The “Best” Scotch

In early August of this year I attended a military aircraft conversion pre-event mixer.  I brought a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue label (still in the box) for the occasion.  I did one lap around the room, shaking hands and making sure the bottle could be seen.  This exhibition was calculated to generate interest before I stepped outside into the veranda area to set up “shop.” 

It wasn’t long before curiosity got the best of some and they started to gravitate toward the bottle and, by extension, me.  Once I had gathered a small group, I opened the bottle and distributed samples for people to try.  It was a very short wait before people started asking questions.   One of the most common questions that night was “Is this the best scotch on the market?”

What is the best scotch is a very common question.  Forgive me for answering a question with a question but, “Who makes the best hamburger or who makes the best pizza,” is my usual response.  We all enjoy different tastes, and what one person truly enjoys might not be another person’s cup of tea.  So there is no “best” scotch (in my opinion), rather which scotches appeal to more people than others or which scotch exemplifies those characteristics I enjoy most.  In the case of the Johnny Walker Blue, its mystique lies in a very successful advertising/marketing campaign and high cost.  Because it is outside of your average drinkers cost comfort zone, it takes on the character of being a special treat when available.  Now don’t get me wrong, Blue Label is an excellent blended scotch, but it is not the rarest thing that Johnny Walker creates, nor is it better than other comparably priced single malt scotches. 

So let me finish by saying that you are the one that decides what the best scotch is.  One of the things you will come to realize over time is that you will develop more than one “best” or “favorite.”  Today, JB Blue might be it.  In a month or two from now you may think something different. 

Slainte

PS:  “The Breslin” makes the best burgers and “Rays Pizza” makes the best pizza.  ;)

How to drink a Scotch

I was invited to have a lamb dinner with friends back in August.  After we ate, a friend of mine offered to share some of his Balvenie 17 Year Old / Sherry Oak scotch.  I could tell by the barely contained grins on my so called friends faces that whatever it was that was inside that bottle, it was not Balvenie. 

Being an easy going guy I decided to let the prank play out.  Trying to figure out what my friends were giving me was no different than the way I would normally approach tasting a scotch I never tried before.

First, you look at the color.  Hold your glass up to the light and take a good look.  In general, scotches are amber in color.  The deeper and richer the color, the longer it has been in the barrel.  If the color is lighter, it usually means it has seen less time in the barrel.  Make sure that you have a decent amount in your glass.  Too little and the color may appear lighter and therefore give you a false reading.  The color of the stuff they were offering me was strongly leaning toward the yellow side of the spectrum.  I got two things from this observation 1) that this was a younger scotch than what was listed on the bottle and 2) it was probably closer to 10 or 12 years in age.

Second, you check out its legs.  Take your glass and swirl it around.  You want to have a film of whisky coating the inside of the glass about an inch or so above the contents when at rest.  When the coating drains down the glass it leaves behind drip trails, or “legs,” that you can observe.  What are you looking for?  You are looking to see how fast the legs form, how fast they disappear, and how thick they are.  The longer the legs take to appear, the greater the length of time until they disappear, and the thicker they are all indicate that the scotch is older.  In this case, the legs appeared quickly, ran quickly, and were on the thin side…almost watery.    This further confirmed that the scotch inside the bottle was younger than what my friends would have me believe.  I should also point out that the legs were not the worst I have ever seen which also leads me to believe that what’s inside the bottle was in the 10 year old range and not vodka with food coloring in it.

Next, you sample the bouquet.  This is also referred to as “nosing.”  They both amount to the same thing: smelling your drink.  Do not stick your nose in the glass and snort.  Much like taking a quick glimpse at the sun, taking a nose full of alcohol will leave an after image on your senses.  Instead, try wafting the glass side to side under your nose at about the same level as your lips.  You can also hold the glass steady and use your other hand to waft the scents toward your nose.  I prefer the former to the later.  What does your sense of smell tell you?  Depending on your sense of smell as well as the library of smells you are familiar with, you can get more information from your nose than you could from the first two steps combined.  Is the smell of alcohol overpowering the rest of the scents?  Do you detect floral, citric, or nutty notes?  Do you smell smoke?  Each scent you can pick out will further narrow down the contents of your glass.  Personally, my sense of smell is shot.  I can still pick out obvious scents, but not the more subtle ones.  So what did I smell?  Well, I got the smell of alcohol right off the bat.  The longer the whisky ages in the barrel the more the alcohol smell mellows, allowing the rest of the bouquet to become more evident.  So add one more vote toward a young scotch.  One thing I did not smell was smoke or peat.  Peat is a common factor in the production of Scotch whisky.  Some distilleries use more, some use less.  This is not to say that what was in the bottle was some other whisky (i.e. Irish whiskey or Rye), just that peat did not play a big part in its production.  This further narrows the possibilities of what could be inside the bottle.

Finally, you get to take a sip.  But before you do that, what do you know?  What are you prepping your brain to expect?  What do you think I should have expected?  Well, we know that I have some sort of alcoholic liquid in my glass.  Its yellow, has rudimentary legs, and the alcohol smell indicates that it’s going to have a little bite to it.  I didn’t smell a lot of peat, so it’s probably not from the western coast of Scotland or Islay malt.  Because I think it’s young, I will assume that it is also inexpensive.   That is a big clue since there are not that many inexpensive single malt whiskies out there.

I take a sip…

It had the bite I expected, but not as bad as what I was prepared for.  It wasn’t loaded with flavor, but the legs should have tipped me off to that.  It had a little of the character that you get from traditional oak barrels (a little oakey with hints of vanilla.)  All in all a "summer" scotch; meaning that I would not be against having it with some ice on a hot summer day.  Something that you sip with the aim of keeping cool more than conducting mental exercises into the complexity of its character. 

It turned out to be Yamazaki 10 year old whiskey.  Someone in camp liked the bottle it came in and transferred it into the Balvenie bottle (sacrilege!)  It’s a Japanese whiskey modeled after scotch whisky.  There was nothing wrong with it, just not enough right with it to induce me to purchase a bottle.  For those of you wondering, The Singleton’s 12 year old is my favorite summertime scotch: its light, has a hint of bite, but has flavor and smoothness that belies its age and price.

Now, go forth and drink.  Enjoy your explorations.  A good idea is to keep a whisky diary when you drink.  Keep track of what you see, smell and taste until you develop a knack for this and come up with your own criteria when you are out tasting.

Sláinte

You never forget your first

Four years ago I decided to give my first class in Scotch whisky.  I did all of my homework, secured three helpers, purchased plastic shot glasses, distilled water and $350 worth of single malt scotch.  Like all of my plans, I spent weeks agonizing over the details…only to have things happen that I never anticipated.

The class was held at a medieval/renaissance event called Pennsic.  I didn’t properly advertise my class, which you might think was a mistake but actually wasn’t.  By word of mouth alone 40 people arrived for the class.  If I had properly advertised, that number might have doubled.  That mistake actually worked in my favor.  The rest, well, not so much.

Mistake number one:  I only had enough samples for 25 people to try six different scotches.   I honestly thought that I was overdoing it with 25.  The solution presented itself over time.  One thing was that we excluded anyone under the age of 21.  Then we asked if anyone in the audience was there strictly for the knowledge and not interested in tasting.  So, after we eliminated those two people the answer became evident by tasting number four:  people were too intoxicated to go any further.

Mistake number two:  as I just mentioned, I failed to anticipate drunkenness.  I can handle about five ounces of whisky an hour.  The number varies depending on alcohol by volume, what I had to eat prior, the mood I am in, etc…  I assumed that if this was my tolerance level, it was everyone else’s.  I was way off.  By the third ounce, all but the most robust women were drunk.  By the fifth ounce the men had caught up to the women.  Now initially this was great.  The conversations people were having and the questions they were asking were really entertaining.

Then everything changed…

My students and soon to be fellow travelers of the whisky road started eyeing each other…appraisingly.  The conversations seamlessly shifted to more “intimate” topics.  One young lady went so far as to comment on my beauty.  Now don’t get me wrong folks, I am a very pretty man…in my own estimation.  It has always been profoundly confusing to me that more people don’t agree.  But when a woman has had enough to drink that she agrees with me on this, it is time to re-evaluate the situation.

Mistake number three:  and I have never made this one again; always have an exit strategy.  I have a room full of intoxicated, consenting adults, and they are looking to me for guidance, participation, or sacrifice, I don’t know.  I then notice that my three helpers are all standing well within my personal space and looking …concerned.  Luckily, it was pretty easy to leave on a high note.  My guys quickly and quietly packed up all of our materials, leaving one nearly empty bottle behind to delay any pursuit.  I said goodbye and left through a side door.  I didn’t go out the way we came because that’s where my helpers went with the rest of the booze, and if anyone was going to make it out of there, it was going to be me.

Travelers, you never forget your first.  I had such a good time that I have given this class, slightly modified of course, every year since.  I have encountered many of these students, and several have invited me to share a dram and talk about what they have learned in the years since.  But the most gratifying part of the whole experience happened three days later.  I was sitting by a campfire with some friends having a cigar and a drink when someone I never met approached the group.  After some introductions were made he asked if we liked scotch.  He then said that he had heard that some guy gave a great class on the stuff a few days ago and it was all anyone in his campsite was talking about.  No mention was made about how pretty this mystery man was, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Sláinte

So...what the heck is a "Maunche" anyway?

Welcome to my journey to become a whisky connoisseur.  Currently I consider myself more of an enthusiast than anything else, but that will change in time.  Hopefully with you coming along for the ride. 


So...what the heck is a "Maunche" anyway?  Well, not to put too fine a point on it, the Order of the Manche (or manche) is an award given in the living history group I belong to for exceptional display of talent and knowledge in one of the Arts and Sciences categories, or for passing knowledge in several categories.   For me it's kind of a litmus test to see if I truly have the knowledge necessary to take this passion of mine to the next level...whatever that level may be.


In speaking with people already inducted in the order I received some truly helpful input on how to achieve my goal.  In the coming months I will be designing backdrops to use during my lectures as well as purchasing a still to demonstrate the art/science of distilling.  They also recommended I create a site where people can ask questions or simply add to their own knowledge.  That is where I am at right now.


My vision is to share what I know about whisky in a manner that everybody can easily understand, to try a variety of whiskies that you yourself may encounter and give my modest opinion on it. 


Remember folks, the point of a journey is not merely to arrive at your destination.  It's the accumulation of all the experiences between the start and finish that truly define the trip.  So, here's to enjoying the ride!

Sláinte