by Oliver Klimek on August 23, 2009
This is the last part of my little adventure of marrying Scotch with unusual partners.
So far we have seen that it is not advisable to strive too far away from whisky territory. This is why I intend to reapproach it in the last session.
1. Highland Park 16 and Nordhäuser Doppelkorn
An aged Island whisky combined with a fresh grain spirit from Germany
Nose: Weak, a faint smoky fruityness
Palate: Smooth, rather sweet and slightly fruity.
Finish: Long and fruity.
Overall: This really tastes nice! Sweeter than the Higland Park alone but very drinkable.I would rate this only one or two points lower than the HP 16, if at all.
2. Bowmore 12 and Rittenhouse Rye 100 Proof
Now it’s up to whisky vs. whiskey!
Nose: Surprisingly weak, a distant whiff of fruity smoke.
Palate: Sweet, spicy, fruity, smoky, it’s all in there!
Finish: Medium long and fruity
Overall: Nose and finish are not very noteworthy, but the taste is excellent. The two whiskies complement each other almost perfectly
Not to my surprise, this session was the most sucessful. It should be mentionend that Nordhäuser Doppelkorn is actually almost a grain whisky. It is double distilled from malted barley and rye and bottled at 38% as a blend of spirits with up to two years of oak maturing. So what I produced with the Highland park was not very far away from a blended whisky. And it was better than most blends I’ve ever tasted!
I really don’t know if anyone has ever tried to sell a vatting of Scotch and US whiskey comercially. Perhaps the legal restrictions of US and UK law would even make that impossible. But I think it would have the potential of selling quite well. (Note to bottlers: If you decide to pick up my idea, I’d be happy with just 1% of the sales). I am conviced that it would work with a good bourbon as well.
by Oliver Klimek on August 12, 2009
As promised, I return with another cross-vatting session. This time I will be a bit more daring.
1. Grappa and Aberlour 12 Sherry Cask
The first pair is again not too far away from each other. The Grappa is a cask matured Roner, and the Aberlour is also quite a fruity dram.
Nose: Grapes and dried fruits
Palate: Grappa with an edge
Finish: Medium long
Overall: The grappa totally dominates the whisky. The result doesn’t taste bad at all, but the influence of the Aberlour is hardly noticable, it just “beefs up” the grappa a little.
2. Wild plum brandy and Talisker 10
Now I’m getting bolder. The peaty and spicy Talisker is married to an unmatured wild plum brandy from the Black Forest (Haferplaume from Fies distillery in Oberkirch, Germany)
Nose: Peat smoke and swet plum, kinda strange…
Palate: This really is a 50/50 mix. Spice, peat, and plum.
Finish: Long and fruity, the peat gets a bit lost.
Overall: Not a perfect match. The two spirits don’t blend, they somehow stay in opposite corners. This vatting doesn’t do good to any of them.
When you compare the results to the first session, it becomes clear that whisky can only by safely vatted with a spirit that is not too different in character. Aged brandy works quite well, grappa so-so, and clear fruit brandy is already too far away. And to do justice to the whisky, I didn’t even try out some really nasty “partners” like bitters (Underberg?) or herbal liqueurs (maybe Chartruese Green?).
The third session will close the circle.
by Oliver Klimek on August 2, 2009
This little post series is nothing for the faint of heart. It is about mixing whisky with other spirits, but not in a cocktail way. But rather I will make a 50/50 mix of two spirits.
Almost all whisky we drink is vatted, be it from different casks of the same distillery or be it as a blended malt or a classic blended whisky. What we have in our glasses then is a combination of many different aromatics that can be sometimes quite far apart like for example peat and toffee.
Now what happens when we take this a step further and widen the range of aromatics by bringing in other spirits. Of course, this is only an experiment and not meant to promote uninhibited and thoughtless mixomania. My stance is purely neutral. I am just very curious sometimes.
The first session features the combination of Armagnac with two different whiskies. To be honest, I only had a relatively simple one at hand (Comtal VS), but after all it’s not about creating the “ultimate drink” but just to see what works and what doesn’t. Armagnac can of course be substituted by any other kind of brandy like for example cognac. The tastes will shift a bit but the direction will stay the same.
1. Armagnac and Bushmills Rum cask
These two are actually not too far apart as the Bushmills is a quite fruity malt.
Nose: Strong and fruity. Grapes, pears ans apricots
Palate: This is a fruit bomb. Grapes and apricots abound, rather sweet.
Finish: long and sweet
Overall: This works, but only if you like sweet stuff. It’s not whisky and it’s not armagnac, but it is a pleasant experience.
2. Armagnac and Ardbeg Ten
And now for something bolder:
Nose: Fruity peat, not very much to find.
Palate: Quite nocticeable peat, seems a bit less smoky but more medicinal than in pure Ardbeg. A slight fruitiness acompanies the peat but stays in the background. Quite sweet as well.
Finish: Long and smoky
Overall: I like this, believe it or not. The peat is so dominant that even adding some more Armagnac does not seem to harm it. It adds a kind of lingering fruitiness to already somewhat sweet Ardbeg.
Conclusion
Whisky and brandy seem to go together quite well, perhaps because both are cask matured. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that adding brandy improves whisky. But the results are far from destroying it. It adds quite some sweetness, so perhaps lowering the amount of brandy would give even better results (and of course using a higher class brandy as well). Especially in the case of the Ardbeg I doubt that in a blind tasting anybody would notice it as a mix. I think there just would be speculations about an odd finish.
This was just a rather spontanous experiment with bottles I happened to have on my shelf. I am convinced that if you carefully select the whiskies and brandies, you could create a very nice drink.
Go on to part 2…
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