That’s more or less the peso equivalent of a 157-year old bottle of whisky that was sold for 29,400 pounds (60,016 dollars) at McTear’s Auction Galleries in M8, west of Glasgow City Centre. The Bowmore single malt, which was bottled in 1850, was sold despite the fact the “bottle’s cork was dropping into the whiskey itself.”
Last Saturday, your favorite food columnist worked very hard, tasted the nuances of single malt Scotch whisky at Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa, in a degustation sponsored by the Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs and hosted by Premier Wines and Spirits Inc. (Manila phones (632) 810-4756, 810-4894, Cebu branch at City Sports Club Cebu, Cebu Business Park, phone 415-5080, 09159278364).
Very exclusive, this affair, with only 25 participants joined to taste 10 of the very best single malts and a dish, careful paired, served with each label and a 10-course meal! Very hard work, indeed!
But what is single malt? It belongs to a category of alcoholic beverages known as distilled spirits or simply “hard liquor” that result from a process called distillation.
An alcoholic mass is heated and the steam produced is collected. When cooled, the liquid contains less water and more alcohol because alcohol turns into steam ahead of water. By the time water starts to boil, most of the alcohol has evaporated. This was studied by my ever loyal followers in high school chemistry. Unfortunately, some were too preoccupied with their favorite subject called “recess” while others were too busy courting their classmates.
Traditionally, a number of products were used to make distilled spirits: corn (bourbon), potatoes (vodka), sugar cane (rum), wine (brandy) and grains (whiskey/whisky).
Americans spell it whiskey while Scottish and Canadians distillers call it whisky. They are distilled from a fermented mash of grain (corn, barley, rye, or wheat) and aged in oak barrels, which gives the characteristic amber color, flavor, and aroma.
If you call it Scotch whisky, you must follow the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990. Their whisky is composed of elements, the Scottish call indigenous to their homeland: burns or the crystal-clear water, braes or the barley grown in the mountains, peat fuel that gives Scotch its characteristic smoky flavor and even the pure air, as the Scots claim.
The original Scotch was an unblended spirit called malt whisky. It was made exclusively from barley that was malted by soaking it in water to the point of germination. The malted barley is then dried, using smoke and some distillers add peat (a kind of moss) to give an earthy, peaty flavor to the spirit.
It is grounded and the resulting flour (grist) is then mixed with hot water in a gigantic container called a mash tun, which converts the starch in barley into sugar (malting releases these enzymes), and the addition of yeast, into alcohol.
The mixture is distilled in giant copper pot stills in a two-stage distillation process. And the second distillation is very delicate since three products are produced. The first liquid or “cut” produced contains methanol and is not served to friends because it is toxic. You know that methanol has a lower boiling point than regular alcohol and if you do not know this, confirmed gyud that absent ka in your Chemistry class!
The “middle cut” will be placed in an oak cask for maturation while the “third cut” is redistilled because alcohol content is low.
The whisky has to mature for three years to be called Scotch whiskey and there are two major categories, single and blended. Single, meaning, from one distillery and the drink available for your food columnist to taste is, excuse me, only the single malt whisky, meaning 100 percent malted barley from one distillery. (Some of these whiskies are shown here.)
Blended means two or more distilleries and the more familiar blended Scotch whisky brands include Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, and Cutty Shark. And if you have tasted White Label, it means to say that you are old…no, matured!
After aging, the whisky is diluted to produce a bottling strength between 40 to 46 percent alcohol (80 to 92 proof) and whiskey does not mature once bottled, unlike great wines. Not so great wines sometimes become great vinegars!
American whiskeys, on the other hand, are classified into two types, Straight and Blended Whiskey. Straight whiskey is distilled from corn, rye, barley, or wheat and aged in charred oak barrels for at least two years. There are three kinds of straight whiskey:
Bourbon whiskey is distilled from a mash of grain containing at least 51 percent corn, aged 4 years in new charred oak barrels. Rye whiskey is distilled from a mash of grain containing at least 51 percent rye while Corn whiskey is distilled from a mash of grain containing at least 80 percent corn and aged in recycled charred oak barrels.
Blended whiskey is a blend of one or more straight whiskey (at least 20 percent) and neutral grain spirits and bottled at least 80 proof.
Whew, so many whiskeys, so much to study, and yet, no bottle left in my home to do my homework! Whether whiskey or whisky is served, remember what American comedian and singer Joe E. Lewis once said “Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch, I say, I’m thirsty, not dirty.”