Week 13 Impressions by Niku Schreiner

I have, for a long time, been a whiskey appreciator. So naturally a visit to Edinburgh would involve an investigation of some of the greatest Scotches and an expected reeducation of my whiskey beliefs. The best way of satisfying my needs was to visit The Scotch Experience. I was given two options for tours. One consisted of a tour and single dram while the other consisted of five drams. For those who don’t know, a dram is 25ml of scotch. One could only guess which one I decided to take.

The tour starts with everyone being given a box for their official whiskey tasting glass and then the glass filled with out first precious dram. As instructed I observed the colour which is given by the cask that it is maturated in; the aroma which can retain scents of fruits, trees, spices, and paint thinner; the body which can be observed by the legs running along the side of the glass; and, of course, the taste where a variety of words can be used. I was able to use my new found skills to analysis and conclude that the scotch that I was holding was absolute crap. I was not surprised to find out that it was Old Smuggler, which some have vague recollection of buying freshman year when in search of a cheap drunk.

After reluctantly finishing the drink, the tour was herded into the next room where we were sat down in church like benches to watch a video that was most likely made in the mid 80’s describing the finer details of how scotch is made. It starts with the malting phase where barely is steeped for four days in large tanks and then spread out along a floor. The barley is then turned regularly over another 12 days before it is ready for the next step. The mashing phase comes next where sugars are dissolved into the concoction. Step three is the fermentation stage where yeast is added to make the whiskey alcoholic. Then comes the distillation phase. During this time the elixir is ran through a spirit still raising the alcohol content to 70 or even 80%. The liquid is then placed in the barrels for the maturation phase where the alcohol will sit for several years losing about 2% alcohol each year. For the contents to be considered scotch it must sit for at least 3 years but often whiskies will sit for 8, 12, 30 or even half a century.

The tour was then shown into a room where a master brewer was going to give us an explanation of blended scotch. However our master brewer was a bad light show with cartoonish styles explaining that a blended scotch was a combination of strong tastes of the single malt and single grain whiskeys to create a more even but pleasant taste.

The next and final stop in the tour was the barrel ride. I held delusions of a splash mountain experience where the water was replaced with scotch but those were soon destroyed by the appearance of a slow jerking plastic barrel leading us through the history of the drink of Scotland. I minded the request to turn off cell phone but the individual in front of me did not causing their barrel to derail: A riveting experience as a whole.

It was now time to try another four drams of scotch which were destined to be better then the first. The first of the new set was a mild Auchentoshan three wood from the Lowlands which contained aromas of sweet & spicy Christmas cake… and the taste was of a rich toffee and dried fruit. Verdict? Tasty.

The next on the list was the Glenmorangie Maderia, a Highland malt whiskey. The taste was of cinnamon and chewy toffee. I was able to detect the toffee but failed to observe where the chewy description was relevant. Verdict? Too sweet but good overall.

The next was a Speyside whiskey: Glenlivet French Oak, aged 15 years. I have had Glenlivet scotches before and the promise of a dry, slight spicy but creamy vanilla was tantalizing. Verdict? Amazing. Definitely one of my favorite whiskies to date.

The last to try was one of the Island malts, Ledaif Sherry, with a described peppery sweetness and lingering smokiness that left me wary of what to expect. Verdict? Vile. It was much like eating a piece of coal and burned like hell when imbibed.

After 5 drams of whiskey I was quite content with the Scotch Experience and was ready to apply my newfound knowledge out on the town.