For All You Foodies: Whisky Edition!

It is no secret that the U.K. and Ireland are home to many world-class spirit distillers. In fact, a trip to Scotland without a few drams of scotch would feel just as incomplete as never ordering a Jameson at the bar in Ireland. As many of you know, both Juliette and I are pretty big into our whiskies and our time here afforded us many an opportunity to discover, learn about, and taste this spirit. It continues to amaze us how much variety in flavor exists across the many distilleries, which all derive their product from similar ingredients and process.

First, a quick orientation for those of you who may be unfamiliar:

1.   Key whisky ingredients: barley, distiller’s yeast, water, time
2.   Malted barley: sprouted grain from which sugars are better extracted
3.   Wort: sugary solution produced by adding hot water to barley
4.   Wash: wort that has now begun the fermentation process
5.   Single malt: whisky distilled all from one distillery
6.   Blended whisky: whisky with origins from multiple distilleries
7.   Angel’s Share: alcohol vapor generated during barrel maturation

And what follows is chronicling of our own whisky trail in descending order from our most favorite:

Edradour Distillery (Pitlochry, Scotland)

This was by far our favorite distillery both for the product and the story. Three master distillers continue to produce all of this small distillery’s 15 cask weekly output (what??) by hand as has been done for almost 200 years. The end result is a very high quality whisky that takes on a lot of characteristics and flavor from the organic process. This distillery also has some personal significance since Juliette bought me a bottle on a whim five years ago and it really helped pique my budding interest in whisky. So actually getting to visit and browse was very much a dream come true!

Talisker Distillery (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

As only one of three distilleries left on the Isle of Skye, Talisker is unique in that it is one of the few large-scale distillers who still use wooden wash bins to ferment their wort. Their proximity to the ocean and fluctuating regional temperatures lend themselves a briny, smoky character to their whiskies which is very appealing! We fully appreciated the behind-the-scenes tour here and got to sample some special distiller editions.

Jameson Distillery (Midleton, Ireland)

By far the most productionalized and extensive distillery we visited, the Jameson site actually produces 4 brands; some of which are single pot still while others, like Jameson, are blended from pot still and grain-based spirit. In contrast with Edradour’s small weekly production run, Jameson produces 2,000 barrels of whisky EACH DAY. Even after some extensive tasting, we concluded that Irish whiskey is not our favorite. But this distillery received high marks for the tour and the romanticism of wandering through one of the world’s most well-known brands.

Teeling Distillery (Dublin, Ireland)

As mentioned in the Dublin post, this distillery is brand new and won’t produce a finished whisky until 2018. However, it was quite interesting to see that they were already selling finished expressions! If you do the math, it just doesn’t add up. The reason for this is that the founding brothers come from a long line of whiskey distillers and their father left them some 15,000 casks from another distillery as an inheritance. The tour in itself was pretty amazing with some interesting history of Irish whiskey. We also got to sample a pot still grain whiskey, one aged in sherry, and finally a single malt, which we appreciated the most.

The Lakes Distillery (Lake District, England)

Though not yet producing a matured whisky, this distillery received high marks for its tour and visitor’s center. It is located on a picturesque property and has facilities that have been painstakenly converted from an old horse barn. The tour was fantastic (we were the only ones on it and got personal attention from the guide) and then we got to sample a blended whisky which they currently produce along with a gin and vodka. They will be releasing their first batch of single malt whisky in summer 2018.

Glen Ord Distillery (Muir of Ord, Scotland)

Unfortunately, this distillery was closed to tours due to scheduled annual maintenance on their brewing equipment but we still got to wander through the exhibit and do a sampling. This distillery famously produces the Singleton brand of which there are many expressions. It is difficult to find stateside since their main markets are in India and Asia but we were both pleasantly surprised by the tasting! Singleton has a pretty complex flavor with just hints of smoke. I will definitely need to keep my eye out for this one.

Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery (Aberfeldy, Scotland)

Another large-scale distiller, Dewars produces the Aberfeldy single malt line here mainly to incorporate as a base for their more famously known blended whisky and to sell to other blenders. The Aberfeldy single malt here was pretty well rounded though there was no smoky essence due to the fact that no peat was used to dry the malted grain. It was very interesting to learn the basics of blending a scotch whisky and see what it takes to run such a large operation but this stop also reinforced how apathetic I am to this brand — even a 20 year single-malt dram sourced directly from a cask didn’t have much personality.

Honorable Mention: Tomatin Distillery (Inverness, Scotland)

This was the briefest of our stops (mainly due to a travel day with lots of hustle) but we dropped by for just a few minutes. We sourced a small bottle of 18 year single malt that was pleasantly surprising when we enjoyed it at a later date!

We both hope to enjoy a dram of fine whisky with you soon!

GP