Blind Tasting Between NAS and Age Statement Whisky→

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Oliver Klimek ran a blind tasting between NAS whisky and age-statement whisky of similar lineage. The results were, essentially, mathematically inconsequential:

Looking at the individual bottles, the results look as if age statement whisky cashed in a convincing victory: 6 age statement bottles received more votes than their NAS sparring partners, as opposed to only 3 for NAS. There was one draw.

But adding up the votes for all age statement and all NAS whiskies separately, the resulting balance is only 2 in favour of age statement whisky. This number is very small compared to the total number of votes of 295 (59 x 5). Needless to say that this is well within the margin of error for such a relatively small group.

I agree with the rest of Oliver’s conclusion. This won’t settle the argument, but it’s an important data point. It’s worth noting that distilleries are getting better with their NAS whisky, as I mentioned on the podcast before.

When To Trick Your Whisky Drinking Audience

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The Whisky Topic is on its sixteenth episode! I see podcasting as the equivalent to DVD commentary found on many blu-ray and DVD movies (I didn't invent this concept, I think Dan Benjamin may have). This week’s episode is an excellent example. I would rarely write about any of the tastings that I host—it would make for a boring read. I do think, though, it makes for an interesting listen.

This week, Jamie and I are joined by Glenford Jameson to discuss a blind tasting I hosted at my place a few weeks back. I’ve stressed it is important to maintain trust with your audience when doing blind tastings. It insults your audience if you pair two dynamically different whiskies in hopes of ‘tricking’ them. However, I made an exception. I asked a group of friends I regularly drink whisky with to participate in a ‘tricky’ blind tasting. They didn’t know what they were up for, but I broke all the rules. I served them:

  • slightly different versions of the same whisky
  • the same whisky
  • the same mash bill and age statement, but different label

The results were fascinating! Have a listen. Plus, we debuted are new theme song in big thanks to Alan Doyle!

Consumer Protection and The Whisky Industry→

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This week’s The Whisky Topic is incredibly insightful. Lawyer Glenford Jameson joins me to talk about consumer protection in the whisky industry. In the old days of the whisky world where tobacco and other substances were added to whisky, consumers needed protection from unwanted substances in their drink. The Bottled in Bond Act passed for that reason.

Today, we’re no longer worried about pesticides and poisons being introduced into our whisky. Consumer protection isn’t necessarily a health issue, but a quality and control issue. Companies are spending more money on branding and marketing than they are on their whisky, and that should tell us something. There are loopholes in the definition of whisky that distilleries are taking advantage of.

Despite this serious topic, it’s a fun podcast! Have a listen. 

The Apple Watch: The Whisky Edition Review

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I’m tucked away between two booths at a Toronto whisky event, drinking a rare single malt from Japan. I mentally step away from the crowd of eighty or so people with stretched out arms looking for a similar pour. As I enjoy this moment with the whisky, I feel a gentle tap on my wrist. It doesn’t pull me away from the salty smoky drink, but it lets me know a message is waiting.

After a few more unhurried sips, I lift my wrist up with a flick. “A rare Canadian whisky is being poured at the Canadian Whisky vs Rye booth.” I click “I’ll be there in 5” on the Apple Watch with a pre-configured message, and the message is sent immediately with no further interaction necessary. The screen turns off, as I go back to my whisky.

Lots has been said about the Apple Watch—it minimizes distractions, it’s intended to be fun, and the hardware is beautiful but the software is buggy. All of this is true. We are accustomed to gadgets that require our attention. The Apple Watch is a gadget that gives us back those moments normally stolen away by our phones.

Spirit of Toronto was the perfect opportunity to test the watch as a communication device. I was there with eight friends spread across a large facility, with unique whisky pours at various times during the event. Communication was key. The event also allowed me the opportunity to consider social norms when with groups. When is it polite to look at a the watch, and when is it better to simply take out the phone?

Social Norms and Messaging

In today’s society, pulling out the phone while chatting with friends is perceived as more polite than checking your watch. People immediately associate ‘checking watch’ with ‘I want to leave.’ This, though, is a dated faux pas from an era where watches only had one function.

When with one friend or in a large crowd, the tapping on the wrist is without distraction to anyone including the wearer. It’s just enough of a reminder that something is going on, without any urgency. The watch is a much faster way of viewing, scrolling, and even replying to messages. It takes up less time than opening up the iPhone.

At the event, when it came to text messaging, I’d talk to the watch at about chest-level and let Siri dictate the message. I’d only do this when I was alone. Siri dictation on the watch is excellent, possibly even better than on the iPhone. In a noisy room with plenty of people, dictating to the watch was a breeze.

Health Monitoring And Drink Whisky

I burnt more calories being on my feet at the whisky event, and going bar hopping afterwards, then any other day in the last two weeks. I know this because I’ve been wearing the watch every day.

I care about fitness. I go to the gym weekly, but I’m not really into fitness the way my cross-training, bicycle riding, marathon running, triathlon competing friends are into fitness. The activity rings on the Apple Watch, though, make 30 minutes of physical activity seem achievable. Being encouraged to stand up for a minute every hour makes sense. Having a heart monitor on your wrist, a step tracker, and a calorie burn estimator is helpful.

The Apple Watch isn’t the first fitness activity tracker, and it’s certainly not the cheapest one, but it is the first one people are likely to wear to a dress-up event such as Spirit of Toronto. Or for any other occasion. The Apple Watch has encouraged me to be more active in subtle ways that I appreciate.

Fashion? Practical? A bit of both

The Apple Watch is a topic of conversation. It’s tough to summarize it into a few words of “it’s good” or “it’s bad.” The Apple Watch didn’t drastically improve my event experience, but it did stop me from always reaching for my phone to see if anyone had texted (I’ve long-since become immune to iPhone notifications through the pocket of my jeans). Because we were in a large scattered group, with plenty of unique drinks being poured throughout the night, this was helpful.

By limiting the number of notifications, I limit how often the watch taps my wrist. There’s an efficiency achieved here that I appreciate. A casual glance to the Apple Watch is incredibly informative, especially with Apple’s apps. I feel less dependent on the phone.

As I told a friend, as a watch and an activity monitoring device, the Apple Watch is worth the starting price of $350. For that price you get apps, notifications, and additional conveniences. If you care about fashion, the stainless steel models have value.

Final Thought

I expected the Apple Watch to be a device I would be on and interact with frequently. As it turns out, the device is on me, and it initiates interactions using taps. Odd. As Apple said, this is the most personal and intimate device they have ever created. As a device that you wear on your arm, that secretly taps you, it fits that description perfectly. 

Enjoying Whisky Events→

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Whisky events are rarely affordable, but they’re an excellent way to research your next purchase. It’s important to be choosy with the event, and select one that has a number of distilleries pouring. This week on The Whisky Topic, Jamie and discuss whisky event etiquette, and highlight our favourite drinks from Spirit of Toronto. You can subscribe to The Whisky Topic directly through iTunes, or check it out via the web. 

The Importance of Aging

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This week on The Whisky Topic, Jamie and I talk about scotch. Undoubtably, the discussion leads to no-age statement whisky and the current state of whisky from Scotland.

When I wrote about this topic originally, I noted that it’s not just about age-statements. It’s about the quality of the barrels used. Just yesterday, Oliver Klimek wrote about how Laphroaig 10 has changed over the years. Stylistically speaking, I’ve always been a far bigger fan of the Laphroaig Quarter Cask and the 18 over the 10. The 10 has always been a touch too mild, and while that can be good, it’s not really the type of drink I want from Laphroaig.

But this brings us back to the point that age-statements are such a small part of the picture when it comes to good whisky. First-fill, second-fill, third-fill, fourth-fill. These aspects of barrel maturation matter far more. That’s not to say all good scotch is made in first-filled barrels. It’s not. It does, however, mean that quality of the barrels matters far more than how long the whisky has been sitting around in those barrels.

The problem with no-age statement whisky isn't the lack of age statement (though that is a part of it). It's an issue of trust and credibility. For the distilleries that are selling NAS whisky, it's an issue they're going to need to address. 

Ultimately, it’s about palate and flavour. Check-out the podcast for a deeper explanation. Meanwhile, I’m going to see if I can find myself a Laphroaig 18. It’s an incredible drink! 

Glassware, Swirling Whisky, and Winning Whisky Competitions

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In the San Francisco 2015 Spirit Competition, Knob Creek won best bourbon. Knob Creek is a fine bourbon (I often use it whisky tastings!). But is it the best bourbon? Fred Minnick, one of the judges at the competition, summarized the problem perfectly:

While I’ve always liked Knob Creek, I’ve never put it in the super elite, the Staggs and Pappys of the world. I’ve not even considered Knob Creek the best bourbon in the Jim Beam portfolio; Booker’s has held that crown. Has Knob Creek been hidden under my nose as the best bourbon this whole time?

The competition had judges using the Neat tasting glass. Neat glassware is broad on the bottom and top unlike the traditional tulip-shaped whisky tasting glass. The Neat Glass definitely changes the flavour and structure of the whisky. The fundamental flaw/feature in the design has to do with swirling the broad-bottomed glass. On the Neat Website:

When using NEAT, swirl, swirl, swirl … and when in doubt, swirl some more.  Swirling enhances evaporation.  Swirling the NEAT glass “powers” the evaporation engine that brings up all aromas … Convergent rim glasses (rim smaller than bowl diameter)  produce concentrated alcohol right at the nose when swirling, obscuring other aromas even more.  That is why other glassmakers tell you “Don’t swirl”

With whisky, in a narrow glass, swirling creates an excessive amount of alcohol vapour blowing out the senses. In wide-rimmed glassware (such as Neat glass), you’re better off swirling the whisky to further excite those molecules because of the broader opening. Neat's clever short design helps in this over the traditional rocks glass, as an example, despite the broad top. So far, so good.

Swirling the glass does, however, change the flavour of the whisky on the palate. Don’t believe me? Take two glasses with the same whisky. Swirl one for a few minutes, and don’t swirl the other. The swirled whisky will likely be sweeter, less textured, muted, and more even-flavoured. For me, in my tests, the essential character of the whisky starts to disappear the same way it would if the whisky was left overnight in the glass.

Excessively swirling a whisky accelerates the natural evaporation process, changing the dynamic of the whisky. This could be good for some whiskies, and bad for others. The same is true when you warm the glass, though at least this is a controlled gentler approach.

However, consider this. Most whiskies are nosed and tasted by whisky makers using tulip-shaped glass. Using broad glassware that requires swirling changes the whisky. To put differently, when reviewing whisky, if I swirl a whisky for four minutes, I’m no longer tasting the same whisky the reader is tasting.

Which brings me back to Knob Creek being picked as the winner in the best bourbon category, over better bourbons such as Booker’s and Stagg Jr. Both Booker’s and Stagg Jr have an incredible thick wonderful nose, that is beautifully balanced with flavour and alcohol on the palate. Knob Creek is a very good bourbon, but in a tulip shape glass, it doesn’t have enough on the nose to keep-up with these stars. In wider glassware, all the best features of Booker’s and Stagg Jr are muted. After excessive swirling, Knob Creek might even stand a chance.

Jamie Johnson and I did a blind tasting earlier in the week, and we recorded it for The Whisky Topic Podcast. While we didn’t use Neat Glass, we used the Canadian-style Glencairn glass. The results were fascinating! I won’t spoil the winners and losers, but this was a very small sampling.

The larger sampling happened in San Francisco, though, when a group of experts picked Knock Creek as the best bourbon in a blind tasting. Maybe for its price-point, but not in a category when  Booker’s and Stagg Jr are also included.

The Whisky Topic Podcast, Episode 4 - No, Not Blanton's!→

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This week on The Whisky Topic, Glenford Jameson (Food Lawyer) joins me as we explore the Kentucky whisky scene. It involves us tasting a lot of whisky we can't possibly buy because it has all been sold out. The trip to Buffalo Trace was mind-blowing. We tasted fantastic bourbons and ryes, and we talk about some of our favourites. Of most interest, we talk about the selection process Buffalo Trace uses for Blanton's single barrel bourbon and Elmer T. Lee. Somehow, we ended up talking about Maker's Mark cask strength bourbon, and where it sits against similar products. 

Buying Pappy (and other rare bourbons) From The Government

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In Ontario, the government sells event tickets for the chance to purchase Pappy Van Winkle. This might seem like a ridiculous concept in a free market society, but since 1916, Ontario has been under prohibition. The only way to buy spirits is through the government owned LCBO. 

In the case of Pappy, the LCBO sold $125 tickets to a four course dinner that included whisky pairings. The star of the dinner was the order form that allowed event attendees to place an order for Pappy. The hundred or so tickets sold out online within 5 minutes, and there were reports of system issues. 

The LCBO is one of the largest purchasers of alcohol in the world, and it’s the only way to legally purchase spirits in Ontario (with the exception of buying spirits at a distillery, but even those need to go through the LCBO for approval). With a population of over 13 million people, they sell a lot of liquor.  Being government owned, though, means finding fairer ways to sell rare releases that are in high demand. 

About 240 whiskies were available for purchase at the event. Of those, 100 bottles of Van Winkle 12 Year Old Lot B and the Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year Old were available. Only 20 bottles of the 15 Year Old Pappy and the Family Special Reserve were available. Chances are, you were going to walk away with one bottle of Van Winkle, but it was less likely you’d get Pappy. 

We all submitted our forms by the end of the event. Four days later, we learned of the results. No back-alleyway meetings. No grey market. No courting liquor store managers. The prices were at a reasonable range from $85 to $190 a bottle.

Events are not the norm, however. When Buffalo Trace Antique Collection became available in Ontario, orders were taken online. A lottery system was used assign available bottles. People attempted to game the system by asking family members to create accounts and place orders. Some created as many as 20 or 30 accounts. By a limited sample size, I would guess the odds of getting BTAC was one in 30. I wasn’t lucky enough to get any with my one account.

This lottery system is met with mixed reception. True whisky connoisseurs and restauranteurs had better luck obtaining those whiskies by lining up outside of flagship stores the day the bottles went on shelves. Ontario is an oddly populated province, however. Almost 40% of Canadians live in Ontario, and many of those live in Toronto and (to a much lesser degree) Ottawa. The rest of the population is spread across a province that’s eight times the size of England. The LCBO serves the entire province. The lottery system, especially when done through online orders, is seen as a fairer way to serve all of Ontario. 

No system is going to please everyone. Collectors will proudly and happily hunt down BTAC and Pappy in the US, and they’ll have  an excellent story to share. In Ontario, things are perhaps almost too fair. Regardless, there’s already a lot of tension at the very existence of the LCBO. The pressure to privatize continues. I do wonder, though, if we in Ontario would even get Pappy and BTAC if our purchasers were split between several liquor distributors instead of one big LCBO.

As for my luck, I scored a bottle of the Lot B and the 10 Year Old. Not the ones I wanted, but for $190 (not including the dinner ticket), they’ll make excellent (though perhaps overrated) additions to my whisky cabinet.

WhiskyCast Interviews Lawyer Suing Jim Beam and Maker's Mark

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Abbas Kazerounian, who’s law firm is suing Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam over the use of the phrase hand-made on their bottling, went on this weeks WhiskyCast show hosted by Mark Gillepsie. It’s an excellent interview, and Mark asks a lot of tough questions. As I mentioned in a previous article picking on George Dickel’s labeling, few things on the label are legally protected outside of alcohol content and volume. Check out WhiskyCast episode 524 for the interview.

There Is a Bourbon Shortage

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Fred Minnick, on Whisky Advocate, narrows down the bourbon shortage:

Consumers are able to buy bourbon … if your measure of the “bourbon shortage” is there is bourbon sitting on the shelves and in the warehouses, then, there is no shortage. But the bourbon shortage is not about everyday bourbons sitting on shelves—Jim Beam White Label, Wild Turkey 101 or standard Evan Williams.

Everyday consumers are less likely to be affected. If you’re looking for rare bourbon, however, the supply and demand curve is through the roof. 

BookTrib Reviews The Whisky Cabinet

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Nicely written of review of The Whisky Cabinet over at BookTrib, by Amanda Harkness:

My relationship with whiskey started out hot and heavy—more a whiskey shooter than a whiskey sipper. Over time, my tastes matured, and I began to savor the slow and smoky sip of my favorite peaty winter-time whiskey, Laphroaig. Mark Bylok understands the complexity that comes with sipping whiskey and recognizes that while it can appear chaotic on the surface, you should never let that turn you away. Indeed, he says that “Like any worthwhile relationship, sometimes things take time.

Thank you for the review!

The Extremely Limited Balvenie Fifty Year Old Is Stolen From Montreal

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Selection of Balvenie whisky from my trip to Scotland in 2012 where I met David Stewart 

Selection of Balvenie whisky from my trip to Scotland in 2012 where I met David Stewart 

In an armed robbery of a liquor store in Montreal, someone stole $100k worth of whisky, including The Balvenie 50 Year Old whisky valued at $49,500 Canadian. This unfortunate theft takes one of only 88 bottles of The Balvenie Fifty out of legal circulation.

You’d think that The Balvenie 50 Year Old whisky would be rare on its own for the obvious reasons—it’s been matured for 50 years in European oak sherry hogshead and it’s extremely limited release. Personally, though, I think The Balvenie Fifty is worth far above the list price because of the man behind the whisky.

David Stewart is known as one of the most influential whisky innovators in Scotland. He was the first to double-mature whisky when he created The Balvenie DoubleWood. Double maturation is the process by which a whisky is primarily aged in one-type of oak (typically American oak), and later briefly finished in another type of oak (often European oak). Today, The Balvenie 12 Year Old DoubleWood is one of the best selling whiskies in the world, with full credit to David Stewart.

David Stewart has over 50 years of experience in the whisky industry. Unlike Drake, David Stewart actually started at the very bottom as a clerk for Grant & Sons. Over the course of his career, he was promoted to malt master for all of the company’s scotch including The Balvenie, Glenfiddich, and Grant’s Family Reserve. He has seen the industry move from blended whisky, to high-quality single malt whisky, to age statements, to double-matured whisky, to no-age statement whisky.

While David Stewart is semi-retired now, he continues to innovate working strictly for The Balvenie distillery. The Balvenie Tun 1401, Tun 1507, and Caribbean Cask whiskies are excellent examples of continued innovation with a focus on flavour and balance. To put simply, David Stewart understands balance, and he understands the smallest measures of flavour and how those flavours influence the final product. If you drink and appreciate Balvenie, you appreciate this focus on balanced flavour.

As a legend like David Stewart moves into semi-retirement, the new limited release whiskies he’s responsible for become immediate collector’s items. In 2012, on the celebration of his 50th year, he selected one barrel that would become The Balvenie Fifty. This is the one in 88 bottles of whisky that was stolen.

Unfortunately, just like with the black market in the art world, I’m sure there’s someone that will be willing to buy this stolen rare whisky. It is, however, numbered. And that might make the person pouring The Balvenie Fifty a touch nervous when sharing it with friends. 

NAS Whisky Replaces Age Statements With A Price-tag

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With a broad range of pricing, no-age statement (NAS) single malt scotch whisky is here to stay. In contrast, scotch whisky marketers have been telling consumers the importance of well-matured whisky for decades. Many distilleries, however, can’t keep up with demand while aging their whisky ten or more years. The solution is to sell younger whisky without an age statement on the bottle. Often, this new ageless whisky sells for more than their standard offering.

To understand no-age statement whisky, we must first admit that age statements were an over-simplified representation of quality. Scotch whisky is matured in re-used barrels often from either the United States (American Oak) or Spain (European Oak). These different barrels add complexity to the whisky that scotch drinkers enjoy. The first time a barrel is used, it gives the most vanilla and spice flavours (think bourbon). The second time (known as first-fill in Scotland), some flavours might come from the previous spirit that soaked into the barrel. However, the majority of the flavours comes from the wood. The more often a barrel is used, the less flavour it’s likely to offer.

Understanding that, let’s consider how older whiskies are constructed. Whisky makers generally (not always) blend more first-fill re-used barrels in their older whisky. Not only is the Highland Park 18 aged for at-least 18 years, it also contains a higher ratio of first-fill European Oak giving the whisky a nuttier and sweeter characteristic compared to the 12. This added quality is not advertised on the bottle, but it is there.

It’s worth repeating: Not only are bottles with a higher age statement matured for longer, but they’re also often blended with a higher ratio of first and second-fill barrels responsible for additional flavour compared to their younger counterparts. The same is often true with NAS whisky. The more expensive the bottle, the higher likelihood of first-fill barrels were used. How would the consumer know, however?

Age-statements do provide a stated value. There’s an assumed investment by the distillery that if they matured barrels for 18 years, it’ll be the better barrels. With NAS whisky, consumers no longer have a cheat-sheet to help determine the value of the whisky. Instead of depending on the age-statement, NAS whisky has one obvious distinguishing factor: The Price.

Pricing luxury items is greatly dependent on the value of the brand. While whisky is definitely a luxury item, pricing whisky at higher valuations based on brand value doesn’t sit well with many whisky drinkers.

NAS whisky has been a controversy most whisky writers agree on. Scotch Blog ripped into The Macallan 1824 NAS whisky, preferring the older line with age statements. Curt, at All Things Whisky, makes the excellent point that distilleries, if they’re interested in educating the consumer, should note the ages of all the barrels that go into the final product. More bluntly, Oliver Klimek adds this straight-forward reasoning:

Yes, of course there are notable exceptions like the Aberlour A’bunadh or the Balvenie Tun 1401. But especially in Travel Retail (oh no, not again…) NAS bottlings often smack more of cost optimization and problems with dwindling stocks of properly aged whisky than they please the palate.

NAS whisky, on its own, is not a bad thing. Cost optimization, however, combined with NAS whisky is a challenge. Consumers were previously given some security that older whisky meant better whisky. Now they’re being told that price and branding are the only obvious factors that indicates the quality of the whisky.

That’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? I agree with Curt. If you’re going to sell NAS whisky, give us some idea of where that whisky comes from (Balvenie TUN 1509 does this quite well!). The lack of information on the bottle combined with high prices creates uncertainty. This uncertainty alienates consumers, and alienated consumers will take their money elsewhere. And as trendy as whisky is today, there’s always the next alcohol (already I’m seeing pro-vodka articles!).

High demand, low supply, and commercializes rarely increases the quality of the product. Scotch whisky is no exception.

If there is a bright-side to this, on a whole, there’s a lot of incredible whisky available out there. With all this competition and demand, distilleries are doing incredible things. It does, though, take more research on the consumer’s side when making purchases. Sure, prices are going up, but that’s going to happen with any high-demand product. We can’t help market pressures, but with well-researched purchases, you can continue to enjoy whisky whether or not there’s an age-statement on the bottle.

My book, The Whisky Cabinet, talks about this and many other topics on whisky. It also includes whisky recommendations that are often priced under $100, and easily available. It’s available for the holiayds in Canada, or for pre-order world-wide.

Update on Delivery Times For The Whisky Cabinet

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A few weeks ago, I mentioned on twitter that The Whisky Cabinet release date was delayed until early December. The delay was beyond my publisher’s control. The original printing company backed out of the contract last-minute. While the publisher found a new printer, this resulted in the book being printed weeks after the originally scheduled. 

At the time, though, I had not realized just what this meant for delivery times outside of Canada. Distributing books is an interesting business that often results in them being transported in delivery trucks from warehouse to warehouse. With new authors, estimating demand is especially hard, and The Whisky Cabinet has been pre-selling well! 

The good news is, if you placed your order in Canada through Amazon or Indigo you will get The Whisky Cabinet by Christmas. If you have not yet ordered the book, Amazon is taking orders for the holidays. Indigo has sold-out of their initial allocation for online orders. Indigo is incredibly supportive, and they are (as far as I know) allocating the remainder of their stock for store shelves. 

Unfortunately, outside of Canada the delay was enough to push delivery dates back into January. That’s likely true for the United States and definitely true for countries outside of North America. If you pre-ordered the book in the United States, you’re likely to receive the book in early January. Unfortunately, I’m not sure when books will arrive for the rest of the world. In the UK, for example, the initial order of books has already sold-out. Distributors do have the option to order more. 

Sales have been excellent! Lots of sales means I get to write more books, and for that I’m extremely appreciative of your support! If you live outside of Canada, and you don’t get your book in time for the holidays, I’m sorry.  I absolutely loved writing The Whisky Cabinet. I hope you equally enjoy reading for when it arrives.