hungary - For Scotch Lovers - Whisky For The Rest Of Us

Eco-whisky or what? Eco-whisky or what?

From: Daavid
Description:

What do you think about some of the new initiatives introduced by The Macallan team earlier this year?
First they started a unique partnership with the French crystal company Lalique. High-priced whisky in a fancy crystal decanter. Although you get some special whisky, but you pay the price for the concept and the pack, but not for the whisky.
Then they launched The Macallan Estate Oak, the first ever eco-whisky. For each bottle of whisky sold, there will be an oak tree planted at the Macallan estate to help the environment. Is it a relevant message for you? Would you buy a bottle of whisky to help the environment?
Why I am writing all these? Because I'm working in the whisky industry dealing with marketing, brand building, brand communication, but these kind of new releases are a wee bit too much "marketing ideas" for me.
What do you think?
Blog post
2 years ago
Views: 282

Ever heard of a Cognac or Toka Ever heard of a Cognac or Tokaji Cask Finish?

From: Daavid
Description:

Traditionally, Scotch whisky was matured either in Bourbon casks or Sherry casks. Couple of decades ago, some marketing guru might have advised to leading Single Malt distilleries to use Bourbon casks for the first period of the maturation, then Sherry casks for the last couple of years … then label the whisky as Sherry Cask Finish. To be honest, I don’t know who was the very first to play this card, but did it right. Since then distilleries marketed several variations of cask finish whiskies: Port wood finish, Madeira wood finish, Burgundy wood finish. Though, I want to highlight two variations: one, which is not yet available, and another one which is relatively new, unique and un-known yet.

Have you ever tasted a Cognac Cask Finish whisky? No? No wonder, because Cognac is hardly available for cask finishes. The reason is simple. Cognac itself is a trademark. Therefore Cognac producers do not intend to let anyone else to use and place the word ’Cognac’ on any bottle of spirits, except real Cognac from the French region of Cognac. So, even if any of the Scottish distilleries tried to finish its Scotch Malt whisky in ex-Cognac casks, they need to be tricky to be allowed to place the word "Cognac" onto their whisky label. Isle of Arran does many variations of cask finish whiskies. The way they do it is that they set a deal with Hardy Cognac, USA.

Have you ever tasted a Tokaji Cask Finish whisky? No? And have you ever tasted Tokaji wine? This is a special late harvest wine from the North-Eastern region of Hungary, called Tokaj. „Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum” as we say it in Hungary, which means: The wine of Kings, the King of the wines. And it really is! There are even 3 distilleries which found it a good idea to put there Single Malt Scotch whiskies into ex-Tokaji wine casks for a couple of years: Isle of Arran, Benromach, Edradour. I heard once from Edradour that after one and a half year they had to take the whisky out of the Tokaji barrels as the wine itself is so characteristic and had so much influence in such a short time, that ageing longer in Tokaji wine casks might have ruined the whisky. As the Tokaji wine itself is very sweet, a wee bit spicy, but full of aromas of sundried fruits, the casks transfers these aromas into the whisky, too. So grab a bottle of a Tokaji Cask Finish next time you are in a whisky store, and taste it!
Blog post
2 years ago
Views: 580
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Where the sherry comes from in Where the sherry comes from in a Sherry Cask Finish?

From: Daavid
Description:

The answer seems to be easy. From the barrel, of course. But how?

Once I was in Cognac, just to check out the heritage and tradition of the other noble spirit I like. I was a little bit surprised when those French master distillers tried to convince me that the taste of sherry in any whisky doesn't come from the wood of the barrel, but from the barrel itself. Their explanation was that no barrels can be emptied completely. So, according to them, there are always some left-over from the previously aged spirit. The Scots ship the sherry casks to Scotland, re-fill the barrels with their whisky not even recognizing that it will mix with the some litres of sherry left on the bottom of the barrels. A sherry butt is around 500 litres. 5 liter of left-over sherry is 1%, which would be enough to give some sherry taste to any whisky.

WELL, IT IS NOT TRUE!!!

It is well-known among whisky drinkers that the barrels are shipped disassembled. Especially, when we are speaking about Scots, who like to save on everything. Then why they would waste money on shipping less casks when they can ship 3-4 times more. So, they disassemble the casks in Jerez, then their cooperages (e.g. Speyside Cooperage) use the staves to rebuild the casks. It is so easy. Then where the taste comes from. From the staves. When any alcoholic drink ageing in a barrel it reacts with the surrounding air through the woodstaves of the barrel. Namely, through the pores of the wood. I have seen couple of times staves of bourbon barrels after 3-4 years of ageing whisky inside. There was a clear line on the side of the disassembled staves showing how deep the bourbon whiskey got into the wood. When it is shipped to Scotland, the taste and aroma of the bourbon whiskey is still in there. When Scotch whisky starts to mature in the same barrel (ex-bourbon, ex-sherry barrel), it also react with the surrounding air through the pores of the wood. But this time it gets not only the taste of the wood and the air outside, but the bourbon/sherry stored in the woodstaves.

It might be that the Cognac masters doesn't know the above mentioned phenomenon, as they use only new-made casks (from Limousine oaks, etc). Or they think they can convert some whisky drinkers to be cognac drinkers. Or they were simply kidding, and I was the one who took their joke too seriously.
Blog post
2 years ago
Views: 412