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
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
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
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
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,
AD