So, after a nice little break with some wine and some people watching - or should I say, the people were watching me....and turning green with envy over my balcony and view!! It's time to introduce you all to the wonderful distilleries I visited while Whisky Tasting.
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce....
1. Dalwhinnie
2. Benromach
3. Cardhu
4. The Glenlivet
I will attempt to keep this one a little shorter since the "Facts and Funnies" posting will be quite lengthy. I just read back through my notes looking to cull some of the information, but then I thought....Why? If you don't want to read it, you don't have to. At the end of my trip, this blog will serve as my travel journal. No sense skimping when I don't have to....
1. Dalwhinnie - The 2nd highest distillery in Scotland - I forgot to ask the highest ;) The water used comes from 3 miles behind the distillery. Jamie, who I mentioned previously, was our guide...poncey. Only word to describe him - a British word. However, he was not immune to my charms - I wrangled another whisky out of him at the end of the tour ;) Owned by the Diageo group - basically a HUGE alcohol company - Guinness, Gordon's, tons of whisky, Bailey's...countless others. At Dalwhinnie, only 2 stills are located on the property. They keep 5,000 casks on hand with the bulk of their product stored elsewhere. Bottling takes place in Glasgow, not on property.
Introduced us to the "6 Classic Malts of Scotland" - a flavor guide of sorts. Not clear if these are all Diageo distilleries or not...(probably so).
1. Cragganmore - a North Speyside malt
2. Glenkinchie - a Light Lowland malt
3. Dalwhinnie - a Gentle malt from the North Highlands
4. Oban - a Superior West Highland malt
5. Talisker - the Golden Spirit of Skye
6. Lagavulin - a Classic Islay malt
2. Benromach (my favorite tour and favorite guide...Sandy)the only certified organic distillery in Scotland and the smallest distillery in Spey. It was shut down for a number of years but was "recently" re-opened by Gordon and MacPhail - Whisky Gods of Scotland. Benromach is where we learned about "Phinels" - or PPM, Phinel Parts per Million. This measures the smokiness of the whisky. Interesting part is that it doesn't measure the actual intensity. So - a whisky can smell really smoky and have low Phinels, or - conversely, it can have high Phinels and not taste smoky at all.
0-5 parts - typical of Speyside Whiskies
8-12 parts - Benromach
40-60 parts - Laphroiagh (actually tastes a little seaweed b/c the peat used comes from near the sea).
Oh yeah - Whisky gets smokier and peatier the farther west you move. I was in the very Eastern part, so the whisky was much "fruitier". I guess I'll just have to go back to Scotland to explore the Western "bit"
Benromach does all its malting, fermentation, distilling and maturation on site. They are one of the few to still do this. Everything is done by hand here, no computers (like The Glenlivet!) They use 1 person, working 8am-5pm, 5 days per week. They turn out only 25 bottles per week/ 1.5 million Litres per year compared with The Glenlivet (yes, I keep using "The" because they did and it was a bit obnoxious) - who turns out 10.5 million Litres of whisky per year....Yowzas!!!
Sandy made 2 very nice, poetic points while we were there....
1. Distilleries are like a big jigsaw puzzle. They all have the same picture they are seeking to complete, they just put the pieces together differently to do so.
2. Whisky doesn't change, it simply interprets your emotions. This is why the same whisky can taste differently depending on your mood.
HRH The Prince of Wales re-opened Benromach in 1998...I got a picture of his signature. I had to stand outside, though, b/c no pictures are allowed anywhere whisky is being "handled". The volatile vapours can explode if you aren't careful ;)
Their organic certification involves the farming methods of the barley, the water they source and most importantly....the wood the whisky is aged in. Unlike most distilleries that use second hand bourbon casks, Benromach uses virgin casks made of wood from Missouri. Reason being....it has been against the law to use pesticides in Missoure for over 40 years. The new wood imparts a sweet flavor to Benromach's whisky.
This is the only place I purchased Whisky. I couldn't resist as I need a "special" whisky to only bring out on special occasions. I bought one in a Lilac bottle that was aged in a French Bordeaux cask...only 1600 bottles were produced. Can't wait to get home and crack it open with Dad and Bro!!
The next section of the trip was not a distillery, but deserves a huge shout out. It was a place called The Cooperage. It may not sound like much, but this place absolutely blew me away and should always be included on a Whisky tour. The art of coopering is the art of actually making the casks that Bourbon and Whisky go into. I have never even considered how a barrel is made. I look at them with brand new eyes now - especially the people that make them. I have never seen such physical, demanding, exacting work executed so perfectly every single time.
Difference in a Cask vs. a Barrel....a Barrel is a type of Cask as are the other two below...
Barrel - 200 Litres
Hogshead - 250 Litres
Butt - 500 Litres (the guide made me bend over to have a picture of my ass taken next to the HUGE "Butt"....he only made me do this....but I think it was b/c I was his favorite...Little Miss Note Taker and Litle Miss Question Asker ;) )
The motto of the Speyside Cooperage is "From Acorn to Cask". I won't go into the details, just suffice it to say - "Astounded" is the only word I can use to describe my reaction to this place. There are only men coopers - no women. The other motto is "One Man, By Hand". It takes 4 years of intense apprenticeship to become a cooper - where these guys go on to work from 7am-4:30 or 5:30, 5 days a week, churning out 25-30 barrels each per day. There are 15 working coopers with one other guy doing the special orders and overseeing the apprentices. They are paid by the barrel, NOT by the hour (we were told they are paid quite well...very well). This was experimented with once and it was observed that productivity plummeted. When I say I saw no one talking to each other, I mean it....these guys were machines....pounding, measuring, pounding, turning, pounding, checking, pounding, etc. I tried to take pictures of them, but the pictures just don't do these guys or their craft any justice. The cooperage churns out 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per year. 2009 was the highest export year after a huge dip in the Whisky industry. What nation do you think drinks the most whisky....? India. One last little factoid - it is said that within the first year to 18 months that a cooper is retired, he suffers physically because his body has become so used to the hard labor. If they are not careful to keep up a high level of physical activity, they die. Wow.
3. Cardhu - you may know this one better as Johnnie Walker. Cardhu was developed and founded by a woman - the only distillery to bear this distinction. They churn out about 69,500 Litres of spirit per week, 3 million Litres per year. This is the place where we learned that the slightest dent in one of the copper stills can affect the character of the finished product. This became interesting at The Glenlivet. At Cardhu, there are 11 sections that hold 10,000 casks. Others are housed elsewhere. 1/4 of each cask is lost every year to evaporation. This isn't unique to Cardhu - it was just where it was said. Cardhu is mostly famous for its blends rather than its Single Malts. One can turn their nose up at this, but blending is a real art.
Here is your breakdown of the Johnnie Walkers....
Red - 38 different 4-12 year old malts used
Black - 38-39 different 12 year old malts used
Gold - 15 different 18 year old malts used
Green - 15 different 15 year old SINGLE malts used
Blue - 15-16 different 15-50 or 60 year old malts used
We finagled tastes of the Gold and the Green, but Lorraine, our guide held fast about busting into the Blue....despite pressure from our cute little HRH Harry Windsor look-alike....and he did try!! We wouldn't have been able to try the Gold or Green without his charms!
As I said above, Cardhu was started by a woman....when she sold out to "Johnnie Walker" she had some conditions...
1. Her son had to be able to stay on at Cardhu.
2. Her other son would become the blender/bottler upon graduating from "Uni".
3. Johnnie Walker had to build houses for the workers and keep them in good conditions.
4. All waste had to be recycled for animal feed.
So nice to see what can happen when a woman is in charge!!!
And finally.....our last distillery.....
4. The Glenlivet - yes, they had a "The". This place was on a TOTALLY different scale. All completely computerized and mechanized. The total opposite of Benromach. Most Scots don't refer to Glenlivet as Glenlivet; rather, they will order a "Smith's" because this is the name of the founder. The Glenlivet just opened a new wing - also christened by HRH the Prince of Wales...aka Charles or Charles and Diana or now, Charles and Camilla. He likes his whisky. The Barley for The Glenlive comes from the NE of Scotland, just 30 minutes away. Their water is sourced from a well on the property called "Josie's Well". Josie has to work REALLY, REALLY hard, b/c The Glenlivet needs 600,000 Litres of water a day!! Yes, a day!! I mentioned that Grist and Water makes a mash....well, The Glenlivet does 12 TONS of mash 6 TIMES per day. The scale is just massive!!! There is no peat used in The Glenlivet....NONE. The Glenlivet possesses the largest Mash Tun in the whisky industry today - it measures 142 cubic meters. That number doesn't sound like a lot...but, you just can't even comprehend the size of this thing. They only use one Mash Tun.
Turned out that our guide, Kerry - a sweet little Scots girl - actually had a cool family connection to The Glenlivet. Her father built the wash backs - not as large as the Mash Tun, but still REALLY, REALLY big....17 feet high and about 12 feet across. This is his job and he makes these huge contraptions for distilleries all over the world. It was a really personalized piece of information for such a cold, sterile factory.
This is also where we FINALLY learned that the industry does have some idea how the size and shape of the copper stills affects the character of the whisky....and it came from a 21 year old girl. The "tall and slender" stills have light and fruity flavors b/c the alcohol has to travel so far to get up and over the "swan neck"....leaving the dull and dirty vapours behind. The "shorter and dumpier" stills have full and heavy flavors b/c the alcohol doesn't have to travel as far to breach the swan neck. See - I KNEW these people had to have an idea!! Since The Glenlivet just opened a new wing with new copper stills.....they had to EXACTLY duplicate the old ones.....meaning, any dent that existed in the old stills had to be ESACTLY replicated in the new stills. Can you imagine being the "Dent Hunter" and the "Dent Master". Just seems a little silly to think that much of a difference could be made....
As I mentioned - everything is totally computerized here. At the other places, a guy would measure the alcohol content in The Spirit Still by floating a thermometer or something. At The Glenlivet, it is done by "time". The Head is collected for 30 minutes, The Heart is collected for 2 hours and The Tail is collected for 3 hours or for the remaining liquid....just kinda soul-less.
There was a cool story about George Smith, the founder - but I took a picture of it and will remember it that way ;)) Short version....George made excellent whisky that everybody liked in 1823. The King tried it, liked it and wanted George to make more; so he issued him a license. This meant all the authorities were nosing around, poking their snouts into all the local business....which made the locals mad. They threatened and threatened 'ole George until the Laird of Abelore gave George 2 pistols to protect himself. George slept with these pistols every night. End of story. I'd personally like to have more than 2 pistols to protect myself from angry Highlanders.
Apparently, the whisky people don't "Cask" a whisky with the date of maturation already in mind. They decide this - or rather, the master taster does this - after it has been aging for a bit. Then, it will either continue to age for 12, 15, 16, 18, etc. We got to see a cask that has been in the cave since 1962...they estimate that only 1/4 of the cask is left and that the bottles will retail for over 15,000L (that is over $20,000) each. AND you don't even know if the whisky is GOOD!! Finally, the temperature is not controlled at all in the stone buildings used as warehouses. The stone keeps them a pretty neutral temperature at all times of the year....I think that is just crazy talk!!!
We enjoyed The Glenlivet so much that we had 3 different groups overtake us. Yes, we asked questions...Yes, I am my mother's child. I want to know cool little tidbits for cool little conversations later in my life!!
I will end this post with the following "dirty" comment. As I mentioned that I drove past the village of Cockermouth in TLD...the Whisky industry was clearly not thinking when it named some of its terminology....
When you drill the hole into a cask, it is called The Bung Hole.
The cork you put in said hole is called The Butt Plug.
If whisky leeks out of the hole, it is called Butt Seepage.
COME ON, PEOPLE!!!!!
Next up....Fun Facts and Funnies about Scotland, courtesy of our wonderful, handsome Scotsman driver, Eric....
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