26/12/2022
Chapter 3
Noted. (Pt.2)
What is then, other than whisky notes, that I look at when I sip my drams?
All the objective characteristics of the whisky! Age, colour, abv, filtration, casks, finishes, grain used, you name it…! It all starts from the art of whisky labels…
The art of Whisky Labels
Image courtesy of: thewhiskyexchange.com
Another amazing example are the labels designed by Hugo Cuellar (a London based bolivian illustrator) for the Fable whisky collection.
Image courtesy of: fablewhisky.com
Look also at the labels designed by Raj ‘MrC’ Chavda (creative director from Elixir Distillers) for the recent Chichibu Martial Arts Trilogy release exclusive for TWE.
Three bottling (aged respectively in bourbon, chibidaru/quarter casks and beer casks) where they used a very straightforward graphic concept. Each bottling has its main colour (magenta, orange and red), which definitely makes the bottle stand out from the shelves. For each expression they utilised a three-dimensional geometric pattern and a reference to Japanese martial arts.
Image courtesy of: thewhiskyexchange.com
Highlight only the important information
Whisky expressions
Let’s focus then on these important information. We must know what’s the chemistry and the composition of our whisky! These are commonly defined as ‘expressions’ which are different versions of whisky from the same distillery. These would vary depending on the “recipe” and all the factors that would affect the final bottling (e.g.: age, grains, distillation process, casks used, etc.)
Firstly, we want to know how our bottles have been ‘designed’ by the master distillers, what aging and what casks composition and/or finish has been choosen for these bottles.
This is what really excites me, and I hope I’m triggering some curiosity on this topic, as eventually that’s what this is for. We all need to be able to understand why we should buy a GlenDronach 12, rather than an Aberlour 12, or a Deanston 10 finished in Bordeaux casks rather than any of the Tamnavulin Red Wine Cask editions.
Whisky batches
Following from chapter 2 then, I don’t necessarily care about who tasted or smelled strawberries, sultana and bananas in a dram, provided that we can be able to taste and smell (or learning and slowly trying to) fundamental characteristics such as the age, the strenght, the casks, and many other elements that make our whisky.
This is particularly fun when we approach a bottling series with different batches, where there is the use of different casks and proportions. A great example is the Glenallachie 10 cask strength series, or the Kilkerran Heavily Peated series.
For example, a few nights ago, I tasted the latest Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 7 alongside the previous release Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 6. In the batch 7 there is a 10% sherry cask and the rest is 90% ex-bourbon casks, while in the batch 6 the ratio was 25% sherry and 75% bourbon. Surely, it was great to experience these differences on the nose and palate (I prefer batch 7 for now…).
All the objective directions to help our journey
These are usually all given objective information, and all of us can develop smelling and tasting skills to find these in the dram, especially when trying different products.
Last, the more we read the labels and we try different whiskies with this attitude and the more we will buy the right next bottle or dram…
How do we try a lot of dram without spending a fortune? We can help with preparing tasting sets to investigate different topics. If interested, please get in touch.
Drams
and more...
Today's drams
- Compass Box Orchad House – 46%
- Daftmill 2010 Summer Batch Release – 46%
- Glenallachie 10 cask strength series
- Kilkerran Heavily Peated series
Compass box
Compass Box is an is an independent bottler. Founded by “whiskymaker” (they invented this term!) Jonh Glaser.
As other independent bottlers they buy casks from distilleries and the create their own expressions. What is interesting about Compass Box is that their expressions are only blended whiskies. On their website they publish the recipes they’ve used for each specific bottling, which we find really informative.
Fable
