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”

What makes a whisky a “Christmas whisky” ?

What makes a whisky a Christmas whisky?  Is it simply a whisky you receive as a gift for Christmas?  Is it a whisky that comes packaged in traditional Christmas colours, e.g. red, green, and white?  Or is it a whisky that smells and tastes like Christmas?   (Which begs the question: What does Christmas actually taste like?)

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Five whiskies for Christmas

Need a whisky for Christmas?  Once upon a time, whisky was whisky, and Santa wasn’t too discerning when it came to what special dram you left out for him on Christmas Eve.  But as for us consumers?  Well, Christmas = Christmas pudding, and that means dried fruits, raisins, dates, boozy prunes, butterscotch sauce, toffee, cherries, currants, cloves, cinnamon, and spices.  And THAT, my friends, means a Christmas dram has to be sherried!

Here are five sensational sherry-matured whiskies that will fit the bill this Christmas.  Four are regularly and widely available; one is an Australia-only exclusive….

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The most beautiful distilleries in Scotland

It’s a question often asked:  Which is the most beautiful distillery in Scotland?  But if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, how does one assemble a definitive list of Scotland’s most beautiful distilleries that adequately captures all the subjectivity from amongst the whisky community?  And when it comes to distilleries – which are nothing more than factories to produce alcohol – what metrics do we use to define beauty?  Is it architectural flair?  Aesthetic lines and symmetry?  And how do we compare architectural and construction fashions across timelines?  Many would suggest that the classic, quaint, stone-built distilleries of the Victorian era have a romantic advantage, but purists are correct to assert there is beauty in the functional architecture of modern behemoths such as Roseisle or Dalmunach.

There are further complexities:  How much does the surrounding environment impact our assessment of a distillery’s beauty?  For example, Lagavulin is, in reality, just a clump of relatively plain, white-washed buildings nestled together.  However, put them in a coastal location on the water, add some colour from the local vegetation, and throw in the ruins of a medieval castle nearby for good measure, and you have one extremely beautiful distillery.

A further difficulty arises when you look at the many distilleries that have been bastardised over the years with unsympathetic expansions, often resulting in clashing, jarring visuals.  There are many such examples that mix their original old-world Victorian charm with 1960’s modernism or 1970’s brutalism.   

Following a poll that Whisky & Wisdom ran on Twitter a few weeks ago to gauge public opinion, we offer you – in no particular order – the following list of Scotland’s most beautiful distilleries:

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The challenges of starting a new whisky brand

When new businesses are founded and launched, there are numerous financial and business models that help get the product to market.  There might be schemes to raise capital; funds assigned to support marketing and promotion; and then comes the down-and-dirty process of actually selling the goods.  It’s obviously a very diverse and varied minefield to tread.  If you’re wondering how to start a new whisky brand, or even how to start a new whisky distillery, the minefield is particularly tricky to navigate…

The whisky industry is an example of a sector where that diversity and variation is most evident:  There are brands and businesses that go large scale and are backed by investors who put up millions of pounds/dollars, and there are – quite genuinely – “mums and dads” businesses that are launched off little more than sweat and elbow grease in combination with passion to create a craft, artisan product.  And, in more recent times, there are distilleries that get established off the back of crowdfunding or barrel investment schemes – with mixed degrees of success.

William Grant and his wife
William Grant and his wife.  Were the challenges of establishing a whisky distillery and brand much different in 1887 to today?

A question often pondered is whether or not the process of getting a whisky business off the ground is easier or harder than it was in the past?   There’s a multitude of different factors and considerations.  William Grant, together with his family, spent over a year physically building Glenfiddich with his bare hands and started distilling on Christmas Day in 1887 to establish his own brand.  In contrast, if you’re armed with a website, a social media account, and access to some spirit distilled at Cooley, it seems you can quite easily launch an Irish whiskey brand overnight – complete with an impressive backstory!

In the harder basket, distilleries setting up today have planning and environmental controls that their predecessors didn’t have to worry about.  Council and municipal applications and approvals can take years to get through, and the days of casually discharging distillery effluent and by-products back into the river downstream are long behind us.

In the easier basket, as we’ve seen already, the internet and social media marketing means you can broadcast and promote your brand to a wider audience than ever for relatively little money.  Online sales via your own website mean you don’t even have to fight anymore with wholesalers or distributors to get your product on to the shelves of retail liquor outlets.   The days of Tommy Dewar hopping on a ship and spending months sailing around the globe to get sales are also well and truly behind us.

Let’s look at a few distilleries and brands from around the world that have forged very different steps in very different landscapes to see how the process unfolded….

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Australian whisky has its Cardhu moment

Our Cardhu moment?  Yes, very much so….

Since the Australian whisky industry’s re-birth 30-odd years ago, there have been a number of specific markers or events that have indicated the industry is taking steps forward and leaving its fledgling status behind.  Like an adolescent transitioning to adulthood, not every step is glamorous; there will be a few missteps along the way; but you’ve got to take those steps to learn and develop.

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Five whisky buzzwords you need to know right now

When you first start to take whisky seriously, there’s a new lexicon you have to learn. Words like malt, maturation, hogshead, fermentation, and Speyside have to form part of your vocabulary. But there’s a new bunch of whisky buzzwords that are now in the lingo. Get your mouth around these….

 

TRANSPARENCY

Whisky terminology - Transparency

30 years ago, a whisky’s label would simply state the spirit’s age and its ABV.   Glen McSporran 12yo at 40% ABV? Done. It was a short day in the office that day for the marketing team.  However, as the category grew, so too did consumers’ thirst for knowledge.   Some labels started to declare the nature of the cask (or casks) that were used in the maturation.   The independent bottlers – chiefly bottling single casks – led the way by providing more information about the specific cask, e.g. whether it was a hogshead or a butt; how many bottles the cask yielded; whether the cask was ex-bourbon or ex-sherry; whether the spirit had been chill-filtered or not. Of course, all this is simply what normal people would call “information”.

The reality is that brands and marketing teams are at liberty to declare whatever information they feel is appropriate on the label.   The word “transparency” is interesting, because it carries the subtle sub-text of what the brand is willing to declare – and implies there is information they don’t wish to declare. In a time of increasingly inquisitive consumers and the era of outrage, there is instantly a culture of questioning or doubt when a label chooses not to declare something. Brands are suddenly now expected to be transparent. If Distillery A is happy to tell you the cask was a 1st Fill, why won’t Distillery B tell us about their cask? Does it infer that it’s a refill cask? Is there a (misplaced) perception that the whisky is suddenly inferior or less marketable? If a label is not transparent about what’s in the bottle, is there something to hide? (The answer is, “Of course not”. Alas, that’s not the vibe carried by a sector of consumerville right now).

As whisky buzzwords go, it’s a particularly hot one amongst the independent bottlers at the moment, particularly in the realm of the single cask – noting that there seems to be considerable conjecture as to what constitutes a “single cask” these days. Thank you, Glendronach.

 

DARK

Whisky buzzwords - Dark

Growing up in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, dark had negative connotations – such was the reach of Star Wars and the dark side of the force.   Whisky, of course, is the antithesis of this: Rightly or wrongly (and it’s mostly wrongly), dark whiskies are seen as being the highly desirable item. We taste with our eyes, and there’s no denying that a dark-coloured whisky gets our palates salivating. The dark hue gives an instant message of either great age, or sherry-cask influence – or both.

As such, dark is a tremendous marketing word and an even better marketing tool. Young whisky can be artificially coloured with E150 caramel, labelled as a No-Age-Statement, and sold with a high price tag. Similarly, a whisky can spend five minutes in a lifeless fourth-fill PX cask, be artificially coloured, and be sold at a premium. Witness how many new and young/start-up distilleries resort to marketing their product on the basis of its colour, rather than its flavour or quality. (Australian distillers, I’m looking at you).

As such, there’s now no shortage of whiskies that have pounced on the word. Highland Park Dark Origins. Talisker Dark Storm. Auchentoshan Dark Oak. Bowmore Dark & Intense. There’s now even an independent bottler called Darkness.

 

ENGAGEMENT

Whisky buzzwords - engagement

Years ago, you bought a whisky. You drank it. If you liked it, you went out and bought another bottle when it was finished. Darlings, that’s so 2006. These days, you’re expected to engage with the brand. Some brands will even go out of their way to engage with you. No longer content with just brand ambassadors, we now have brand advocates, brand champions, brand partners, and…shudder….brand influencers.   The whisky companies and labels spend serious marketing dollars making sure you’re engaged with their brand and their message. It’s no longer about the liquid in the bottle, it’s the story that the bottle tells. Hand-in-hand with engagement, there’s another related word: Your relationship with the brand should be experiential.   Marketing campaigns are no longer posters on billboards, they’re now interactive websites, apps on your phone, online competitions, and hashtags on your posts. Captain Picard, eat your heart out.

 

EXTRA

Years ago, Jerry Seinfeld did a routine about the word ‘extra’ and it’s uncanny how his comments on the word now ring true in the world of whisky.   “Normal” just doesn’t cut it anymore and extra is what drinkers want. Chivas Regal Extra, anyone? Others quickly jumped onboard – Haig Extra, for one, and it’s now widely applied to a host of Japanese bottlings (e.g. Mars, Torys, and Sun Peace.) But it’s being applied in other senses, too.   Glenmorangie led the way – their whiskies aren’t “finished” anymore, they’re “extra-matured”.

 

OAK

Whisky words - Oak

Oak is hardly a new word, and your earliest education in whisky would have introduced you to the concepts of American Oak and European Oak. If you got particularly nerdy about it, you even knew which one was quercus alba and which one was quercus robur. The problem for whisky – well, at least for the people tasked with marketing it – is that a product made from only barley, water, and yeast doesn’t leave much room for spin.   And so oak is one of the few things they can hang their hat on.   And thus it’s been an increasingly-embraced buzzword in recent times: Auchentoshan American Oak. Sullivans Cove French Oak. Balvenie’s “The sweet toast of American oak”. Glenfiddich Rich Oak. Compass Box’ Oak Cross. Auchentoshan Blood Oak. Akashi White Oak.

What’s the difference between gravy and jus? About $15 on the menu.   Same goes for asking, “What’s the difference between wood and oak?” They’re the same thing, but “wood” is out and “oak” is in. It sounds more exotic, more artisan, more sophisticated. Distilleries that used to use the word “wood” on their labels have replaced it with “oak” and, in some cases, it’s now the delineator between their product range. Macallan, in particular, have doubled down in recent years: Fine Oak, Sherry Oak, and Select Oak, to name just three.  

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Got any more whisky buzzwords you’ve heard repeated lately? Share them in the comments section below.

Cheers,
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The highs and lows of a whisky brand ambassador

Do you want to be a Whisky Brand Ambassador? There are a number of professions that have the outward appearance of being particularly glamorous and appealing.   They’re the careers that people look on at with envy, with the inherent assumption that the work is always exciting, always fun, never a chore, easy to fulfil, well remunerated, and without any downsides.

Over the decades, several professions have assumed such projected glamour. Rock stars, airline pilots, flight attendants, professional footballers, film stars, astronauts, magicians, and so on. As a subtle prelude to this article, you’ll note that most of these professions involve performing and/or travelling. And, as any regular traveller or performer will tell you, it ain’t always a barrel of monkeys.

The role of a whisky brand ambassador is one such profession that, on the surface, must surely be the ideal, dream job? After all, you get paid to work with whisky. Heck, you get paid to actually drink whisky! You get paid to travel and tell people about whisky. You get paid to hear all the insider knowledge, to visit the distilleries, and to be on the frontline of whisky’s marketing, development, and expansion. If you love whisky, surely there couldn’t possibly be a downside ?

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Parallel importing and its shades of grey

If you’ve been into a whisky for a while, you’ve no doubt got a good feel for the “going rate” of most bottlings. You’ll know the RRP of the staples – all the 10yo/12yo/15yo expressions of the main players, and you’ve probably also got a good feel for the going rate of the typically-found independent releases as well. And that means you’re well placed to spot when a bargain comes through and when a retailer is offering something at a significantly cheaper price than the norm.

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