifting of the 1912 ban), as well as numerous gins and the Hangar One vodkas which were sold to Proximo in 2010.  St. George first entered the whiskey game in 1996 when Jorg hired Lance Winters, a former nuclear scientist and brewer, for a one-month trial. Twenty years later Lance is still experimenting and Jorg is delightfully retired.

The following year, Jorg and Lance began distilling Single Malt Whiskey which had its first release in 2000. Back then no one knew would to do with a Scotch-style American made whiskey. Fast forward 17 years to Lot 16 of the Single Malt and drinkers are almost as confused as to what to do with an American Single Malt but the tide seems to be turning.

Distilleries around the country formed the American Single Malt Commission in 2016 with the goal to “establish, promote, and protect the category of American Single download.jpgMalt Whiskey.” Technically, according to the American government there is no legal definition of what constitutes an ”American Single Malt.” However, this lack of consensus didn’t stop drink giant Remy Cointreau from purchasing the American Malt makers at Westland Distillery in December of 2016. Whether that speaks to a growing awareness of the category, or to an international audience more familiar and accepting of products labeled “Single Malt” remains to be seen.

The uncertainty also hasn’t stopped the whiskey from winning awards either. Both the Westland Malts and the St. George Malt are some of most awarded American Whiskies, with the St. George Malt even appearing in 1001 Whiskies You Must Taste Before You Die as what “might just be the best U.S. single malt available today.” But again, with the category being what it is that’s very nebulous praise.

People are clearly drinking it, and even reveling in the experimentation that this grey category has. And the St. George Baller is a prime example of this experimentation.

Distilled from 100% American barley and distilled on the eau de vie pot stills it is then aged for 3-4 years in ex-Bourbon and French oak wine casks. The whiskey is then filtered through maple charcoal and finished in casks used to aged St. George’s house made umeshu. Umeshu is a Japanese style of plum liqueur, and St. George being St. George they make their own in house entirely from California grown ume. About 1,600 bottles were released in 2016 with about the same on track for a 2017 release. It’s California identity clearly shines through, especially with it being a California only release. It’s certainly intellectually interesting.

The whiskey itself is bottled at 94 proof. The plum is incredibly noticeable on the nose with a touch of white pepper leading into a crisp, sharp taste on the palette with a massive dose of white pepper and spice before finishing with a fruitiness and the expected chocolaty, malt sweetness. Japanese whisky this ain’t. It’s more aggressive and while it’s certainly layered the edges are sharp and noticeable. It does really open up with the addition of water, which is what its makers had in mind. They designed this with whiskey highballs in mind, hence the name baller, which is yet another thing they have in common with their Japanese inspiration.

In the end, I think its label, which features the legend of St. George reimagined as a samurai based on an original watercolor made to emulate a woodcut style, best sums up this whiskey. It is an old tradition reimagined through multiple cultural lenses, that is artistically appealing but weather it’s a style that bears fruit is yet to be seen.

Whiskey Wednesday: Ichiro’s Global Plan

If the Yamazaki and Suntory represent the old school powers that be in Japanese Whisky, than the Chichibu and Ichiro Akuto represent the new guard.

The Chichibu Distillery is the brainchild of Ichiro Akuto and began operations in February of 2008. It sits just outside of Chichibu City about 100km north-west of Tokyo. And while the distillery is certainly a newcomer to the Japanese whisky scene Ichiro Akuto is anything but.

$.jpgWhere most of the master blenders and distillers in the Japanese whisky world are rather unassuming and reserved, every interview and Google search for Ichiro is required to use the word ‘rock star’ to describe him. The Akuto family had been making sake in Chichibu since 1626 and transitioned into the sochu and whisky world in 1941 when Ichiro’s grandfather opened the Hanyu distillery. The distillery ended up enjoying considerable success during Japan’s postwar whisky boom.

But as so many of these stories go the 90’s were incredibly unkind to brown spirits and the Hanyu distillery closed in 2000. With the distillery now closed and so little of the produced whisky being sold some hyper aged, delicious, and eventually legendary whisky was about to be bottled.

With  Hanyu whisky now a nonrenewable resource Ichiro began releasing the“Playing Card” series in 2005 with the release of the “King of Diamonds.” ichiros-malt-cards.jpgNearly 10 years later there was a complete deck of 52 “Cards” complete with two Jokers. According to interviews Ichiro never meant to release a complete deck. The idea was to originally release four single casks and working with a friend of his, who was also a designer, they struck upon the idea that playing cards had four suits, and so a legend was born.(A legend that sold as a complete set at auction in 2015 for $400,000.) Not as impressive as the individual bottle price of the Yamazaki 50 but still amazing for a collection of whisky that was so unwanted a mere 15 before the sale that the distillery that produced it had shuttered its doors.

The quality and care that went into these bottlings was evident but the supply was clearly limited. So, Ichiro took the funds from those early Playing Card releases and established the new Chichibu Distillery to rebuild his stock. And again he dove into tradition to establish his style. The staff routinely flies to Scotland to learn skills like floor malting, which they’re now doing onsite at Chichibu. They’re also doing their own cooperage on site. Once a year, Ichiro would take his staff to learn from one of two independent coopers in Japan. When the 86 year old cooper, who had no successor, decided to close the cooperage Ichiro purchased all of the machinery and set it up on site at Chichibu. But none of this would mean anything if the whisky was lacking and the bar was certainly set high with the Playing Card series.

food_liquiddiet4.jpgThe first Chichibu whisky debuted in 2011, a mere three years after the distillery started operation. Adding to his ‘Whisky Rock God’ persona every bottle that rolls out of Chichibu is labeled as an “Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu” with a sub name describing the release. This first release is appropriately dubbed, “The First”, and the whisky was aged in a combination of ex-Bourbon and Japanese Mizunara oak. Only 2,040 bottles were made available and it cemented Ichiro, and Chichibu, as a major player not just in the history of Japanese Whisky but also in its future. I remember drinking this whisky and being blown away by the delicacy and elegance it presented at a mere three years and at 118 proof. There were nectarines, vanilla, a touch of cinnamon as well as an earthiness, and green apple that fed into the maltiness.

From there Ichiro has moved on to more, I wouldn’t say standard, but more consistent releases. The flagships being “The Peated” utilizing, you guessed it, peated malt, then “The Floor Malting” making use of the afore mentioned on site floor malting, and finally the “On The Way” which is a blend of Chichibu Malts of various years that is ‘on the way’ to Ichiro’s goal of being able to consistently release a 5 year old malt. Which is already being replaced by his goal of being able to produce at 10 and 20 year old malt.

The Ichiro’s Malts show remarkable variety for such a young distillery but they do have a few things in common: a large price tag and limited availability. When you’re looking to introduce people to your brand and expand your clientele few things are larger roadblocks that price and availability. So what’s a young, hip distillery to do to expand stock?

Traditionally malt makers turn to blended whiskies. A small percentage of single malt whiskies blended with grain whisky, light column still whisky made of whatever grain is cheapest. It produces a lighter style whisky and while the Whisky Drinking Elite will turn their noses up at blended whisky this style still rules the Whisky Drinking World. But Ichiro’s Chichibu decided to go another route.

In an effort to produce what he calls, ‘an all world whisky’ Ichiro has built a whisky with a base of Chichibu Malt whisky blended with selections of whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and America. All of these world whiskies styles are aged in their country of origin for 3-5 years before receiving an additional 1-3 years of aging on site at Chichibu.

The exact proportions and original distilleries for these other whiskies are kept under wraps but the result is an incredibly intriguing bottle, and not just intellectually speaking.

The nose has a surprising amount of citrus with apricot, meyer lemon, and a touch of 20170801_150840-02-01.jpegorange weaving through a light sweetness which leads into a large roasted nut, vanilla, white pepper feel, then a touch of tobacco and gingerbread on the tongue that leaves dried tropical fruit and vanilla as it disappears into a medium length finish.

This is the kind of innovation that intrigues me. It approaches an old problem in a new way and manages to produce something that I truly have not encountered before. For something that sounds like it could so easily devolve into a massively muddled mess it manages to hold on to that elegance and refinement that Ichiro’s bottles have become known for. And it’s affordable… by Chichibu standards at least. With a retail price of about $100 I can’t quit say it’s solved the approach-ability in terms of price. But on the flip side compared to many Compass Box releases it’s practically a steal.

In the end Ichiro Akuto and Chichibu represent a new paradigm in the whisky world. Drawing from tradition and past experience to produce something incredibly modern and specific while, hopefully, building towards the future. I just hope that all this innovation and quality eventually allows prices on many of these future whiskies to come back down. So that whiskey world doesn’t become the domain and hobby of just a select few but allows anyone who’s interested to dip their tongue into something more unusual without having to worry about selling their car to afford a bottle.

Whiskey Wednesday: The Experiential Exceptionals

I’m told my generation, (I refuse to say ‘Millennial’) values experience over material possessions. That a memory formed, or an adventure had is more important than the shiny new car. My intense desire for a Tesla would be my argument to that hypothesis but this experiential mentality is appealing and you can see it leaking into almost everything, including booze. There is definitely a trend towards one off releases and in the scotch world more small producers are creating blends not with the idea of creating decades long consistency but of constantly evolving smaller bottlings, aiming for consistent quality if not consistent flavor.

In the scotch world more small producers are creating blends not with the idea of creating decades long consistency but of constantly evolving smaller bottlings, aiming for consistent quality not consistent flavor.

Don Sutcliffe, of Sutcliffe and Sons, along with Willie Phillips, the former managing director of The Macallan, created The Exceptional Whiskies with this experiential philosophy at the forefront of mind. They say it outright. They’re not looking to create year-in, year-out consistency. They want each edition to be ‘individual’, ‘distinct’ and ‘memorable’. Since 2013 they’ve released 2 editions of the blended grain and their blended malt, and now they’ve got the first edition of their own blended scotch to add to the line up.

It follows in the same philosophical vein and draws on decades of experience and relationships. It takes grain whiskies from North British, Strathclyde and a 33 year old Cameron Bridge and blends them with single malts from seemingly all of Speyside including: Glenfarclas, Ben Nevis, Balvenie, Kininvie, Glen ddich, Alt- a’Bhainne, Auchroisk, Glenallachie,Westport, Speyside and a splash of 30 year old Macallan. Then all of that is finished in first fill Olorosso Sherry barrels. The result is fruity, rich, very light up front, with a honeycomb sweetness and a definite herbal nose.
So what’s the result? It’s good whisky. But is it any more than that?

Exceptional.jpgThe cynic in me wants to say that the whole ‘unique experience’ is marketing talk for ‘we can’t get the ingredients to make this anymore.’ That it’s just another way to cash in on the whiskey boom. But looking at how long Don and Willie have been doing this it looks more like to men tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. It has the feel of wanting to find something new, to experience and share it. So what does the millennial in me say? That it’s not a generational thing. That it’s just a human thing.