Drink Matron

Category: Booze of the Week – Scotch

  • The Whisky Regions of Scotland

    Single malt Scotches are made all over Scotland and are grouped together by region.  Traditionally, there were four regions: The Highlands, Lowland, Islay, and Campbeltown.  Speyside is a newly established region, splitting away from The Highlands and sporting over half the distilleries in Scotland.  Campbeltown lost its status as an official Scotch region a few years ago, but has been reinstated recently.

    Each region has it’s own distinct style and flavor, which mainly comes from the ingredients used.  It’s a subtle difference, but that’s why you drink single malt scotch: for the nuanced and subtle flavors.

    Lowland

    Scotches distilled in the Lowland region tend to have a maltier, less peaty flavor which makes for a more subdued whisky.  Traditionally, distillers in the Lowland region also triple distill their whisky, which further mellows the flavor.  As geographically large as the Lowland region is, there are relatively few distilleries here.  Notwithstanding, Lowland Scotches are some of the more demanded and pricier Scotches around the world.

    Speyside

    With the increased number of distilleries in the Speyside sub-region, they were given full region status by the Scotch Whisky Association.  More than likely, the single malt at your neighborhood bar (if they even have one) is from this region. Speyside Scotch is the most famous of the Scotches: Cragganmore, Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, Glen Moray, The Macallan are all from Speyside.  This whisky tends to be sweeter than the other regions, likely because of the practice of aging the whisky in sherry barrels.  If there is any peaty character to any of these Scotches, it is only a hint.

    Highland

    A significantly large portion of Scotland, the Highland region produces robust, full-bodied Scotch.  They commonly have a floral, spicy flavor that can be attributed to the regional peat soil used in the malting process.

    Campbeltown

    Campbeltown is a tiny peninsula that used to support over 30 distilleries and was lauded as the Whisky Capital of the World.  There are only 3 Campbeltown distilleries left: Glen Scotia, Springbank, and newcomer Glengyle.  Campbeltown whiskys have a mix of sweet and salty flavors, and tend to be smokier than other Scotches.

    Islay

    The most distinct of the single malts, Islay Scotches are each as distinct from each other as the regional Scotches are.  Islay whisky tends to have a strong smoky, peaty flavor with a definite briny undertone.  Some are less peaty, some less smoky, some sweeter, some more savory.  Islay Scotches are in a class of their own.  A little tip from experience: If you pick up a bottle of Islay Scotch that is too smoky for you, hold onto it for a few year (or try buying an older bottle).  The smoky flavor is the first thing to mellow and it mellows significantly over time.

  • Blended Scotch vs Single Malt Scotch

    In the Scotch world, single malt drinkers tend to look down their noses at blended Scotch drinkers.  Is it warranted?

    Production

    All malt whisky is created the same (and grain whisky with a few minor alterations).

    Soak your grains in water until they start to sprout.
    Toast grains over the span of several days to halt the conversion of starch to fermentable sugar. (Not done for grain whisky)
    Grind malt into grist and steep in hot water.  The starches are converted to fermentable sugars in the water.
    Add yeast and allow wort to ferment.
    Separate solids from wash and distill (generally twice).
    Stick it in a cask and let it ferment for at least three years.

    This is the point at which the process changes.

    Single Malt

    At some point in the aging process, a cask of whisky will be deemed acceptable to bottling.  Casks of varying ages will be blended together to create a batch of single malt Scotch.  The single malt refers to the fact that the whisky must be made with 100% malted barley and is only blended with other whisky from the same distillery.  On a caveat, there is such a thing as single cask Scotch (which is incredibly rare, and more than you can afford), which is a bottle of Scotch that came from a single cask and wasn’t blended with anything else.

    Blended

    After a certain amount of time goes by, the distilleries will sell off some of their casks to blended scotch companies.  Each blended Scotch company will purchase enormous amounts of whisky from dozens of different distilleries, but a majority of their purchases will be grain whisky – not malt whisky.  That’s because 80% of blended Scotch is grain whisky, and the 20% that is malt whisky is a blend of up to 20 (but typically less than 15) single malts.

    So What Does That Mean Regarding Flavor?

    I’m glad you asked!  First of all, the grain whiskey that is used in the blending process has a higher alcohol content and is nearly flavorless so this has no effect on the flavor profile of blended whisky.  So the difference in flavor is that each distillery produces their own distinct flavor of Scotch and they put a great deal of effort into producing a quality, unique product that stands apart.  Meanwhile the folks making the blended scotches are spending just as much effort to create a quality product that focuses on consistency and moderate flavor as opposed to uniqueness.

    Talisker
    The Scotch that gets my motor running.

    You can think of it like mom-and-pop restaurants vs. franchises.  Some people would rather go to the franchise that they KNOW is above average no matter where in the world they are, while some people would rather try the mom-and-pop restaurant and run the risk of truly awful food if there’s a chance that it might be AMAZING food.  With blended scotch, you’ll always get a consistent flavor that isn’t too over the top.  With a single malt, it’s hit or miss.  Luckily, if you come across that single malt that makes your mouth salivate just thinking about it, you can always go back for more, no matter where you’re at.

  • Cheap Scotch: A Guide to Scotches on a College Student Budget

    Scotch is like wine.  Everybody gets all up in arms about it, fighting over which is better and what region makes it best and whether this premium brand is better than that premium brand.  But they forget all about what got them into it in the first place: The simple pleasure of enjoying a glass.

    When I was in college, we tended to keep 2 bottles of scotch in the house: a fifth of a single malt (typically old, typically not cheap), and a half gallon bottle of Lauder’s (incredibly cheap and doesn’t suck).  The idea was to drink a finger of the expensive stuff to really enjoy a good scotch and finish the night out with something less expensive because after the first drink, your palette can’t really appreciate the nuance of the single malt anymore anyway.

    I love scotch more than any other liquor in the world.  I appreciate the premium brands and will occasionally indulge and buy myself a bottle of single malt (I’ve had an ongoing 10 year love affair with Talisker) that I will milk for several months.  But what do we scotch lovers do when we can’t justify handing over our hard earned cash for that pricey bottle of booze?  We buy cheap!  Without further ado, here is the the Gallery of Cheap Scotches:

    Lauder’s Scotch

    ($16.99/1.75L)

    Imported from Glasgow, Lauder’s holds a special place in my heart.  This stuff was the table wine at my house in college.  We always had some, and it was the default drink of choice.  It also holds a special place in my heart because it’s so damn cheap!  At $17 for a half gallon, you can’t go wrong!  Granted, you get what you pay for, but I’ve had worse tasting scotches that cost far more than this.

    Famous Grouse

    ($30.99/1.75L)

    Famous Grouse is dangerously toeing the line between cheap and not-so-cheap, but considering it’s the most imbibed scotch in Scotland, I think we can group it into this category.  This stuff is mass produced to be good enough for general consumption without the haughty airs of the single malt world.  It’s Scotch, it tastes like Scotch, and it won’t cost you a paycheck to buy it.

    Vat 69

    ($23.99/1.75L)

    To be honest, I don’t really know anything about Vat 69 except that they have camo in the label.  Awesome?  You bet!  Tasty drink?  I have no idea.  A friend of mine from Spain once reminisced about how he and his friends used to drink this stuff like water and that he couldn’t believe they still made it.

    J & B

    ($29.98/1.75L)

    Short for Justerini and Brooks, J&B Scotch is one of the Diageo brands (these include Guiness, Bailey’s, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, and Jose Cuervo to name a few).  It is the drink of choice of Patrick Bateman and John Wayne Gacy, and Truman Capote used to order it by its full name, refusing to shorten it to simply “J&B.”  It is an average blended whiskey that will cost you a bit more than most cheap scotches, but won’t put you too far out of pocket for the taste.

    Ballantine’s

    ($19.99/1.75L)

    If you can’t get Lauder’s but you need something cheap, Ballantine’s is the way to go.  It’s not tasty and it’s kind of harsh, but for the price it will get you where you’re going.

    Cutty Sark

    ($29.99/1.75L)

    A friend of mine bought me a bottle of this for my birthday one year.  I was put off by the fact that they included 4 tiny little shot glasses, as if I was going to sit down with 3 of my friends and go shot for shot until the bottle was gone.  It’s on the high end of the cheap Scotches, and frankly not worth the cost in my opinion.  I’d pass on this, but you may like it more than me – after all, I do like Lauders!

    Johnnie Walker Red Label

    ($39.99/1.75L)

    Though it isn’t really cheap, I feel that Johnnie Walker Red Label deserves an honorable mention.  It is the most prolific Scotch in the U.S., is good to have around, and is currently the Scotch I like to keep around my house.

    [If you have any suggestions for good cheap Scotches, email cheapscotch@drinkmatron.prjct.info or comment below.]

  • Bacon Infused Scotch

    Scotch week has come at a very inconvenient time for us, since we’re broke and Scotch costs money. This further inconveniences me because I was excited to do some infusing of bacon and Scotch and tell you all about it.

    I got the idea from a spectacular website called baconscotch.info, a site run by some seriously brilliant folks who love bacon and Scotch. They in turn found a recipe for bacon infused Scotch from Girl + Fire = Food, that makes even my less-than-thrilled-about-Scotch tastebuds poke me in anticipation.

    So, even though I won’t be infusing anything this week (eventually I will though, and explain every exciting detail), I thought I’d share the recipe with my (possibly) better funded readers. If you do make it, please send me pics or a review of how it turns out and I’ll post it here!

    via [http://www.baconscotch.info/?tag=bacon-infused-scotch]

    Bacon Infused Scotch

    3-4 strips fatty bacon
    1 tablespoon freshly rendered bacon fat
    1 bottle of scotch

    1. Fry up the bacon. Save a tablespoon of bacon fat. Eat the bacon. (If 3-4 strips doesn’t give you a full tablespoon, fry some more!)

    2. Pour the scotch into a clean, wide-mouth container. You don’t want to put the bacon fat in the alcohol’s original bottle because some might get stuck in there, which leads to floating fat globules and that’s not pretty.

    3. Let the mixture marinate overnight.

    4. The next morning, stash the mixture in the freezer. Scotch doesn’t freeze, but the fat will. After a few hours, the fat will be solid, making it very easy to fish out. Even easier if you used a wide-mouth container.

    5. Strain the alcohol back into its original bottle.

    Drink up my lovelies! (that’s from me, DM)

  • Found on the internet: a guide to Scotch whisky

    The key to drinking Scotch whisky is truly understanding what it is and where it comes from. Being that I am not a Scotch drinker (that’s Adrian’s thing), I have been researching constantly trying to learn as much about this popular booze in order to bring you the absolute best information possible about it. I had an idea in my mind of how to present it to you and everything. And then I came upon an article by those guys over at The Art of Manliness, and after reading it, realized that not only was it the exact article that I planned on writing, but that as experienced Scotch drinkers, they had written it better than I could ever imagine. So gentlemen and ladies, I present to you that article on the basics of Scotch whisky.

    [The Art of Manliness Guide to Scotch Whiskey] via [The Art of Manliness]

  • Scotch – A man’s drink

    While I don’t necessarily believe Scotch to be strictly a man’s drink, this Scotch advert is quite entertaining, and true.

    [vimeo 4138781 w=400 h=225]

    Scotch – A man’s drink from Dylan Couper on Vimeo.

  • What’s the Difference Between Scotch and Irish Whiskey?

    Moving towards St. Patrick’s Day, we tend to think more about the Irish spirits, Irish whiskey in particular.  A question that I hear frequently relating to Irish whiskey is what is the difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky.  The obvious answer is that Irish whiskey is made in Ireland and Scotch whisky is made in Scotland, but the difference is much greater than just that.

    The Barley

    One of the fundamental ingredients of most alcohol is a starch of some kind, typically a grain.  In the case of these two types of whiskeys, barley is that ingredient.  The difference between them is that Irish whiskey uses a varied mix of raw and malted barley whereas Scotch is made exclusively with malted barley.  Also, the barley used in Scotch is malted using peat smoke, which gives it the distinctive aroma and smell.

    The Distillation Process

    The main reason for the difference in flavor between Scotch and Irish whiskey is that Irish whiskey is typically distilled three times (and Scotch only two) which mellows the flavor significantly.  Distilling a spirit is basically the process of separating the alcohol from all the impurities.  It’s an imperfect process and each time you distill a spirit the closer to pure alcohol you get.  Hence, purer alcohol, less flavor (or harshness of flavor). Irish whiskey has a smooth, delicate flavor compared to its more robust, harsher cousin.

    There are more brands of Irish whiskey than just Bushmore and Jameson, so this St. Patrick’s Day raise a glass to your favorite Irishman and give an off-brand a try!

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