or how the rapid development of recent decades is affecting the roots of the whisky industry..
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
In the last few years, the market (the world market) of whisky has not been boring at all. It seems that the decades of moderate and almost uneventful development are irretrievably over. Modern trends in the industry are many, often divergent and sometimes momentary. I understand that for most market participants, this is interesting and exciting. But my personal point of view is a bit different. Let say that I am a „brand new“ whisky connoisseur, who naively have decided that will devote substantial portion of free time to a „venerable“, „conservative“ and somewhat boring hobby…. Well, it didn`t happen like that.
Now, after the complaints of the type “What it was Once upon a time”, are finished, I am free to return to the above-mentioned disparate trends.
First, the consumption, and respectively the production of whisky grows dramatically, and not in days, but in hours. Well, that is not bad at all, you might say. And you will probably be right. But twenty years ago, drinking whisky was a matter of refined taste, to say the least. Now ……now it is just drinking whisky.
In the past, whisky was produced in Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada. Now whisky geography is no longer collected on one page. England and Wales, Australia, India, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Georgia, Czech Republic, Spain, Russia ……… I am sure there are many more. As the demand grows, the supply will naturally grow as well. This is really a positive thing. Millions of consumers – millions of tastes. There is already something for everyone. It may sound strange, but there are currently more distilleries in Germany than in Scotland.
In the (good times) past, whisky connoisseurs used to know exactly what they liked. Most were loyal to one or a few brands. They were sure that whatever Billy Walker, Richard Patterson or Dennis Malcolm came up with, it would always be exceptional. And on this axiom, the foundations of marketing in the whiskey industry were solidly laid.
Now, most distilleries have visitor centers, marketing directors, implement large-scale advertising campaigns and dramatically expand their product range. Strange words different than the distillery name and age statement began to appear on more and more labels. I will quote only three of the recent „whisky families“ I have met.
Jura
- Jura 10YO
- Jura Seven Wood
- Jura 18YO
- Jura One for You 18 YO
- Jura 21 YO Tide
Glenfiddich
- Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 YO
- Glenfiddich Grand Cru 23 YO
- Glenfiddich Great Crown 26 YO
Dalmore (The Principal Collection)
- The Dalmore 12 YO
- The Dalmore Cigar Malt
- The Dalmore Port Wood Reserve
- The Dalmore King Alexander III
The desire to segment the market and develop specific niches is downright glaring. This development is probably positive. But there is also a risk that it will „come to excess“ for more conservative connoisseurs.
I will only mark the fashion of concentration the distilleries and reduction of the number of independent producers at the expense of the growth of global players. This has been a trend for decades, not recent years.
Specialization and outsourcing. There is nothing wrong with the appearance of many new distilleries, but no matter what we say, whisky production remains in the realm of tradition and craftsmanship. New distilleries are not able, and many of them practically do not have the technical capabilities to start malting barley. Most of them outsource this process to specialized „malting plants“. In addition to almost no use of malting rooms with wooden flooring, this largely deprives the distillery of effective control over the input barley and the quality of the water used in the process. Respectively, there is a lack of control over some of the key components affecting the quality and taste characteristics of the whisky produced.
We also come to the latest and most exotic trend, which, at least for me, is on the verge of overflowing the glass… Relax, the glass is not full of whisky, but of patience.
I do not know exactly how to explain it. When 3 years ago, I delved into the world of malt and specifically single malt Scotch whisky, the first articles I read were about whisky production. Their authors paid particular attention to the aging, and I will emphasize – in used oak American bourbon casks or in used oak sherry casks, mainly Spanish and of course ‘Oloroso’ or ‘Pedro Jimenez’.
The series listed above includes two examples of the „new cask geography“. But the introduction of new types of casks is not limited to them.
Jura Seven Wood
This whisky is first matured in ex-bourbon American white oak first fill whisky, then combined with another six different types of French oak (Vosges, Bertranges, Jupilles, Allier, Tronçais & Limousin). Obviously, the Jura team has almost unlimited imagination. I say this only in positive sense.
The Dalmore Port Wood
As a typical representative of one of the relatively conservative distilleries, this whisky is downright „normal“. Port wine casks have always been used, without much publicity. Here we also have ex-bourbon American white oak, but the combination is with the exceptional Tawny Port (Graham Port) casks.
Tamnavulin Red Wine Cask Edition French Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Finish
The name of the bottle itself is eloquent enough. I will only add that red wine casks are entering the new whisky series at a high rate. Not only from Cabernet and not only from France.
And while I am on the subject of cabernet, let me throw in what exactly motivated me to draft this short article.
About a year and a half ago, I received as a gift a bottle of Teeling – one of the fast-growing Irish brands (it is not Scottish, but the example is very good). Since I usually do not taste Irish whisky, I directly tried it and …… there is no such thing. I had to read the fine print on the label. These guys took some 95% corn and 5% malted barley, the latter just for exotics. And then they put this solid bourbon to rest in Cabernet Sauvignon casks, brought all the way from far far away California…. Unique! The one can`t find exactly what is drinking. Is it wine, whisky, or …. who knows? Amazing. In Bulgarian folklore, there is an exact wording for such a mix. It is usually called „A stew with grapes“. But please, do not search for criticism in this row. This bourbon is very good – intense, mysterious, wayward. It may be „crazy“, but in a good way.
Glenfiddich THE 19 YEARS Madeira Cask Finish
Glenfiddich does not even disclose the origin of the Madeira casks, and from the information given on their internet site, it appears that the aging is only in such casks.
Those were part of the variations in wine cask “area” that, even if somewhat avant-garde, remains close enough to the standards. But the next rep I am going to end this brief review with, definitely crosses some red lines…. that existed until the 80s of the better century.
Glenfiddich IPA Cask
This whisky is part of the distillery’s ‘Experimental Series’ and the finish is truly experimental. One of the craft beer producers in the region has developed a special beer. Well, this beer is aged for, say, about a month in used casks from the distillery. Then the casks are returned and filled with whisky which matures an additional three months. Let the rush to R&D start now.
I have not yet spotted a Scotch single malt in casks of wood other than oak. There can be. Still, it takes some courage to bottle a good vintage in something other than oak and wait 8-10 years to see what happens.
But what is causing this euphoria around the big distilleries? How did these mainstays of conservatism unceremoniously jump into a sea of casks of all origins and material and type of drink? It is hardly possible to answer briefly, but one must certainly start from the beginning. Why the casks are so important to produce a good whisky!
One of the things you will increasingly find in visitor centers, especially at new distilleries, is the so-called “New Make”. This is whisky straight from the ‘pot’. It is a clear liquid with an alcohol content between 65% and 75% depending on the specifics of the distillery process. It tastes like ….. I do not know. Some say vodka, but it is not. Vodka has a clean taste. The new alcohol contains many unbalanced aromas, most of them unpleasant, intrusive and overpowering. This liquid has nothing to do with the sophisticated drink overflowing with intense, heterogeneous, but well-balanced aromas and flavors.
However, in the early years of the development of the whisky industry, this very liquid was the main product. Naturally, then the question of the taste of the drink was not in focus, since by design the „aqua vitae“ was used primarily for medicinal purposes. As commercial practices developed, wooden casks were introduced. Theories and stories of how this happened are different, some trivial, some exciting. Regardless of the variety of plots, from a technological point of view they all lead to the fact that, by necessity, wooden casks were used either for transport or storage or both. Once adopted, this practice continued and at a certain point it became clear that whisky stored in wooden casks greatly improved its taste and aroma. Oak has always been the natural raw material for cask production, and from there oak casks have assumed their rightful role as the „magic touch“ that transforms the rough and rugged „New Make” to „The most complex and alluring drink in the world“ (quote by Gavin D. Smith и Dominik Roskrow – „The Whisky Opus“, DK Publishing www.dk.com).
The oak turns to the only raw material for the production of casks, mainly because the medieval Europe was literally covered with oak forests. By coincidence, it turns out that oak has the right physical and chemical characteristics. It is a „pure“ wood that does not transfer too intense aromas into the drink, on the contrary, it removes some of the „the unfriendly aromatic compounds coming from barley and yeast, thereby significantly improving the taste of the drink. But the newly unused oak casks do not turn out to be the right match for Scotch whisky. New oak casks do not have the exact qualities to perform the above-described miracle. One of the solutions is to burn the barrels, which, in addition to causing chemical reactions favoring the aging process, adds a subtle smoky aroma sought by many fans.
The next unique chance for the Scotch whisky industry is the rapid growth of bourbon production in the “new world”, and more precisely the adoption of the rule that bourbon is aged only in new oak casks. Fresh oak casks, as written above, are not good friends of whisky, but they contain active sugars, which are important for the formation of the unique taste of American bourbon. The cost of this is a huge amount of non-reusable bourbon barrels. And here come the Scottish distilleries, which were happy to accept this „cargo“. Bourbon casks gives the whisky a taste and aroma characteristics of vanilla, citrus fruits, apples, some floral, herbal and spice aromas. Although subject to comment, most connoisseurs attribute the taste of honey, baked sweets and others in this group to the combination of oak and bourbon.
Barrels of fortified wines (Sherry, Port, Marsala, Sauterne, etc.) are also harnessed in the service of the wealth of flavors and aromas. Collected a huge amount of sunlight and rich in sweetness and aroma, these wines leave a deep aroma trail in the casks in which they mature. In fact, some of these casks are used up to three times to age whisky. The sherry, port and marsala casks add the rest of the fruity aromas and flavors – peach, apricot, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, mango, papaya, even kiwi and the naturally – the aromatic sultana grape. A vast variety of flowers and herbs are also associated with sweetened wine casks.
It should be added that in addition to casks, whisky is also affected by other factors during aging. These are mainly related to the geographical location of the warehouse – near the sea or within the „big island“, aging outdoors or indoors, and if you will believe it, the number of rows of casks located on top of each other. The first two circumstances determine the degree to which salty aromatic nuances, sea breezes and sea salt are present in the taste of some whisky (imaginary or not). The storage of casks in more than 2-3 rows, mainly in closed rooms, in turn gives another unique characteristic of single malt whisky – the presence of different taste and aroma characteristics in the same batch of whisky stored in casks also from the same batch. The reason for this is the different intensity with which barrels located closer to the warehouse floor infiltrate air through the wood than those located in the upper rows.
The next time you buy a bottle marked with a cask number from the relevant batch, be sure that this is not a simple marketing trick, but a fact that, even if hardly perceptible, there are differences between whisky from different casks.
How does the ‘explosion’ in whisky production and consumption affect the use of casks? There can hardly be too many opinions on this matter. Naturally, the ever-growing production of whisky, while maintaining the standards of Scottish producers for aging, lead not to an increased demand for barrels, but literally to the depletion of stocks of them.
On the other hand, the expansion of the geography of the markets encourages many of the flexible and marketing-oriented distilleries to look for new taste and aroma nuances, respectively to create product series, as mentioned already. Most likely, the basis of these „exercises“ is the desire to create specific market niches and their capture by one brand or a family of related brands.
The result of these two interrelated trends is that American oak casks are still largely able to meet the growing demand, but this is not the case with fortified wine casks, especially standard sherry casks. The demand, and consequently the production, of sherry is not growing at the rate at which the need for sherry casks to age whisky is. At present, a paradox is created. It is the fact that sherry wines are produced and aged, with the sole purpose of using the casks to age whisky. What they do with the wine itself is not clear. In addition to this mind-blowing solution, some distilleries choose the more elegant and natural – expanding the „cask“ portfolio. In addition to those close to sherry, marsala, port and other fortified wines, the whisky industry calls for red wine casks, various types, rum, cognac (very rarely), as well as craft beer casks (mainly for final short-term maturing).
No one can choose when to „jump hard“ into a hobby. And going back to the „good old days“ is unlikely to help achieve any kind of satisfaction. For me personally, the current state of the whisky industry, and the possible options for its future, represent an interesting and exciting challenge. So, as they say: Let us watch from the front row and enjoy the show!
The author declares that the purpose of this article is only to express a non-professional opinion regarding the facts stated in the text. The mention of specific beverage brands is for the purpose of expressing opinion only and in no way has a commercial purpose. The author is NOT affiliated with any of the beverage manufacturers or distributors. The author does NOT recommend the use of alcohol.
