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How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

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Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#61

Post by raesene9 »

vowelless wrote: post #9
tptacek wrote: post #6

Sherry is the reason people like Macallan, but: * lots of Scotch has no sherry, and, particularly, the smokey peaty Islays tend not to be sherried at all. Sherried Scotch is a distinctive style, mostly centered in Speyside. * There are better, cheaper sherry bomb whiskies than Macallan; try Aberlour A’bunadh (cheap, excellent) and Glendronach (still substantially cheaper than Macallan, and I think much better). The b…

> Aberlour A’bunadh Where are you getting cheap Aberlour A'bunadh?? It's my favorite scotch but I cannot find it for less than 2 to 3 times the price of Macallan 12. Also, Glenmorangie is a delicious sherry scotch. Tastes a lot like Macallan and usually cheaper. > The big trend in Scotch is towards “no age statement” (NAS) bottlings, because Scotland is not keeping up with resurgent global demand. NAS bottles are you…

interestingly in the UK the prices on those two are pretty much the same (in fact at the moment the Aberlour is a bit cheaper than the Macallan)

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#62

Post by bradleyjg »

TylerE wrote: post #27
bradleyjg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the smokey peaty Islays tend not to be sherried at all. Lagavulin, my personal favorite, is the exception.

If you like the regular Lagavulin, try to get your hands on the Distiller's Edition, which has a much higher Sherry cask content. Ardbeg Uigaedail is another with the magic peat+sherry combo, and it's cask strength to boot (Typically about 115 proof).

> Distiller's Edition

Had it, prefer the 16.

> Ardbeg Uigaedail

I’ll keep an eye out, thanks.

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#63

Post by lox »

dboreham wrote: post #21

One thing to know : I had always had the idea that Whisky tasted basically of the barrel, with the implication that the stuff put in the barrel doesn't taste of much -- like pure ethanol. This turns out to be not the case. I happened to visit a distillery where they let you drink the liquid straight out the still (that, in turn, because this particular distillery hasn't been in business long enough to have final prod…

I mean, that’s because it’s only ~65% pure ethanol. If you ran it through a column still a few more times, it would taste exactly like pure ethanol.

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#64

Post by wheels »

voltagex_ wrote: post #47
wheels wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glenmorangie isn't sherried unless you get the "La Santa" version, which I don't think is as good as the original, and then it's only finished for two years in sherry casks after the usual maturation in bourbon casks. Aberlour A'bunadh is great, as noted, as is Glendrodach, but they've run out of 15 year old casks, and the 18 isn't enough better to justify the price hike. Another favorite is the Bunnahabhain 18, a no…

Australian prices: Aberlour A'bunadh $140 (Dan Murphy's, so pretty much everywhere) Bunnahabhain 18 $199.00 (Nicks, mail order only) Glenmorangie Original $80 (Dan Murphy) It's actually not that much higher that US prices, which is surprising

The US particularly has high "sin" taxes on alcohol. I live in Germany, which has lower taxes on alcohol than the US and Scotland, so ironically, both bourbon and Scotch whisky are cheaper than in their home countries:

These are the lowest prices for each in the 3 places I usually buy stuff online:

Aberlour A'bunadh: €53 ($61 / AUD 84)

Bunnahabhain 18: €91 ($105 / AUD 144)

Glenmorangie Original: €29 ($34 / AUD 46)

The Aberlour has gotten back down (interestingly) to what it used to be when I started buying it about 7 years ago. Glenmorangie used to be €25 at the grocery store. And the Bunnahabhain used to be about €65 when I found it.

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#65

Post by magnusmorton »

vowelless wrote: post #9
tptacek wrote: post #6

Sherry is the reason people like Macallan, but: * lots of Scotch has no sherry, and, particularly, the smokey peaty Islays tend not to be sherried at all. Sherried Scotch is a distinctive style, mostly centered in Speyside. * There are better, cheaper sherry bomb whiskies than Macallan; try Aberlour A’bunadh (cheap, excellent) and Glendronach (still substantially cheaper than Macallan, and I think much better). The b…

> Aberlour A’bunadh Where are you getting cheap Aberlour A'bunadh?? It's my favorite scotch but I cannot find it for less than 2 to 3 times the price of Macallan 12. Also, Glenmorangie is a delicious sherry scotch. Tastes a lot like Macallan and usually cheaper. > The big trend in Scotch is towards “no age statement” (NAS) bottlings, because Scotland is not keeping up with resurgent global demand. NAS bottles are you…

A'bunadh is 60% ABV, so it's better value if you add water/drink smaller measures

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#66

Post by raesene9 »

maaarghk wrote: post #55
tptacek wrote: post #6

Sherry is the reason people like Macallan, but: * lots of Scotch has no sherry, and, particularly, the smokey peaty Islays tend not to be sherried at all. Sherried Scotch is a distinctive style, mostly centered in Speyside. * There are better, cheaper sherry bomb whiskies than Macallan; try Aberlour A’bunadh (cheap, excellent) and Glendronach (still substantially cheaper than Macallan, and I think much better). The b…

On NAS bottlings: My girlfriend is in the Scotch whisky industry and tells me that among some circles, Compass Box's "transparency campaign" has been gaining some supporters. Occasionally, (apparently) you'll find a NAS is actually comprised 80% of some 18 year old or 25 year old stuff but the master blender has added some 5 year old (say) not because of shortage but because it improves flavour. Of course then you ne…

For me, the problem of NAS is that it breaks the easy marketing message of older==pricier . That used to be an eas'ish way to justify high prices for various bottles.

Now you have a situation where it can be just marketing fluff that causes a large increase in cost, which could lead to a market for lemons emerging...

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#67

Post by tptacek »

seanhandley wrote: post #51
tptacek wrote: post #6

Sherry is the reason people like Macallan, but: * lots of Scotch has no sherry, and, particularly, the smokey peaty Islays tend not to be sherried at all. Sherried Scotch is a distinctive style, mostly centered in Speyside. * There are better, cheaper sherry bomb whiskies than Macallan; try Aberlour A’bunadh (cheap, excellent) and Glendronach (still substantially cheaper than Macallan, and I think much better). The b…

It depends. If it's a 1st-fill cask you can get a lot of flavour imparted from bourbon. A lot of my favourite "tropical fruit" flavour whiskies come from 1st fill bourbon casks.

I don't really believe this, maybe just based on the mechanics of how aging work. I know that if you put the same spirit in front of me, one aged in sherry and the other bourbon, the difference will be night-and-day; you could be a first-time scotch drinker and easily have a strong preference (Aberlour does this at the distillery tour). I also know that the difference between new oak and 1st fill is enormous, because I have the Woodford demo where new oak is dark and woody and 1st fill is blonde and much less flavorful.

What I think is that if you did a triangle test between 1st and refill ex-bourbon, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#68

Post by tptacek »

raesene9 wrote: post #66
maaarghk wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On NAS bottlings: My girlfriend is in the Scotch whisky industry and tells me that among some circles, Compass Box's "transparency campaign" has been gaining some supporters. Occasionally, (apparently) you'll find a NAS is actually comprised 80% of some 18 year old or 25 year old stuff but the master blender has added some 5 year old (say) not because of shortage but because it improves flavour. Of course then you ne…

For me, the problem of NAS is that it breaks the easy marketing message of older==pricier . That used to be an eas'ish way to justify high prices for various bottles. Now you have a situation where it can be just marketing fluff that causes a large increase in cost, which could lead to a market for lemons emerging...

Age has never really been a reliable indicator of quality, though.

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#69

Post by yawgmoth »

peterwwillis wrote: post #8

Sherry is definitely underappreciated in the US. One of my favorite aspects of it is how it is poured in Spain. A Venenciador uses a long rod with a thin cup to dip into a cask and pour the sherry into a small glass from high up in the air. This is a regular part of the sampling process in bodegas, but it is also performed at parties, weddings and fancy restaurants. It takes a lot of practice to get good at it, so go…

At 2:02 the woman deliberately shakes a bit out of the glass. Fascinating. Why?

Re: How Sherry Became the Secret to Great Scotch

#70

Post by raesene9 »

tptacek wrote: post #68
raesene9 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the problem of NAS is that it breaks the easy marketing message of older==pricier . That used to be an eas'ish way to justify high prices for various bottles. Now you have a situation where it can be just marketing fluff that causes a large increase in cost, which could lead to a market for lemons emerging...

Age has never really been a reliable indicator of quality, though.

true but it's the only approximation of one that was available and it was at least objective, and it also to an extent measured cost (the more years it matures the more the costs increase)

Now you just have the ever more fancy boxes and words of marketing department to assess whether a given bottle is worth the price tag...

The concern here is that this opens the door to companies who are good at marketing and not so great at creating good whisky..

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