…I drink Whiskey!
Over the last few years, I’ve become somewhat of an amateur Whiskey aficionado. I even took a trip to Scotland in ‘07 to visit several distilleries and to gallivant around the highlands and take a boat ride on Loch Ness….but I really went on a pilgrimage to visit the home of some of my favorite adult beverages.
I learned quite a bit about Whiskey and upon returning to Hawaii I was inspired to delve even further into what exactly is Whiskey, and the differences between American whiskey and the Scotch and Irish whiskys of the UK.
I’ve also discovered that the average layman, and the average bartender doesn’t know a damn thing about Whiskey. The average person’s idea of whiskey is a “Jack and Coke” or Johnny Walker Blended Scotch on the rocks.
Those are just the two most popular representations of whiskey and how it is consumed in typical bars and restaurants.
With this article, I offer you a sort of Whiskey 101…a primer on the key differences in the many different offerings of this spirit, why there are distinctions, and how many different factors go into creating variations of what most people recognize as a single category of Spirit.
What Makes Whiskey Unique From Other Spirits?
First of all, what sets whiskey apart from other spirits like vodka and gin? Vodka, gin, rum and other spirits are all essentially the distilled products of mash.
The reason why whiskey has so many unique characteristics is that regardless of region, style, or flavor, the primary characteristic that all spirits that come under the “whiskey” category is the process of aging the spirits in White Oak wood casks.
A Cask Warehouse of Japanese Yamazaki Whiskey
These casks are typically made from American White Oak, and the inside surface of the barrels are charred with a hot flame after they are constructed, before they are filled up with the freshly distilled whiskey, also called ‘white dog.’ This white dog, if you were to drink it prior to aging in the barrel, resembles vodka. It’s the aging in charred barrels that really imparts the flavors and colors that we recognize as whiskey.
Whiskey can be aged anywhere from two to hundreds of years, but it is this aging process that distinguishes Whiskey from all other spirits. During the aging process, the Whiskey goes through a process of soaking into the wood when the season is warm. The wood in the barrell expands, and the liquid saturates the charred wood on the inside of the barrel. When the weather cools, the wood contracts and the Whiskey draws out many of the characteristics of the wood, imparting that amber color to the liquid as well as imparting many different characteristics like flavor and texture from the compounds found in the wood. This is why whiskey’s that came from the same mashbill can taste very differently. A whiskey aged 2 years in a cask, has only gone through two seasons of this process…while a 12 year aged one will have far more characteristics drawn from the charred wood after having 12 seasons of temperature fluctuations.
By manipulating the exposure of the barrels to such variables as temperature, as well as location in the storing house, various “expressions” of whiskey can be created.
After barreling and aging the whiskey to the desired age and conditions, there are three ways producers create differences in their final products: bottling the contents of a single cask, or they combine an arbitrary number of barrels into a large vat, and than bottle the mixture. This is called “vatting.” Some distillers will combine a small, select “batch” of barrels to vat, and they market the final product as “small batch” whiskey. But typically, most distillers will combine many many barrels of different ages to create the particular taste and strength profile that can be consistently made to create a consistent product over time.
For instance, Jim Beam could combine 500 barrels of 4 year whiskey with 250 barrels of 6 year whiskey and 100 barrels of 7 year whiskey to arrive at a consistent profile that they than bottle and sell as their basic “white label” brand of Bourbon. Keep in mind that I this was just a hypothetical example to explain the process, and is not based on any real numbers used by Jim Beam at all. Most whiskey distillers consider the formulas for blending their barrels to be proprietary recipes they carefully guard as trade secrets.
What we do know, is that by law, in both the US and the UK, the age statement on any bottle of whiskey can only be as old as the youngest whiskey involved in the blending. Therefore, in my hypothetical Jim Beam example, they could not put an age statement on the bottle higher than 4 years, since that is the youngest whiskey used in the blend.
Interestingly enough, whiskey has begun to enjoy market popularity in the last decade, and many brands of American whiskey used to contain age statements of the youngest whiskey’s used in their vatting process, they’ve since removed any reference to aging…presumably to match the rise in demand for their product. Evan Williams black label used to carry a 7 year age statement and Wild Turkey 101 used to carry an 8 year age statement. Both have removed any reference to age on their labels because they had to start using younger barrels from their warehouses to meet the rise in demand. They may still use 8 year or 7 year barrels, but they no doubt have started using a blend of younger whiskeys.
So as you can see, there can be a very large differentiation of products created from the initial white dog from any given distillery. In this way, a producer like Jim Beam, will use only three mashbills, but create a wide variety of different final products. For example: Jim Beam White Label, has no age statement, and is the result of a vat blend of various aged casks from their warehouse.
Another offering they make is Jim Beam Black Label, which has an age statement of 8 years…which as I previously explained, means the youngest barrels used in vatting was 8 years minimum. Therefore, the same white dog was used to create JB White Label, but only barrells aged 8 years or more were used to create the Black Label bottling.
Jim Beam also offers several variations of “small batch” bourbon, with their most popular being Knob Creek. Knob Creek carries an age statement of 9 years…but is also a small batch, meaning a select number of barrels were set aside in the Beam warehouse specifically to age 9 years to make Knob Creek. So while the White and Black labels may involve the vatting of hundreds (if not thousands, I’m not really sure,) of various aged casks, the small batch collection will typically use a small number of barrels to create a specialized profile.
Than you have their single cask offerings, such as Bookers. This is bottled at what is referred to as “cask strength.” When standard whiskey products and even small batch whiskey is vatted and bottled, the producers will ad purified water to cut the end product to get it down to the desired proof…typically between 80 and 90 proof. But Cask Strength means your getting the whiskey straight from the barrel without any added water. That means your getting the whiskey at the strength it was at when they first put it into the cask for aging…which is much higher than your standard whiskey offerings. For instance, Booker’s from Jim Beam is bottled straight from the cask at 129.5 proof. (Now you know why early American Indians called whiskey straight from the barrel FIRE WATER!)
What’s the Differences in Whiskey Proof?
Some people are under the mistaken notion that higher proof automatically means harder to drink. This is not necessarily true.
The average drinkers experiences with higher proofed alcohol is usually with 151 Rum or Everclear 190 proof…than used as a mixer and given a healthy dose of respect and caution when consuming, recognizing how intoxicating such high proof spirits can be.
But because of the various means of producing whiskey and aging, there can be substantial differences in drinkability, and the whiskey proof is by no means the sole determinant of how smooth or how harsh a particular whiskey can be. Higher proof bottlings of Whiskey also tend to come from whiskey that is aged longer, so more flavor and characteristics are present, while the charcoal on the insides of each charred barrel also serve as a rudimentary charcoal filtering system that filters out many impurities in the white dog. Thus, the longer a whiskey is aged in it’s cask before bottling, the more impurities get filtered out, and the more positive characteristics from the cask’s wood are absorbed.
This is why Wild Turkey 101 is actually smoother to drink straight than Jim Beam white label that is bottled at 80 proof. As a whiskey novice, don’t be afraid to try the higher proofed offerings. You’d be surprised at how smooth and flavorful the higher proofed offerings can be. Not to mention the real advantage of higher proofed whiskeys…you can always water it down to a level that you can handle. Think Old Grand Dad 114 proof is too strong? Put it in a tumbler with some ice, let the ice melt for a bit, stir and enjoy!
How to Drink Whiskey?
Many whiskey purists claim there is only one correct way to drink whiskey, which is ‘neat.’ American Whiskey bourbon enthusiasts will often proclaim this is the only way…straight up with no ice, no water and certainly no mixers like coke. The Single Malt Scotch Drinkers on the other hand insist that adding a splash of water “opens” the flavors of the whiskey up.
I say the only way to drink whiskey is whatever way you happen to like it! It’s your money, your whiskey, drink it however you like!
That being said, there is a reason why whiskey enthusiasts usually profess neat or with a splash of water as the only way. Once you become accustomed to the burn of the alcohol, you start to discern the many different variations found in the particular whiskey’s profile.
By adding cola or other sodas, or too much water, or too much ice, you do alter the chemical composition of your drink, and you may end up never tasting the subtle expressions that each different whiskey has. Because aside from aging and vatting, there are a number of different ways in which whiskey producers can create a wide range of flavors in the final products.
What Are the Differences Between Scotch, Irish, and American Whiskey? Why do they taste so dramatically different, yet all are called Whiskey?
Aside from country of origin, each locale that produces whiskey uses ingredients specific to their region that imparts unique characteristics to their whiskey. The following is a short (but by no means comprehensive) list of differences between the various Whiskeys:
Single Malt Scotch -
As the name implies, the mash bill used to create Scotch uses a single grain, barely. The barley is malted than roasted. The traditional manner of roasting barely malt was to burn dried out peat moss culled from the abundant bogs found in the country. The different variations in flavors can be rendered in controlling the amount of time the roasted malt is exposed to the burning peat moss, which imparts in some Scotch a smoky flavor. Scotch also uses the water from the country’s rivers and lochs, which has it’s own minerals and compounds present in the water that affect the final outcome.
Scotch Whisky is also defined by the region of the country it comes from, as each region has distinct characteristics in the water and the weather conditions for aging the whisky. These region’s malts are classified as lowland, highland, islay and speyside. Each region has unique characteristics that give their whisky’s a wide variety of flavors and textures. Here are some of the most popular malts of each region:
Lowland – Glenkinchie, Glenmorangie
Highland – Dalwhinnie, Oban
Islay – Laphroaig, Lagavulin
Speyside – The Glenlivet, The Glenfiddich, The MaCallan
Kentucky Straight Whiskey -
There are two kinds of Kentucky Straight Whiskey’s: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (hereafter referred to as KSBW) and Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey (KSRW). Both distinctions are legislated by law and are defined by the percentage of grains used in each particular mashbill. Whereas single malt scotch is made from nothing but barley malt in creating the mash, Kentucky Bourbon and Rye Whiskeys are created from a blend of grains. Straight Bourbon is required by law to contain not less than 51% corn in it’s mashbill, and Straight Rye must have no less than 51% rye grain in it’s mashbill.
The real variations come from the different ratios of various grains in the other 49% used for each particular mash bill.
Most Bourbon’s contain a mixture of barley and rye with the corn, but there is a subset in which the distiller uses wheat instead of rye. These are called “wheaters” as wheat and rye produce very different flavor profiles in the final product. The most popular “wheater” is the well known, highly marketed and promoted KSBW, Maker’s Mark. Another brand of KSBW, Bulleit, has created a unique flavor profile by using a much higher percentage of rye….reportedly about 35% of the mashbill is rye, while the typical Bourbon is around 15 – 20% rye in their mashbill.
Once a person becomes accustomed to drinking Whiskey, you will begin to notice the wide variety of flavors as expressed by the different mashbills. This is most likely why most KSBW and KSRW enthusiasts insist on neat as the best way to drink it.
In any case, the primary differences between American Whiskey and Whiskeys from Scotland and Ireland is definitely due to the corn content in the mashbill. Corn gives American whiskey a unique, sweeter flavor as opposed to the Barley content of Scotch and Irish Whisky.
Another distinguishing feature of KSW is Kentucky’s particular geographical feature of limestone water wells. Kentucky distillers swear that the limestone imparts unique mineral content that gives KSW characteristics that cannot be matched by any other water source in other locales.
Tennesse Whiskey -
Tennessee whiskey is very similar to Kentucky Straight Bourbon…the difference being, of course, that it’s made in Tennessee, and also one key difference is that the two most noteworthy Tennessee distillers, George Dickels and Jack Daniels, they charcoal filter their whiskey prior to bottling. Jack Daniels is the undisputed king of Whiskey in terms of marketing and world wide sales. For many people, Jack Daniels is synonymous with the word whiskey. Compared to KSBW, KSRW and Single Malt Scotch, I think it’s rather bland and unspectacular…but that’s just my opinion.
Other Whiskey’s –
Other countries also produce some fine whiskeys, most notably Ireland, Canada and Japan. Typically, they are all modeled after the Scotch styled, barley malt for their mash, although some Canadian distillers do buy some American white dog to make their blends. Differences can be discerned by the water, the mashbill and aging and vatting methods.
What is the proper way to drink Whiskey?
As I said earlier, there really is no “right” way to drink it. But many, many people who are new to the world of whiskey, when handed a dram (the equivalent to a single 8 0z. shot), will “shoot” it like they would a tequila, vodka or rum.
While you can feel free to drink whiskey anyway that suits you, most aficionado’s SIP the whiskey. (This is also another way to enjoy those higher proof whiskey’s without turning bright red and hacking up a lung.)
Whiskey was meant to be savored…that’s why it’s spent all that time in the barrels, absorbing all of those flavors in the wood and having all those impurities filtered out! To give you a unique spirit to be enjoyed deliberately and at a leisured pace.
There are many other areas that can be discussed when it comes to whiskey…just as wine is paired with certain foods, so too can whiskey be paired with things like dark chocolate and cigars. These things can compliment certain styles of whiskey, and half the fun is figuring out which pairings go best with your sipping pleasure!
