Driven to Drink....

I know it has been a couple of days since I promised the Scotland posts - so much has happened and I just never seemed to find a down moment to write....

Alright, readers - this is another fair warning, like my child rant, for those of you not interested in Whisky.  I think I'm going to do 3 postings about my time on the Whisky Trail - which is arguably the highlight of the trip so far (as I knew it would be!!)  The first will be about the mechanics of making Whisky - which is really quite fascinating even if you don't like the "Liquid Gold", the second will be about the individual distilleries that I visited and some little gems along the way, and the third, will cover all the facts and funnies that happened...and there were quite a few!

First up - Whisky.  A little personal background before we begin.  My mother was not a big drinker - and that is pushing an understatement.  She enjoyed a glass of White Zinfandel (Beringer's, if you please) in her later years but never touched "the hard stuff".  I grew up hearing Scotch referred to as "horrible stuff".  Don't forget to draw out the "rrr's" in this - HARRR-ible to be phonetically/Sarah C. Bayrd proper.  It wasn't until I moved to Portland that I had my first real taste of Scotch, to which - I gazed quizzically at the glass and thought...."Oh my, this is not bad...in fact, it's better than "not bad"...it's pretty damn good!!"  As I was talking to my Aunt some months later, she heard the clinking of ice cubes and asked me what I was drinking.  Before you think it - yes, I knew then and now DEFINITELY know that whisky (as it will be referred to from now on) is never to be had with ice - this locks in the flavor and numbs the tongue, rather than just a "wee" drop of water to "open" it up.  When I replied "Scotch" - ok, just this one last time - she laughed when I told her I really liked it.  Her reply was, "Duh, Beth...you're Scottish".  The angels sang out from my soul as I heard this...."I'm Scottish??!!  Really?!"  She proceeded to tell me that my mother's maiden name of Caskey used to be McCaskey before it was shortened to Anglicanize it.  Visions of kilts and tartans and thistles swam in front of my eyes as I heard William Wallace bellowing "Freedom" in my ears (more on Mr. Wallace later in the 3rd section).  We Americans always want to know about our roots - none of us wants to be exactly what we are....mutts.  Regardless - I may only be a part Scottish, but I'm going to hang onto that bucking bronco as long as I can!!

So - back to the Whisky.  I have always wanted to go on a Whisky Tasting Tour of Scotland, so this was high on the list of "Must Dos" when planning this trip.  After being in Edinburgh for 2 dreary, rainy days....it was (ok, the bugs are already eating on me on my balcony...but they will not win!!) time to meet the coach for the tour.  Our wonderful driver Eric escorted everybody onto the mini-bus/coach...whatever - introduced himself and gave us the do's and don'ts for the trip.  We were a small group of only 7.  This was a welcome change from TLD tour of 16.  It also meant that we were going to get to know each other pretty well on our 3 day trip.  Looking around, I scoped everyone out and figured it was a decent mix of people...about what I expected, save 1 person.  A red-headed kid that looked like Prince Harry.....it couldn't be....could it??  I didn't hear him speak for hours, but he turned out to be Australian.  Darn it...my Kate Middleton/Younger Man dream died right there (KIDDING!!)  I was happy to discover that 2 of the couples turned out to be American - 1 couple from Houston and 1 couple from Virginia Beach (but originally from Seattle - kindred beer spirits).  The one other person was Irish but living in Edinburgh.  All in all, a solid group of people with different life experiences.  

We motored through the Grampian Mountains which cover 1/3 of Scotland and contain the 2nd highest peak in Britain.  These are Glacier carved mountains meaning they are slightly more rounded than Volcanic ones.  With the sound of bagpipes playing, we admired the Bonnie Purple Heather just getting ready to bloom and were treated to our first glimpse of the sun.  Alright, I did say this first posting would only be about Whisky, so I guess I better get to it, huh?  We pulled up to Dalwhinnie - population 50 - scrambled off the coach, eager to get the tasting underway.  Oh yeah, we first had to "suffer" through a tour :)

The tour was conducted by this poncey little guy named Jamie that couldn't have been more than 20 years old, but he sure thought highly of himself and at least (to my novice ears) sounded like he knew what he was talking about....

So....ahem....The Whisky

There are 3 core ingredients to Whisky...
1. Water - to be a Speyside Whisky, the water must be sourced from either the Spey or one of its tributaries
2. Yeast - many distilleries have yeast made to their specifications
3. Barley - generally sourced locally

1st - to begin the process, your raw barley must be malted, that is, germinated to convert the starches in each grain into soluble sugars.  The barley is steeped in water for 2-3 days, then spread on a malting floor, left in a warm, dry environment for about 5 days, where it is turned frequently.  After about a week, when green shoots have appeared, the germination is stopped, by drying the now "green malt".  This drying can be done several ways and each distillery does it differently - it can be blast dried with air, smoke dried with peat or a combination of both.  Peat is the wonderful decayed plant matter Scots dig out of the ground right before it turns into coal.  Once dried, the malting process is complete and its time for the malt to be put through a mill where it is ground into Grist.  Again, each distillery has their own specification for their Grist....Grist looks like ground up granola....some chunks left in it and some of it very fine like flour.

2nd - the next part is Brewing and is split into 2 stages (kinda like the Malting).  The first stage is "Mashing".  The Grist and Hot water, at temperatures between 63-68 degrees Celsius is added to a HUGE contraption called a Mash Tun where water is generally added in 3 stages at increasing temperatures in most distilleries.  Revolving paddles stir the mix for several hours - these paddles move at an absolute snail's pace...like, 1 mph.  The water added is hot to dissolve the sugars that became present in the malting process.  The Mash Tun has a perforated bottom where the water from this soaking process is drawn off - the liquid is called "Wort" and doesn't contain any alcohol....it is just sweet (we got to taste it!).  The leftover grist on the bottom is called "Draff" and cannot be used again - it will go to make cattle feed.  So much of the Whisky making process is about reusing and recycling which was really cool to see in action. 

Alright - the 2nd part of stage 2 is now up.....Fermentation.  After the "wort" has cooled, it is put into another set of HUGE containers called "Wash Backs" whereupon yeast is now added.  Fermentation now officially begins and can take up to 2 days to complete.  Basically, the yeast just needs time to eat all the sugar in the wort.  What you are left with at the end of this process is called "Wash".  Get it - you get Wash from the Wash Back - and it tastes "NASTY" (picture my Mom saying this one as well...withe a big "ooooooo").  The alcohol content is low at this point, only 8% or so.  This lines us up for the 3rd part of our distillation process.....

3. Distillation - YAY!!!  Malt Whisky (the good stuff) - is usually distilled twice, in copper pot stills - a Wash Still and a Spirit Still.  These things look like big, copper Hershey Kisses.  Every distillery has a different shape to their stills b/c the size and shape affect the character of the Whisky.  We first heard that "nobody knew" why this was, but I called "Bullshit" and was later proven right.  Ok - the wash (not like your laundry wash) is pumped into the larger Wash Still and is then heated from below up to about 80 degrees Celsius.  As the alcoholic vapours (you like that British "u" used, don't ya?) rise and pass over the neck of the still (this would be the little piece of paper sticking out of the Kiss), they condense.  This collected liquid - now officially termed, "The Low Wines", is moved over to the other still - The Spirit Still....where the exact same process happens again - heating, vapourizing, condensing.  This is where things get really cool in the Whisky business - well, cool to me...there is definitely more cool stuff later!!  The resulting liquid from the 2nd process in the Spirit Still goes into this awesome thing called "The Spirit Safe" where the alcohol content is measured and given some cool names.....oh, if I could only remember the Scottish ones....oh well - I'll try...

1. The Head (the foreshots, I think) - this stuff is too high in alcohol - 80%-90% - in other words....Moonshine!
2. The Heart - this is the "good stuff" - around 50%-60% - this will be used for our finished product.
3. The Tail (the feint) - this is too low in alcohol - 25%-30%

Here is where reusing and recycling will come into play - the stuff not used - i.e. The Head and The Tail will be (OK, the light on the Atlantic is absolutely gorgeous right now....jeeeeezzz!!! I'm almost too mesmerized to write.) - The Head and The Tail will be mixed with the next batch of "Low Wines" and put into the Spirit Still for another go 'round.  This can be done 5 different times - so, all the "bad" alcohol is eventually turned into "good " alcohol....i.e. Whisky or "Liquid Gold"

However, we're not quite done yet!!  But don't worry, we're almost there....

Lastly...we have - drumroll, please....

4. Maturation - The Heart is finally ready to go to its little home - aka - the cask; oak to be precise for, a minimum of 3 years.  Whisky is clear when it goes into the cask and gets 100% of its color and 60% of its flavor from the maturation process.  In other words, this is a critical point.  The wood - American oak - is used to make the casks for the Bourbon Industry, and for the  Spanish maturation of Sherry.  Bourbon and Whisky are intimately involved with each other.  By law, a Bourbon cask can only be used ONCE (I have got to look up why...something tells me $$ changed hands) - so Scotland gets all (well, almost all) their barrels/casks (I'll explain the difference in a subsequent post) from the American Bourbon Industry.  By law (again), the whisky must mature in casks for 3 years.  During the maturation process, the residual flavour of the Bourbon, plus the compounds of the wood (vanilla, honey, etc.) enhance the aroma and flavour of the whisky.  Most single malts are allowed to mature for over 10 years before bottling.  As each year goes by, we wouldn't want to forget that this is a product from God - so 2% of the  overall volume in each cask is lost per year to evaporation....and is called....The Angel's Share.  When you go into a whisky cave - the delicious smell that hits you is just that....The Angels enjoying their take!!  No wonder they always have smiles on their faces - mystery solved.

So, my friends - there you have it....the Whisky Making/Distillation Process...in a nutshell (ha ha).  I know this was a long read, but each of the different tours was fascinating in their own way - even though the process was same at each......well, almost.....but that is Post, numero dos....coming at you soon!!!

I welcome any of my new friends, who were on the tour with me, to correct me in the comments section of the blog - should anything be inaccurate.  They will laugh at this since I was the Little Girl Taking Notes the entire time...eager not to forget or miss a single fact!

Gonna enjoy the "sunset" for a bit (yes, I know it sets in the West)...and recover my "flow" with a little vino....