NOT TO BLEND
Show me the way to the next
whisky bar - as long as it's Scotch By Nancy Ross Ryan
Photo by Laurie Proffitt
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TO BLEND OR NOT TO BLEND Show me the way to the next whisky bar - as long as it's Scotch By Nancy Ross Ryan Photo by Laurie Proffitt |
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When I was a little girl, living in Washington, D.C., one of my greatest thrills was to have dinner with my father at The Explorers' Club, an organization of men who had risked travel (before the days of tour guides) to the world's more exotic, primitive places. Before dinner I would always order a Shirley Temple, and my father, a tall Scotsman who had earned his place in the club by braving Africa and Brazil, always ordered a Scotch. He was most particular and specified one of his favorite brands: Dewar's 12-year old, Chivas Regal 12-year-old, or Cutty Sark 12-year-old. Years later, when I realized that my father was a drinker of blended Scotch rather than single malt whisky, I was frankly disillusioned. Didn't he know better? By the time I was old enough to question my father's taste (and to drink something stronger than a Shirley Temple), I had become a single malt snob, so much so that I would rather drink inferior Scotch -- just so long as it was a single malt -- rather than a masterful, complex blend. With maturity comes wisdom, and I have come around to pleasure of exploring the premium blends, side by side, of course, with the singular single malts. "So much is fashion," says Oz Schoenstadt, spirits guru and proprietor of the Lakeview Supper Club in Chicago. "I remember a time when you couldn't give a single malt away. Now they're all the rage. But premium blends deserve a place on the shelf. Like a fine symphony they are often bigger than the sum of their parts." Of all the world's spirits, Scotch whisky -- blended or single malt -- is the most ruggedly individualistic. No two Scotches taste alike and the flavor and aroma profiles range from potently wild and smoky to elegantly smooth and fruity, and everything in between. Next to Cognac, Scotch is the world's most complex spirit, and it's hard to imagine that such complexity and endless variety could possibly come from the simple ingredients of grain, water, and yeast. But the Scots have been at the business of distilling since the 1400s, and by the 1700s had made the fine distinction between other kind of whiskies and plain malt, or Scotch whisky. The other elements were ready and waiting: the fields of barley (to malt), the pure waters (to mix with the malted barley and yeast and ferment), the idiosyncratic copper pot stills (for distillation), and let's not forget the peat. The peat lends its smokiness to the finished whisky in two ways. First, it is burned in the kilning, or drying, of the sprouted or malted barley. Second, sometimes it is present in the very water that is used to ferment because it flows over peat. Peat can be practically undiscernible -- such as in the mild, malty whiskies of the Lowlands, or prominent -- as in some of the smoky whiskies of the Highlands. And lastly, Scotland has distinct whisky regions (just as France has wine regions) where the terroir (although a Scotsman would probably scorn the term) leaves its signature. There are four generally recognized classic regions in which the single malts are grouped, and, of course there are flavor and style exceptions within every region. But generally the Lowlands to the South are known for soft, malty whiskies without overtones of peatiness or brine. The Highlands, to the North, a much bigger region, has within it the Speyside area known for elegant, complex, smoky whiskies and also for two other styles -- big, round Sherry like whiskies and light, subtle spirits. Campeltown is a peninsula to the South and although there are only a couple distilleries left, they produce a distinct style of whisky -- briny and smoky. And the last r region is Islay, a large Island to the South that makes malts with seaweedy, iodine-like flavors. And when it comes to blended Scotch, single malts from all these regions can add their distinctive notes to the blend. People tend to get contentious around Scotch -- brands, proof (most Scotch is 40 to 43% alcohol, but some run as high as 60%), and regions. Respected expert F. Paul Pacult has redistricted Scotland into nine geographically distinct whisky regions. Information is all well and good, but nothing compares to experience. And I can hardly imagine never having experienced this whisky of whiskies -- both blended and single malt. The more than 100 single malt distilleries in Scotland, and the close to 50 blends each with its own distinctive character, await your discovery. As the Scots say (when they lift their glass of whisky): Slainte!
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SINGLE MALT SCOTCHES:
Representative Single Malts by Region:
The Highlands |
LIQUID ASSETS - September 2001