DISTILLERY NEWS
This month we are talking about Business as Usual; Peat; and our Sherry Butt Market Exclusive!
BUSINESS AS USUAL: The distillery is busy as always, with the team battling ever onwards to eke out maximum sugar from our local Lindores malted barley. However, the quest for long chain sugars adds a new dimension! Lorena has been fortunate to get her nose in front of some great casks recently, all of which have, up till final disgorge, been in the following casks: Manzanilla Sherry Butt, Pedro Ximenes Butt, Calvados Wine Barrique, and PX / Oloroso / Amontillado STRs. The STRs are wine barriques that have been seasoned for a minimum of two years with 12 year old PX, Oloroso and Amontillado, initially bought as an experiment. But wow, do they work!
We are approaching our second major cask milestone, in which we will have 5yo single malt Scotch whisky maturing in our warehouses, but in the mean time our core team of bottlers (that’s people that bottle our whisky – not sportspeople who miss a 12” putt to win the Open!) do a tremendous job of making sure our goods go on time and in full.
PEAT, PEATY, PEAT! Not a single week passes without the subject of peated malt being brought up in conversation, so I thought I would talk a little more on the subject. At Lindores we do not use peated malt – but believe it or not, it was considered as part of the original mash bill! What we have done is to put our spirit into Ex Islay Peated Casks, so these are casks that have been emptied of Single Malt Whisky from Distilleries on Islay. You can tell what distillery they have come from by the nose; yes, they are peaty/smoky, but each has its own distillery uniqueness. So far, we have bottled a few of these casks: Rum/Peat ASB’s, Peated Sherry Hogsheads and a few quarter casks. The last quarter cask that went through as a distillery exclusive was highly applauded.
Then a question was posed to me via Matt, our Whisky Ambassador: ‘How much Phenol PPM ( Parts per million ) was present in the Quarter Cask Distillery bottling?’ (and I’m sorry to say this is all sold out). A great question and one I wanted an answer to! So, we delivered a sample to Tatlock & Thomson and awaited the results – what came back was a surprise, because the spirit had 2.4ppm. This may not sound a lot but let me put it into context. When the distilleries on Islay talk about Phenol PPM they are talking about the PPM of the peated malted barley, before it has been milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and matured. This value can be anywhere from 50-80ppm on Islay, but by the time it’s through the process the ppm of the liquid can be between 25 – 40ppm. Give it ten years and it can be down to 8- 10ppm. Closer to 30 years and its nearer 6ppm – so you can see why even though we only have 2.5ppm coming directly from the previous contents, the phenols can act up to 10% of the original character of whisky. It’s also at a level which we feel brings balance to our spirit; the distillery DNA still shines through. So still at this time we have no plan to put through peated malt but will continue to use Ex Islay Peated Casks. Why? Because it works.
SHERRY BUTT MARKET EXCLUSIVE: I want to finish on the Casks Of Lindores Oloroso Sherry Butt Market Exclusive bottling, the last of the current trilogy. There have been a few comments on its colour and a few references which I enjoy, one in particular being, ‘you can lighten it with Coca Cola’. In this day of Caramel addition and chill filtration I just wanted to reassure everyone that this bottling has seen neither of those. We are lucky in that the sherry butts from the bodega are normally here within 48 hrs; they are fresh, and seasoned well. Dr Jim Swan specified that Lindores should get well aged sherry butts that are then seasoned, not fresh wood that is then seasoned – a big difference from what others may use. The butts are transported with liquid in them; we always make sure there is not excessive liquid in the butt before filling but simply that the cask is completely wet on the inside, but the proof is in the pudding. Get past the colour and indulge your senses, and here you will find a top whisky. It’s been described as murky, from the dark side, the deep reds, rich fruits, pepper, jams – it’s not a sherry bomb, yes it may look like one but it’s not, it’s different and it’s all the better for it!
Slàinte
Gary Haggart
Distillery Manager
