Any One for a Scotch? - Page 129

Finally broke into my Talisker 25 year (2009).......

Don't keep us hanging...

I know, I know; too cruel. I'll post the tasting notes after my second round (tomorrow).

The man has Carey Grant from Mother Goose as his avatar and he needs a second round of tasting... Actually, that rather matches up.

No idea if the non-smoky scotches do this, but with Irish Whiskey, the barley is typically dried on a metal floor in a room above the fire, with no contact between the fire and the grain. To keep smoke from wafting around the distillery, they used to use anthracite (the hardest form of coal that burns without smoke), and now use natural gas.

Ah! Thanks for that.

I think I recall reading somewhere that coke is also smokeless

It's interesting...the issue of iodine and peat. I believed...like many...that the medicinal flavours came from seaweed and saltwater in the peat. But the Whisky Science website suggests that while certain types of peat will create more phenols as it is burned, the phenols themselves are the source of the iodine flavours. The implication is that any medicinal notes from kelp or seawater are incidental.

I'm not sure what is true in this respect...or perhaps it is somewhere in-between. But it is of a piece with so much else that makes single malt scotch so unique and appealing.

The discussion about water is another variation on the same theme...with some people recoiling (almost reflexively) from the idea of using distilled water and a presumably authoritative website asserting that not only will distilled water change the flavour of the malt the least but that some distilleries are required by law to use it when bottling.

Oban is one of my faves too, and it used to be my go to dram before it got so spendy. In the mid-aughts, before it was everywhere, I could regularly find it for $35-45 here in NYC (sometimes on sale for $30!). I miss those days before the "shortage" drove prices up. But how's this for crazy: I was headed to Maine two summers ago, driving through NH, and I stopped at the big NH State Liquor Store off the interstate to have a look and see what was what. They had dozens upon dozens of bottles of Oban 18 for $63.99. I'm an idiot, because I only bought two.

I bought an Oban 32 for around $150 many years ago. I also remember the 14 at $30ish and the 18 at $65ish.

The most recent release of the 18 is shockingly cheaper than the one before though. This new one is $100ish and the one before was over $120.

Jesus, 65 for O 18, nice.

ANy significant difference between the Lap Triple Wood and the Quarter Cask? It would appear its just one more barrel to sit around in. How is the taste effected?

I've tried both and frankly I thought the QC was a great whisky at a great price. Personally, I think I would only get the Triple Wood if it was a great price at duty free on the 1L size. But that's just me. A buddy of mine loves the Triple Wood almost as much as he loves his wife, and he would strongly disagree with me, I suspect.

Sorry I'm not being better help.

Have you tried the Talisker 18? Seriously good, but spendy. Warehouse had a great deal on it last time I was in there.

 

You are, but I mean that in the nicest possible way .

 

That's okay - I remember when good vintages of Chateau Latour could be had for ~$300. We all have stories like this.

 

I'm not sure I get how the implication necessarily follows from the prior statements.

 

The phenols (a huge class of chemical compounds which can create a huge range of flavors) come from the burning peat, and that peat is composed of decayed muck from a whole range of types of vegetative matter. Hypothesis: More medicinal whiskys are made from malt that has been roasted over peat with a higher amount of seaweed/saltwater in it. Thus, that peat gives off a collection of phenols that are richer in the particular phenols that yield medicinal notes.  Supposedly, there are like three different types of seaweed that have been found in peat; a green, red, and the brown kelp-like seaweed.

 

Highland Park, IIRC, prefers peat that has a high proportion of heather roots.

~ H

I'm not a chemist but from what I do know I'd say Huntsman is right. Also, many 'science of alcohol' websites are psychobabble. I'm also willing to bet that flavors like iodine do in fact come from iodine itself as Gibonious suggested.

Just found some Caol Ila 14 Unpeated 2012 release, if anyone wants details pm me, been looking all over for this and thought I'd share the wealth!