Indholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2017 i Whisky Advocate

Have you ever wondered why many craft distillers seem to be fond of diminutive barrels? It’s not because they haven’t learned how to lift with their knees. According toMarkMcDavid, cofounder of Ranger Creek Distilling in San Antonio, their smaller 5-gallon and 25-gallon barrels yield a very different whiskey from their standard 53-gallon. “The way I describe them is oak forward, punchy, and compact bourbons,” saysMcDavid. The difference arises from the greater surface area of oak exposed to each bottle, which increases dramatically as barrels get smaller; a law first described by Galileo in 1638. Some promote this as small barrels aging faster. While McDavid says whiskey from small barrels will become over-oaked more quickly, “age” is a different matter. “Oxidation and other things happen that only time can induce, so…

Perhaps it’s futile to predict trends— especially when it comes to taste—but the one drinking vogue that should be happening, for some reason hasn’t quite arrived. It’s aged rum.With a bounty of rich and rewarding examples on the market at mainly bang-for-the-buck prices, the category seems set for a boom of the caliber that American whiskey is enjoying. You might scratch your head, but for savvy spirits enthusiasts a better reaction is to take advantage of it before the popular palate catches up. Sipping Rum: 5 to Try Cruzan Single Barrel Distiller’s Collection 40%, $30 St. Croix • creamy orange of triple sec, with cinnamon and licorice Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva 40%, $40 Venezuela • butterscotch, vanilla, and tutti-frutti Eximo Facundo 40%, $60 Puerto Rico • vanilla and maple overlaid with…

For many people, making it in Hollywood is the culmination of their dreams. For Rocky Patel, it was more like the beginning. Born in Mumbai and raised in India and Wisconsin, Patel was a high-powered Hollywood lawyer when he fell in love with scotch and cigars. Soon, he decided that the only thing more exciting than living the luxury lifestyle was sharing it with others. Patel took a chance in the waning days of the 1990s cigar boom and charged into the premium cigar industry. Today, the founder and CEO of Rocky Patel Premium Cigars is an evangelist for sophisticated living. Most recently, his Rocky Patel Sun Grown Maduro Robusto was named Cigar Aficionado’s No. 2 Cigar of 2016. And when Patel holds a cigar in one hand, there is…

There is nothing glamorous about the production of grain whisky. Hammered out on clunky column stills, usually on an industrial scale, using cheaper ingredients like corn, grain whisky is traditionally reserved as filler for blended whiskies, be they scotch, Irish, or Japanese. On its own, grain is the black sheep of the whisky family. But misconceptions be damned. At its best, the spirit offers supreme drinkability and often a surprising degree of structure and complexity. As the premium malts of the world become frustratingly unattainable, it’s only a matter of time until grain goes gangbusters. For now, at least, it remains almost criminally undervalued. What other style of whisky offers multi-decade age statements at double-digit prices? Across the globe notable producers are embracing the charms of grain, betting on increasingly…

As whisky aficionados, each of us has some form of personal checklist to measure whether or not we find a particular whisky to be good, great, awe-inspiring, simply ordinary, or even, at times, bad. For some it might be flavor impact that ranks highest, while for others it could be complexity and nuance, and for others still it might be all about the nose. But what about price and scarcity? Can they spell the difference between good, bad, and mediocre spirit? Maybe so, maybe moreso than you might think. Take for example a tasting of various ultra high-end expressions of Macallan, to which I was fortunate enough to have been invited not that long ago. In attendance were several drinks writers like myself, people whose job description requires that each…

Booker Noe, former Jim Beam master distiller, accomplished many things in his career. When he passed away in 2004, rye whiskey was low on the list. Now, that has changed. Before he died, Booker filled 100 barrels that aged for 13 years in Jim Beam warehouses D and E. The end result is this year’s American Whiskey of the Year, which ranks among the best whiskeys Booker ever made. In addition to high scores, these awards factor in trendsetting, ingenuity, and creativity, too. Plus, there’s a nostalgia factor: this whiskey is one of our last connections to American whiskey’s first ‘rock star’ distiller. As I taste the crème brûlée, with a sultry smokiness, raw honey, and nutmeg dusting I couldn’t help but think, “What if Booker Noe did the same…

For the optimists out there, rejoice! U.S. liquor stores are stocking a greater variety of Japanese whiskies produced by a greater number of distillers than for many years. For the pessimists out there, disaster! We still get to grumble about the profusion of whiskies with young or no age statements to our hearts’ content, carp on about steep prices charged by producers relatively new to making whisky, and wallow in our reminiscences about tasting legendary Japanese whiskies. But wait; the global whisky community’s longing for quality Japanese whisky is not an entirely unrequited desire. The latter half of this decade may prove to be leaner years for Japanese whisky drinkers compared to the decade before, but the situation has provided a stimulus to spirits producers across Japan. New distilleries are…

Glenrothes Vintage Reserve is a fine advertisement for the fact that when no age statement (NAS) whiskies are created with integrity, they can be extremely good indeed. It is also a fine advertisement for affordability. Vintage Reserve replaces the previous Glenrothes Select Reserve bottling, created by now retired ‘malt master’ John Ramsay. Glenrothes had become notable for its policy of releasing vintages from individual years, rather than whiskies with age statements, but Select Reserve took them into NAS territory for the first time in 2005. Whereas the distillers were less than keen to reveal aspects of the recipe of that expression, either in terms of ages of component spirit or their percentages, its replacement Vintage Reserve brings a new openness. It was developed by Ramsay’s successor, Gordon Motion, and according…

Given the plethora of recently opened and planned distilleries within the Lowland area of single malt Scotch whisky production, there should be many contenders for this award in a few years. For now, however, most new releases from the region are independent bottlings of old favorites and innovation has been at a premium. So it was a great pleasure to see William Grant & Sons do something truly radical when it came to the first bottling from their Ailsa Bay Distillery at Girvan, in Ayrshire. The Grant’s team threw the rulebook of what a Lowland malt should be like out of the window and created a peated, multicask matured whisky that really sets a benchmark for future releases. The Ailsa Bay Distillery produces a variety of whisky styles, including batches…

In Quercus we trust. There are over 600 species of oak trees in the Quercus genus, to which whisky maturation owes all. Without time in oak barrels, whisky would remain white and fiery, devoid of the toasty, caramel, nutty, or vanilla notes that make our mouths water. It’s simple—without oak, there is no whisky as we know it today. Considering oak’s profound effect on the taste of whisky, it’s not surprising that the details count. The specific type of oak, the origin of the tree, and all the finer points of its treatment during production will influence the flavors the barrel imparts, whether vanilla or citrus zest, baking spices or dark red fruits, or a myriad of other possibilities. To understand whisky, you must understand oak. Ancient Technology Using oak…

Let us now praise famous cherries. My apologies to James Agee, although when I think about it he was probably sipping his Manhattans with those famous electric-red maraschino cherries while he was ironically praising less-thanfamous men. This all started with a poem (what doesn’t, eh?) about those cherries. “Heart red, sexual red, wet neon red” Thomas Lux called them in Refrigerator, 1957, a paean to those little glowing sweet orbs, and an apt description of where I would also have seen them displayed on a similar refrigerator shelf. It was about then, too, that I learned how to construct the aforementioned Manhattans at my father’s elbow, and with those same “fiery globes, like strippers at a church social,” as sayeth the poet. I was even taught to add a splash…

PLENTY TO DISCOVER AT WHISKYFEST Dear John, WhiskyFest was an enjoyable evening as always. As with many/most attendees, I have my list of tables to visit set up in advance, both for VIP hour and the rest of the evening. And things never go 100 percent according to plan. Sometimes the lines at popular tables are very long, or the VIP stuff runs out very quickly, or maybe didn’t even make it from Scotland, Kentucky, Japan, etc. To make up for that, I always manage to find something interesting, maybe not on the list, or at a table that hasn’t attracted much attention. This year, those surprise whiskies turned out to be the BenRiach Authenticas 25 year old and Balblair 1983 (the year before I got married). Not too bad.…

Arouse your senses and prepare to deconstruct the flavors found in your whisky glass. Tasting Lesson is a drink hack to help anyone identify common whisky flavors and their origin. Fruity notes are one of the easiest flavors to recognize when you evaluate a glass of whisky. They are ascribed to esters, a group of compounds that form principally during fermentation, following the stage where yeast converts glucose to ethanol. Close to 100 different esters have been identified as originating during the fermentation process. Fruity ester characteristics can be concentrated during distillation and molded during maturation. Still size and shape, spirit cuts, and wood quality influence whether these characteristics are detectable in the whisky’s final profile. Different people describe esters according to their own flavor vocabulary. Isoamyl acetate can be…

White Wing Whiskey Tote, $130 Designed to weather rough outdoor activities, this twobottle holder has a sturdy exterior and real shearling lining. Yes, there’s a shoulder strap, but we dare you to call it a purse. mackspw.com Furoshiki, $48 Whether it hails from Japan or not, wrap up your whisky with this traditional Japanese cloth, which can be tied differently depending on what you’re carrying. (YouTube will teach you how). thelinkcollective.com Battenkill Bottle Holder, $89 Whether touring the distillery trail or hiking to a favorite trout stream, this durable canvas and leather case with a removable padded interior sleeve will keep your bottle from getting battered. orvis.com Monogrammed Cian Tartan Bottle Bag, $65 Hit the links with your whisky snugly swaddled in this fleece-lined sack that resembles a club head…

When did it begin? The long lines for Pappy Van Winkle, the $6,000 resale market bottles, and this crazy bourbon demand that’s rendered once-everyday brands to the seeker’s abyss of allocation. This demand for rare bourbon is a real problem for those of us who crave the good stuff, and it all started in Japan and Australia in the 1980s. At that time bourbon was left for dead. These foreign markets showed the only real growth, leading to distillers opening offices in Japan, a market so coveted and strong that they created brands just for the Japanese. In 1989, when domestic salesmen couldn’t give away Van Winkle products, then-president of Jim Beam Brands Co. Barry Berish told The Associated Press that in Japan, “Bourbon is accepted as a very sophisticated,…

A wealth of great new Canadian whiskies in 2016 made it difficult to select just one winner. The sublimely complex Gooderham & Worts, a bourbonesque 14 year old from J.P. Wiser’s called Last Barrels, and Ninety, a creamy, spicy 20 year old allcorn whisky from Highwood Distillers, were strong contenders. When all was said and done, Crown Royal Cornerstone Blend emerged as this year’s Canadian whisky champion. The first release in a new series called the Noble Collection, Cornerstone Blend happened by chance, and if you don’t taste it soon you likely never will. Cornerstone Blend has its origins in Crown Royal Deluxe, a combination of 50 whiskies from two different spirit streams. The first, made from corn, is distilled to a high ABV to remove many grain and yeast-derived…

One cask. Five woods. Isn’t it amazing that nobody ever perfected it before? Amrut deserves much greater recognition for their successful experiments in whisky making: they have previously mixed malted barley from Scotland and India (Amrut Fusion), matured whisky on more than one continent (Amrut Herald and Amrut Two Continents), and dazzled us with numerous finishing projects, such as Amrut Kadhambam. Last year’s Amrut Naarangi showed great promise for further innovation, by pre-treating the finishing oloroso cask with wine and orange peel. Amrut Spectrum is a true original, the result of secondary maturation in bespoke chimeric casks assembled from staves of five different woods. The idea sprung from the inventive mind of Ashok Chokalingam, Amrut’s senior general manager for international operations. Just imagining the fantastic concept of conveying a whisky…

Lagavulin Distillery celebrated its bicentenary in 2016 and as part of the celebrations, two new, limited-edition expressions were released, pitched at opposite ends of the age spectrum. First came a highly regarded 8 year old, though for some this seemed slightly too youthful to do this big, complex whisky full justice. Not for nothing is the Classic Malts expression, so widely beloved, bottled as a 16 year old, though the fifteen cask strength Special Release bottlings at 12 years of age have been uniformly impressive, too. Later in 2016 the age balance was redressed with the launch of a cask strength 25 year old variant, fully matured in sherry casks. Most Islays thrive over time in well-chosen sherry casks, and Lagavulin is a prime example. This particular release was the…

The Isle of Jura’s remote and sparsely populated landscape may not be for everyone, but it’s a seductively beautiful place to spend your working life. When Willie Cochrane first came to Craighouse, he thought he would stick it out for a year. Thirty-nine years later, after overseeing the production of tens of millions of liters of Jura spirit, he decided to call it a day. Although born in the great city of Glasgow, I’m certain his prominent position at the distillery grants Willie status as a bona fide Diurach (the Gaelic term for the people of Jura). As distillery manager for the past eleven years, Willie has worked as mashtun operator, stillman, and brewer since first stepping foot on the island in 1977, equipped with little more than a background…

Finishing is the popular term for transferring a mature whisky to a second cask, perhaps one that previously held port or rum, a firstgrowth Bordeaux, or is crafted from uncommon oaks like mizunara or Irish oak to give a different flavor profile. The purpose of finishing is to create a new whisky that complements the house style. Think of finishing like the secondary boosters on a space rocket, helping it to achieve a higher orbit, or like precious sapphires set around a diamond by a nimble-fingered jeweler to enhance the sparkle. When done well, finishing adds shades of color and flavor, swaddling the whisky with complementary tones and imbuing the spirit with extra personality. Come with us, back to finishing school! Lesson 1 Start at the Finish For starters, Scotch…

For most of its existence, peat was one of the hallmarks of Scotch whisky. Whether wisps of smoke wafting from blends like Johnnie Walker, or the pure and punchy peat of Islay, many drinkers came to assume that scotch means peat. Peat is actually nothing more than a convenient fuel source that worked its way into whisky as the result of kiln-drying malted barley over fires fueled by the decomposing vegetation. Peat bogs are found in many parts of Great Britain, but they are widespread in the Scottish Highlands and islands, where for centuries they have provided a valuable source of domestic heat. In remote locations where coal was at a premium, it was hardly surprising that distillers turned to peat when heat was required. As the Scotch whisky industry…

Parker Beam, the longtime master distiller at Heaven Hill, a familyowned distilled spirits company based in Bardstown, Kentucky, passed away in January. Parker had been fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) for the last six years—a public battle that brought the entire Kentucky bourbon community out to rally around him. Parker grew up learning from his father, Earl Beam, who was master distiller at Heaven Hill before him. Parker officially started his career in 1960, although he had worked odd jobs at the distillery even as a child. He became master distiller in 1975, and over the course of his career was an industry leader in innovation and quality through brands like Evan Williams and Elijah Craig. He had been master distiller emeritus at Heaven Hill…

The light, floral nature of this blend blossoms when a little water is added, partnering well with the character of Ruffles Original and providing a refreshing counterpoint to the chip’s saltiness. An earthy chip with a fair degree of sweetness, the Terra mix of sweet potato and beet pairs well with fruitiness of the whisky, held in harmonious check by a whiff of smoke and a spicy finish. The moderate spicy heat of these chips means there’s no need for an ice cube or drop of cola here; just a wide-mouthed glass and the pleasing combination of two bold and complementary flavors. The potato chip is one of those happy accidents of the culinary world. The story goes that chef George Crum was cooking his haute cuisine one evening in…

Most drinkers know that whiskey is the primary ingredient in a Manhattan cocktail, and you probably already have a favorite choice. But how do you go about choosing the secondary ingredient—sweet vermouth? Don’t just grab the first dusty bottle on the liquor store shelf, says Sother Teague, beverage director at Amor y Amargo inManhattan, who selects from among an arsenal of sixteen or more sweet vermouths to create his bespoke Manhattans. “The key to a well-balanced Manhattan lies in choosing a sweet vermouth that works with your whiskey,” he says. Vermouth is wine that has been aromatized with botanicals and fortified with alcohol. It comes in two broad types—sweet (red) and dry (white)—within each there exists a spectrum of flavors, spices, intensity, and sweet-bitter balance. Depending on your whiskey preference,…

I’m a charcoal fan. When it comes to grilling steaks, I much prefer the flavors from my Weber kettle grill over the convenience of propane, occasionally tossing the meat right onto the dusty coals, what grilling guru Steven Raichlen refers to as the “caveman” method. Perhaps my love of whiskey contributes to my appreciation of this ancient fuel. After all, bourbon is aged in charred oak barrels and Tennessee whiskeys are required to undergo the extra step of filtering through maple charcoal. Yet even I was skeptical the first time I spied a charcoal-laced cocktail. Like many people, Gabriella Mlynarczyk, beverage manager at Birch restaurant in Los Angeles, was introduced to activated charcoal as a digestive aid. From there, she got to thinking: if activated charcoal can absorb unwanted elements…

Experimentation is the hallmark of America’s craft distilling movement. But even during this ambitious era, few distillers forge ahead with the determination of Bainbridge’s Keith Barnes. Already a proponent of locally grown organic grain, Barnes set out to design a whiskey with a Japanese connection that would benefit the historic site of the village of Yama on Bainbridge Island, the last remaining first-generation Japanese immigrant village in the U.S. After some consideration, Barnes decided to pursue mizunara oak, a rare and distinctive variety from the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The Japanese government and various specialty importers failed to deliver, so Barnes finally used a clandestine approach, bidding through family friends in Japan to secure his first lot of mizunara at auction. It was airdried in Japan then shipped to the…

Aaah, the luxury of choice. Irish whiskey drinkers are blessed that shelves are brimming with a much wider selection than just a decade ago. It hasn’t been that long since new Irish whiskey releases were too infrequent to run an Irish whiskey section of the Buying Guide in every issue of this magazine. Now they are so numerous that we have to be selective about what goes into print. It’s a good problem to have. The first thing you need to know about this whiskey is that it doesn’t carry an age statement; however, Irish Distillers has been perfectly transparent in explaining that the liquid is between 9 and 12 years old. It was matured in American and European oak, then finished for up to a year in an oloroso…

There is something rather ironic about the fact that Diageo’s Clynelish site in Sutherland is best known to aficionados for a whisky produced only during the period of 1969 to 1983. That whisky is, of course, Brora, one of the brightest stars in the firmament that is Diageo’s annual Special Releases program. The distillery was founded in 1819 as Clynelish, and traded as such until the construction of a ‘new’ Clynelish alongside the old two-pot operation during 1967-68. At that point the Clynelish name was transformed to the shiny, modern version, and ‘old’ Clynelish was briefly mothballed before being resurrected in 1969 as Brora. Brora was tasked with producing a relatively heavily peated style of spirit for blending purposes, and it is this that has become so highly prized in…

Bowmore born and bred, Eddie MacAffer always emanated the relaxed, unflappable air of a man who knew that everything around him at Bowmore Distillery was under control. With his retirement in 2016, Eddie celebrated a distinguished 50-year career; a year marked by memorable highlights, such as the Golden Jubilee dinner held in his honor at Fèis Ìle and the crowning glory of the release of Black Bowmore 50 year old. After leaving the merchant navy, Eddie was granted his first position at Bowmore in 1966. He has worked at Islay’s oldest distillery ever since; first in warehousing, next as maltman, brewer, and then distiller. He was promoted to distillery manager in 2008, and his elevation to master distiller followed in 2013. As distillery manager, he followed in the footsteps of…