Professor Thomson’s Technical Notes

Scotland produces two types of Scotch Whisky; Scotch Grain Whisky and Scotch Malt Whisky. There are two principal distinctions between these two types of Scotch: First of all, Scotch Grain Whisky is produced from various cereals, typically wheat, barley, malted barley and sometimes maize (depending to some extent on the prevailing cereal prices), whereas Scotch Malt Whisky must be made solely from malted barley (Hordeum vulgare). Secondly, Scotch Grain Whisky is distilled in a patent still (continuous process) whereas Scotch Malt Whisky is distilled in copper pot stills (batch process). The fundamental differences between patent stills and copper pot stills, and the consequent effect on flavour, will be addressed elsewhere in this series of technical notes. Suffice to say that patent stills tend to produce Scotch Whisky that’s generally smoother and less characterful than the Scotch Malt Whisky that’s distilled in copper pot stills. The bulk of Scotch Whisky sold worldwide is Blended Scotch Whisky (e.g. Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, Bells, Ballantine’s, Famous Grouse, Grants Standfast, etc., etc.). These are typically produced from unique blends of Grain and Malt Scotch Whiskies, formulated by very experienced ‘master blenders’ to deliver the flavour profile that characterises the brand. Most of the Malt Whisky produced in Scotland is used as an ingredient in Blended Scotch Whisky. Back in the 1960s, very little Malt Whisky was sold as Single Malt (the word ‘Single’ indicating that it’s the product of just one distillery). William Grant should be given credit for creating a worldwide market for Single Malts via Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Today, the global market for Single Malts has become well established and it’s growing in volume, value and kudos. In 2018, Scotch Malt Whisky exports were valued at £1.3 billion, constituting ~27% of total Scotch Whisky exports. Much of the appeal and interest in Single Malts derives from the fact that there are over 100 Single Malt distilleries in Scotland, each typically producing a number of expressions differing in age and type of maturation cask. This creates a wide selection of sensory profiles for consumers to compare and contrast. There’s also huge interest in the provenance of the individual distilleries. There’s little doubt that the principal sensory differences between Scotch Grain Whisky and Scotch Malt Whisky derive from the distillation processes rather than the various different type(s) of cereal used in their production. That’s not to say that the compositional differences between barley and other cereals are unimportant in whisky flavour production, but the impact of these cereal-derived differences is modest. It seems much more plausible that the stipulation that Scotch Malt Whisky must be produced solely from malted barley would have been a pragmatic commercial decision intended to create a clear legal distinction between the two types of Scotch Whisky. If this was the case, then those who sought to create this distinction should be congratulated for their foresight in providing a platform from which the burgeoning Single Malt Scotch Whisky category has since developed. However, this doesn’t explain why malted barley is often preferred by beer brewers. Nor does it explain why Scotch, Irish, American and Canadian grain whiskies invariably include a significant proportion of malted barley (which is relatively expensive) in their mash bills. Surely, there must be another reason! In nature, barley grains are simply the seeds of barley plants but, from the distiller’s perspective, they’re the source of carbohydrate (starch) from which alcohol is produced. To fully appreciate the ‘specialness’ of barley, it’s important to know something about the structure of barley grains. Barley grains comprise 3 principal botanical features: the germ, endosperm and bran. The bran layer is essentially an outer sheath that encloses the grain. It accounts for 10% of the dry weight of the grain and comprises three distinct layers; the husk, pericarp and testa. The husk is a leaf-like structure that’s physiologically external to the grain. Barley is one of only four commercial cereals that retains its husk after harvest (along with rice, oats and millet). The pericarp and testa form an integral part of the grain known as the seed coat. The germ constitutes about 3% of the dry weight of the barley grain. It is the reproductive part of the seed (i.e. the embryo) that eventually grows into a barley plant after germination. The endosperm is the starchy food store upon which the developing seedling depends for sustenance, until such time that it can self-nourish via photosynthesis. Endosperm cells contain large and small starch granules, embedded in a protein matrix, all of which is enclosed within a cell wall. The endosperm, which accounts for 75% of the dry weight of the barley grain, comprises mainly starch (85%) and protein (10%). The remaining 5% is mostly cell wall material. The entire endosperm is enclosed within a membrane-like structure known as the aleurone layer, which comprises 12% of the dry weight of the grain. Whilst in most cultivated cereals (wheat, rye, oats, rice, etc.) the aleurone layer is just one cell thick, in barley it’s multicellular. For reasons that will be explained shortly, it’s the multicellular nature of its aleurone layer that makes barley so very special! Bearing in mind that it’s sugar rather than starch that’s fermented by yeast into alcohol, the distiller’s challenge (or more correctly, the brewer’s challenge) is to release the starch from within the endosperm cells and then break it down into fermentable sugar. This is a 3-stage process that starts with malting, followed by milling and finally by mashing. The end-product, known as wort, is a golden-brown liquid that’s rich in fermentable sugars and other materials that are essential for making good-quality Single Malt Scotch whisky. Malting, milling and mashing are dealt with in much greater detail elsewhere in this series of technical notes. Save to say at this stage, that malting is essentially induced and carefully controlled germination of barley seeds. The principal objective of malting is to break down the walls of the endosperm cells and thereafter to release the starch granules therein from the adherent protein matrix in which they’re embedded. This process is known as modification. Mashing is the process whereby starch released from the endosperm cells during malting is broken down into fermentable sugars. Three principal types of enzyme are involved in malting: Enzymes (largely glucanases and pentosanases) responsible for breaking down the endosperm cell walls, thereby allowing the cell contents (i.e. starch granules embedded in protein) to spill out. Enzymes (known as endo-proteases) that break down the endosperm cell proteins thereby exposing the starch granules to the third type of enzyme (known as amylolytic enzymes) that ultimately break down starch molecules into fermentable sugars (largely maltose). The ‘trick’ with malting is to allow the process to continue to the point where cell wall and protein matrix break down (modification) is optimal and amylolytic enzyme potential is maximised, whilst conversion of starch into sugar (and subsequent consumption of sugar by the growing seedling) is minimal. Malting is arrested by drying the germinating barley in a malt kiln. At the end of the malting process, only about 10% of the starch should have been converted into sugar but this is enough to make the malted barley grains taste slightly sweet. Stopping the malting process at exactly the right point requires a huge amount of skill and experience. If it’s stopped too soon, modification will be incomplete, and a significant proportion of the starch granules will be inaccessible to the amylolytic enzymes. Too late and conversion of starch into sugar will be too advanced. Either way, the yield of alcohol will be reduced, with all the attendant economic consequences. It’s for this reason that most distillers leave malting to the experts and buy-in their malt from commercial maltsters. Going back to the ‘specialness’ of barley, all three enzyme types mentioned above are either released from or synthesised in the aleurone layer that surrounds the starchy endosperm in all cereal grains. However, in most cereals, the aleurone layer is just one cell thick whereas in barley it’s multicellular. This means that the enzymes required for modification of the endosperm cells and for the subsequent conversion of starch into fermentable sugars, are produced much more rapidly and more proficiently in barley than in other cereals…… ……and it’s this, more than anything else, that makes barley so special! Including malted barley in the mash bill of grain whiskies means that mashing will be more rapid and more likely to go to completion, with all that this implies for efficiency, yield and cost.

When whisky is chilled, either through storage at low temperatures or the addition of ice in-glass, it may form a cloudy haze. This is considered undesirable by some whisky drinkers, although not all. Chill filtration removes the compounds responsible for haze, leaving the whisky crystal clear. To understand how haze is formed, and subsequently removed, it’s necessary to know something about two types of chemical compound formed in whisky; fatty acids and esters. Fatty acids Yeast and lactic bacteria (to a lesser extent) produce fatty acids during the fermentation of wort (the sugary solution produced when starch is converted into sugar during the mashing of barley) into wash (alcoholic beer-like liquor). Fatty acids, along with another substance called glycerol are the principal constituents of fat. The ‘body’ of a fatty acid is formed from carbon atoms linked together in a chain. These chains of carbon atoms can be short, long or somewhere in between. Esters Esters are formed when a molecule of alcohol and a molecule of acid react together (known as esterification). Esters are fruity in character and make a significant contribution to the sensory characteristics of Scotch whisky. Two basic types of ester occur in Scotch Whisky: Acetate esters formed by esterification of acetic acid and alcohol, and ethyl esters formed from ethanol and a fatty acid. As ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is the principal alcohol formed during brewing, ethyl acetate is the most commonly occurring acetate ester in whisky. This has a characteristic sweet, pear drops smell. As most of the alcohols formed during fermentation have short carbon chains, the corresponding acetate esters also have short carbon chains and therefore are not greatly implicated in the formation of haze. However, because ethyl esters are formed from long-chain fatty acids, they can be quite large molecules. As the chain length of a fatty acid or an ester increases, volatility decreases. Consequently, fewer of these larger fatty acids and esters will make their way into the distilled spirit. Nonetheless, some do, and this is how the problem of hazing arises. Micelles Molecules of long chain fatty acids and esters have polar (charged) and non-polar (non-charged) entities, due to the nature of the various different functional groups that form part of the molecule’s structure. Polarisation causes the molecules to clump together to form structures known as micelles, where the non-polar (neutral) parts of the molecules aggregate towards the centre of the micelle and the polar (charged) parts project out into the solution. As the proportion of water in whisky is increased (the critical point seems to be about 46% alcohol by volume), the micelles begin to come out of solution and are precipitated. It’s these precipitated micelles of long chain fatty acids and esters that form haze in whisky. Lowering the temperature of the whisky further reduces the solubility of the micelles which exacerbates the problem of haze. Consequently, adding a few chunks of ice to a non-chill filtered cask-strength whisky could reduce the ABV below 46% and chill the liquid sufficiently to cause the micelles to come out of solution and cause haze. The most important esters in haze formation are ethyl laurate, a C14 (14 carbon chain) molecule, and ethyl palmitate and ethyl-9-hexadeanoate, both of which are C18 molecules. Removing these could potentially diminish the flavour of the whisky, albeit to a very modest extent Process As the name suggests, chill filtering removes haze from whisky by first chilling it (between ambient and -10°C) and then filtering it through a plate and frame filter containing filter sheets made of low-calcium kieselguhr (a type of diatomaceous earth). Chill filtering is actually a very mild process that removes about 80% to 90% of the fatty acid/ester micelles from Scotch whisky without causing any collateral damage. To chill filter or not to chill filter? With distilleries such as Annandale, that produce Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch Whiskies at cask strength, chill filtering is utterly pointless and not something we are likely to entertain. People that buy Annandale’s whiskies generally prefer truly authentic whisky and they’re unlikely to be put-off by haze. Indeed, for many, it is a hallmark of authenticity. However, chill filtering isn’t quite the ‘evil’ that some people make it out to be, especially when implemented properly. By virtue of its very purpose, chill filtering will inevitably remove some of the fruity esters and this could potentially impact on the fruity character of the whisky, but probably only to a very modest extent. It shouldn’t remove colour. Nonetheless, as haze is construed as a fault or an impurity by some whisky drinkers, chill filtering is probably justifiable for mass market blended Scotch whiskies and vatted Single Malts……but not for Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch whiskies such as Annandale’s Man O’Sword or Man O’Words. Rule of thumb When buying Single Malt Scotch whisky, check the alcohol by volume (ABV) on the label. If the ABV is 46% or above, it probably hasn’t been chill filtered. If it’s below 46% ABV it almost certainly has been chill filtered. Most Single Malts are sold at either 40% ABV or 43% ABV, the latter in the USA and duty free. These will have been chill filtered. Most Single Casks Single Malts are sold at cask strength (typically 55% – 61% ABV, depending on age) and will not have been chill filtered (as with Annandale). The choice is yours! I always buy non-chill filtered whisky and add a small amount of water and/or ice to reduce the ABV to approximately 35%. Watching the whisky form a haze is, for me, part of the sheer pleasure of drinking Single Malts.

It’s effect on Single Malt Scotch Whisky flavour Copper pot stills are the iconic distillation vessels found in all Single Malt Scotch Whisky distilleries. The choice of copper as a construction material for the stills and condensers was initially governed by its malleability, which makes it relatively easy to form into the complex shapes, and by its ability to conduct heat efficiently. The fact that it happens to play an important role in spirit quality is a happy coincidence. This positive effect on flavour is attributed to the ability of copper to reduce the level of sulphur containing compounds in the distillate and to the act as a catalyst in the formation of esters (flavour compounds that contribute positively to the flavour of Scotch whisky). Surprisingly, given the importance of copper, details of how it influences whisky flavour are not fully understood. However enough is known for distillers to appreciate the importance of copper during distillation, in terms of determining and refining spirit flavour and also in terms of the consistency of spirit quality. Sulphur containing compounds, at high levels, are generally considered to give the spirit unpleasant, undesirable odours often described as vegetable, rotten egg, grassy, rubbery or struck matches. Importantly not all sulphur compounds are undesirable; at lower levels they can make a positive contribution to the complexity of the whisky improving the feintyness*, and meaty aromas. (*’Feints’ is the name given to the third fraction of distillate produced in the spirit still. It has a characteristic smell and flavour {‘feintyness’} which can be desirable, but only in very small amounts. Excessive feintyness is very unpleasant.) The most common sulphur based compounds in whisky are dimethyl sulphide (DMS), dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) and dimethyl trisulphide (DMTS), although there are others. All three of these sulphur compounds have an undesirable odour. They are formed when methanethiol reacts with hydrogen sulphide. These compounds derive from the amino acids methionine and cysteine, respectively, which ultimately derive from the yeast and barley used in fermentation. Copper is involved in both increasing and decreasing the levels of sulphur compounds, although it is the latter that’s most important. Copper salts, which are produced by corrosion of copper on the inside surfaces of the stills, promotes the formation of DMTS from methionine. Conversely, native (i.e. uncorroded) copper lowers the concentration of DTMS. Perhaps the simplest way in which copper removes undesirable sulphur compounds is by absorbing them onto the inner surfaces of the stills and condensers during distillation and subsequently releasing them when exposed to air as the distillation equipment is emptied at the end of the process. Of greater significance, sulphur compounds are also reduced via chemical reactions that transform them into less flavoursome substances or by forming complexes with copper which don’t ultimately distil over into the new make spirit. The role of copper in the formation of esters is not well understood. The majority of esters in Scotch whisky are produced by yeast during fermentation. They are formed when alcohol (principally ethanol in this case) reacts with carboxylic acids (principally fatty acids but also acetic acid) and impart flowery and fruit flavours to the whisky. Copper is a catalyst for ester formation which occurs when the reactants meet native copper on the inner surfaces of the stills and condensers. It is well known that after cleaning the inside of copper stills and condensers, undesirable flavour changes may occur until a patina has built up on the copper surface which changes the properties of the copper as a catalyst. It is important to recognise that while copper plays a crucial role in influencing the quality of new make spirit, flavour reactions can only occur when the liquid is in contact with the copper. Thus, it is important during the short period of copper exposure to maximise the desired effects of reducing sulphur containing compounds and esterification. This is achieved via process management techniques and by optimising various distillery design features. Process management parameters include distillation time, reflux rates (the average number re-condensation – re-volatilisation cycles achieved before the spirit leaves the still), boil rates, cut points and condenser temperatures, all of which control the amount of time the liquid remains in contact with copper. These parameters are used to optimise new make spirit flavour and thereafter, by adhering to the optimised recipe and process conditions, ensuring production of a consistent spirit with the desired favour profile. Distillery design, particularly the design of the copper stills and the copper innards of the condensers, is fundamental to spirit quality (as described above). Once built, making changes is prohibitively expensive so, from the moment of conception, it’s important to design the stills and the condensers to produce the desired style of spirit. Equipment designed to give enhanced contact with copper tends to produce lighter, fruitier spirit. Lesser contact with copper yields spirit which is heavier and meatier in character. Tall stills with long lyne arms (the wide pipe that connects the top of the still to the condenser) and tube and shell condensers, all will give lighter, less sulphury and fruity spirits. In contrast, short stills with traditional worm tub condensers which give more complex spirits with a heavier, meatier character. Using twin spirit stills to distil the same volume of spirit (as with Annandale Distillery) produces increased copper contact because the surface area to volume ratio reduces as still size increases. Consequently, two smaller stills will give greater copper contact versus one big still with the same combined volume. The location of copper in the distillation apparatus is also important for reducing sulphur compounds. Interestingly, there are opposite effects in the wash still and spirit still. With the wash still, the copper pot is least effective in reducing sulphur compounds whilst the copper innards of the condenser have a much greater influence. The opposite happens in the spirit still, where the pot has the greatest influence and the condenser has the least. Consequently, the most effective sections of the copper distillation apparatus are the wash still condenser and the spirit still pot. It is noteworthy that these tend to be areas of higher copper corrosion, possibly due to a relatively acidic environment. Higher acidification also facilitates greater removal of sulphur compounds. It may be that the environment in these sections of the distillation apparatus makes them relatively susceptible to acid corrosion which in turn improves their ability to remove sulphur compounds. Once again having more but smaller stills (as with Annandale) will improve these processes by effectively increasing the surface area to volume ratio. It’s noteworthy that distilleries renowned for their light fruity spirit (e.g. Glenfiddich) have chosen to increase the number of stills rather than the size of the individual stills, when increasing production capacity.

Charles Chree Doig and his iconic pagoda-roof malt kiln ventilators Just as the biological processes associated with germination are triggered by increasing the moisture content of the barley grain, they are arrested by reducing the moisture content of green (germinated) malt from about 45% back down to 5%. Drying takes place in a malt kiln using warm air, hence the expression ‘kilning’. When dried to 5% moisture, malted barley may be stored for extended periods with minimal deterioration, it can be transported safely with minimal risk of physical damage and it can be readily milled into grist for subsequent mashing. Kilning also removes certain undesirable flavour components whilst desirable flavour compounds are created from endogenous flavour precursors and from extraneous sources such as peat smoke. In the era when most Single Malt distilleries malted their own barley, they would have had a malt kiln. By the beginning of the 20th Century, many of the kilns in Scottish Single Malt distilleries would have been identifiable by their iconic, pagoda-roofed ventilators. As with traditional maltings, most of these natural-draught kilns are no longer used for their original purpose but they remain icons not just of the Single Malt Scotch whisky industry but also of Scotland. The original design was created by Charles Chree Doig an architect cum engineer who worked out of Elgin (Morayshire) from 1882 until his death in 1918. Very few architectural designs are so stunning, so iconic, so immediately recognisable, so strongly associated with a particular industry and a particular country, so beautiful and yet, so practical. The design was first adopted when Doig was commissioned to carry out alterations to Dailuaine Distillery on Speyside in 1889. As part of the commission, he embellished the existing, inefficient kiln with his new pagoda roof ventilator. Sadly, the original Doig ventilator at Dailuaine was destroyed by fire in 1917. Although the pagoda roof design was borrowed from Oriental architecture, it proved very effective in creating an up-draught through the damp malt bed almost irrespective of wind strength and direction, whilst keeping the rain off the drying malt. According to various archives, Doig worked on 56 different Scottish distilleries. However, this list is inaccurate because there’s at least one notable omission! Annandale Distillery in the very south of Scotland possesses a magnificent and beautifully restored pagoda-roofed Doig kiln that’s now used as the stunning main entranceway to the Distillery. The plans for Annandale Distillery were obtained from the Charles Doig Archive which is held at Elgin Library. Many recently-built distilleries in Scotland and other countries sport faux Doig ventilators atop some building or other that never did and never will have anything to do with malt kilning. They’re a horrible pastiche of Doig’s original design that look absolutely absurd and otherwise offend the sensitivities of anybody who knows anything about Single Malt distilleries. It’s hugely disappointing that distillery architects of the modern era can’t think of anything more original to define their designs. (Perhaps someone should start a competition to identify the most absurd faux Doig ventilator.) Early, natural-draught kilns were fired solely with peat in hand-stoked furnaces. In the days before the railways, peat was the preferred fuel, largely by default, because of its abundance across the length and breadth of Scotland. When the rail network expanded and coal could be transported more easily, kilns were often fired with a mix of anthracite and peat. This increased the temperature of the furnace and consequently, the speed and effectiveness of drying. The peat smoke (peat reek in Scots) created by burning peat contains a class of chemical compound known as phenolics. These are highly volatile and very potent odorants. Wet malt is very receptive to phenols, which absorb onto the surface of the damp barley grains during drying. Typically, about one third of the phenolics eventually transfer into the final whisky, giving it a characteristic smoky, antiseptic/medicinal character (usually but quite wrongly described as ‘peatiness’). The strength of the ‘peaty’ character depends on the amount of peated loaded onto the furnace when the barley is still damp. Such is the potency of these phenolic compounds that the amount in dry malt is measured in parts per million (ppm). A level of 5ppm would be barely detectable whereas 50ppm is very distinctive. In the 21st Century, the fact that peat was and still is used for drying green malt is a very happy coincidence because it utterly defines Scotch whisky and differentiates it from whisky made in every other country. In spite of the brilliance and beauty of Doig’s design, natural-draught kilns are intrinsically inefficient because the airflow is relatively weak (unless it’s blowing a gale) and consequently the temperature of the furnace is relatively low because of the modest up-draught. This means that the malt beds are necessarily shallow (30cm) and temperature control is somewhat erratic. This makes it difficult to regulate and otherwise control the malt drying process. Lack of uniformity and lack of control, invariably has a knock-on negative effect on spirit yield. Modern malt kilns are essentially an elaboration of the traditional kilns described above. Typically, large volumes of air are heated using oil or gas burners and drawn through the bed of green malt using powerful fans. This system would produce unpeated malt. At Port Ellen Maltings on Islay, peat smoke is generated by burning peats on an auxiliary furnace. The reek is introduced into the flow of hot air and up through the drying malt bed. Port Ellen’s peat furnaces, of which there are three, consume a staggering 6 tonnes of peat per kiln firing. During kilning, it is of paramount importance that the enzymes, created naturally in germinating barley to convert starch into sugars, should be preserved intact. These enzymes (known as amylolytic enzymes) are reactivated during mashing, where they convert starch (amylose and amylopectin) into simple sugars (largely maltose). The temperature profile throughout the drying process has a profound effect on the viability of these enzymes and hence on the subsequent fermentability of the malt. A typical kilning cycle is 12 hours with an air temperature of 60oC, followed by 12 hours at 68oC and finally by 6 hours at 72oC. A modern maltings should produce malt for Scotch whisky with a fermentability of almost 90%. Fermentability (%F) is an index of the proportion of carbohydrate in the malt that is ultimately converted into alcohol during fermentation. This depends to a considerable extent on the viability of the amylolytic enzymes. Dark malt, as used in brewing of ales, stouts and porters, is kilned to much higher temperatures where colour and flavour compounds are produced via non-enzymic browning (otherwise known as the Maillard reaction). However, these are undesirable in the production of Scotch whisky. Modern maltings, such as those at Diageo’s Roseisle Distillery, use combined germination and kilning vessels (GKVs). These use space efficiently and reduce mechanical handling. At the end of the germination phase, the flow of humidified air through the GKV is stopped and replaced with warm air heated by the kiln burners. These days, there is much greater awareness of the environmental issues associated with CO2 release when ancient, natural peat beds are disturbed, and when peat is subsequently burned. This needs to be reconciled against the fundamental importance of ‘peat flavour’ to Scotch Whisky. These and other issues regarding Annandale Distillery’s journey towards ‘net zero’, will be considered in subsequent technical releases.

Single Cask-Single Malt Scotch Whisky vs Vatted Single Malt Scotch Whisky In this technical note we consider the differences between: Single Cask-Single Malts – non-chill filtered and bottled at cask strength, typically 55% – 60% ABV (alcohol by volume), as presented in Annandale Distillery’s Man O’ Sword and Man O’ Words collection. Vatted Single Malts – chill filtered and bottled at either 40% or 43% ABV, as typically purchased in retail and duty-free shops, bars and restaurants. To produce Vatted Single Malts, a relatively large number of barrels of mature whisky, all from the same distillery, are blended together in a vat to achieve a flavour profile that’s consistent with consumers’ expectations of that brand. Consequently, every bottle of Glenfiddich 12 year old (for example) should taste essentially the same no matter where and when it’s purchased. Achieving this degree of consistency requires a vast inventory of maturing whisky to select from, and the services of a very skilled whisky blender (more of which later). The age declaration, should there be one, refers to the youngest whisky included in the vatting. Assuming that the bulk of whiskies in a particular vatting were around 12 years old (again, as an example), it’s likely that the average alcohol content would be approximately 55 ± 2% ABV. To achieve a bottling strength of 40% or 43% ABV, the whisky is diluted with water. Ideally the dilution water would be drawn from the distillery source, although treated mains water is often used instead. There are two principal reasons why Single Malts are diluted to either 40% or 43% ABV prior to bottling: Economic – the excise duty on a 70cl bottle of 40% ABV Single Malt (£8.04 in the UK) is considerably less than on a 55% ABV cask strength bottling (£11.06). Unsurprisingly, the water used for dilution is much less expensive than whisky. These two factors make 40% ABV Single Malt significantly cheaper than cask strength whisky, allowing it to be accessible to a wider socio-economic group than might otherwise be the case. Sensory – adding water decreases the pungency of the alcohol. This makes it easier to appreciate the underlying sensory characteristics of the whisky and otherwise, less challenging for some consumers. Making Single Malt Scotch Whisky more accessible in both of these respects has helped the industry to expand enormously over the last 30 – 40 years. However, there’s a catch! When whisky is diluted below ~46% ABV, it will often become cloudy/hazy if subsequently chilled and diluted in-glass by the further addition of cold water and/or ice. This effect is caused by the clumping together of naturally occurring fatty acids and esters to form insoluble micelles. Cloudiness is considered undesirable by some, if not all, whisky drinkers. To prevent this happening, fatty acids and esters are removed using a process known as chill filtration (see Technical Note on Chill Filtration for further details). Almost all single malts bottled at either 43% or 40% ABV will have been chill filtered. Conversely, those bottled at 46% ABV and above are likely to be non-chill filtered. Chill filtration is often demonised by whisky aficionados in the belief that it defiles the simple, natural purity of Single Malt Scotch Whisky by unnecessarily removing something of its very essence. In practice, only the largest (longest chain) fatty acids and esters are actually removed and these typically have little or no impact on flavour. Nonetheless, chill filtration is a complete anathema to Single Malt purists. Paradoxically, the emergence of a cloudy haze when cask strength Single Cask-Single Malt is diluted and chilled in-glass, is considered by some to be indicative of its unsullied purity! With non-chill filtered Single Cask-Single Malts bottled at cask strength, the whisky is simply disgorged from its cask into a tank, passed through a relatively coarse membrane to remove particles of carbon (from the charred inside surface of the cask) and then bottled. Whilst it is permissible to add caramel as a colourant, the colour of a Single Cask-Single Malt usually derives solely from pigments extracted from the oak barrel staves. Nothing is added and nothing is taken away other than carbon particles. This is authentic, unsullied and uncomplicated whisky at its absolute purest! The other defining feature of a Single Cask-Single Malt is the very fact that it derives from just one cask (the clue’s in the name.) As there’s no blending (vatting) of multiple casks to achieve a standardised flavour profile, the flavour of the whisky comes to depend on four factors; the spirit, the cask, the maturation environment (microclimate inside the maturation warehouse) and the length of maturation (i.e. its age). Let’s consider each of these factors in turn: Spirit – most distilleries strive to produce spirit that’s consistent from batch-to-batch, although some extent of seasonal, ingredient and process related variation is inevitable. Whilst this might ultimately affect the flavour profile of the mature whisky, the unique and defining character of the distillery should still be apparent over and above any such background variation. Casks – it’s a legal requirement that Scotch whisky should be matured in oak casks. However, oak casks aren’t all the same! For example, they may differ in the species of oak used in their construction; principally American versus French/Spanish oak. The more-open grained Southern European oaks permit easier ingression of the spirit into the wood and consequently, more rapid extraction of oak-derived flavour components. The closer-grained American oak (Quercus Alba) is generally considered to be optimal, even for sherry butts coopered in Spain! The size of the cask, or more precisely the ratio of the inner surface area of the cask to the volume of liquid it contains, influences the interaction between spirit and oak and consequently, flavour development. (Refer to Technical Note on Small Casks for further details). Almost all of the casks used in the maturation of Scotch Whisky will have been used previously to mature other spirits (principally bourbon but also other American whiskies, cognac, rum and tequila), wines of various types (mainly sherry but also port, madeira and a variety of red and white wines) and even beer. The extent to which the previous occupant impacts on the flavour of the maturing spirit, depends on whether it’s the first time the cask has been used for Scotch Whisky maturation (known as a ‘fresh’, or ‘once-used’ cask) or alternatively, if the cask has been re-used on several occasions (known as a ‘refill’ cask). The more often a cask has been refilled with Scotch Whisky, the less potent the effect of both the oak and the previous occupant and consequently, the longer the maturation time. Maturation Environment – when the spirit inside a cask warms up due to diurnal and/or seasonal temperature fluctuations, it expands. This increases the pressure inside the cask, causing expulsion of air through the microscopic gaps that exist between cask staves. The expelled air (the angels’ share) comprises a mixture of water vapour, alcohol vapour and various volatile flavour compounds. When the liquid cools it draws air back into the cask through the same gaps. The greater the temperature fluctuations, the greater this effect. It’s not too difficult to imagine that the cool, moist, salt-laden air drawn into casks maturing on the island of Islay, might have a different effect on flavour development versus the drier, less salty and often cooler air inside a Speyside maturation warehouse. And what about Kavalan Distillery on the island of Taiwan, where the average daytime temperature is consistently around 30°C but the night-time temperature may drop by as much as 20°C? The practice of transporting bulk spirit from a local distillery and maturing it in a distant, centralised bonded warehouse containing whiskies from other distilleries, inevitably neutralises the effect of the local micro-climate on flavour development. For those who care about the authenticity of their Single Malt, this practice is regrettable, to say the very least! Length of maturation – it’s a common misconception that older whiskies are ‘better’ than younger whiskies. Whilst immature whisky typically lacks complexity, depth of flavour and balance, and it may even be harsh and insipid, it’s also possible to over-mature whisky by leaving it in-cask for too long. Should this occur, the sensory profile of the whisky will be dominated by flavour components extracted from the cask staves (known as ‘cask effect’). If excessive, this will mask the more subtle distillery-specific sensory characteristics (distinctive distillery character). The age at which a particular whisky reaches optimum maturity depends on the nature of the spirit (whisky from some distilleries matures faster than others), the type of cask (‘fresh’ casks mature spirit more rapidly than ‘refills’) and the maturation environment. Also, what constitutes optimum maturity depends on the sensory preferences of individual whisky drinkers (which may be very different). This suggests that maturation should be determined not by age, but by a combination of several key sensory criteria: Presence of……  Flavour complexity,Depth of flavour and Distinctive distillery character Absence of…… Excessive cask effect, Harshness and Insipidness Balance We could describe whiskies that satisfy all of these criteria as having reached ‘sensory maturity’ irrespective of age. This allows for the possibility of ongoing flavour development/change with age, provided that none of these sensory criteria are violated. It also allows for the possibility that the maturing whisky could pass through a sequence of several different sensory optima, the longer it stays in-cask. For any particular distillery, the nature of the spirit produced and the maturation environment are essentially constants, in so far as the spirit should be consistent and all casks should be subject to more or less the same diurnal and seasonal temperature variations during maturation (although the exact location within the warehouse may affect the ambient temperature in the immediate environs of any particular cask). Consequently, the principal determinants of flavour variation for a particular distillery are the nature of the maturation cask combined with length of time in-cask (i.e. its age). This implies that the sensory profile of each cask is likely to be unique, to some extent, but still within the ‘universe’ of what constitutes characteristic flavour for that particular distillery. Now for the slightly trickier part! Let’s imagine that we’re going to plot all of the maturing casks produced by a particular distillery (Distillery X) on a theoretical sensory map (Figure 1), where those casks that are most similar in flavour are located near to each other on the map, and those that are more different are further apart (i.e. the greater the sensory differences in the maturing whisky, the greater the distance apart on the map). Assuming that Distillery X is producing consistent spirit and maturing it in similar casks of common provenance, we’d expect to find a large and dense cluster of casks located on the map (not necessarily at the centre), with the other casks spread around the outside of the main cluster. Some of these other casks would be clumped together in smaller clusters and some would be singletons. Of these smaller clusters/singletons, some would be located quite close to the main phalanx, whereas others would be further afield (because their sensory profiles are rather different). A small number of singletons or tiny clusters of casks would also be positioned towards the various extremities of the map (sensory outliers). Each cask would have a unique identity in terms of date distilled, type of cask/cask provenance and length of time the whisky has been in-cask (i.e. its age). Whilst it might be anticipated that casks of a similar type/provenance, aged for a similar amount of time should produce Single Malts with very similar sensory profiles (and therefore should locate proximally on the map), this is by no means a given. Indeed, part of the mystique of Single Malt production is that spirit produced in the same batch, filled into seemingly identical casks and stored side-by-side in the same bonded warehouse for the same length of time, will sometimes produce noticeably different whiskies. Let’s now imagine that Distillery X wishes to produce a 12 year old vatted Single Malt at 40% ABV. The first thing to do would be to edit our theoretical sensory map by notionally deleting all of the casks aged for less than 12 years (Figure 2). It might be imagined that the topography of the edited map would still resemble that of the original sensory map, but the size, shape and density of the cask clusters would perhaps change, and some of the outliers would probably disappear. Inevitably, the character of the vatted 12 year old would be dominated by the sensory characteristics of Single Malts located in the main cluster because these constitute the bulk of the maturing stock. However, rather than including casks drawn solely from the main cluster, the master blender might choose to make the sensory profile of the vatted Single Malt more complex and/or more balanced (for example) by introducing a selection of Single Malts from the more outlying regions of the sensory map. Bearing this in mind, if the sensory profile of this 12 year old vatted Single Malt was subsequently plotted onto the original sensory map, it would perhaps be positioned away from the centre of the main cluster; its location reflecting some of the sensory nuances introduced by the master blender. If we further imagine that Distillery X also wanted to produce a 16 year old vatted Single Malt, a similar theoretical process could take place. Presumably, the sensory profiles of the 12 and 16 year old vattings would be different so they’d be located somewhat apart on our theoretical sensory map. As part of the vatting process, treated water is added to reduce the alcohol content to either 40% or 43% ABV, prior to chill filtration and bottling. Does this all sound rather theoretical and far-fetched? Perhaps it does, but this is essentially what goes on in the mind of the master blender. They hold in their memory, a mental representation of the target sensory profile of the vatted Single Malt, along with mental representations of the universe of sensory profiles of the maturing Single Malts typically produced by Distillery X (i.e. a mental representation of the above mentioned sensory map). On selecting and nosing samples of maturing stock, the master blender will decide whether or not the whisky in each of these casks is suitable for inclusion in the vatting. In doing so, they systematically build-up a mental representation of the vatting that they’re creating, decide what else needs to be added to the blend to achieve the target sensory profile and then they’ll sniff and select appropriate casks from their inventory to finalise the blend. Exactly the same process is used for creating Blended Scotch Whiskies. Although most master blenders can readily describe what they’re doing and why, blending is essentially a non-verbal, non-conscious process (even if the blender might think otherwise). Now you know why master blenders are such ‘rare beasts’, why it takes them so long to train and become proficient and why huge Scotch whisky producers such as Diageo, Chivas Brothers, William Grant, Edrington, Beam Suntory, etc., are all obliged to rely upon just a few amazingly skilled and talented individuals! But where do Single Cask-Single Malts fit into this picture? Cast your mind back to the theoretical sensory map of Single Malts from Distillery X (Figure 1). Now delete from the map, all of those casks that have not yet attained sensory maturity (as previously defined). The mission hereafter of the whisky/sensory expert (if not the master blender) is to identify two ‘types’ of Single Cask from the depleted sensory map: 1/ Single Malts from casks drawn from the centre of the main cluster (as described above), which exhibit the fundamental sensory character of Distillery X (Figure 3). In practice, these will probably be several-times-used ex-bourbon casks (refills) where the cask effect is somewhat muted, or once-used (fresh) ex-bourbon casks where the Single Malt has reached sensory maturity without exhibiting excessive influence from the oak (or its previous occupant). Obviously, the latter are likely to reach sensory maturity more quickly than the former. 2/ Single Casks that are characteristic of Distillery X but exhibit interesting deviations. These could be ex-bourbon casks of one type or other which, for whatever reason, have delivered a sensorially mature Single Malt that’s outside the main cluster. However, it’s more likely that these will be the product of some less run-of-the-mill casks, as detailed previously. It’s important that these shouldn’t be construed as outlandish, but interesting and slightly more unusual whiskies from within the sensory universe of Distillery X (Figure 3). At Annandale Distillery we don’t currently produce vatted Single Malts. Whilst we have total respect for Master Blenders and the wonderful blended and vatted Scotch Whiskies that they create, we prefer to select Single Casks that exemplify the unfettered character of our peated or unpeated Annandale Single Malts, or slightly unusual departures from the centre-ground of Annandale’s peated and unpeated sensory maps. We don’t chill filter because there’s no point and we also prefer to bottle our Single Malts at cask strength, allowing the whisky drinker to dilute-to-taste. Our Rare Vintage 2014 and Vintage 2015 are exemplars of ‘main cluster’ Single Cask-Single Malts whereas our Founders’ Selection range are ‘interesting deviations’ from the main cluster. Indeed, one of the greatest delights that comes from owning a distillery is in sampling and tracking the maturing stock in our bonded warehouses and singling out those casks that satisfy the stringent standards we set for Annandale’s Single Cask-Single Malt bottlings. As our guarantee of uniqueness and provenance, every bottle of Annandale’s Single Cask-Single Malt is identified by cask number (e.g. 2014/98) and sequential bottle number (e.g. 98 of 236). We hope they’ll delight your senses and your emotions!

We’re often asked why we don’t mature our whisky in quarter casks (125 litres), octaves (50 litres), and firkins or blood tubs (~30-40 litres). (200 litre ex-bourbon barrels are the smallest casks we fill at Annandale Distillery.) To address this question, we need to consider the role of oak in whisky maturation: Oak adds to maturing whisky as well as taking something from it. If the cask has previously held bourbon, Scotch whisky, sherry, wine, port, rum, cognac, etc., some of this maturing liquid will have become impregnated in the staves (staves are narrow lengths of wood with chamfered edges that form the body of a wooden cask). This liquid remains, impregnated in the stave after the cask is emptied. When new-make spirit is filled into the emptied cask, some of the previous occupant will be extracted from the staves, adding flavour and colour to the maturing liquid, often quite quickly. The maturing spirit also extracts various naturally compounds from the oak, including vanillin (vanilla/sweet/confectionery flavour), tannin (astringency and golden brown colour – as in black tea) and various sugars (principally xylose but also arabinose, galactose, ribose rhamnose and glucose). Whisky casks are usually charred inside. Charring has a three-fold effect: 1.) It produces a layer of carbon on the inner surface of the stave. Carbon is very porous, which allows it to adsorb (as opposed to absorb) various compounds from the maturing spirit. Some of these adsorbed substances may be undesirable flavour and odour compounds. 2.) It increases the porosity of the surface of the stave which encourages deeper penetration of the spirit into the oak. 3.) It induces chemical reactions in the oak that are implicated in the conversion of hemicellulose (one of the principal structural components of oak) into the aforementioned sugars (although glucose arises from elsewhere). The sum total of all of these effects is known as ‘cask effect’ (or sometimes ‘oak effect’). Probably the most important consideration when choosing casks for whisky maturation, is the extent to which the distiller wishes the flavour of the final whisky to be influenced by cask effect. The nature and extent of the cask effect depends on three factors: The ‘freshness’ of the oak (i.e. how often the cask has been filled previously and for how long). The fresher the oak, the greater its potency in terms of delivering vanillin, tannin, xylose and other oak components. The nature of the previous occupant(s). Sherry is likely to have a fairly potent effect. However, if the previous occupant had been Scotch whisky, the impact would typically be much less. The ratio of the inner surface area of the cask to the volume of liquid held within the cask. The smaller the cask, the greater the ratio of the inner surface area of oak to volume of liquid inside, as shown in the bottom row of the table below. The smaller this ratio, the bigger the cask effect.   Firkin – Volume/litre 40 | Surface area/square metre 0.82 | Volume/square metre (litre) 48.8 Barrel – Volume/litre 200 | Surface area/square metre 2.23 | Volume/square metre (litre) 89.7 Hogshead – Volume/litre 250 | Surface area/square metre 2.59 | Volume/square metre (litre) 96.5 Sherry Butt – Volume/litre 500 | Surface area/square metre 4.03 | Volume/square metre (litre) 124.1   By way of example, a 40 litre firkin has the equivalent of 48.8 litres of spirit per square metre of inner cask surface area (i.e. a ratio of ~50:1) whereas, with a 200 litre barrel, it’s 89.7 litres/square metre (~90:1). In other words, there’s much more oak contact in a firkin than in a barrel (x 1.84) and therefore the ‘cask effect’ is likely to be bigger. The difference between a barrel and a sherry butt is also considerable (89.7 versus 124.1 litres/square metre, respectively). There’s even a noteworthy difference between a barrel and a hogshead. Make no mistake, cask effect is often used quite deliberately, as means of expeditiously bringing Scotch whisky to an acceptable level of sensory maturity, at an early age. There’s nothing wrong with this as such (in my opinion) provided the resulting whisky remains within the boundaries of what is an acceptable/credible Single Malt Scotch Whisky and provided the defining character of the distillery’s spirit is still evident. (These are the criteria applied at Annandale Distillery). However, it’s totally unacceptable if some sort of cask effect (e.g. ‘finished in Madeira wood’) is presented as an intriguing adjunct, when the real reason is to mask bad, imbalanced, rough or otherwise immature spirit. Sadly, this happens. I’m always very suspicious when multiple cask effects are used to finish a whisky, especially a young whisky. Amongst purists, there’s even a point of view that once-used ex-bourbon barrels (i.e. barrels that have only been used once to mature bourbon) exert too much cask effect on the flavour of the whisky. Whilst this point of view may be a little extreme, it’s certainly possible to ‘over bourbon’ Scotch whisky (again, in my opinion). To summarise, at one end of the spectrum, the most benign maturation vessel for Scotch whisky (i.e. with minimum cask effect) would be a several-times-used ex-bourbon cask (ideally of known provenance). The whisky may take longer to mature but the intrinsic character of the distillery’s spirit will surely shine through (warts and all). During the first three years of production, Annandale Distillery laid down ~50% of its stock in several-times-used ex-bourbon casks with a view to longer-term maturation. The other end of the cask effect spectrum would be represented by a never-used-before, 40 – 50 litre cask made from virgin Spanish oak and conditioned for two years with either oloroso of Pedro Ximinez sherry. In this case, it’s entirely possible that the maturing spirit will be ‘over-oaked’ (i.e. excessive cask effect) before reaching the legal 3 year minimum, and any evidence of distillery character will have been overwhelmed. At Annandale Distillery, we’re entirely confident in the quality of our new-make spirit*, so we don’t want to (and we don’t need to) obliterate its intrinsic character using excessive cask effect. That’s why we don’t mature our whisky in small casks. (*We’re so confident about the quality of our new make spirit that we bottle it at 63.5% ABV and sell it as Rascally Liquor®. Why not give it a try?)

The Scotch Whisky Regulations (2009) specify that Scotch Whisky can be matured in a variety of different casks provided that the cask is made of oak and provided that it is no more than 700 litres in volume. The reason why oak is specified in law is because it has a particular effect on the maturing spirit that gives Scotch Whisky its characteristic flavour (sensory characteristics). In essence, oakwood maturation is fundamental to the flavour of Scotch Whisky. Most of the maturation casks used in Single Malt Scotch Whisky have previously matured either bourbon, Tennessee sour mash (e.g. Jack Daniels), cognac, brandy, rum, tequila, and a multitude of wines including various red wines, white wines, sherry, Port, Madeira, etc. Oak has three very specific effects on the maturing spirit: 1.) Extraction – the spirit extracts various flavour components from the oak, predominantly, vanillin (vanilla, sweet), various lactones (coconut, cocoa, toasted, nutty, creamy, woody, maple) and tannin (astringency and colour). 2.) Extraction – the spirit extracts residues of the prior occupant – the barrel staves will have become impregnated with vestiges of the previous occupant. 3.)Absorption – the oak absorbs various undesirable flavour compounds from the maturing spirit (especially sulphur compounds produced during fermentation). In other words, the cask both ‘gives’ and ‘takes’ from the maturing spirit. The balance of these three effects is critical to the flavour of Scotch Whisky. Virgin oak casks (i.e. casks that haven’t been used previously to mature other spirits or wines) are rarely used in Scotch Whisky maturation, simply because of the potency of the virgin oak extracts. In contrast, the regulations governing bourbon production in the USA (Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits – 27 CFR 5) stipulate that charred virgin oak casks must be used for maturation. It’s the extracts from virgin oak that give bourbon much of its character. (If Scotch malt spirit was matured in virgin oak, it would eventually become very bourbon-like.) The US bourbon regulations create a mountain of once-used ex-bourbon casks, the vast majority of which are bought by the Scotch Whisky industry. Consequently, much of the Single Malt Scotch Whisky produced in Scotland has a ‘hint of bourbon’ due to further extraction of flavour components from the oak, as well as the extraction of residual bourbon from the barrel staves. In more recent times, Scotch whisky distillers have become increasingly adventurous and innovative in their choice of oak casks (see above) to either mature or finish their whisky. These different cask types produce Single Malts with flavour profiles that are distinctly different from those matured in ex-bourbon barrels. The STR is one such innovation! STRs are ex-Burgundy (red) wine casks that have been shaved (S), toasted (T) and re-charred (R). After a cask has held Burgundy for several years (possibly as much as 7 years), the oak barrel staves will have become heavily impregnated with the wine. If such a wine cask was subsequently filled with malt spirit, it’s possible that the resulting Single Malt would be too ‘winey’ in character, too red in colour and, because the inner surfaces of the cask may have been stripped of all of its flavour compounds, there could be too little oak character. It was the late Dr Jim Swan, a great friend and guiding light to Annandale Distillery, in collaboration with Bodegas José Y Miguel Martín (Spain), who developed the idea of carefully shaving the inside surface of Burgundy casks (to a depth that’s a closely guarded secret) to remove some of the wine-impregnated oak, thereby bringing some of the active oak, held deeper in the stave, closer to the surface. The inner surface is then toasted to break down certain structural elements in oak (particularly lignin and hemicellulose) into sugars which are subsequently caramelised by the heat (via Maillard reactions). Toasting also releases a variety of potent flavour compounds including vanillin. In the Swan/Martin STR process, toasting involves the burning of oak chips milled from redundant wine barrel staves. The temperature and duration of toasting, and the precise source and mix oak chips, is another closely guarded secret. Finally, the inner surface of the barrel is charred on a gas burner to create a charcoal (crocodile skin) surface. This is essentially activated charcoal, which has a huge surface area (due to the charring), and phenomenal adsorptive capacity for soaking-up undesirable flavour compounds. (You’ve guessed it – the extent of charring is another commercial secret!) Whilst cask rejuvenation via shaving and re-charring isn’t new, the ‘clever’ part of the Swan/Martin STR process is leaving enough residual ‘wine effect’ whilst reactivating the oak by toasting and re-charring. This is a very difficult balancing act. It’s also worth noting that thermal reactivation, whether it’s by toasting and/or re-charring, does not recreate exactly the flavour potential of virgin oak. In particular, lactones (coconut, cocoa, toasted, nutty, creamy, woody, maple), tannins (astringency and colour) and eugenol (cloves) are not recreated. Consequently, the balance of wood extractives in regenerated casks, such as STRs is rather different from those of a new cask, which makes them interesting and different. The Swan/Martin STR process undoubtedly brings another flavour dimension to whisky maturation…but does it create great-tasting Single Malts? Jim Swan was heavily involved in the development of Kavalan Distillery in Taiwan. In 2015, Kavalan Solist (Vinho Cask) won the accolade of the ‘Best Single Malt Whisky in the World’ (World Whisky Awards). Working with the team at Kavalan, Jim matured Solist in Swan/Martin STRs! Solist is variously described as having extra-fruity notes (melon, mango, citrus, vanilla, oak spice and dates). Not bad considering just how young this whisky was at the time of the award! In late January 2017, Jim Swan met with David Thomson and Teresa Church, Co-Founders of Annandale Distillery. We talked about wood policy and nosed a lot of Annandale’s peated and unpeated young, maturing spirit. Jim was convinced that our spirit would mature very well in his STRs. His parting words, as he left the distillery for yet another overseas consultancy trip, were…… “Don’t forget to order a consignment of STRs from Miguel Martin!” We invariably took Jim’s advice, and so 90, 230 litre STR hogsheads were ordered. Just over two weeks later, Jim passed away. We were broken-hearted. Fast-forward three years and Annandale’s spirit, filled into Swan/Martin STRs, has metamorphosised into peated and unpeated Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Jim was right! The union between Annandale’s malt spirit and Jim’s STRs is a marriage made in heaven. In mid-July 2020, Annandale Distillery will launch Swan/Martin STR-matured, peated (Man O’ Sword) and unpeated (Man O’ Words) Single Cask, Single Malts under its Founders’ Selection label. It’s our tribute to the great man. Tasting Notes (prepared by James Rogerson, Annandale’s Cask & Whisky Specialist): Founders’ Selection Man O’ Sword (Peated) – Cask 2017/355: Appearance – Wonderfully rich golden amber hue Nose – Peat is subtle at first but very reminiscent of tobacco smoke and smoky bacon. This is followed by a hint of coconut and sweet almond cherry Bakewell. Palate – A huge peat explosion, bringing in earthy notes with smouldering green foliage, creamy vanilla, fresh peach and a slight tickle of black pepper on the back of the throat. Founders’ Selection Man O’ Words (Unpeated) – Cask 2017/321: Appearance – Rich, golden amber Nose – Spicy hints of cinnamon and nutmeg precede creamy vanilla, butterscotch and sweet caramelised demerara sugar Palate – Hot melted butter initially which coats the palate, followed by hints of fresh conference pear, summer strawberries and fresh cream, Braeburn apple, blackberry, prunes and cool fresh honeydew melon

As a distillery owner, I’m often asked…… “What’s the correct way to drink whisky?”… “Should I add water?”… “Do you drink your Scotch on the rocks?” … “Is it OK to add cola, soda, lemonade, green tea, etc.?”. The honest (if trite) answer is that people should drink whisky in the way that pleases them most. If someone wants to spend a lot of money on a bottle of Man O’ Words or Man O’ Sword and then add cola, that’s their prerogative and I’m definitely not precious about them doing so, although I never would. Each to their own! However, as the above response is neither helpful nor satisfactory, I usually end up telling people how I choose to drink my whisky……so here goes: My great preference is to buy Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, non-chill filtered and at cask strength. “Why Single Cask?” Because every cask matures whisky differently and I really enjoy the sensory variety (and sometimes the surprise) that this delivers. Personally, I see very little point in buying regular Single Malts where cask differences are blended-out to deliver uniformity. Surely, uniformity is for Blended Scotch whiskies and not malts! Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the blender’s art, but I believe that any blend benefits from the addition of grain whisky to open out and balance the flavour. Yes – I do enjoy Blended Scotch Whisky, but only those that are blended to create a well-integrated and balanced flavour with real depth, rather than one that’s blended for cheapness. “Why cask strength?” Simply because I like to add my own water to taste! I never drink my whisky at cask strength because the alcohol makes it too pungent for me to enjoy, so I carefully add water in small amounts, sometimes using a dropper. It’s a matter of trial and error, so I add the water judiciously …sipping and adding until it’s just right for me. Whisky is quite unusual as adding water (up to a certain point) will often intensify the flavour. This happens because many of the flavour components are preferentially soluble in alcohol rather than water, so adding water brings them out of solution and into the headspace above the whisky (known as partitioning) where they can have much greater impact on the sense of smell. In my opinion, there’s a ‘sweet spot’ where the flavour peaks just before the point when any more water would make it taste thin and watery. My best guess is that I usually end-up somewhere around 35% ABV. “Why non-chill filtered?” I fully appreciate that unless chill filtered, whiskies at 43% or 40% ABV would become slightly turbid, especially when chilled with ice, and this could be off-putting, especially when the whisky is displayed on-shelf (see my technical note on chill filtering). However, when adding water to taste (as above) and drinking it there and then, I don’t think it matters if my whisky is turbid. In fact, once I see my whisky going streaky, I know that I’m getting close to that ‘sweet spot’. I don’t like to drink my whisky at room temperature, especially in a hot climate. It has to feel slightly cool on my tongue but never cold. This usually means that before adding water to my whisky, I chill the water by pouring it into a small jug, adding a small amount of ice to cool it. Tap water is usually OK in Scotland but elsewhere, I generally use low mineral content bottled water. I occasionally add ice directly into my whisky but usually very little and only enough to cool it to the desired temperature and, when it’s melted, to dilute it to my desired %ABV. In warmer climes I have on many occasions asked a barman to cut a cube of ice in half or even into quarters, so as to obtain the correct level of cooling and dilution. Some barmen ‘get it’, others just stare at me askance! Adding too much ice simply chills the whisky to the point where it anaesthetises the palate and eventually over-dilutes it. Pouring good quality whisky over one of these huge round ice balls that almost fills the entire tumbler is just bonkers in my opinion…but each to their own! Whisky stones (usually granite) provide a great way of cooling whisky without over-diluting it. And yes…I do have a digital thermometer! Why not? Good quality Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch Whisky is expensive so why not take the time and trouble to get it just right for you! It also adds a little theatre. Don’t worry if all of this sounds like too much of a palaver or a bit of a faff! With practice it becomes second nature. And now, my final confession. My favourite way to drink whisky is drawn straight from the cask in one of Annandale Distillery’s bonded warehouses. The whisky is always cool, as is the water. I dilute it to taste, sample the whisky and take notes. This is part of our routine quality control process for monitoring maturation, and also the method we use to select casks for our Founders’ Selection bottlings. Yes – I really do taste every single one and Teresa (co-owner and my wife) always sniffs the final selection (she’s tea total). No – I don’t spit it out, although I only take a small sip and allow it to warm-up in my mouth before swallowing! Yes – I do have someone to drive me home afterwards…usually Teresa! Sip, savour and enjoy! Slainte Mhath