The great author
Jonathan Swift once wrote that “he was a bold man who first ate an oyster”. It
is this sort of gastronomic experimentation which has given us such great
delights as a human race, tickling our taste buds with incredible innovation.
I often wonder
who it was that first invented the meringue; they must have been the Heston Blumenthal of their day, but probably didn’t get the fame their invention should
have rewarded them with, let alone a Michelin star or even their own range of
cookware.
And it is this
need to create, to always push the boundaries, that man has been striving for
ever since we had a sense of taste, a lust for flavour. Of course we all need
to eat, drink and be merry. But the tastier the first two parts of that phrase,
the greater the volume of merriment.
It’s a simple equation:
Eat + Drink = Merry. Increasing the pleasure aspect of one, or both is like
swapping the ‘plus’ symbol for a ‘multiply’ symbol. This is why we celebrate
those who have the ability increase our pleasure, to change our +, to an x.
In the mix of
master blender, the superstar bar tender (what an appropriate phrase to write
with Tales of the Cocktail happening at the moment), the
footballer-turned-whisky-maker... there is one person often forgotten, who is
key to the final flavour of any aged spirit. And that is the cooper.
The origins of
cask maturation have been long forgotten as the cask has, for centuries, been a
fairly utilitarian tool for the transportation of goods. From coal and fish, to
a variety of liquids, the barrel was the carrier bag of its day; developed into
a sea container for special goods. But it is the people who first discovered
maturation from a white spirit to a dark, delicious drink who should be
celebrated as much as the man who first shucked and sucked an oyster. Long
forgotten, these men are responsible for something very special, the ideal of
the cask to cradle some of our most precious liquids from simple spirits to
super single malts.
Already this year
I have visited cooperages in Scotland, Spain and the USA and the results never
fail to surprise me. Handmade, in the most part, casks are designed to absorb a
small amount of their liquid contents, swapping spirit for spices, whiskey for
wood influence. But not only do casks add flavour to their contents, they also
breath; slowly letting air in and out, as if they are giant wooden lungs,
taking in oxygen and breathing out lost spirit, a gift to the angels.
This conflicting
purpose, to both store and give away, makes barrels almost biblical, following
the guidance that the more you give away, the richer you will become; ergo, the
more active the cask, the more condensed the liquid inside becomes, taking
flavour from both the wood and the previous incumbent of the cask, and the
richer the liquid gets. A truly spiritual experience.
In my journeys to
see both sherry casks and bourbon barrels in production, to understand more
about their role in maturation, I have learned a lot about the preparation that
a cask must go through before it is allowed to mature Scotch whisky.
There are huge
differences between American oak and European oak, between ex-sherry casks and
ex-bourbon barrels, between a hogshead and a puncheon. But all were, at some
stage, the results of experiments by innovators, leaving a legacy for today and
well beyond.
Thank you to those people, whoever you are.
Glenfiddich – 'Excellence' – 26 Years Old –
Matured 100% American Oak – 43% abv - £350
Nose: The casks which this whisky has
been matured in have delivered a first class aroma of sweet vanilla, custard
cream biscuits, malted milk and crème brulee. There is a hint of oak spice, but
only to give body and provide a platform for the developed Madagascan vanilla
and white flowers to build on.
Palate: A richer mouthfeel than
expected, this is a buttery dram with a hint of heather, yet again some spices
to balance out the palate. It is clearly American oak, ex-bourbon and takes in
the butterscotch aspects of well matured whisky from these styles of casks, but
sprinkles a small amount of cinnamon on top.
Finish: A brilliant balance of sweet
and spicy, with that rich vanilla giving a super landing to a great dram.
Overall: This whisky was designed to
reflect the style of cask it has been matured in. American oak, ex-bourbon
barrels filled in the last century, have marshalled a spirit through more than
two decades, resulting in a whisky which is the perfect ambassador for this
style of maturation.
If it hadn’t been
for those great cooper-innovators, inventing the cask, maturing and re-maturing
spirit in it, we wouldn’t have a whisky like this today. So, cheers to those
forgotten folk for giving us all something so special which will echo through
the ages.
