Greetings from the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie, Scotland. Add this place to your bucket list if you are a whisky lover. This wee town is in the heart of Speyside. The bar here at the Highlander has near 400 expressions of whisky, so needless to say, I have been doing ample research.

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First up….(and not shown here) is Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Solera Cask. Finally!!!!
I understand this process thanks to a chance encounter with a Glenfiddich Brand Ambassador in the bar a few moments ago. How it works is, Glenfiddich is aged in 3 different cask types for 15 years. This aged material is then dumped into an 11,000 gallon vat where “marrying” takes place. About 1/2 of the vat is emptied for bottling. The vat is then re-filled with more 15 year old product. Half is emptied off and bottled….and so on…repeat….repeat….

In my other research, I have found that I quite enjoy Tomintoul 16 year old. This distillery is Japanese owned and not open to the public.

I am starting to dip a wee toe into the Islay peated category. I quite enjoyed Ardbeg Uigedail. The peat is nicely balanced by the sweetness picked up from aging in ex-sherry casks.

The Bowmore 15 year old is also an Islay product but the peat is toned down a bit. A very nice dram to finish a meal with.

The Dalmore 12 year old is likewise a nice product that displays excellent balance on the palatte.

Lastly, in another chance encounter, I met the Brand Ambassador for Balvenie. Yes, we get Balvenie in Canada, but we do not get Peat Week. What happens at the distillery is there is an annual shutdown for maintenance. Prior to this event, the distillery runs batches of highly peated malt through the process. The result is Peat Week Whisky. I tried the 14 year old expression and 30 minutes later I am still savoring the profound balance of peat and sweet on my palate. A very nice pre-bedtime dram to be sure.

I will wrap up these thoughts by saying that if you are contemplating a craft distillery – you have got to make good whisky. Otherwise, don’t make it at all. As I stress in the Workshops, adding sticks and cubes and chips to make a distillate turn brown just ain’t gonna’ cut it. We live in a global society where goods and services flow back and forth. If the consumer does not like your product, it will not matter that it is local. That consumer will go back to his/her big name brand whisky in a big hurry.

Whisky is 500 years ols and Speyside is where it began. Treat yourself to a wee trip here and sample what real whisky is all about ( or as I am reminded….all abooot in my Canadian accent).

Until Next Time….

Cheers

The next time you taste a Japanese whisky – like Nikka Malt whisky – you will note the distinct fruity, estery flavors. As part of my studies at Heriot Watt University, I have come across some journal papers that point out the Japanese deliberately add Lactobacillus bacteria towards the end of the fermentation. These microbes feast on whatever may be left of the fermentable sugars in the fermenter plus they feast on the dead carcasses of yeast cells that have expired. What these microbes generate is lactic acid. According to the literature, this acid can alter the structure of fatty acids in the fermented wash to generate lactones plus they can combine with alcohol molecules to create esters. Net result – better mouthfeel and better flavor. I recently saw an add in a magazine for a Lallemand product called Sour Pitch which is Lactobacillus Plantarum microbes. This product is aimed at craft brewers seeking to make sour beers. I contacted Lallemand and they graciously provided me with some Sour Pitch. I have now completed 3 mashes using one of my Bourbon recipes. In one mash I added zero microbes. In the 2nd, I added a measured quantity after 84 hrs of fermentation and left the bacteria to grow in the fermenter for 24 more hours. In the 3rd, I let the same measured dose of bacteria grow for 48 more hours. I have now done A’Lembic pot distillation strip runs and spirit runs. I will be sending samples to Lallemend for GC analysis.We hope to be able to identify the presence of esters on the GC plots and we hope that the 48 hrs sample will have a greater ester profile. Stay tuned for the outcome….

Back in February when I was in Scotland I toured Glengoyne Distilling just outside the Glasgow suburb of Milngavie. I was seriously impressed with how open and welcoming the team was at Glengoyne – in particular my tour guide Jo-Anne.

I learned that many Scotch distillers use something called Distiller’s Malt – which is a malt barley more highly modified than the usual 2-row pale malt commonly available in North America. A higher degree of modification means that the sprouted grains have been dried “low and slow”. The naturally occurring enzymes in the grain thus are more apt to survive the drying process. In the typical Pale Malt, the drying process is quicker and many of the natural enzymes are killed off, save for Alpha amylase and Beta amylase.

Back in Canada, I recently approached my grain distributor ( Western Malt Distributors in Saskatoon) to inquire about Distiller’s Malt. I soon learned that it is available through Cargill (USA) – so I ordered 6 bags. More costly than the regular Pale Malt – but such is the tuition cost of learning. Upon opening the first bag – I was hit with beautiful malty, biscuit-like aromas. For sure – different than the standard Pale Malt.

As I sit here on this Saturday morning, I am doing that final 2 mashes from these 6 bags. My arms are sore and so they ought to be. Hand-cranking 300 pounds of grain through my little roller mill is a lot of work. No need to visit the gym this month!

Each mash was remarkably consistent giving me 21 Brix after a 63C rest and a 72C rest. What’s more the sweet goodness of this malt was beyond beautiful. To add to the flavor, I included in each mash some Simpson’s Smoked Malt (27 ppm phenol) and some Chocolate Malt.

I fermented all my mashes with Lallemand MW yeast for 5 days. I then did stripping runs on my 60 L A’lembic still and ran each run until my hydrometer read 10%. In other words, I stripped everything out.

The stripped distillate was then re-distilled in my 20L A’lembic. The majority of these spirits runs came off at 85% and towards the end of the run, tailed off. I stopped collecting when my hydrometer read 55-60%. each spirits run yielded on average a distillate that was about 72-75% alc. It was interesting to taste these late runnings when teh hydrometer was at or near 60%. The notes of chocolate (from the Chocolate Malt) were very evident.

I have now about filled a 56L barrel at 58% alc and that barrel shall rest for at least 3 years. I think this is going to be a fabulous product.

If you can get your hands on some Distiller’s Malt, give it a go. I think you will be impressed.

Oh…and by the way…if you are curious about the next 5 Day Distillery Workshop – it is set for the week of Sept 11th at Urban Distilleries in Kelowna, BC. See their website for registration details. There might be one more in late October – but my Heriot Watt M.Sc. school work is going to again take priority for me….. I have one more course to do this Fall and will be starting my thesis project as well.