#scotchseries

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 44 #IndependentBottlers Distilleries have a house style. They bottle the whisky they make within given parameters. Independent bottlers can buy casks from a distillery and mature it in a totally different way from the original house style of the distillery. Independent bottlers allow another ring of drinking experience radiating out from the stills. Some distillers don't like independent bottlers as they take "their" spirit and present it in a different way. The distiller loses "control" of the final product. However, I think independent bottlers are a fantastic way for people to experience more flavour and style in whisky. Independent bottlers also have their own house style! Some independent bottlers buy the new make spirit and fill it into their own casks. Some buy casks that the distillers have in their warehouse and don't want as they don't fit their distillery flavour profile. There are many ways independent bottlers operate. Now, many distilleries keep all their spirit for themselves as people love single malt drams from Scottish distilleries - especially Islay ones. It is difficult for Independent bottlers to source casks. This is one of the reason why we are seeing so many independent bottlers setting up their own distilleries - ie Ardnahoe from Hunter Laing, Ardnamurchan with Adelphi, Clydeside with AD Rattray and so on. Photo some of my own eclectic Independent Bottler drams. Written by Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 43 #CondensersandWormTubs Basically - Worm tubs have the vapour in the worm/ the copper pipe, and the water in the tub. Shell and Tube condensers have the vapour in the tube and the water in the copper pipes. At the end of the lyne arms which come off the top of the stills, we find condensers or worm tubs. Both these condense steam/vapours coming off the stills, back into liquid. They do it in different ways. A worm tub is a wooden or metal tub constantly filling with cold water to cool the worm or serpent of copper filled with vapour, which spirals from the end of the lyne arm through the tub. As the vapours travel through the worm they are cooled by cold water flowing around the worm. Worm tubs give the vapour less copper contact - there is shorter length of worm for the vapours to travel through, before condensing back into liquid and pouring through the spirit safe. The vapours pour out the lyne arm into the bigger tube space of the condenser from the top and cold water fills all the thin copper tubes from the bottom. This way the colder water hits the colder vapours, and the slightly warmer water deals with the vapours as they come out of the lyne arm. There can be 50, maybe 100, thin diameter copper pipes containing cold water in a condenser, for vapours to react with. In the past all distilleries used worm tubs but in the late 60's, early 70's most distilleries changed to using Shell and Tube Condensers. Only about 15 or so still have various worm tubs. Worm tubs allow a "meatier", sometimes more complex, heavier spirit. Ardnahoe, Islay's newest distillery will have 2 worm tubs - and what is believed to be the longest Lyne arms in the industry... this dram will be interesting! Photos Worm Tub from old still in Islay Museum and outside condenser at Bowmore Distillery. Written by Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 42 #Anamanfhearainn - Terroir. In Scottish; Soul of the Land. One can live ON a landscape or live IN a landscape. A role of the whisky maker is to bring out TERROIR. This concept of Anam an fhearainn reflects and contains a pride and a tradition. It is a way of living. Whisky is made as part of the daily existence of place and people. This mind set reflects a respect and a valuing of the specifics of place. Whisky made like this contains positive vibes and energy that deepen and strengthen it. The very atoms of this whisky are harmonious and beneficial. Some call this folklore, some call it physics...... Distilleries grow out of relationships between features of location which inform and create human culture, traditions of that place. In a reciprocal relationship these cultures and traditions then shape and inform the landscape being inhabited. To define place, first we can think about relationships between features of an area. We have geology, orientation of directions, altitude, weather patterns, flora, fauna, inhabited by humans or not, and myriad other concepts. One of the fundamental relationships is the contrast of water with land. This dynamic is informed by which direction the land faces, the geology of the land mass, the shape of the land bordering the water ~ be it protected wooded inlets as on the southern side of Islay, or high, gull inhabited cliffs on the western face of the island. pWhere does one place end and another begin? Where does Bruichladdich end and Port Charlotte begin? What concepts do we use to give limits to our defined area? We use civic boundaries, parish boundaries, physical boundaries. Boundaries are also decided economically. Boundaries can illustrate the edges of our power and influence.. Think of the story of Peter Mackie owner of Lagavulin, building a replica of Laphroaig's still house and attempting to make whisky like Laphroaig's at Lagavulin, only a mile down the road. He failed miserably..... Written by Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk Photo Heart of Islay wedding favours & Barley grown at Bridgend for Bruichladdich.

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 41 #DrinkingWhisky IN MY MOUTH I HOLD THE WORLD Gazing into my glass swimming with clear, warm, liquid gold, I imagine standing on the highest diving board and looking down - the distances are comparable. Eye to glass; body to water. I dive; down, down, air streaming passed my out stretched arms, rippling over my torso. My focussed intent takes 1.42 seconds to immerse me in a liquid other world. In the time it takes to spring off a high board and plunge into the fluid state of the universe, I lift my glass of whisky to my lips. I am infused with whisky. Aromas swirl around my face. A golden halo encircles me. I think of barley fields in Islay; first, a piercing, verdant green thrusting through dark, damp soil. Later, as days pass, vegetal turns to cereal and a golden haze suffuses the land. Then, I see barley heads buffeted and bowed by a rain soaked summer. A too dark amber crop awaiting a dry harvest day. Scotland searches for sunshine. I smell sunshine in my glass. I smell sunshine from years ago. I see a man hefting peat with rivulets of sweat beading his naked spine. Women lay oblong shaped pieces of earth to dry on tough, old, springy roots of heather, a million midges dancing around their hair scarved heads. Time passes. Written by Rachel MacNeill Photo copyrights Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 40 #MATURATION We distil spirit that is clear. When it is filled into the cask the spirit looks like water - uisge beatha - water of life. It is during it's time in maturation inside the cask that spirit develops it's colour. Spirit develops colour from 3 things - the actual wood it's self, the char of the wood and the liquid that was held in the cask before whisky spirit. Before we fill with clear whisky spirit, we empty out all the sherry or port or wine that was held in the cask previously, But, some of the original liquid that has seeped into the wood of the cask can seep back out into the clear whisky and colour it - as well as flavour it. Most spirit nowadays is filled into a bourbon cask first. If we are filling into casks which have held bourbon and nothing else, we call this 1st fill. If the cask has held bourbon, then whisky, and now we are filling the cask with whisky for a second time, it is called 2nd fill. It doesn't matter if it is your distillery or someone else's distillery that has used the cask before, if this is the second time for Scotch in the cask, it is referred to as 2nd fill. A rule of thumb is .. if your whisky is yellow gold or white gold it is likely to have only been in a bourbon cask. Think of all the colours associated with bourbon - yellow, gold, honey etc. If your whisky is reddish gold, amber or with red tints it is likely to have spent some time in a sherry cask - or red wine, or port cask. Of course these are easy generalisations to help you have an idea... they don't always hold true. We can also get white/clear sherries and ports..how do they influence whisky spirit colouration...just to confuse the issue... ! Slainte! Photo is sherry butts & bourbon casks in Ardbeg Filling store. Written by Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyAcademy #IslayWhiskyConnection #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 39 #PROCESS The stages involved in the whisky making process are numerous. This is a schematic highlighting eight of them. MALTING, KILNING, MILLING, MASHING, FERMENTATION, DISTILLATION, MATURATION and our favourite one.... LIBATION! Each stage of whisky making is intrinsic to the whole. Incremental changes made during these processes show significant results further down the line. A good analogy is with sailing - half a degree out when you plot your course seems like nothing, but sailing 300 miles along that course can make the difference between landing in New York or New Year.... The differences in the way one distillery works from another in carrying out the same basic range of whisky making processes, allows us to experience the magnificent range of flavours, aromas, mouthfeel and developments over time that delight and astonish when we savour our Scotch. Photo is ex Manager Eddie MacAffer in the Bowmore Malt Barns. Slainte! #IslayWhiskyAcademy #IslayWhiskyConnection #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES 38 #OAK Why Oak? Oak is one of the hardest and most durable timbers. It's Latin name, Quercus robur, means strength - think "robust". Oak grows from the outside in - a new ring grows around the trunk of the tree, just under the bark, and is called the cambium layer or the sapwood. This long ring layer lets nutrients move up from the roots to the leaves and back down again. The following year another layer grows and the original layer moves back into the body of the tree. It develops Tylosis. This means it blocks these miniscule vein like structures. So the oak in the heartwood becomes more or less water tight. Staves come from the heartwood of the oak. Cellulose flesh of wood is porous, concentric layers of resinous cells - tylosis, stop liquids from penetrating all the way through. French oak has less tylosis, american oak more tylosis. French Oak gives a spicier kick, the wood is lighter, less dense. Oxygen acts differently with the spirit than in the American Oak. Glenmorangie own forest in Ozark mountains in Missouri, and have a partner distillery in Tennessee, so the wood is used there before being sent home to Scotland Metal hoops to hold the barrel staves together were not in regular use until the end of the eighteenth century, previous to this we used chestnut, hazelnut or willow saplings. Written by Rachel MacNeill Thanks to Andrew Russell Manager Speyside Cooperage for French Oak stave and Hungarian Oak. #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk

[wildandmagic]

#SCOTCHSERIES Tasting Notes. Page 2. Read Page 1 first! ARDBEG GROOVES 51.6% (This is only half of it - read page 1 first...I ran out of space! ) Palate - warm fruity tannins on the cheeks, not tightly astringent, but you feel it. A tingle on the whole front of the tongue and slight numbing on the gums all around the mouth. There is a big soft fluffy ball of sunshine glow into the chest, a diffusing warmth on the first mouthful. Second mouthful you get thinner smoke, you know this liquid gets a lot of it's flavours from the cask and what was in the cask. Underneath you find the Ardbeg. A young retro hippy; thin, with long wavy hair, wearing groovy clothes and lots of beads...... Slainte! Written by Rachel MacNeill #IslayWhiskyConnection #IslayWhiskyAcademy #ScotchTalk