What Whisky/Whiskey are we drinking this month?

JJ Corry announced two new releases tonight. 30 year old single malt. 60 bottles of each. Heard it was sourced from Bushmills. Can't imagine it'll be cheap.

ro_p_ro1986 wrote: »

Why do they make Cask Strength Whiskeys?

Surely the proper, refined, and diluted end product is where the distiller wanted to go with their whiskey?

The standard strength strength would be less refined, based on the fact it is diluted.
THe distiller, (well the blender), would have selected cask for maturation, blending, recasking based on the cask strength spirit.
Distilling to a uniform strength is mass market production. I'm not sure about the history of ABV. But a lot of mass whiskey is sold right at the lower limit for whisket ABV - hard to make a case that is "proper" whiskey.

ro_p_ro1986 wrote: »

Why do they make Cask Strength Whiskeys?

Surely the proper, refined, and diluted end product is where the distiller wanted to go with their whiskey?

So what is the origin/reason for releasing cask strength Whiskeys?

Is there a good reason apart from just wanting to easily and readily release a 2nd product?

There's a lot of mythology and bollocksology around the subjects of whiskey, water and dilution.

Firstly, all whiskey has water added to it after distillation. No new-make (that I know of) goes into cask at the strength that it comes off the still - it gets diluted - usually to around 60%abv.

Many cask strengths are actually diluted, most likely done for consistency of strength - each barrel could have a different strength, so the blend of barrels is diluted to achieve a
uniform, predictable strength. So, many so called cask strengths are not really the strength the liquid comes of of the cask.

To the question of, why cask strength? Well, I'd ask the question, why any particular strength?

There are many factors in choosing the final bottling strength for a whiskey.

Cost is a big one. Duty in Ireland (and I assume in most countries) for spirits is calculated by the strength of the product. The stronger the whiskey, the more duty it attracts. Duty becomes part of the base cost of the product so as every agent in the chain adds their margin, a little difference in strength can make a big difference in price. Also the fact that stronger whiskies, literally, have less water added to them means that they are more expensive to make - water is cheap.

Convention and expectation play a large part in choosing a strength, too. The whiskey market is really very conservative. People expect premium whiskies to be stronger so most of them are.

Production methods can be a factor too. Whiskey can have a slight haze to it if it is not chill filtered. The higher the abv, the less this is a problem. Many producers like to advertise that they don't chill filter their products (or they do not have the facilities to chill filter), therefore they will bottle at 46%, thus avoiding the risk of haze. Going back to convention, 46% has become an accepted "standard" for "premium" bottlings.

I believe many producers opt for cask strength merely to give a sense of premium in an effort to justify some very high prices. Others, I suspect, just do it as a way of having a second product from the same liquid.

Then you have what should be the primary reason for a whiskey's strength - because, in the opinion of the producer, it just tastes best at that strength.
Sadly, I suspect that this is very rarely the primary reason for a whiskey's bottling strength.

So, please feel free to add or not add water to your whiskey. Don't get bogged down thinking that every whiskey is bottled at the "perfect" strength - the chances are that there a several different reasons for it's strength and taste may or may not be one of them.

Rew wrote: »

Coz its not that rare its just having a 2020 toilet paper moment...

But it is rare, right now. Literally sold out everywhere, and has been for a good few weeks.

How did he get 12 when most stores were only getting 1 or 2 bottles in, as opposed to 1 or 2 cases usually?

Teeling are having a tasting of all four Brabazon releases on Jan 21. Costs 50 euro.

Beanstalk wrote: »

So when is it considered acceptable to open the 'Christmas' bottles?

When you have finished off the Talisker and Black Barrell in the drinks cabinet.

I've thankfully enjoyed finishing the remainder of my Talisker tonight,so tomorrow its either opening up

A: Hakushu 12 year old
B: Dingle two casks Supervalu release
C: An Cnoc 24 year old
Bushmills 16 year old

Ok, well the tree went up last week so I guess I could maybe open the Laphroaig Quarter Cask that's been staring at me for about two weeks now! ��

Posted a few months back about a sample of Arbikie 4 year old Rye which I had tried and it started a lively debate due to it costing £250. At the time I couldn't find much about it online but Malt reviewed it yesterday. Interesting information in the comment section that the owner of Arbikie had openly asked in a whisky Facebook group was his product price too high and that he was barely breaking even with it.

https://malt-review.com/2020/12/11/arbikie-highland-rye/?s=09

Cazale wrote: »

Posted a few months back about a sample of Arbikie 4 year old Rye which I had tried and it started a lively debate due to it costing £250. At the time I couldn't find much about it online but Malt reviewed it yesterday. Interesting information in the comment section that the owner of Arbikie had openly asked in a whisky Facebook group was his product price too high and that he was barely breaking even with it.

https://malt-review.com/2020/12/11/arbikie-highland-rye/?s=09

I've been in that distillery.
Strange place.
Basically it's a huge barn on a farm with no signage or anything. We knocked on the door of the shed looking for directions to the distillery, to find it was the distillery. The whole setup appeared to be run by 2 people. Massive stills, as I remember and a lot of mechanisation.

Interestingly, they produced potato gin and vodka. After double distillation the potato distillate then went through a very elaborate bit of kit called a demethanoliser to make it potable.
Yet people still claim that poitín was made from potatoes, up a mountain hiding from the law!

Mellor wrote: »

What’s a demethanoliser exactly?
Potato vodkas have existed for a long time, so unless demethanolisers existed a century ago they may not be strictly required, just useful.

Methanol boils off first. So I thought it’s concentrated in the discarded fire shots?

Honestly, I don't know. All I know is that there was a big, expensive looking machine that they claimed was necessary.
Also, column stills are around almost 2 centuries. I doubt Paddy in Connemara had a column still or a pot still with multiple plates that would be necessary to produce a spirit from potatoes that didn't taste absolutely awful.
I don't believe for a moment that poitín made from potatoes was in any way common at all.
There is simply no credible evidence to suggest that Irish poitín was ever made from potatoes.

Mellor wrote: »

That’s a bit odd. Google turns up very little.



Honestly my knowledge of the technical side doesn’t really extend past the idea that foreshots are discarded due to the unwanted elements.

Poitin did have a bit of a reputation for tasting like crap if poorly made. Pretty sure I’ve heard some version of “can make you blind” also.


Solely made from potatoes? Probably unlikely.
Made from mashed that contained potatoes along with grain, beet, or even just raw sugar. More likely.

But why do you think potatoes were used at all?
It's really difficult to get clean alcohol from potatoes. Why would you use them?
I don't know where the idea originated but I have yet to see ANY credible evidence that potatoes made up even part of the mash bill for Irish poitín.

At some stage, people have made alcohol out of pretty much anything, so, no doubt, someone in Ireland at some point made alcohol from potatoes but I have no idea where the commonly held idea that Irish poitín was made from potatoes comes from.

newbie runner wrote: »

When you have finished off the Talisker and Black Barrell in the drinks cabinet.

I've thankfully enjoyed finishing the remainder of my Talisker tonight,so tomorrow its either opening up

A: Hakushu 12 year old
B: Dingle two casks Supervalu release
C: An Cnoc 24 year old
Bushmills 16 year old

Ooh that's good. Strangely I preferred the Hakushu distiller's edition to the 12.

Having a Jameson and ginger today with a wedge of lime, tasty enough and a nice alternative to a G & T as a long drink over ice. Which got me thinking, are there any other whiskey long drinks people recommend? I generally stick to neat whiskey or g & ts if I'm in the humour for a nice refreshing drink, aside from that I'd only ever make whiskey sours/old fashioneds with whiskey. Anything I'm missing out on?