diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json index f66c11e..69f285d 100644 --- a/package-lock.json +++ b/package-lock.json @@ -1,11 +1,11 @@ { - "name": "eleventy-base-blog", + "name": "robertmaxrees.github.io", "version": "1.0.0", "lockfileVersion": 3, "requires": true, "packages": { "": { - "name": "eleventy-base-blog", + "name": "robertmaxrees.github.io", "version": "1.0.0", "license": "MIT", "dependencies": { diff --git a/posts/whatiswhiskey.md b/posts/whatiswhiskey.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc28e8c --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/whatiswhiskey.md @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +--- +title: What is Whiskey? +description: An exploration into a question nobody is asking +date: 2024-12-23 +tags: + - whiskey + - somme life +layout: layouts/post.njk +--- + +In my recent post about my [Year in Whiskey in 2024](/posts/yearinwhiskey2024/), I posited about a topic I've been mulling for a while. I'm + +## Lost Spirits Abomination Slayers of the Law + +Finally, this strange beast. It's not legally whisky. TTB's classifications are frustrating - that Maker's 46, Fireball, Basil Hayden Dark Rye, and Angel's Envy are all considered the same thing is it's own can of worms, but this release gave me pause to consider the question "what is whiskey?" at a level that I hadn't in a while. + +So much of our definitions of whiskey are tied to how it's made. 100% grain mash that's then distilled under some upper limit of ABV, then tossed into a (usually oak) cask, and eventually bottled usually higher than 40%. Nothing other than grain, yeast, and water (and enzymes) allowed... That sheer amount of parentheticals should highlight the beginnings of my miniature internal crisis on this subject. This Lost Spirits release takes everything a step further by putting sourced peated Scottish spirit through a special machine that tries to "rapid age" it with charred oak chips that had some level of contact with a late harvest riesling. + +Taking a step back, the results in the glass are good. Not great, not amazing, but good. Lost Spirits touts that their special THEA One reactor process creates something that has the same chemical fingerprint as a 15-year-old whisky. That may or may not be true - I don't have access to a mass spectrometer to analyze this with. What I do have are a nose and mouth that have experienced a lot of whisky. Experientially, this smells, tastes, and finishes like a peated Islay malt. Not an excellent one, but it's not bad, either. Very middle-of-the-road, with nothing too funky going on. + +Shit. + +So what *is* whisky? + +## This year's major question: What is whiskey? + +Parsing this question leads to two different, basic answers: +- The result in the glass is all that matters. If it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck... +- Where, how, and when are as important as the raw materials. Otherwise it's a facsimile, no matter how spot on. + +I *think* I know where I sit on this one, but it's an important conversation to be having as we charge into the future. New and different treatment processes will continue to come up, and they will all have varying levels of success. While these often _can_ simulate certain aspects of the aging process, there's one thing they still do not (and potentially never can) do: replace time. There are chemical processes that cannot be sped up without having other, often detrimental, affects to the resultant liquid. We can extract oak character, sure, but we cannot replace the cascade of interactions that occur over extended periods of time within a cask. + +That probably reveals my opinion on the matter, but there's also a new world of exploration available. In the US, TTBs current classification framework is woefully inadequate, and it will only get worse as time goes on. Though I do applaud their recent ratification of the American Single Malt category, I worry that there's so much else they aren't accounting for. + +Let's consider the following options: +- Knob Creek 9 year, a bourbon +- Maker's 46, a bourbon that had french oak staves inserted into the barrel +- Glenfarclas 105, a scotch that leverages ex-sherry casks +- Basil Hayden Dark Rye, a rye that's been blended with a small percentage of port wine +- Cascade Moon, a single barrel Tennessee spirit that would be a whiskey except that it comes from the barrel at under 40% abv +- Fireball, a canadian whisky that adds sweeteners and flavorings +- Lost Spirits Abomination, a peated Islay spirit that goes into a machine with charred oak chips that touched riesling + +Of these, only 2 are classified by TTB in the US as "Whiskey". Of those 2, one is a Scotch that, if made stateside, would not be classified as a whiskey. More strangely, the "non-whiskey" options all fall under the catch-all classification of "Distilled Spirits Specialty". In the eyes of the law, Fireball and Maker's 46 are the same category. + +Wat. + +In Scottish rules, what you put the grain-based distillate into doesn't matter so long as it's oak. It doesn't matter if it's new charred oak or if it held something prior. Heck, you can age it in one cask, and then move it to another. Stateside, however, the moment you dump a barrel containing bourbon is sacrosanct. Bottle that, you're good to go. The act of putting that into, say, a spent port cask (a la Angel's Envy) and suddenly it's legally not even whiskey any more. Ditto even if you put it into another charred new oak container. That, too, makes it Not Whiskey any more. + +This lengthy tangent is a short version - I'll share a deeper dive in the future. The point here is that exploring the question of "What is whiskey?" requires some deep contemplation. What are the guard rails and limitations we truly need to care about? Which ones aren't that important? Where do we draw the lines? Or do the lines even need to exist? + +## In summation + +There were plenty of other things I had this year that I enjoyed and/or made me think. I didn't include them above because I had to cut things off somewhere. Here were my other selections: +- Laphroaig 25 2018 +- Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye +- Stellum Single Barrel +- Maker's Mark Generations of Proof +- Doc Swinson's, Smoke Wagon, Old Elk (And other damn good MGP-sourced releases) +- Humboldt Craft Spirits Redwood Rye + +Those JD Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye releases are a wild ride, both in name length and proof. The Stellum lineup is great - I'd expect nothing less from Barrell Craft Spirits. Some NDPs are doing great work, though honestly Old Elk *is* cheating a bit, in that they're sourcing barrels from MGP that the founder of Old Elk had made while he was working at MGP. Finally, that Humboldt Craft Spirits Rye was an impulse buy that was of much higher quality than I expected. + +This was a year that challenged my notions surrounding "What is whiskey?" while also offering up a ton of great sips that gave me something to quaff while pondering. It's a great time in the world of brown booze, and I learned a lot. I may not yet have answers, but that's okay. Gives me something to think about while I sip away.