Adventures Of A Young Distiller

It's guest post time folks - and we have a really superb introduction to the world of distilling from a relatively young (but very experienced) chap. We recently met up with Matthew Pauley, part of the Thames Distillers operation, but also the man behind a wonderful new site - Distillers Nose. Matthew delivers highly entertaining but detailed discussions on the art of distillation and naturally, we thought you might want to get to know him!! Anyway check out the Distillers Nose site and.... take it away Matthew!!

The Adventures Of A Young Distiller

Firstly a brief introduction to myself and how I came to be a distiller.

I was very fortunate in comparison to many young people that I come across today, in as much as from the age of about 16, I have had an idea of what I would like to do jobwise… it was just a case of how. Part of my school curriculum was to go and do a weeks work experience. It was my mother’s idea to send her science mad son to the local brewery. During the week I was walked through every part of the process from keg cleaning (getting covered in dead yeast and oxidised beer) to wracking off, rolling and stacking kegs into the hundreds next to a lazy temp, who kept sitting down on the job.

More often than not I would make a weary and smelly scooter ride home.

I was bitten by the bug and realised I wanted to get into the industry in some way or another. During 6th form, I heard there was a course in Brewing Distilling and Malting at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh and having put it as my only option on my UCAS form, I was lucky enough to get a place. Edinburgh has to be the ideal place to be a student and Scotland is great place to get to know the drinks industry. I used to work in a pub during the holidays from uni and one day, I encountered a customer I had known for a while and got talking. It turned out he was a master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers.

It was through this conversation that I managed to get a job at Glenfiddich Distillery as a tour guide and I must admit, it gives an Englishman pause for thought when asked what size kilt socks he wears! I stayed in the Balvinie distillers cottages, walking in the foot steps of distillers past, also quietly perfecting a taste for whisky. Overall I spent the best part of two summers in Speyside.

During the summer, Dufftown, has regular Ceilidh, which for a relatively quiet village in Speyside, is both exhausting and exhilarating I am still unfortunatly rubbish at Ceilidh dancing. I spent a week in the company of the distillers at Glennfiddich turning big wheels to open needle valves and levers. I spent a day with Ali who, despite his advancing years, was as fast as a hare at getting from one end of the still house to the other. It was a real education and helped cement a love of the art and science of distilling.

When I went back to Edinburgh for university, (having built up a taste for whisky) I managed to get a part time job at the Single Malt Whisky Society on Queen Street.

It was here that I was given a free dram at the end of the shift, which being a hard up student, my eyes where naturally drawn to the prized golden ribbons.

Never one to be backwards in coming forwards, I asked if I could sit on their selection panel where you sit around a table and score cask whiskies and describe them as eloquently as you can. If a high enough score is awarded it is listed with a little description in the guide. I managed to wangle a place and was thrilled to get a description printed in their tasting guide. Among my other experience, I spent a placement at Tate and Lyle’s Tunnel Refinery looking at their continuous fermentation plant, which was lacking in the romance but from the technical geeky perspective was pretty cool.

I was pleased to graduate with honours and after a little while looking, accepted a position at Thames Distillers working with a novel distillation system and small scale beer bottling plant which has kept me busy to this day. The good thing about Thames is we do all sorts of small scale and specialist products, so things are seldom the same twice, which stops things getting stale.

I have still have a huge passion for the craft of distillation, despite doing it every day and I enjoy finding other spirits to tantalise and intrigue me.

Summer's 'Choman Gone....

God, these titles get decidedly worse, but with Kilchoman, they just write themselves!

There's something about late summer that always gets me in a slightly melancholic mood. One can usually expect a few really great weekends of sunshine, but you kind of know that lurking in the background is the rain - waiting to dampen your spirits and signal the start of the rest of the year.

This week has been dreadful weather in London. One moment sunshine, the next... torrential rain. What is a chap to wear? My usual brogues are now sodden, after an ill-fated walk down Oxford Street, prompting me to have to buy the world's most useless umbrella.

As I have written on here before, I purchased a rather fine wooden handled umbrella from a very reputable shop, but it is currently being repaired and out of desperation, I had to purchase a £7 'tourist special' from a vender selling joke Police helmets, 'I Heart London' t-shirts and postcards plastered with comedy London 'themed' breasts. Highly tasteful stuff as i'm sure you can imagine.

Once unfurled, the umbrella lasted for exactly 5 minutes and 23 seconds, before someone bumped into it, leaving one pathetic half hanging down limply, dripping water into my bag of whisky samples. It would have actually been cheaper to hail a taxi to take me to my destination.

Anyway, moaning aside, one of the samples (whose label was sadly turned to an inky mush by the rain) was Kilchoman's brand new Summer Release. Earlier this week, we reviewed a rather unexpected single cask bottling of Kilchoman, which was excellent. So it was all the more timely that we received their big release, just before the summer was well and truly lost for another year.

A hot summer's day triumph on the Cote d' Azur.... or a wet weekend in Prestatyn? Let's find out...

Kilchoman - Summer Release - 46 %

Nose: Banana milkshake, wet leaves/humid forest notes, tinned fruit cocktail sweetness and some sherbet. With a hint of water, some malty/gristy notes develop.

Palate: Burnt bonfire peat, charcoal notes, very decisive but not too dominating. With a little hint of water, the palate really opens up with some orchard fruit pie, tablet toffee and peppery BBQ steak.

Finish: Quite fatty/oily and very rich. The bonfire peat starts to develop a more peppery note as the palate dries.

Overall: It's official. Kilchoman keep turning out really well made whisky. Apparently, this release is Anthony Wills' favourite so far. It of course bears many similarities with the previous releases, but what is abundantly clear is that the whisky is starting to develop an undoubted distillery character, fitting in perfectly next to the other more established peated monsters. It isn't medicinal, it isn't highly phenolic, but it has a wonderful balanced smoke and as a result, simply cannot be ignored. Keep 'em 'choman guys!!

The Highland Park Saga continues....

HP fans, be afraid. Be very afraid, for the Saga that rocked Orkney nearly 10 centuries ago has returned once again to haunt us... and fortunately enlighten our palates.

October sees the return of the 'Magnus' bottlings. After the success of the original Earl Magnus, the sequel is nearly upon us, in the shape of Saint Magnus. We got a sneak preview of the new bottling in February this year (read our original notes here) but a sample of the final formulation dropped through our letterbox this morning and we're very excited to see how it's evolved since then.

The initial Earl Magnus bottling

For those not in the know, the Magnus bottlings will be a trilogy of releases, starting with the Original Earl Magnus late last year. A 15yo whisky, it was limited to around 6 thousand bottles and sold out very quickly indeed.

Saint Magnus carries on the traditional Orkney legend. It is a vatted bottling at 55% (as opposed to the 52.6% when we originally tried it) and has largely been matured in Spanish oak casks, of which approximately 20% are first fill. Apparently the youngest whisky in the vatting dates from 1998.

There will be a finale to the trilogy, the Haakon bottling, (test sample notes can also be found here) no doubt released next year. But until then, let's dive into the Saint Magnus. Will it be as 'saintly' as the original Earl Magnus bottling, or have Highland Park committed their first sin?

The Brand new Saint Magus bottling

Highland Park - Saint Magnus - 55% - limited to 11,994 bottles - £85

Quick note on the colour- A really wonderful amber/gold- not something we usually remark on, but this definitely caught our eye...

Nose: A battle cry of aromas, if ever such a thing existed. An initial dried fruits note and waxy heather honey, gives way into a coal-like smoke note, some fudge and caramelised apple tart.

With water, a minty aromatic develops, with a slightly dry, oaky/Brazil nut note.

Palate: A sweetness, which subsides into a sooty/smoky richness. Notes of creme caramel, baked apple some orangey citrus and soft caramel and Locket throat lozenges, gently covered by the smoke. In fact, this is one of the most smoky HP's we've tasted- different and definitely a progression from the original sample we tried in February.

Finish: The warming bite of the smoke lingers, as do the citrus notes.

Overall: A really surprising dram indeed. Very different to the Earl Magnus, but by that, we don't mean not as good. This has a life of its own- it isn't as sweet and honeyed as the regular 12yo and also sits to the left of the Hjarta bottling, which was released last year. There, the smoke was much more floral, whereas this is decidedly more oily and sooty, making for a highly interesting and slightly more raw Highland Park. Peat lovers, who have looked for more of the brown stuff in their HP's will be absolutely delighted, while the rest of us can smile and enjoy another dram of something different from a distillery very much in top form.

Time To Get Soured Up....

Somewhere on the internet, there must be a calendar, which is solely dedicated to the celebration of significant dates for drinks. If there isn't, i'll offer to create one!!

What I mean is that pretty much every week, there's a new National 'insert drink name here' Day or an important birthday, which gets PR teams around the globe in a frenzy, with 5 good reasons why you should be celebrating with a bottle of their spirit. At Caskstrength, we recently celebrated National Absinthe Day (even though it appeared it was just in the USA), Black Tot Day, the tragic loss of rum from our Naval Fleets and even International Pisco Fortnight.

Ok, we made the last one up, but yesterday another one landed in our inbox, which on face value looked like cynical ploy to part with your hard earned cash to celebrate another spirit.

But wait! We actually took notice of this one. Partly because it involves whisky and partly because it involves caskstrength's favourite cocktail of the moment- the Whisk(e)y Sour.

Quite who defined the 25th August as 'National Whiskey Sour Day' is anyone's guess. The people behind Michael Collins Irish Whiskey were the ones blowing the party streamers and it all sounds pretty made up, but then again, who cares! Nearly every day for the last 2 weeks has been National Whisky Sour Day in Caskstrength Towers - a small surplus of both blended whiskies and single malts had been accumulating on the sideboard and Mrs Caskstrength was starting to get a little antsy. What better way than to have a 'Sour Off'

Recipe No. 1 Classic Whisky Sour, using Johnnie Walker Black Label

2 measures Johnnie Walker Black Label

1 measure freshly squeezed lemon Juice

1/2 measure of plain sugar syrup (home made)

1/2 fresh egg white

Add all ingredients into a Boston Shaker and shake vigorously until frothy. Strain over ice into a chilled tumbler glass. Add 6 drops Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (or Angostura) onto the foamy top. This allows a wonderful permeation of aromatic flavour throughout the drink...(many thanks to Mark Jenner at the Coburg for this great tip)

Garnish with a twist of Lemon peel and if so desired, a cocktail cherry. Whisky Exchange do Griottes, which are superb and far cheaper than Griottines (amazing flavour for a cocktail cherry, but 3 times the price!)

I don't think you can really go wrong with this recipe. The addition of the egg white into the cocktail shaker gives a fabulous creamy froth. I have taken to part whisking the egg white first, then adding into the shaker, but it's really however you prefer it. A simple, yet wonderfully refreshingly rich/aromatic and sharp drink indeed. The Johnnie Walker doesn't overpower the other flavours, giving a slightly smoky note, with some rich butteriness to boot.

Recipe No.2 Whisky Sour, using Smokehead

1.5

measures Smokehead

1 measure freshly squeezed lemon Juice

1/2 measure of honey syrup (home made)

1/2 fresh egg white

several dashes of Angostura Bitters

As the whisky is quite dominant, you don't need as much, but this offers a slightly different take on the classic. Worth trying with the honey syrup too.

Recipe No. 3 Whisky Sour, using a sherried Speyside - the wonderful Glenrothes 1985

2 measures The Glenrothes 1985

1 measure freshly squeezed lemon Juice

1/2 measure of dark orange marmalade syrup (home made)

1/2 fresh egg white

3 dashes of Fee Brothers Whisky Barrel Aged Bitters

Garnish with a slice of slightly burnt orange zest. The wonderful orange aromas blend extremely well with the fruity, bittersweet Glenrothes and the whisky barrel bitters give a really spicy, woody note.

Happy National Whisky Sour Day!!

Looking forward to 'International Manhattan Month'....

Keep 'em 'Choman...

Fridays are always a frantic time over at Caskstrength towers. The once clear dining room table is by and large reduced to a state of annihilation. Bottles sit half drunk, last night's sampling Glencairns need washing up and piles of notes/ press releases and general marketing gumph need filing in the circular file.

So it is all the more refreshing when you have a bottle that has sat there quietly, waiting for its chance to be opened when all the melee has died down.

This week's happens to be a sample bottle of Kilchoman - a single bourbon cask from 2007.

We had been expecting a sample of the Summer Release, which went on sale last week, so this was a complete surprise. All being well, we'll be able to bring you notes of this in a few days, but for now, settle back back and enjoy something else from this cracking new distillery. I have no idea if it's ever destined to see the light of day, but lets hope so...

Kilchoman - Single Bourbon Cask - Cask No. 114/07 - 62.2% abv - 50ppm

Nose: Crisp, with some earthy tones rising immediately to the fore, backed up with a wholesome, malty peat aroma. It is so very different to the peat aromas of other Islay distilleries, lacking the iodine/brine of the Port Ellen trio. This is more aromatic coffee, with a large measure of frothy milk and a couple of complimentary Werther's Originals thrown in for good measure.

Palate: As one would expect from a whisky at 62%... it is hot and very spiky. But a little sharp lemon sherbet rises through, alongside some coal-dusted malt. Water makes the mouthfeel a little softer, like biting into a chocolate with some gooey vanilla caramel in the middle, but there is still a feisty, peppery peat wanting to kick your tonsils in at the slightest ill-advised look. Think Begbie from Trainspotting holding a box of Milktray and you're close to what this feels like in the mouth.

Finish: The coffee of the nose returns (sans milk) and that's when you start to realise there's some magic at work here- the coal dust makes a black-handed grab for your tongue and also a hint of something sweet but definitely earthy which outlasts all the other flavours. I'm thinking carrots freshly pulled from the garden... (which reminds me, Mrs Caskstrength asked me to water the veg patch and I totally forgot...oops)

Overall: It's hard to dislike anything that Kilchoman is putting out at the moment. The single cask which was released for this year's Feis Ile (incidentally, the sister cask to this) had youth, fire and intensity, backed up by enough sweetness, peat and maturity to warrant a second helping. This is virtually the same, albeit maybe slightly more manic at first. Give it a little time in the glass (with water) and then it starts to come to life.