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Aberlour: Who's afraid of the big sherry monster?

By Miguel at 2011 Mar,19 in Featured , Aberlour

Living on the shadows of Macallan, Aberlour is one of the best sherry whiskies that are still affordable for you and me

Aberlour is located on Aberlour Town, Speyside, Scotland at the crossing of rivers Lour and Spey near Ben Rinnes.
Aberlour is gaelic for ‘the mouth of the babbling brook’ which probably refers to Saint Drostan’s well, the local spring depicted on the label of all Aberlour whisky.

History

The distillery was founded in 1826 by James Gordon and Peter Weir. The original distillery was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt in 1879 by James Fleming.
In 1892 the distillery was bought by Robert Thorne and sons who rebuilt the distillery and expanded it in 1898 after a second fire.
In 1921 Aberlour was sold to WW Holt and Sons Ltd and purchased from them by S. Campbell in 1945, who expanded the distillery.

In 1962 the floor maltings at the distillery were closed. And eleven years later the distillery was renovated again to add two more stills making 4 in total.
In 1975 Campbell distillers was taken over by Pernod Ricard.

Style

Aberlour whiskies usually have a very high proportion of sherry cask whisky on its vattings, around 25-50%, making it a serious competitor for Macallan.

Some bottles of Aberlour from my collection

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Made in Japan: Rising sun whisky

By Miguel at 2011 Mar,16 in News , Featured , Yoichi , Nikka , Suntory , Yamazaki , Chichibu , Hanyu , Miyagikyo

Japan Flag

Japan started creating whisky just around 1870 but since then they have produced some of the best single malts whiskies. The secret? Extreme care for details

Help Japan! Please donate to your local branch of the Red Cross

Japanese whisky was first commercialized by Yamazaki in 1924. At first Japanese struggle to create the most similar whisky possible to Scottish whisky but they have now discovered that their own style, similar to Speyside whiskies, of whisky is incredible good.

Suntory and Nikka

Japan whisky is dominated by two giant brands: Nikka and Suntory.

Suntory

Shinjiro Torii was a pharmaceutical wholesaler and founder of Kotobukiya. He imported western liquor and created a brand called Akadana Port Wine which made him a successful merchant.
He embarked in a new venture: making Japanese whisky for japanese people. Despite the opposition of the company executives, Torii decided to build the first distillery in Yamazaki, a suburb of Kyoto, an area famous for its waters.

Torii hided Masataka Taketsuru as distillery executive. Taketsuru had been studying the art of distilling whisky in Scotland and brought this knowledge back to Japan. He played a central role in helping Torii establish Yamazaki.

In 1929, Suntory introduced Suntory Shirofuda (Japanese for “white label”), Japan’s first genuine domestically produced whisky. Kakubin (“square bottle”), a premium Japanese whisky, was born in 1937.

With the introduction of Hakushu in 1973, Suntory developed an several varieties of malt whiskies and brought to market such products as Yamazaki single malt whisky, Hakushu and Hibiki blended whisky.

Nikka

In 1934 Taketsuru left Yamazaki to create his own company: Dainippon Kaju which would later change its name to Nikka. He decided to establish the Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido.

Yoichi produces rich, peaty and masculine malt. The whisky gets its distinct aroma and body from direct heating distillation, in which the pot stills are heated with finely powdered natural coal -the traditional method that is hardly ever used today, even in Scotland.

The Miyagikyo Distillery is also in northern Japan, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Honshu. Traveling in the area one day, Masataka came upon this site completely enclosed by mountains and sandwiched between two rivers. He immediately knew that this was the perfect site for whisky distilling. Sendai’s fresh water, suitable humidity and crisp air produce soft and mild malt.

Most relevant distilleries

There are nowdays ten whisky distilleries in Japan, most relevant here in Western world are:

Suntory Yamazaki

Located in Shimamoto, Osaka, owned by Suntory. It was opened in 1923 and was Japan’s first whisky distillery.

Suntory Hakushu

Suntory built another distillery in Hakushu at the foot of Mt. Kaikomagatake in the Southern Japan Alps.

Nikka Yoichi

About 50km west of Sapporo City in southern Hokkaido, which is the northernmost of Japan’s four principal islands.

Nikka Sendai or Miyagikyo

It is also in northern Japan, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Honshu.

Hanyu

In 1980, serious attempts to produce a Scotch Whisky-type product began and two pot stills were obtained. At the time, consumer demand was for blended whisky rather than single malt. Obviously since then there has been a worldwide shift towards single malts and in 1990 Chichibu whisky was launched, named after the place where the sake was originally produced. However, single malts require such a long maturation period that conditions were tough commercially.Ownership changed hands and the new management decided to get rid of the stocks of maturing malts and the distillation facilities.

Karuizawa

Karuizawa was actually a vineyard in 1955 when then-owner Daikoku-budoshu decided to enter a Japanese whisky industry still in its infancy, and base a distillery in the shadow of active volcano, Mount Asama. In 1962, it then merged with current owner, Mercian.

The distillery is tiny and the aim is traditional, small-scale production to create quality whiskies. Karuizawa uses 100% Golden Promise barley, wooden washbacks, small stills and sherry casks sourced from Spain.

Ichiro / Chichibu

Fortunately, a sake maker from northern Japan, Sasanokawa Shuzo, came to the rescue of Hanyu Distillery and agreed to take over the stocks and production facilities at this critical time. Subsequently Ichiro Akuto, the grandson of the founder of the Hanyu Distillery, established a new company called Venture Whisky to again produce single malt whisky.

Blended Japanese whisky

Until fairly recent, Japanese whisky market has been domestic. Blended Japanese whisky is produced in a different ways than Scotch blended whisky. While in Scotland different brands trade their whiskies stocks to create new profiles, in Japan each brand owns its own distilleries and their blended malts contains only whisky from their portfolio of distilleries, giving them a shorted palette to create blended whisky.

Japanese whisky from my collection

Nikka

Yoichi and Miyagikyo

Nikka Single Malt Yoichi 10 year
£54.18
Nikka Single Malt Yoichi 20 year
£198.75
Nikka Yoichi 12 year
£71.85
Nikka Yoichi 15 year
£96.95
Nikka Yoichi 1989 / Bott 2005 / Cask 127032 Japanese Whisky
Nikka Yoichi No Age
Yoichi 1989
Yoichi 1991 Single Cask (Nikka)
Yoichi 20 Year Old 1990
£205.65
Yoichi Single Malt Glass Gift Set
Miyagikyo 1988
Miyagikyo 2002 / Cask #101127 Japanese Single Malt Whisky
Nikka Miyagikyo 10 year
£54.80
Nikka Miyagikyo 12 year
£73.22
Nikka Miyagikyo 15 year
£96.25
Nikka Miyagikyo 1990 Single Cask
Nikka Sendai 12 year

Nikka blends

Suntory

Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki

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Bourbon: Discover America's native spirit

By Miguel at 2011 Mar,08 in News , Featured , Buffalo Trace , Wild Turkey , Jim Beam , Elijah Craig , Jack Daniel , Heaven Hill , Bulleit

Bourbon is America’s native spirit. It is a type of american whiskey made mainly from corn. Its name derives from the historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon.

Origins

First settlers who brought whisky tradition to America were Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania.

To help finance the revolution against the British, the Continental Congress put a tax on whiskey production. Western Pennsylvania settlers refused to pay and so George Washington to restore the order in the ensuing whisky rebellion sent an army to quell the uprising. Washington mobilized 13000 militia to deal with the uprising but the army dispersed before any conflict, failing to restore order so Washington decided to offer a deal to the stubborn scotch and irish settlers giving them incentives for those who would move to Kentucky.

This move changed the way whiskey was made, as rye wasn’t as abundant as corn. Bourbon was born.

Why corn was used in Bourbon?

The governor of Virginia (Kentucky was part of Virginia at that moment), Thomas Jefferson, offered pioneers sixty acres of land if they built a permanent structure and raise native corn. The fact that none can eat 60 acres worth of corn and that corn was too perishable and bulky to transport for sale helped the pioneers to decide converting it into whiskey solving both problems. This first corn-based whiskey was a clear distillate as it wasn’t aged in oak barrels yet.

Evolution of the drink

That whiskey were going to become bourbon because of two facts:

French help against the British

France, having at the time still their own territories in North America assisted rebels in war of Independence against the British. In acknowledge of this help french names were given to near settlements and counties. So between 1780 and 1786 west part of Virginia was divided and one of those parts was named Bourbon County after the french royal house. Kentucky become a state in 1792 and Bourbon one of its counties.

Ageing in oak casks

Reverend Elijah Craig from Bourbon County, legend says, used old barrels to transport his whiskey to market in New Orleans. He charred the barrels before filling, probably to remove traces of previous contents. After that, whiskey did a long trip to market where it gets a mellowed flavour and has taken on a light caramel color from the wood. Being from Bourbon Country his whiskey was soon started being called bourbon. The fact is that the same settlers that brought distillation to America would know that ageing whisky in a wood cask would make the drink better so perhaps this cool legend is just that, a legend.

It was in 1840 when it officially became known as Bourbon as previously was known as Bourbon County Whiskey or Old Bourbon County Whiskey.
Since 1870 Bourbon is shipped in jugs instead of barrels.

The Prohibition

In 1917 the production and the possession of alcoholic beverages was forbidden in wartime. After the end of the WWI maintained the law, being called dry states. In 1919 the law reached the whole country. The prohibition forbade all consumption of alcohol, even beer. ( Oh my God! ). The Volstead act became a constitutional amendment in 1920.
All supplies of alcohol were destroyed, the distilleries dismantled and used for other purposes and only a few were allowed to keep producing alcohol for medical purposes.

The prohibition destroyed most of american distilleries and create a strong smuggling system across North America borders, mostly from Canada and the Caribbean states. Realizing the prohibition was not able to stop alcohol consumption and that it was creating a huge criminal industry it was decided to legalize again alcohol in 1933 in the 21st amendment.

Congressional resolution

In 1964 a congressional resolution protected the term bourbon and since then has the product being defined.
The basic elements of Bourbon are that:

A minimum of two years old
Distilled under 160º proof, that’s 80% ABV
Made from a mash of 51% of corn.
Must age in charred new oak barrels

Although law stipulate that origin must be in the United States, 95% of Bourbon comes from Kentucky.

Kinds of bourbon

There are several kinds of bourbon, each of them usually stated in the label.

Mash influence

Different distillers vary the proportion of grains in the mash and the proof it is stored in the cask. Typical grain mixture, known as mash bill, is 70% corn and the remainder wheat, rye and malted barley. The use of a relative large percentage of wheat produces what is known as wheated bourbon. Originally distillation was done using alembic or pot stills but now modern distilleries uses continuous stills.

Kentucky bourbon

Kentucky Bourbon Trail attract visitors to six distilleries in Kentucky: Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve.
Nowadays bourbon’s production is concentrated in Louisville, Frankfurt and Bardstown.

Tennessee straight whiskey

Bourbon produced at Tennessee is typically refered to as Tennessee whiskey or sour mash whiskey.

Straight whiskey

Straight whiskey is whisky without any additives, as caramel *ejem*, created by distilling a fermented cereal grain mash to create a spirit not exceeding 80% alcohol content by volume (abv) and then aging the spirit for at least two years.
Filtering and dilution with water, while retaining at least a 40% abv concentration, are the only allowed modifications for straight whiskey prior to its bottling – the addition of caramel and other colorings and flavorings is not allowed.
American straight whiskey must be aged in charred new oak barrels and must be put into the barrels for aging at a concentration not exceeding 62.5% abv.

Bourbons of my collection

Some bourbons and straight whiskies from my collection:

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Jack Daniels

Jim Beam

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Compass Box: True artisan whisky makers

By Miguel at 2011 Feb,23 in Featured , Compass Box

Compass Box is an specialist artisan Scotch whisky maker which creates small batches scotch whisky with a very high quiality. Most of them are awards winning bottles. Compass Box philosophy is to share the joys of great whisky with more people in the world.

The soul of Compass Box is John Glaser.
He learn his art through one of the industry largest companies, where he developed a passion for scotch whisky and dreamt of starting his own company.
In 2000 he started Compass Box Whisky Company, fine tunning his firsts whiskies in his own kitchen.

One of the things that define Compass Box is their seeking of evolutions of traditional techniques, particulary in oak maturation. This effort granted them problems with mighty powerful Scotch Whisky Association ( SWA ) which banned their first version of The Spice Tree because of the way whisky was matured in the cask.

In words of Compass Box:
The issue revolves around the SWA’s interpretation of the law regarding traditional practice in the production of spirits in European Union countries. While we disagree with their interpretation of the law, we have, nonetheless, decided to stop production of “The Spice Tree” while we continue to negotiate.

What the SWA does not like is our technique of using barrel inserts (made of the highest quality cooperage oak you can buy) in the casks we use to do a secondary maturation on the whiskies for “The Spice Tree”.

They changed the way whisky mature in the cask and released a new, better The Spice Tree whisky and this time SWA can do nothing about it! :)

Compass Box has many awards for their whiskies, among them four times Whisky Magazine Innovator of the year, two times Malt Advocate Blended Scotch whisky of the year and Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible Best Scotch New Brand.

This is my collection of Compass Box bottles:

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Glenmorangie: The wood-formation of whisky

By Miguel at 2011 Feb,13 in Featured , Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie is the highland Scottish distillery that started to experiment with woods and wines finishes in the early 1980s. One of the best selling single malt whisky in the UK.

Glenmorangie stands near Royal Burgh of Tain in Ross-shire. It was established in 1843 by William and John Matheson. John was part-owner of Balblair and relative of Alexander Matheson who founded Dalmore. The production of the distillery was of 20000 gallons of alcohol per year.

The distillery was one of the first of Scotland to heat the was stills with indirect heat.

In 1887 the distillery was rebuilt and in 1918 it was sold to Macdonald & Muir (40%) and Durham & Company (60%), a whisky broker.
In 1930 Macdonald acquired the part of Durham and used most of the production in their blends.

Glenmorangie was not promoted as a single malt until 1970s. In 1979 distillery capacity was doubled and in 1990 double again.

Due to the light character of the new make, Macdonals & Muir was experimenting with different woods and maturation into wine barrels in order to increase the range of expressions. The owners made Glenmorange a public limited company in 1996 and in 2004 the distillery was sold to the luxury goods company, Luis Vuitton Moët-Hennessey.

In 2008 capacity was increased to six million litres per year with the addition of four new stills.

The stills of Glenmorangie are one of the tallest still of Scotland.

Water used on the distillery come from Tarlogie spring and the malting was done insite until 1977.
Glenmorangie was fourteen bonded warehouses, ten of them of dunnage type and four racked to eleven casks high.

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Ardbeg: The peat and the earth

By Miguel at 2011 Jan,31 in Featured , Ardbeg

Its name rise passions between whisky aficionados. One of the peatiest islay whiskies.
Founded in 1815 by the MacDougall family, the distillery located at the south of Islay, Scotland, between another two monster like Lagavulin and Laphroaig, has recently rise from its ashes.

Perhaps production of whisky on the site was there a few decades before 1815, but on 1886 more than a third of the townfolk were working on the distillery. Only a century later the distillery was closed. Most of Ardbeg production were used in blended whiskies whose creators realized that they didn’t want strong peat whiskies.

Fortunatelly, Ardbeg distillery was reopened in 1989 under a limited basis and continue on a really low level until 1996 under the ownership of Hiram Walker. In 1997 the distillery was adquired by Glenmorangie plc ( owned by LVMH ) that resumed the production on June 25, 1997. One of the things that placed Ardbeg in the cult status that is now are the great independent bottlings of Douglas Laing from early 1970 which were great. Unfortunately, the malting on Ardbeg was not reopened and they sourced their malt now from Port Ellen maltings.

Water is sourced from Loch Uigeadail. Whisky is matured on the warehouse of the distillery in Islay using several types of casks, mainly bourbon and sherry casks.

The Ardbeg Committee was established in 1999, and it was a great way to pass the word about Ardbeg around the world. Members of the committee usually has access to special bottlings.

Ardbeg have garnered a good array of awards on Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible

2008 Best Whisky of the World to Ardbeg 10 years old
2009 Best Whisky of the World to Ardbeg Uigeadail
2010 Best Scotland Whisky to Ardbeg Uigeadail

These is my collection of Ardbeg:

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Johnnie Walker: the striding man keeps walking

By Miguel at 2011 Jan,24 in Featured , Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker is the story of a brand that started in a humble grocery at Scotland and became one of the best selling whisky company in the world. Johnnie Walker openend many countries to Scotch whisky: Keep walking.

John Walker, born at Kilmarnock in 1805, was a shopkeeper at Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire, Scotland. He founded his grocery in 1819 with only fourteen years.

John Walker managed to sell almost everything, even his own whisky, under the Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky, which was surely a single or blended malt, as blended whisky was forbidden up to 1860.

In 1843, with the arrival of the railway at Kilmarnock, John and his son Alexander realize the potential of the train for their enterprise.

In 1860 they decide to use squared bottles, that remains an icon of the mark, together with the slanted johnnie walker label, that is inclined 24 degrees. Having squared bottles was good because they stock in less space and there were less broken bottles. Five years later, Alexander Walker create their first blend.

Each type of blend: Old Highland Whisky, Special Old Highland Whisky and Extra Special Old Highland Whisky, had its label of a different color. Alexander so renamed each bottle according to their label color in 1909.

In 1908, Tom Browne, a cartoonist, created during a meal the striding man, that has become the icon of Johnnie Walker to nowadays.

More expressions were introduced, in 1920, Johnnie Walker Gold Label was created and it was a special blend given only to the most successfull directors of the brand and in 1932 Johnnie Walker Swing, a blend which bottle was specially created for ships so that the bottle would swing with the movement of the waves.

In 1934, King George V gave the Royal Warrant, one of the highest distinctions in the United Kingdom. In 1966 they obtained too the Queen’s Award for export achievement.

In 1991, they created Johnnie Walker Premier, a blend of malt and grain whiskies with many of them from closed distilleries.

In an attempt to gain the premium market they created the Johnnie Walker Blue Label, that although it is non age statement whisky, contains many old whiskies some of them from already closed distilleries.

Expanding the firm, Johnnie Walker Gold Label was introduced in 1995 and Johnnie Walker Green Label in 1997, which is a blended malt.

In 2008, they created the Johnnie Walker Blue Label King George V, that contained whisky from oak casks that date of the period of king George V, the one that gave the royal warrant to Johnnie Walker.

Now, Johnnie Walker is part of Diageo, and they no longer blend the whisky at Kilmarnock. Also Diageo announced that they were moving what remained of the production out of Kilmarnock too.

Johnnie Walker most common bottles

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Cardhu: Where Pure Malt died in Scotland

By Miguel at 2011 Jan,21 in Featured , Cardhu

Cardhu is the most famous whisky in Spain and the soul in the Johnnie Walker Blended Whisky. It is also the responsible of one of the most polemic moves in the whisky industry: the Cardhu Pure Malt.

It is a Speyside distillery, near Archiestown, Morayshire. It has been called for many years Cardow. Cardhu whisky makes up an important part of the Johnnie Walker blended whisky.

Cardhu was founded by smugler John Cumming in 1824. It started as a farm distillery and worked as a seasonal basis harvest had been gathered. The distillery was run mainly by his wife, Helen Cumming, who sell the bottles to passers-by at their farm. When John died in 1846 he was succeeded by his son Lewis and Lewis’ Wife. The production was of 623 litres per week.

In 1885 the distillery was rebuilt on a new piece of land and run by Elizabeth Cumming, a daughter-in-law of Helen. The old stills were sold to William Grant who set up Glenfiddich with them. Now Cardhu was able to produce three times more whisky, much of it was bought by Johnnie Walker and Sons for their whiskies. On 1893, Elizabeth sold the distillery to Johnnie Walker on the condition that Cumming family would continue the day to day running of the distillery.

The distillery was expanded to four stills in 1897.

In 1960 most of the distillery was rebuilt: the still house, the mash house and the tun house.

It was the first single malt to be promoted by DCL.

Due to the increasing sales and the lack of stock Diageo decided to introduce Cardhu Pure Malt, a blended malt whisky, with an identical label and box to the single malt whisky. The move created so much controversy that Diageo had to take a step back and remove the product. The SWA ( Scotch Whisky Association ) wrote the rules about Scotch Whisky and banned forever the term pure malt as it was misleading.

Cardhu take its water from water springs in Mannoch Hill and the Lyne Burn. It uses unpeated malt from Burghead maltings and mature their stock mostly in refill ex-bourbon hogsheads.

It has now three wash stills and three spirit stills.

The production is around 2.3 million litres per year.

These are my bottles of Cardhu

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Dewar's

By Miguel at 2011 Jan,17 in Featured , Dewar

Dewar was founded in 1846 by John Dewar as a small wine and spirits merchant shop in Perth, Scotland. Today Dewar’s is the fifth largest blended whisky brand in the world.

John Dewar’s sons, John Alexander and Thomas, founded Aberfeldy distillery in 1898. Aberfeldy is the malt that lies in every Dewar’s blend.
By the end of 1900s Dewar received the Royal Warrant and have a growing business in the USA, opening its first office in Beaker Street, New York.

After Prohibition, Dewar expansion continued in Europe with the acquisition of Ord, Parkmore, Pulteny and Aultmore.
In 1925 Dewars, Buchanans and Johnnie Walker joined the Distillers Company Ltd. Now it is part of Diageo.

In 1899, Dewar create White Label blended whisky. In recent time, 1995, new expressions were introduced:
- Dewar’s 18 year Founder’s Reserve
- Dewar’s Signature
- Dewar’s 15 year old

The Aberfeldy distillery produces:
- Aberfeldy 12 year Single Malt
- Aberfeldy 21 Single Malt

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Chivas Brothers: Live with Chivalry

By Miguel at 2011 Jan,13 in Featured , Chivas

Chivas Brothers traces its roots to the opening of a grocery store at 13 King St, Aberdeen in 1801. The store sold luxury foodstuffs such as coffee, exotic spices, French brandies, and Caribbean rums to a wealthy clientèle. In 1842, Chivas Brothers were retained to supply provisions to the royal family at Balmoral Castle upon Queen Victoria’s first visit to Scotland.

In 1843, Chivas Brothers were granted a Royal Warrant to supply goods to Queen Victoria. Chivas Brothers was described in 1890 as `undoubtedly the finest purveying business in the north of Scotland` by Scotland of Today magazine.

During the 1850s, James Chivas decided to respond to his affluent customers’ demands for a smoother whisky, by beginning to blend whiskies to create a proprietary blend to Chivas Brothers. Their first blended Scotch whisky named `Royal Glen Dee` was launched, followed in the 1860s by their second blended Scotch whisky, `Royal Strathythan`.

In the 1880, phylloxera devasted French vineyards crippling the supplies of wine and brandy. Wine drinkers seeking an alternative turned to the growing scotch whisky industry.

In the early 1900s, Chivas Brothers decided to create their most aged blended Scotch whisky to export to the U.S, where the booming economy after the turn of the century was fueling demand for luxury goods. The whisky was named Chivas Regal.

Chivas Regal 25 Year Old was launched in 1909 as the original luxury Scotch, and became a leading brand in the U.S. Chivas Regal continued its success until Prohibition in the 1920s. Prohibition and World war I made Chivas Regal 25 years old dissapear.

Chivas Regal was purchased by Seagrams in 1949, which provided a much wider distribution and marketing system. Chivas Regal was re-launched as Chivas Regal 12 year old in the US following the disruption of both Prohibition and World War II.

In 1950, the company Chivas Brothers was able to buy the Strathisla Distillery which produces the Strathisla Single Malt, which is used within the Chivas Regal blend.

The Chivas Regal range was expanded with the launch of higher aged whiskies: Master Blender Colin Scott created in 1997 the Chivas Regal 18 year old, and in 2007 the Chivas Regal 25.

Chivas Regal was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2000 upon the break up of Seagrams Group.

This is my collection of Chivas bottles