Experiment: Whiskies side by side

With my starting line-up complete, it makes for an interesting experiment to smell and taste two different whiskies side by side. One thing you notice when working your way through a bottle of whisky is that it does not give you the same experience (in terms of smell and taste) every time. In fact, one thing I think is a fact, is that whisky starts to oxidize in the bottle, once the filling level goes down and air enters the bottle in greater amounts. This changes the aromas coming from the liquid noticably. However, I also noticed that from day to day within certain limits I get different impressions off a dram, and these seem at first to be random instead of following a clear trend as that due to oxidization. I attribute this to my personal "form of the day", meaning that my environment, my mood, what I previously had to eat or drink, or possibly medication I took, all have an effect on my senses of smell and taste and thus on how I perceive a whisky.

This led me to the following experiment, which I think is a quite educational one. I am going to smell and taste two whiskies of different style side by side, and compare what I experience to what I wrote down when focusing only on a single one.

Interim résumé: My starting line-up

I feel, by now it is time to take a little break and summarize the first steps I took on my whisky journey. Before setting out, I did some research and decided which bottles I would buy in the beginning - and in hindsight I think it was no mistake to do it the way I did it. I wanted to cover what I perceive as the cornerstones of the character of Scotch whisky, with standard bottles that are easily availabe and more on the inexpensive side. My choices turned out to be:

Glenfiddich 12 yo: Probably the most popular of all Scotch single malt whiskies, and the natural starting point for thousands of people who set out on their own whisky journey. This single malt is one of the cheapest out there, and so might also be a good option for people who are interested, but not yet sure if whisky is their thing at all. It represents the fruity fresh character of Speyside distilleries very clearly, without any traces of either sherry or peat smoke.

My take on Laphroaig Quarter Cask

After the Macallan 12 yo as a representative of a heavily sherry influenced whisky last time, I still needed a strongly peated one in order to cover all important basic corners. For peated whiskies, the most famous option is to look out for the island of Islay, which is home to many distilleries that produce traditionally peat loaded stuff. The most widely known brands are probably Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Ardbeg. As already mentioned with the Glenfiddich 12 yo, my first lesson about whisky I learned from Frank Schätzing in one of his novels, where Lagavulin and Laphroaig were presented as 'the good stuff'. Naturally, whenever I sought out whisky in the following, I tried to adhere to these guidelines, and on more than one occasion came across the Laphroaig 10 yo, which is affordable and pretty damn tasty.

When starting my whisky passion for real last year, I wanted to try out some unknowns, and opted therefore for the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. This bottling is very similar to the standard 10 year old, but taken a bit earlier from the casks and finished off in smaller casks (quarter casks) that give an increased whisky-wood engagement during the final months before being bottled. Also, this stuff is presented with a higher alcoholic strength (48% ABV instead of 40% with the 10 yo), and un-chillfiltered. The higher alcohol content means that more flavor and aromas can be contained in the liquid, while the omitted chillfiltration is something that whisky afficionados always want to have, but for the beginner maybe is not such an important factor.

My take on Macallan 12 yo (Sherry Oak)

As I wrote in my last post, the model I use to organize the single malt landscape for myself during these first steps of my whisky journey, is based on two main characteristics. There is the peat smoke element, and the sherry element. The first malt I encountered on my journey, the Glenfiddich 12 yo, features neither of these, while the second one, the Highland Park 12 yo, has a good deal of both. In order to find one's bearings at the start of the journey, though, I think it is a good idea to sample extreme examples, that exhibit only one of the two mentioned elements.

As representative of an extreme sherry influenced whisky, I chose the Macallan 12 yo (Sherry Oak). Macallan is a well established and famous distillery, and the 12 year old Sherry Oak seems to enjoy a rather good reputation among whisky fans around the world. Now, apparently Macallan has decided to discontinue this bottling (at least in certain markets), and replace it with a series of NAS (non-age-statement) whiskies that receive rather negative critiques from the community. Therefore, the prices for the last availlable bottles of the 12 yo in Germany (and other countries) have risen beyond any reason, but in Japan - where I happen to live - it is still readily availlable and on the same price level as other entry malts. Lucky me - I decided to try this while I still have the chance!

My take on Highland Park 12 yo

The entry point into the world of single malt Scotch whisky for myself, as for countless others, was the Glenfiddich 12 yo. Once you got to know and appreciate this one, you soon want to go further and experience what else the world of malt has to offer. An often iterated recommendation to beginners like myself at this point, is to look out for the standard expression of Highland Park, the 12 year old.

There are numerous characteristics under which whiskies could be categorized. The most accessible scheme for me as novice, which I started to use in order to get my bearings, is as follows:

The basic flavor comes to me as fresh and fruity, with sweet vanilla notes from the toasted oak wood used for maturation, nicely embodied by the above mentioned Glenfiddich.
One of the main additional features often employed in the making of whisky is peat smoke. The smoke of burning peat was traditionally used in Scotland to dry the barley after malting, which imposed this characteristic flavor profile onto that malt, and ultimately into the final spirit. Today, it is no longer a necessity in the production process, but frequently used intentionally to achieve a flavor resembling that of traditional Scotch whiskies.

My take on Glenfiddich 12 yo

It is the best selling single malt Scotch whisky, and in fact the one that made single malt popular around the world.

For most non-afficionados, it is simply the epitome of single malt whisky.

And it is also the starting point for my personal whisky journey. So - although there's got to be roughly a million reviews about this stuff already out there - I'm going to give my take on it here as well.

My first encounter with the name "Glenfiddich" - in fact the first time I was made aware of the single malt Scotch whisky culture at all - was in the German novel "Lautlos" by Frank Schätzing. He let his (Scottish) protagonist explain that Glenfiddich is basically piss water, and have him pour it down the drain. He went on praising malts like Laphroaig and Lagavulin, which at the time set the tone for my own whisky explorations. So although I started looking out for the occasional dram, I kept avoiding Glenfiddich for quite some time.