Category: Wisdom & Opinions

78 Degrees – an Australian whiskey with a twist

If you’ve followed the news, gossip, and under-currents of the Australian whisky industry over the last year or two, you’ll be aware that it’s an extremely dynamic scene right now. New distilleries are popping up everywhere; new releases & products are being launched; distilling methods and products are diversifying; distillery ownerships are changing hands; and the industry is genuinely in a state of “blink and you’ll miss something”.

In a space that is becoming increasingly crowded, each new distillery fights for its point of difference or to latch on to something tangible that sells their story. Phrases like “craft”, “finest ingredients”, “pristine environment”, “care and attention to detail”, and the classic “traditional methods” simply don’t carry much weight or meaning anymore, and – with due respect to all involved – it can seem a bit forced for those distilleries that have simply copied or modelled their plant and operations on the same blueprint and template as the many distilleries that stepped out before them.

It’s thus noteworthy when a distillery comes along that is genuinely innovating and doing something different. The 78 Degrees distillery is one such pioneer…

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The complete guide to oak, casks, & whisky maturation

Whisky maturation is both a simple and, yet, incredibly complex process.  Let’s look at the subject in detail; explore what the distilleries are doing; address a few myths; and explain all the beautiful things that happen when we age whisky in oak casks…

One of the quintessential images associated with whisky these days is the classic “action shot” inside the warehouse.  Think of those old-school, dunnage style, dimly-lit warehouses with earth floors and casks racked just two or three tiers high.  It’s an evocative image, showcasing the majestic oak casks quietly slumbering, doing their part to mature the spirit that will one day give us delicious whisky. 

Oak casks maturing in warehouses - Whisky maturation

But it wasn’t always this way.  Whisky – uisge beatha, or the water of life – was originally an unaged spirit, taken off the still and flavoured with additives such as honey or heather to quell the drink’s aggressive nature and to make it more palatable.   Tradition, or perhaps just a convenient story for the distillery tour guides, tells us that the maturation and aging of whisky was a happy accident.  Variations on the story abound, but the crux of it is that some unfortunate person had more uisge beatha than he could immediately consume, and so he put it in an oak cask to store it until he was ready for it.  The cask was left alone or forgotten about for some time, and when it was finally retrieved, he made the happy discovery that the spirit had mellowed, improved, and taken on new characteristics.  Maturation, as we know it today, was born.

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5Nines Distilling – Adelaide’s new kid on the block

It was around 18 months ago that a whisky colleague of mine flicked me an email saying he’d come across a new distillery in Adelaide.  The operation hadn’t released any whisky yet, but he’d visited the distillery and was impressed with the approach being taken on site.  “Keep an eye out” was the intel that came my way.

Fast-forward to the present and the distillery – 5Nines – is now an established name that is quietly plying its trade.  And for those seeking diversity and variation from a single producer, 5Nines has hit the scene with a large range of whiskies that showcases different styles and flavours.

So what’s to know about the distillery?  Well, the name is a good starting point:  The owners claim their sole passion is to create the perfect spirit, and at 5Nines they’re trying to achieve perfection. 99.999% perfect?  That’s the five nines. 

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Matching a whisky to every James Bond film

James Bond and whisky? Whisky has been paired with food for decades, although in more recent years we’ve seen whiskies paired and matched to cigars, watches, music, and even movies!   If you’re going to sit down in your comfy sofa and pass away a few hours being entertained by 007, then having a good dram in your hand goes a long way to enhancing the James Bond experience.

Of course, Bond’s drink of choice may be a vodka martini, but we can shake and stir things up for the whisky drinkers out there who are James Bond fans: Here is our effort to pair and match the perfect whisky to every (official) James Bond film.

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The Highland Coast 700 Whisky Route – HC700

If you’re planning a trip to Scotland and you’re reading this blog, then there’s a good chance that visiting a whisky distillery or two will be part of your itinerary!  Notwithstanding the whisky aspect, most guides or books for Scottish tourism naturally focus on the attractions of Edinburgh and the usual historic sites beyond such as Stirling Castle, etc.  Unfortunately, when it comes to tourist guides and even online resources, it would be fair to say that there’s not a lot that gets devoted to the far north and the Highlands.  Which is a great shame, since it’s the far north that boasts some of Scotland’s most stunning and dramatic landscapes, scenery, and attractions.  The Highland Coast 700 is a fantastic resource and journey that addresses this imbalance, and is a must-have for any serious whisky enthusiast exploring Scotland.  If you’re embarking on the North Coast 500 (aka NC500), the Highland Coast 700 is the obvious extension and guidebook. 

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The whisky lover’s complete guide to sherry

When you first start to explore the world of single malt Scotch whisky, you learn early on that the vast majority of whisky is matured in two different types of casks:  Casks that previously held bourbon, and casks that previously held sherry. 

With further exploration and perhaps some self-education with your nose and palate, you’ll probably begin to be able to identify when a whisky’s maturation journey has been influenced by sherry casks.   In other words, you’ll either smell or taste the sherry cask influence on the spirit.  And, like many people, you might even find yourself favouring the sherried style of whisky, and you’ll have a preference for the distilleries that make sherry cask maturation a feature of their house style and portfolio.  (Glenfarclas, Glendronach, and Macallan arguably being the three main front-runners in this regard, although the Aberlour’s a’Bunadh release is also a long-time favourite).

Whilst many people understand and appreciate the concept of using second hand sherry casks to mature whisky, few people actually understand or appreciate sherry by and of itself.  What is sherry, as a drink?  What are the different types of sherry?  Do some sherry types work better with Scotch whisky than others?  If you’re one of the many whisky lovers who enjoys a sherried dram, Whisky & Wisdom presents this complete guide to sherry to help you understand more about what you’re actually enjoying and why…..

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Australian whisky’s beer loophole

Imagine you’re at home watching the Olympics, and you turn your television on just as the medal presentation ceremony is starting for the marathon.  You immediately notice there are two runners standing on the podium for 1st Place.  In an incredible outcome for the race, it turns out there was a dead heat for first, and the two front runners finished in a tie!

But here’s where things get weird:  It turns out that only one of the gold medallists actually ran the full 42 kilometres!  The other runner started at the 30km mark, and in fact only had to run the last 12km of the race.  And, to top it all off, that runner also received extra assistance along the way. 

Now that’s hardly a fair race, is it?  Clearly, the work, effort, and energy put in by the two runners was vastly different – but by virtue of crossing the finish line at the same time, they each received the same reward and recognition.

The above parable would never happen in real life and, yet, a variation of this is precisely how the Australian whisky industry operates.  Puzzled?  Here’s how it pans out…..

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Oxidation – does whisky go off in the bottle?

Oxidation.  Oxidised.  Oxidisation.  Oxidise…..  

  1. (Verb) To undergo a reaction in which electrons are lost by a molecule, atom, or ion to another matter or species
  2. (Whisky) A loose, general, catch-all term to describe the phenomenon of a whisky’s quality slowly deteriorating in the bottle over time, after you’ve opened it.

It’s one of the most common questions and concerns you see asked in whisky forums and discussion groups: “Once I open my bottle, how long have I got until it starts to go off or deteriorate?”  Or it may take the form, “I have a bottle with just one third left in it, and I left it at the back of the cupboard for a year.  Now it tastes different – what’s going on?”   You don’t travel far along your whisky journey until the word “oxidation” enters your vocabulary.

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Whisky & Wisdom’s “Whisky Quiz”

Back for its fifth consecutive year, Whisky & Wisdom’s Whisky Quiz challenges those who think they know their whisky trivia.  How good is your whisky wisdom?  Take the Whisky Quiz to find out…

This fun little quiz will test the whisky facts and trivia you’ve picked up over your malt journey.  There are 25 questions that are designed to sort out the newbies from the experts. 

Yes, you could consult Google and find the answer to each question, but that would be cheating, right?  So, be honest with yourself and others, and see how many questions you can answer correctly off the top of your head. 

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The complete guide to peat and peated whisky

Are you wanting to know more about peat and smoky whiskies?  Want to know what makes a whisky smoky in the first place?  Peat is one of the least understood aspects of the whisky industry, but fear not:  Our complete guide to peat will make you an instant expert on the topic.

Most whisky drinkers will remember and can pinpoint the first time they tasted a heavily peated whisky.  Like a fork in the road, it was probably a “love it or hate it” moment….there is rarely middle ground or ambivalence when your tastebuds first encounter a truly peaty, medicinal, smoky whisky.  But things change…

Would it be crude to suggest that Scotch whisky drinkers thus fall into three camps?  There are those that hate peated whisky; those that love peated whisky; and those that are actively and earnestly transitioning at some point between those two extremes.  No matter where you sit on that three-pointed scale, this guide will assist you in understanding all the ins and outs of peat and the role it plays in Scotch whisky.  (And we’ll touch on Irish whiskey, too).  So settle in with a dram of your favourite malt and let’s cover some facts and dispel a few myths….     Continue reading “The complete guide to peat and peated whisky”