Whisky barrels

[simon c]

This story is only vaguely related to wood but I was reminded of it by a recent post on wine barrels.

When I lived in Scotland in the early 90's I visited a few whisky distilleries. At one of the small, old ones that still uses traditional methods we got a tour and met the cooper (who makes the barrels). He told us abou the history of making the barrels they use for their 18 year old single malt.
First, he visits France and selects the oak that he will make the barrels from. They choose French oak for historical reasons as they would never have used English oak in the past and Scotland doesn't have much oak.
The oak is shipped to Scotland and he makes the barrels by hand. The barrels are then shipped to Spain and loaned to a sherry makers where they are used to make sherry - for 20 years.
The barrels then come back to Scotland and are used to make the 18 year old single malt. Most coopers don't get a chance to see the whiskey they are making the barrels for and the whole circle takes about 40 years from selection of the oak to finally making the whisky.

Simon

[Pat]

So what did the whiskey taste like? :D

[Iain]

And the Greeks have Retsina which is matured in pine tubes as opposed to barrels.
They are just pine logs hollowed out, filled and capped.
The resultant wine tastes like cheap cask moselle blended with Pino Clean.
The expensive brands come in two litre bottles and cost about $9.00.
Truly bloody awful stuff, I'll take the single malt.
With apologies to the Greeks who have some wonderful food but not the Retsina I'm afraid.

[silentC]

We gave my old man a 5 litre port barrel for his 60th a few years ago. It's made from oak taken from an old 'barrique'. It doesn't matter how cheap the port is that you put in it, within a couple of weeks it comes out smooth. He pours all sorts of stuff in it, even put in some sherry once. Marvellous stuff, had a few last night...

[Slavo]

A friend of the family had a port barrel also. He would buy the cheapest, nastiest port and stick it in the barrel with a spoon or two of honey and let the oak do the work - from what I remember it tasted pretty good, although my menories of those nights are somewhat fuzzy.

[silentC]

I have to admit I have a bit of an ache behind my eyes today. :(

Will have to get him to try some honey in it. That would give it a bit of a meady taste.

[Daddles]

What's the difference between a single malt and a double malt? As in, what's the difference in process AND what's the difference in taste? :confused: (would you believe I've never had an intelligent answer to this question? And if anyone mentions pancakes ... :D )

Richard

must be sober, I typed my name correctly the first time ... or does that mean I'm ****** and didn't notice the typo ...

[Iain]

A single malt is just that, it is one batch of whisky that is bottled and sold from one vat.
The rest are blends of whiskys from several vats, the flavours vary considerably depending upopn the process that was used in the making of the brew, for ewxample, some whiskies are made with smoked barley, that is the barley is exposed to peat smoke prior to distillation, others are subject to a similar process involving kelp which gives a very iodine flavour.
When these whiskies are blended you finish up with a distinctive scotch, or it can be a way of offloading some of the not so successful distillations.
Blends vary considerably but Dimple is a fine example of a good blend, there are many fine single malts, try Grants which is a blend and Glenfiddich which is a single, they both come from the same distillery but exhibit vastly different characteristics.
It's a bit like wine making but probably more complex.

[Daddles]

Hmm, so there are all these drunken scots wandering around making blending decisions ...

Thanks Iain. For some reason, I thought a double malt was supposed to be better.

There was a series of fishing shows staring Rob Sitch and some other codger called "A River Somewhere" - they travelling around the world fly fishing. In one show, they visited the Scottish Highlands and tried a few whiskies - you could hear their voices slurring as that segement went on.

Richard

[Iain]

Richard, a double malt is not neccessarily inferior to a single malt, it depends upon the quality of the batch.
I saw that series and contributed to it in my own little way, I used to be involved in importing upmarket fly fishing gear and have fly fished around the world, the illustrious Mr Sitch appraoched me about fly fishing in Kamchatka (sp) and I was happy to offer advice.
Regretably he did not venture there to sample the 70lb salmon we were catching :D
No snakes but watch out for the bloody great big bears.

[simon c]

I agree with Iain about single malts. Single malts became extremely popular over the last 20 years as whisky became more of a luxury drink worldwide rather than something you mix with coke/ dry ginger. Single malts have a very distinctive taste which isn't necessarily better. Blended scotch often has a standard and sometimes more palatable taste which makes it more appropriate for general drinking. Some of the more expensive and highest quality scothes are blends eg Chivas Regal and Famous Grouse.

Simon