7 Casks, 7 Tastes

I'd like to talk about sampling whisky directly from cask samples - something most of us never get to do.

On a recent trip to visit the blending lab at Compass Box, I had a chance to try samples from 7 different casks which had been treated with 3 different toasting levels. Other than the toast of the wood, the contents of the casks and length of maturation was identical.

The thing that surprised me most was that all of the samples, even those from similarly toasted casks, each had it's own nose and taste characteristics - no two samples were alike.

I'm going to talk about the differences between those cask samples - I didn't take extensive tasting notes since you'll never be able to buy bottles from these individual casks. I'm also specficially not going into details about the whisky or the wood, as John has to keep some secrets. So don't ask.

Casks 1,6,& 7 were similarly toasted. Cask 6 had much more wood on the nose and opened up floral with the addition of water, while by comparison, 7 started out quite floral. Cask 1 was the smoothest and most elegant of the three.

Casks 4 & 5 were likewise treated to the same toasting level. 5 was excellent, with strong vanilla, butterscotch and bourbon tones, while 4 was a weaker version of 5. 5 could have been bottled and sold right there.

Casks 2 & 3 were in-between the toasting levels of the previously mentioned sets- and the whisky was much more solvent than any of the other casks. Even though the nose characteristics were very similar, trying them undiluted showed that 2 was smoother than 3. Neither sample had the floral or vanilla tones in the previous samples. With the addition of water, the solvent turned to hay & grass and the flavor was quite sweet.

While I've always appreciated the blender's art, I appreciate it even more now. The variations from cask to cask were astounding. To produce a consistent yet delicious blend, whether it is a blend of malt and grain, a blend of single malts from different distilleries (aka vatted/blended malt), or a single malt, is a painstaking exercise.

I'm also astounded by the wide variations that whisky, which was produced on the same day and put into similar casks, can exhibit. Yet another example of the complexity of Scotch.

Comments

[Jody]

I envy you.

So, what's the difference between "cask strength" (say Macallan's: http://www.themacallan.com/range/cask_strength_us.html), and a "single barrel" (say The Balvenie's: http://www.balvenie.com/range/singlebarrel_15yo.html).

In that case I would guess the Macallan is blended and its alcoholic content is set at a cask strength, whereas The Balvenie is truely similar to your samples (except it would be filter to remove wood particles. Coloured, too, maybe?)

[Kevin Erskine]

A cask strength whisky is has been taken from the cask and bottled without being diluted to between 40-46% abv.

But it is not necessarily (or usually) from a single cask.

In the case of a cask strength, they've usually still done the "vatting" - i.e., mixing the contents of several/multiple casks before bottling; while a single cask is just that - the a whisky where the contents of a single cask are bottled.

It's important to remember that a single cask bottling is NOT necessarily cask strength - and may be diluted before bottling.

This is discussed in my book.