I had completely forgotten to mention the Angel’s share.
Ten years is certainly on the short side for aging high quality single malt whisky, at least in relatively mild climates. Mild climates being the important point. Im hoping foreign whisky floods the market, whisky of high quality that forces down UK Excise duty and price. Another reason I hate excise duty is your average Joe just cant afford to enjoy the really good stuff; whisky that costs a mere fraction to produce compared to its retail price. Enjoyment and high quality are unfairly taxed.
I was under the impression that in order to be Bourbon whiskey it had to be made in Bourbon County KY. I thought otherwise it was American Straight Whiskey. Perhaps that is apocryphal though. ETA: It’s certainly the story they tell you when you tour distilleries in Kentucky.
Weren’t the Japanese experimenting with rapid-aging techniques a few years back? Heating, cooling, microwaves, ultrasonic vibration etc. intended to give raw distillate rapid finishing and the effects of aging? They claimed great things for it; is any of it in production use?
Bourbon county is where the name comes from, but it just has to be from the US in terms of labeling requirements.
Yeah… climate has everything to do with it; the relatively short aging for rum, and long aging for Scotch are due to the climates, and is why a 18 yr old rum is positively ancient, a 18 yr old Scotch is kind of middle-aged, and a 18 yr old Bourbon is old, but not ancient. The warmth of the climates is what makes the difference.
I hadn’t heard of these specific attempts but many new techniques have been attempted. Most fail miserably. A couple of techniques that have had some success is aging whisky in smaller casks(at least for part of the aging period) and the use of inner staves within barrels(currently banned in Scotland but legal in other countries). Some have gone as far as aging whisky in steel drums but using inner wooden staves. I can’t remember the name of the distillery but they were receiving fairly good reviews for the whisky they produced with this technique.
Is it warmth, or the overall temperature cycling? My understanding is that it’s the temperature variation that makes the liquor “breathe” in and out of the barrels and/or staves, and the bigger the temp swings, the faster this process and aging takes place.
All is tradeoff, of course, but that’s the gist of it as I’ve been told.
I’m not aware of anything like this happening in Japan, but I did hear a couple of years ago about an American (I think?) entrepreneur doing something like you mentioned.
Japanese are strong believers in tradition, even when appropriating production methods and putting on their own spin on it. Japanese whisky-making is still strongly rooted in Scottish methods, so much so that they still use barley imported from Scotland and import their stills as well.
I like this as well, it’s reasonably priced and very good. Just borught back 2 bottles form Tokyo in August to give to friends - they were well appreciated.
You’re probably thinking of Hakushu, which is Islay-light. Suntory had a special limited run of a heavily peated version, but I haven’t had a chance to try it.
