NO AGE STATEMENT WHISKIES : FOOL'S GOLD?
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I was anonymously sent an article by a writer who gave me the impression that he was concerned that young No Age Statement (NAS) whiskies from prominent brands were unethically being sold at much higher prices than prime age stated whiskies from that very distillery. Unable to convey his apprehension, virtually every statement made by him is either contestable or wrong. I first posted this blog on 09 July 2015 and am repeating it with minor changes besides a few additions.
One fact must be understood at the outset. When a new make leaves the spirit still after due accounting by the Excise Board member, it heads off into large metallic containers. This ensures that the output new make from several consecutive batches are well mixed, uniform and ready to be transported to and relocated at a dedicated warehouse. This arrangement makes matters much easier for a blender, and is more efficient and cost-effective. For instance, the Diageo’s warehouse at Blackgrange bond near Alloa alone holds about six million casks. Only small distilleries mature their new makes on site. Most of the new make is at 65-70% ABV. This is where the Blend Master joins the act. He selects the barrels into which this particular lot of new make is to be matured in. The new make is watered down to 63.5% ABV and loaded into the barrels. Full use is made of advanced digital technology to simplify matters and one wonders what changes Artificial Intelligence will bring along.
Shouldn’t it have any influence on the character of the whisky? It depends on what is being produced. For the larger brands where consistency is important, the marriage of many different casks for a bottling will mask most of the effect of the distillery’s location. Added to that, with maturation warehouses often in different locations, then where it’s matured becomes less relevant. Huge bonded warehouses, in Glasgow, Leith or Aberdeen are testament to the scale of the industry, and to the fact that it has rarely been possible to store all Scotland’s whisky in its numerous, remote and often small distilleries.
The three processes which influence maturation, viz., additive, subtractive and interactive return to the fray. The rate at which these processes occur changes both the concentration and the ratios of congeners in the spirit, and therefore changes the quality of the maturing spirit. All three rates are influenced by the local weather and atmosphere, particularly the temperature and relative humidity. If a Talisker cask ex-Skye is taken to Speyside, where there is much lower humidity and higher temperature variation, both over the course of a day and from season to season, the whisky created will be different.
Diageo, after years of research, believes the exact site of a maturation warehouse makes no discernible difference to the whisky. Scotland’s marine microclimate is quite consistent from coast to hill to glen, such that any small climatic difference is not meaningful over the life of a maturing whisky. The unrivalled multiplicity of flavours and character in Scotch derives partly from raw materials – particularly any phenolic character from malted barley – from the process of fermentation and distillation, and above all from maturation.
The story is quite different for grain whiskies. The production rate is 30-40 times that of single malts. The new make follows the same initial route, but is loaded into the even larger tanks at 95.6% ABV. For a grain whisky that is to meld and host specific age-stated single malts for blending, the mash bill is varied as deemed most appropriate. Moreover, the casks will be provided by the blender. The quality of cask will depend on the quality of the blended Scotch. The grain whisky will be decanted into these casks at a watered down 63.5-65% ABV, to be ultimately treated by the Master Blender. The casks will be second-fill or better.
The grain whisky for even the cheapest 3-YO blended Scotch has to spend three years maturing in an oak barrel. These barrels are third, fourth and even reconditioned fifth-fill; the grain whisky will be evened out at 63.5% ABV and the product after three years will be used by the Master Blender. All malts and grain whiskies are evaluated at a very low 20% ABV and only then is a selection finalised.
I too am disquieted that Master Blenders at large are bringing out NAS whiskies that are clearly younger than the whiskies they are replacing, yet carry up to a 50% price increase and will develop this global issue logically in this post.
It shows how the balance has tipped too far towards marketing at the cost of the consumer. If a distillery has only one NAS whisky, they can obviously understand that, but if it has 10 different NAS products, like Macallan and Bunnahabhain do, how does it explain the differences to the retailer, who then has to explain them to the consumer? Macallan is an LVMH brand and has its own pricing norms-take it or leave it.
On deeper analysis, one has to live with the times. Let's face it: NAS whiskies are here to stay and we might as well accept this fact gracefully.
NAS is slowly replacing many popular and excellent age stated malts. Its advance is inexorable and in time will increase as a percentage of the whiskies in the market. NAS expressions display the Master Distiller’s skills. Why are we looking at it negatively? He has, at times, to add aged malts from older casks to maintain consistency and quality. No Master Distiller would release anything but a good whisky. They are individuals whose commitment, passion and integrity will not permit them to let poor quality product releases in their name. They have too much at stake.
Here, please remember that the least expensive Single Malts (entry level Single Malts like Glenfiddich 12 or The Glenlivet 12) are far more expensive than the Luxury-level/Premium Blended Scotch brands Johnnie Walker Black Label, Chivas Regal 12 and the like, for the same volume. I'll explain why shortly.
WHAT IS A SCOTCH WHISKY ?
AGE OF A SCOTCH WHISKY
A whisky, to be called Scotch, has to be aged in Oak Barrels for a minimum
of 3 years. This ageing gives the whisky a natural colour from
the wood, flavours and properties of the wood as well as of the other alcohols
which were previously aged in them (like Bourbon or Sherry) thus giving the
whisky its character without any artificial flavouring. When the whisky sits in
the barrel for years on end, a portion of it is lost due to evaporation.
This loss is termed as the ‘Angel’s Share.’ The more the age of the
whisky the more characteristic it becomes and the more the loss due to the
‘Angel’s Share’ resulting in a denser quality high ABV new make, albeit at a higher price as also
a higher profit for the producer. The higher price of older whiskies are also
because of significant investments in real estate, barrels and the liquid lying
within without any immediate returns. The age of the whisky as mentioned
on both the label and carton is the age of the youngest whisky in the mix. A bottle of
Glenfiddich 12 YO has all its constituent single malts 12 years old or more. For a blended whisky like say JW Black Label which
is a 12 YO, each whisky used in the blending has to be 12 years old
or more. Thus the years mentioned on the bottle has to be the age of the youngest whisky in the blend and NOT the average of the ages of its constituent whiskies.
CHALLENGES FOR THE SCOTCH INDUSTRY
The consumption of Scotch is increasing at a rapid
pace and the facilities that age the Scotch into higher age, higher priced and
more profitable whiskies need to keep apace. There is also an ever increasing
hunger to increase the bottom lines. (NAS registered whiskies have been in existence since 1823, but became more relevant only in the early 1900s).
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Consider Johnnie Walker Double Black. It comes in a neat blackish grey bottle, with a
label bigger than Johnnie Walker Black Label. It is more smoky and distinctly more peated than the JWBL, suggesting an increase in contribution from Diageo's Islay whiskies.
The International Whisky Competition is an event that takes place annually in a major city in the US in the 1st week of May, in which whiskies are blind tasted and rated by a professional tasting panel. The results are used to produce tasting notes for an International Whisky Guide. There is no Scotsman on the panel- it is entirely American. This panel selected Glenmorangie Signet NAS as the Whisky of the Year 2016 with 97 points and Johnnie Walker Double Black Label was awarded the Gold Medal in the Best Blended Scotch NAS (No Age Statement) category with 94 points, ahead of Johnnie Walker Blue Label (91.3 pts). JWBL managed only the Bronze Medal in the Best Blended Scotch Whisky 12 YO category with 89.8 points. On whiskyanalysis. com, it is rated some 80 slots lower than JWDBL, out of 1,100 top ranking whiskies. That kills the Double Black vs Black Label controversy! That also means that JWBL is no longer the bar for premium Blended Scotch Whisky. How it became the target line is also surprising, at least in Asia, where the top rated 12 YO blends were Phipson's Black Dog, Buchanan's 12 YO, Old Parr 12 YO and the Hankey Bannister 12 Year Old Regency Whisky. Chivas Regal 12 YO joined the top lot after 2001, when purchased by Pernod Ricard.
Incidentally, the Whisky of the Year 2017 is another NAS, the Ardbeg Kelpie Committee Exclusive, with 97.3 points.
The International Whisky Competition is an event that takes place annually in a major city in the US in the 1st week of May, in which whiskies are blind tasted and rated by a professional tasting panel. The results are used to produce tasting notes for an International Whisky Guide. There is no Scotsman on the panel- it is entirely American. This panel selected Glenmorangie Signet NAS as the Whisky of the Year 2016 with 97 points and Johnnie Walker Double Black Label was awarded the Gold Medal in the Best Blended Scotch NAS (No Age Statement) category with 94 points, ahead of Johnnie Walker Blue Label (91.3 pts). JWBL managed only the Bronze Medal in the Best Blended Scotch Whisky 12 YO category with 89.8 points. On whiskyanalysis. com, it is rated some 80 slots lower than JWDBL, out of 1,100 top ranking whiskies. That kills the Double Black vs Black Label controversy! That also means that JWBL is no longer the bar for premium Blended Scotch Whisky. How it became the target line is also surprising, at least in Asia, where the top rated 12 YO blends were Phipson's Black Dog, Buchanan's 12 YO, Old Parr 12 YO and the Hankey Bannister 12 Year Old Regency Whisky. Chivas Regal 12 YO joined the top lot after 2001, when purchased by Pernod Ricard.
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You will see many such whiskies on the shelves now, Laphroaig Triple Wood/
/ Select / Lore / Brodir, Glenlivet Nadurra / Founder’s Reserve / Distiller’s Reserve / Small Batch,
The Macallan Gold / Fine Oak / Sienna, Chivas Regal Extra, Talisker Storm /
Dark Storm / Skye, JW Explorer Club- the list is endless. The
JW Explorer's Club does seem overpriced. The Nadurra is a 16 YO non-chill filtered range of single malt Scotch whiskies, which have been matured in ex-bourbon casks and then bottled at cask strength with no chill-filtration. Recent editions are cask strength at 60±2% NAS. The Macallans and Glenmorangies are always over-priced; that's because they come from the LVMH stable. That branding is worth an intrinsic $20. Even so, they are actually value for money.
ANALYSIS OF JOHNNIE WALKER BLACK LABEL
Let’s take it one by one. In 1893, Cardhu distillery was purchased by the Walkers for £20,500 to protect the stocks of one of the Johnnie Walker blends' key malt whiskies. This move took the Cardhu silky smooth single malt out of the market and made it the exclusive preserve of the Walkers. Cardhu's output was to become the heart of Johnnie Walker's Old Highland Whisky and, subsequent to the rebranding of 1909, the prime single malt in Johnnie Walker White, Red and Black Labels. Sensing a promising opportunity for their brands in terms of expansion of scale and variety, they became a shareholder in Coleburn Distillery in 1915, Clynelish Distillery Co. and Dailuaine- Talisker Co in 1916. Such a strategic expansion was made solely to ensure that the output from the Cardhu, Coleburn, Clynelish, Talisker and Dailuaine distilleries would play a major role in the definition of the extant Johnnie Walker Blends and those slated to follow.
The style of Coleburn Whisky is a bit sweet and fruity, but only independent distillers presented single malt releases. Almost all of the whisky that Coleburn Distillery had produced was used in blends, especially in the Johnny Walkers when Diageo became the owner. Virtually all Johnnie Walker blends produced today by Diageo contain Cardhu-and a lot of it; plus Clynelish, Dailuaine, Talisker, Linkwood, Mannochmore and Caol Ila. The Coleburn shut down in 1985 and its SMs were last used in Johnnie Walker Red, Black, Gold Labels and Swing in 2000. Its absence is easily found in the changed nose and palate of the JWRL and JWBL.
Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Years Old Blended Scotch Whisky thus has Cardhu as its core malt, backed up with the super-smooth Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Blair Athol (the primary SM in Bell’s),the multi-faceted Cragganmore and Dailuaine. The recognisable Single Malts for me are Clynelish 14 YO, Cardhu, Caol Ila, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Auchroisk, Inchgower and Talisker. JW claims that there are at least 25-28 more Single Malts and they must be right; it is a 40-whisky blend, after all. The Single Malts need not be from different distilleries; any distillery can provide tens of Single Malts, of the same or different ages. The age mandate comes into play here. Cameronbridge and North British provide the single grain whiskies, from three to five.
All whiskies named above are 12 YO or older. Talisker, most popular as a 10 YO, remains casked for two years more to contribute to the blend. This 12 YO is not sold in the market, and has, sadly, not been used for over five years, with detrimental effect on the Blend; the Taliskers in the market are the Talisker Storm, Skye Gift Pack, Talisker Dark Storm and the Port Ruighe (all NAS) followed by an 18 YO! I can't accept the Talisker NAS family's bumped up prices.
The style of Coleburn Whisky is a bit sweet and fruity, but only independent distillers presented single malt releases. Almost all of the whisky that Coleburn Distillery had produced was used in blends, especially in the Johnny Walkers when Diageo became the owner. Virtually all Johnnie Walker blends produced today by Diageo contain Cardhu-and a lot of it; plus Clynelish, Dailuaine, Talisker, Linkwood, Mannochmore and Caol Ila. The Coleburn shut down in 1985 and its SMs were last used in Johnnie Walker Red, Black, Gold Labels and Swing in 2000. Its absence is easily found in the changed nose and palate of the JWRL and JWBL.
Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Years Old Blended Scotch Whisky thus has Cardhu as its core malt, backed up with the super-smooth Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Blair Athol (the primary SM in Bell’s),the multi-faceted Cragganmore and Dailuaine. The recognisable Single Malts for me are Clynelish 14 YO, Cardhu, Caol Ila, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Auchroisk, Inchgower and Talisker. JW claims that there are at least 25-28 more Single Malts and they must be right; it is a 40-whisky blend, after all. The Single Malts need not be from different distilleries; any distillery can provide tens of Single Malts, of the same or different ages. The age mandate comes into play here. Cameronbridge and North British provide the single grain whiskies, from three to five.
All whiskies named above are 12 YO or older. Talisker, most popular as a 10 YO, remains casked for two years more to contribute to the blend. This 12 YO is not sold in the market, and has, sadly, not been used for over five years, with detrimental effect on the Blend; the Taliskers in the market are the Talisker Storm, Skye Gift Pack, Talisker Dark Storm and the Port Ruighe (all NAS) followed by an 18 YO! I can't accept the Talisker NAS family's bumped up prices.
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The
slightly smoky taste comes from the Lagavulin, Cragganmore, Mortlach & Talisker
(unpeated). The hint of peat comes primarily from Caol Ila, strengthened by the Lagavulin,
Clynelish, Glen Elgin and Benrinnes; the smoothness comes from Cardhu,
Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Dailuaine, Blair Athol and the Grain Whiskies that
are used to tame and meld the malts perfectly. A 1-litre bottle of Black Label
costs $ 28. A bottle of 0.70 L Talisker 10 YO costs $56, or $80 per litre. The
Talisker 12 YO is far more expensive and Diageo is losing money on the Talisker
malt diverted to making the Black Label. The same is true for ALL other Single Malts that make up the once fabulous concoction of JW Black Label! The Malt
whiskies tot up to 70-72.5%. The Grain whiskies, 27-29%, are also 12 YO. The last
one half percent is taken up by E150A Caramel colorant. Even so, there is cold logic at play-the Economies of Scale. Talisker is actually selling at US$72.6
per litre vs its standard price of $56 for the 0.7L bottle, which works out to $64.5 per litre.
Scotch
whisky can be sold with an age statement or NAS as long as it is 3 Yrs old. Every barrel is branded with the date of filling, amongst other data. Barrels
may be opened only on the date branded, at a minimum of 3 yrs later.
It can thus be legally opened at 3 yrs + 2 days, 6 yrs + 177 days, 9 yrs + 66 days, or at exactly 12 yrs.
Grain Whisky has a rather small market as individual brands and bottlings per se; thus Grain Whisky distillers / blenders / marketers are few in number. Frankly, when it
comes to Grain Whiskies for blending with Single Malts, age is not a major criterion in taste, since a very
large percentage is stored in huge steel vats totalling in excess of 750
million litres at 95.6% strength before the requisite amount is off-loaded to mature for the three mandatory years in oak
barrels at 65% ABV. They are then decanted therefrom for use in blends that conceal this fact. Ergo, you have a NAS blended Scotch. Any grain whisky that matures in oak barrels
gains from it. That said, these oak barrels are generally re-charred fourth to sixth-fill
barrels, at the fag end of their lives, and have nothing on offer like colour
and flavour; most Grain Scotch is colourless, or a pale piddly colour. About 20% of the better strains in grain whisky are, however, aged like SMs. These are used for high quality blends.
Even so, better barrels are often used as holding barrels which, after decanting the grain whisky 3 or more years later, are charred and used for smoky malts. A 6 YO Port Dundas can be as good as an 8 YO Cameronbridge and a 9 YO North British can be as good as a 12 YO Girvan. How many Grain Whisky brands have you seen at a Duty Free shop? Perhaps Haig 15 YO; I have seen only three others, Compass Box Hedonism NAS, Loch Lomond NAS and Port Dundas 21 and I have travelled, mind you. I do not deny that there must be others, but Grain Whisky is a far cry from what you would expect.
Even so, better barrels are often used as holding barrels which, after decanting the grain whisky 3 or more years later, are charred and used for smoky malts. A 6 YO Port Dundas can be as good as an 8 YO Cameronbridge and a 9 YO North British can be as good as a 12 YO Girvan. How many Grain Whisky brands have you seen at a Duty Free shop? Perhaps Haig 15 YO; I have seen only three others, Compass Box Hedonism NAS, Loch Lomond NAS and Port Dundas 21 and I have travelled, mind you. I do not deny that there must be others, but Grain Whisky is a far cry from what you would expect.
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| Massive fully automated fermentation plant & washbacks at North British Grain Distillery |
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| Caol Ila has been using wooden washbacks since 1846 |
In distilleries that grow their own barley and do their own floor malting like Kilchoman and Abhainn Dearg, it takes
anywhere between 80-100 days to convert barley into the (raw) new make that will be
casked to mature into malt whisky. The number of processes involved is amazingly
high, time consuming and fraught with inescapable losses. Most distilleries now buy maltings made to specs, including ppm. This cuts down the entire process by 35-40 days. Pot Still distillation
in the Single Malt production chain is tedious, whereas column still distillation for Grain Whisky is a rapid and high volume
process. Grain whisky takes less than a week from cooked cereal to cask and in
incredible volumes. Moreover, it provides very high consistency. A malt new
make is thus more than 8-10 times the cost of grain new make. Blends use Grain Whisky
freely, with much lower overall cost. The profit factor comes from economies of
scale and quick turnover. This is why entry level Single Malts are much more expensive than premium Blends.
JW Double Black
has an easier structure compared to Black Label, with important differences.
The number of Single Malts and Grain Whiskies has reduced. It primarily uses
the well-peated Talisker 10 YO and Caol Ila 12 YO, with the lightly peated
Cragganmore, Clynelish14 YO and Benrinnes in support. One or two Single Malts
have been replaced. Single Malt from the new distillery at Roseisle that opened
in 2006 produces 7-8 m litres a year (designed for 10 million litres), and a fair
share of young malts join the group. All Single Malts in JWDBL are 8 YO and
more, with a few drops of a couple of smoky peated Single Malts added: probably
Caol Ila 8 YO and Lagavulin 8 YO. Peated whiskies are more expensive than
non-peated expressions. The peating process between kilning, drying and mashing is tricky and time consuming.
Following the kilning, the peated malt is removed and stored in bins for five or six weeks.
This allows the heat to dissipate naturally. Hot malt can negatively affect the fermentation
process.That is why JWDBL costs more and I think that's
justified.
Peated varieties
of Single Malts become expensive on the basic tenet of workload and supply
& demand. Lagavulin is really steep. The grain whiskies in JWDBL are young North British
and Cameronbridge whiskies. The Malt whiskies tot up to 75-77%, which
is why the brand costs $5-8 (12-20%) more than JW Black Label (non-discounted).
In Bangkok, they cost the same. Don't go by Delhi Duty Free prices-they are absurdly high. Since there are young whiskies in this blend in
a world where 85% of the drinking population believe old is better, the Double
Black does not state its age- nor is it required to. It is an NAS whisky, like
Johnnie Walker Blue Label NAS, JW Odyssey NAS, JW Island Green NAS, among
others. Please read these blogs on NAS whiskies and Blended Malt whiskies at:
http://noelonwhisky.blogspot.in/2017/05/laphroaig-goes-nas-way.html on Laphroaig NAS &
http://noelonwhisky.blogspot.in/2017/02/blended-malt-whiskies.html
on this very column. Just scroll down to those posts, stopping, of course, at
interesting notations.
The average buyer seems to prefer older
Scotch whiskies, and would blindly buy an older version. That is both
thoughtless and rash. For example, the Single Malt Highland Park 12 is globally rated better
than the 15, even though $17 cheaper. The blend JW Swing NAS and JW
Platinum Label 18 YO are better than the JW XR-21, though both are cheaper. The
XR-21 didn't sell, even with a 20cl Blue Label gift on purchase, as also the JW
King George V. They will reappear as different brands soon, after a little
tinkering, have no fear. In fact, the
XR-21 has already reappeared in a fresh avatar.
BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKIES
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Till 1990, Scotch only meant Blended
Scotch, a mix of pot-distilled malt whiskies and column still-distilled grain
whiskies. There were three classifications: Fine, 5-7 YO; Rare, 8-11 YO and
Premium, 12 YO and more. 3 / 4 YOs were either not classified or just called 'old'. Glenfiddich and The
Glenlivet were names heard once in a while and surprise expressed that these 12
YO and older <Single Malts??> cost more than a Premium Scotch. Where did
Single Malts come from? Most Scotch whiskies were in the fine category. JW Red
Label, J&B, White Horse, Long John, Queen Anne, etc., were in the Rare
category and eminently drinkable. There were cheap 3-5 year whiskies too, like
McIvor, Wright & Greig, Duggan’s Dew, Royal Emblem, Haig Club, Will Fyffe,
Cutty Sark, Old Smuggler and the like.
Johnnie Walker Kilmarnock Special Old Highland was first sold as a 9 YO in the late 1890s/early 1900s. It was renamed Johnnie Walker Red Label and elevated to a 10 YO in 1909. It became the world’s largest selling Scotch in just a decade, right up to the early 1980s. You could nose it from 5 metres! It went NAS once JW Black Label was fully established in the 60s. The expensive but classy Black Label was reserved for celebrations. Even today, Red Label is the world's largest selling Scotch Whisky. Despite drawing progressively increasing flak for poor quality, it
retains top spot, albeit with a lesser margin, as a base whisky for mixing. It is used for cocktails or mixed with Coke. Its quality has dropped to that of a 3 YO blend, with only 30% lesser quality Single Malts of the better heads and tails categories and 69% 3 YO grain whisky straight from the casks. Johnnie Walker Kilmarnock Extra Special Old Highland 12 YO was renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 YO, a multimillion seller, but the ‘Johnnie Walker’ personified is on the decline. JW used to have the odd 18 & 21 YO malts. The 18 YO was The Singleton of Glen Ord. The 21 YO was Mortlach, which uses quadruple distillation. They are no longer available. The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 (SWR 2009) regulate age statements. However, prior to this mandate on age statements, neither the Scotch Whisky Act 1988 (SWA 1988) nor the Scotch Whisky Order 1990 (SWO 1990) had enacted any laws governing age statements, besides leaving numerous other ambiguities that allowed misuse of the said SWA '88 and SWO '90, e.g., definitions of Single Malt, Pure Malt and Blended Grain; how Scotch Whiskies must be labelled, packaged and advertised; and where Single Malt Scotch Whisky could be bottled, etc.
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As said, JW Blue Label is also an
NAS whisky, as is their most expensive $600 Odyssey Blended Malt Whisky. So,
would you advise people not to buy Blue Label or Odyssey because they do not
carry an age statement? The Blue
Label has an interesting origin. It first came out in early 1992 as John Walker's Oldest 15-60 YO
at GBP 229 and sold out quickly. It contained whiskies from Brora and Port Ellen distilleries, It was replaced as Johnnie Walker Oldest NAS, at nearly the same price later that year, again sold out quickly and was replaced in 1992 itself by the Blue Label that we see in the market today. The Blue Label was first priced at GBP 210 and has dropped to below GBP 130 today. All three versions were at 43% ABV in 750 ml bottles, with exquisite packaging. One bottle of Johnnie Walker-"Oldest" 15-60 Year Old, .75L 43% ABV Original Blue Label is available online at $1,700. The Duty Free 1.0L 40% ABV version costs between £ 130-160. The 20% of Grain whiskies in JW Blue
Label are relatively young, 15-18 years old. Some malts are 25+ years old, like the Teaninich
29 YO. Moreover, as stated earlier, JW Black Label is no longer the bar in 12-YO Blended Scotch
whisky! Why? Because Diageo has reduced the quantity of single malts therein and grain whisky strength has gone up to 40%. The casks in which the
final blend is stored are of dubious provenance, as Single Malts take away all
the good bourbon and sherry casks.
There is an interesting aside here. SWA has not stated that new makes must first go into oak barrels for maturation or what must happen after maturation. The spirit can wait for years in inert metal vats before being pulled out for maturation in oak casks. It is equally possible that, at the three year stage, grain whiskies may be legally transferred from oaken casks into huge steel/aluminium vats, a major reversal of acknowledged procedure.
The Blended Scotch market, which has
the cheapest Scotch whiskies, has reduced by 07% in the last 5 years. Lots of
names have fallen by the wayside, like Haig, McCallum's, Sanderson's GOLD, JW Red Label, Scottish
Glory, etc., all now meant for mixing cocktails.
NO AGE STATEMENT (NAS) WHISKIES
NAS came about with the advent of
Single Malts starting 1978-81. The Single Malts fetched a much much better
price on their own; using them in blends was not cost-effective, hence alternatives
were required to retain consistency. Look at it from the Blender's viewpoint:
In 1997, he used his JWBL recipe to produce that classic Black Label. This
blend was of Single Malts aged 12 years or more, i.e., casked in 1985 and
earlier. In 1998, he pulled out his recipe and tried it out with Single Malts
casked in 1986 or earlier. He could not use some of the defining Single Malts
of 1985, because THEY WERE ONE YEAR OLDER and tasted different. So, a search
was launched to replace five or six branded malts that were not balancing out.
In a short while, he achieved success! Now, let’s move a decade up.
Till 2007, JWBL is available in the
market in its original avatar. But in 2008, volumes have increased, the imbalance is larger and
REPLACEMENTS are not found in stock. Royal Lochnagar produces only 450,000
litres of Single Malt per year, mostly diverted to the JW Blue Label NAS. Ergo,
the Black Label has a slightly different taste. Their Master Blender
(Jim Beveridge) is in a tight spot -the inconsistency is too much for the
market. He does not have stocks of Single Malts. Talisker, the main peated
ingredient in a $36 (original price) Black Label sells at $56-62 on its own for a 0.7 L bottle.
So do Clynelish, Teaninich, Benrinnes, Dailuaine and Linkwood, important parts of
JWBL. Caol Ila produces 6.5 million litres of Single Malt whisky a year, but
20% is sold as Caol Ila Single Malts (5,8,10,12,16,18,21 and 30 YOs). Right up to 2005, this was just 5%. The unpeated
version is in short supply. Earlier, it was freely available for blending.
Common sense says: Sell Caol Ila, Talisker, Dailuaine and Linkwood as Single
Malts, by themselves. So, Black Label drops off the pole position; by 2013, the Black
Label goes for volumes and discounts. The price is reduced to $28! It is
permanently on sale somewhere or the other. Diageo is now working on economies
of scale, dropping prices to entice the public to keep buying this iconic
whisky. Ab initio drinkers are excluded, anyhow.
During his experiments to get the balance right, he discovers that one blend can be given a pronounced smoky and peaty taste. Talisker 10 and Caol Ila 12 join up with Cardhu as the core SMs, and the blend's smoky and peaty taste can be accentuated by using charred casks. He isolates these additions and finds that they are pominent 8YOs on their own right, like Caol Ila 8 and Lagavulin 8. A quick look at the stock position shows that he can add these SMs freely and run them for one year. If the market response is good, he will supplement JWBL with this darker, smoky and peaty expression. He tests it in 2010 and it is good, so much so that Diageo directors agree to giving this brand a label of its own. Since it is a derivative of JWBL, JWDBL is found to be the best suggestion and is approved, but as an NAS edition, since it uses 8 YOs, and in an era where 'Old is Gold' is the diehard tagline, a JWDBL 8 YO will instantly excite disapprobation even before tasting.After a hugely successful launch in travel retail as a 1L bottle in 2010, it was rolled out for general release in 2011 as a 70Cl 40% ABV brand.
The preponderance of No Age Statement whiskies has stoked a furore among some aficionados, which may no longer be sustainable. As a result of the unforeseen increased demand for old age single malt whisky stocks, the whisky baories are running a little dry. The lack of transparency has infuriated a few. Do note that such an outcome was recognised decades ago by prescient producers such as Ardbeg and Glenmorangie, where Dr Bill Lumsden is the Master Blender.
“We’ve successfully been releasing NAS whiskies for 20 years with Glenmorangie and Ardbeg and they are doing very well,” says Lumsden who has blended a plethora of successful NAS whiskies for both LVMH brands. His theory is simple: if you have the makings of a good whisky, all you need is a good barrel. The Ardbeg Kelpie, Corryvreckan, Uigeadail, Ardbog, Galileo, Supernova, Perpetuum, etc., and the Glenmorangie Signet, Bacalta, The Tarlogan, Tayne, Dornoch, The Duthac and many more have kept their tills ringing while accumulating awards galore, proving his posit.
For Glenmorangie, he makes copious use of the Devil's Cut, aka ‘indrink’, the liquid absorbed into the wood during maturation mainly in the Sherry industry. About 12% of maturing Sherry/Wines are absorbed into the barrel. Sherry needs 2 yrs maturation in 500L barrels, so 60L of Sherry awaits the new make/Scotch whisky if a barrel switch is made for secondary maturation, or a Sherry barrel used for the primary. He adds a note of caution, “Regardless of what you are doing, young whisky in bad wood will be ruthlessly exposed.”
The Chivas Regal Effect: One interesting note from the mom and pop economics/marketing culture is the ‘Chivas Regal Effect,’ which occurs when a product sells more because the price of it has been increased. Since people often equate price with quality, consumers, who otherwise would not have purchased a product, might choose it because it is more expensive (and thus ‘better’ quality). Wine(a 1982 St. Emilion) is a good example of this effect in the world of alcohol and LVMH in branded consumer luxury goods. NAS whisky distillers are canny enough to implement this concept, which have left many consumers in an ambivalent frame of mind.
There are many reasons to justify the NAS, but in some cases the whisky hasn’t met with expectations in terms of quality. Taking younger single malts and blending with older is not a problem, since distilling and wood management techniques have greatly improved in recent years, but the whisky still needs to be satiating. “People should make a judgement on quality alone and not be swayed by the importance of age,” says Euan Mitchell, MD at Arran Distillers.
Even so, I am not prepared to accept Mitchell's "summing it all up" statement. There are far too many brands out there, veritably slugging it out in a tight market, a major portion of which is reserved for the VIP Brands. There is bound to be the less scrupulous distiller or private bottler who will cut corners. Such products that don't meet quality standards dictated by their price must be brought to book. But how? Who will dictate or define standards, as one man's uisge could be another man's hooch?
I foresee and forecast that there is no future for Blended Scotch except truly rare brands. Only 3-400 of the 3,000+ brands will remain. Half will be exorbitant, priced like the Macallan and LVMH SM brands and the other half will remain for the proletariat, like Teachers, Grants, Bells, Famous Grouse, Lawson, Highland Queen, etc. As of 2010, 91% of all Scotch sold was Blended. That figure has dropped to 87% in 2015 and by 2030, will further drop to 80%, declining till doomsday. The world has discovered Single Malts and people will have enough money to buy them. Both Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal have moved into NAS and these brands will sustain them. Johnnie Walker will survive on its Black Label, Green Label, Island Green Label NAS and Blue Label NAS, apart from usurious special editions. Chivas is promoting its NAS Blended Malts, the Ultis, Extra and Mizunara and its iconic 21-YO Royal Salute will last the distance.
Some good 5 YO Blends are on offer, like Mackinlay, Bank Note, Cluny, Glen Orrin, Golden King, Red Hackle, Loch Ness and Lismore, etc.
During his experiments to get the balance right, he discovers that one blend can be given a pronounced smoky and peaty taste. Talisker 10 and Caol Ila 12 join up with Cardhu as the core SMs, and the blend's smoky and peaty taste can be accentuated by using charred casks. He isolates these additions and finds that they are pominent 8YOs on their own right, like Caol Ila 8 and Lagavulin 8. A quick look at the stock position shows that he can add these SMs freely and run them for one year. If the market response is good, he will supplement JWBL with this darker, smoky and peaty expression. He tests it in 2010 and it is good, so much so that Diageo directors agree to giving this brand a label of its own. Since it is a derivative of JWBL, JWDBL is found to be the best suggestion and is approved, but as an NAS edition, since it uses 8 YOs, and in an era where 'Old is Gold' is the diehard tagline, a JWDBL 8 YO will instantly excite disapprobation even before tasting.After a hugely successful launch in travel retail as a 1L bottle in 2010, it was rolled out for general release in 2011 as a 70Cl 40% ABV brand.
The preponderance of No Age Statement whiskies has stoked a furore among some aficionados, which may no longer be sustainable. As a result of the unforeseen increased demand for old age single malt whisky stocks, the whisky baories are running a little dry. The lack of transparency has infuriated a few. Do note that such an outcome was recognised decades ago by prescient producers such as Ardbeg and Glenmorangie, where Dr Bill Lumsden is the Master Blender.
“We’ve successfully been releasing NAS whiskies for 20 years with Glenmorangie and Ardbeg and they are doing very well,” says Lumsden who has blended a plethora of successful NAS whiskies for both LVMH brands. His theory is simple: if you have the makings of a good whisky, all you need is a good barrel. The Ardbeg Kelpie, Corryvreckan, Uigeadail, Ardbog, Galileo, Supernova, Perpetuum, etc., and the Glenmorangie Signet, Bacalta, The Tarlogan, Tayne, Dornoch, The Duthac and many more have kept their tills ringing while accumulating awards galore, proving his posit.
For Glenmorangie, he makes copious use of the Devil's Cut, aka ‘indrink’, the liquid absorbed into the wood during maturation mainly in the Sherry industry. About 12% of maturing Sherry/Wines are absorbed into the barrel. Sherry needs 2 yrs maturation in 500L barrels, so 60L of Sherry awaits the new make/Scotch whisky if a barrel switch is made for secondary maturation, or a Sherry barrel used for the primary. He adds a note of caution, “Regardless of what you are doing, young whisky in bad wood will be ruthlessly exposed.”
There are many reasons to justify the NAS, but in some cases the whisky hasn’t met with expectations in terms of quality. Taking younger single malts and blending with older is not a problem, since distilling and wood management techniques have greatly improved in recent years, but the whisky still needs to be satiating. “People should make a judgement on quality alone and not be swayed by the importance of age,” says Euan Mitchell, MD at Arran Distillers.
Even so, I am not prepared to accept Mitchell's "summing it all up" statement. There are far too many brands out there, veritably slugging it out in a tight market, a major portion of which is reserved for the VIP Brands. There is bound to be the less scrupulous distiller or private bottler who will cut corners. Such products that don't meet quality standards dictated by their price must be brought to book. But how? Who will dictate or define standards, as one man's uisge could be another man's hooch?
I foresee and forecast that there is no future for Blended Scotch except truly rare brands. Only 3-400 of the 3,000+ brands will remain. Half will be exorbitant, priced like the Macallan and LVMH SM brands and the other half will remain for the proletariat, like Teachers, Grants, Bells, Famous Grouse, Lawson, Highland Queen, etc. As of 2010, 91% of all Scotch sold was Blended. That figure has dropped to 87% in 2015 and by 2030, will further drop to 80%, declining till doomsday. The world has discovered Single Malts and people will have enough money to buy them. Both Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal have moved into NAS and these brands will sustain them. Johnnie Walker will survive on its Black Label, Green Label, Island Green Label NAS and Blue Label NAS, apart from usurious special editions. Chivas is promoting its NAS Blended Malts, the Ultis, Extra and Mizunara and its iconic 21-YO Royal Salute will last the distance.
Remember that Diageo is a market
entity, with no room for sentiment where cash flow is concerned. They closed
down the Kilmarnock facility in 2012 against strong local and government
demand, despite its history as the home of Johnnie Walker who sold his first
Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky there in 1820 and of succeeding generations.
Most blended scotch whiskies start writing the age on the label when whisky
is 12 years or more. (!!!*!!!)
Single Malts, and by extension, Blends (mostly NAS) are available in the
3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, 13,14,15, 16, 17,18,19,20,21,23, 25, 29 & 29+
range. Bowmore's bestseller is a 9 YO SM. Amrut & Paul John sell 3-7 YOs
only. ABVs > 65% over a couple of years eat into the wood beyond the red layer and become ROTGUT.
There are a host of 3 YO Blends in the market, with age statements, like Scottish Leader, Smokin' - The Gentleman’s Dram, Scottish Glory, Statesman,
Taste, ASDA, Tesco's Special Reserve, MacQueens, Scots Club and Waitrose, among
others.
The Carlton, PM and Glen Rowan are nifty 4 YOs.  |
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Some good 5 YO Blends are on offer, like Mackinlay, Bank Note, Cluny, Glen Orrin, Golden King, Red Hackle, Loch Ness and Lismore, etc.
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8 YO Blends available freely are Bell's Christmas Series, starting 1955;
Fortnum & Mason; Black Dog Reserve; Buchanan, starting 1980; Inver House;
Gilbey's Special Export; Dewar's White Label, John Crabbie, Orbital, King Robert II and more.
There are over 1,000 Single Malt brands selling
3/4/5/6/7/8/9/ up to 31 YO+. Highland Park, Bunnahabhain, Glenrothes, Tamdhu,
Glendronach, Benrinnes, Glen Moray, Port Askaig, Tomatin, Craigellachie,
Lagavulin, Mortlach, Ledaig, Dufftown, Blair Athol, Glenturret, Deanston,
Kilchoman, Bruichladdich, Amrut, Paul John, Kavalan. . . 100s more. But I don't quite like the prices of Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich SMs.
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3 YO Single Malts include Kilchoman
2011 Port Cask Matured (bottled 2014), Glenglassaugh 3 YO 2009 - The
Chosen Few, Kilchoman Inaugural 100% Islay, Bruichladdich's Perilous X4 Spirit,
Arran 2005 Bourbon Cask Peated, Abhainn Dearg and many more. There are 4,5,6,7
YO Single Malts as well, including the 5 YO Bruichladdich Octomore Peat
Monsters 06.1., 7.1 & 7.4
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In Blends, the 10 YOs include Master of
Malt 10 Year Old Blended Whisky, Johnnie Walker Select Cask, Old St Andrews
Twilight, Bell's 10 YO, Moidart 10 Year Old, Black Bottle, The Tweeddale Blend,
Famous Grouse, Imperial, Dalvegen, The Feathery,
Excalibur Excellence, Excalibur Gold and more. There are 3,4,5,6,7 YO Blends as
well. . . the list is endless.
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The heart of the new make which arrives at 70+% ABV is cut at usually 68-40% ABV and routed
via the Spirit Safe-where the Customs/ Bonds House man sits- to ultimately reach the casking
chamber, where it is
poured into barrels for maturing. Alcohol in a barrel for maturing can ONLY be called new make.
A Scotch Whisky can be finished in
another oaken barrel, ex bourbon/wine/sherry/ rum/ brandy/cognac/port, etc.
A high-alcohol concentration, say 70%,
extracts more of the beneficial compounds and colour from the wood. It also
extracts more tannins and wood-related impurities, which makes the flavour
harsh. Furthermore, higher alcohol content requires more water to dilute it to
bottling strength post-ageing. It has been found that for ageing whisky in new
barrels, 58% to 65% ABV is the ideal strength, 63.5% is the standard filling
strength, to balance barrel extraction and colour with lower tannins. It also
lessens dilution of “barrel compounds”, the organoleptic compounds extracted
from the barrel wood, at bottling time.
Lower alcohol concentration results in
slower ageing as the rate of chemical change and wood extraction is reduced.
Barrels used more than once can age stronger spirits since available tannins
have been reduced to lower levels by its previous contents. At 55% to 65% ABV,
barrels tend to have a greater porosity for water, thereby retaining fusel
alcohols, acids, esters, aldehydes, and furfural. These lower strengths result
in an increase in alcohol content after ageing, whereas alcohol strength
decreases when spirits are aged at higher alcohol concentrations.
Early day whiskies, in fact most of the fine and rare whiskies of the 1950s and 60s were and still are NAS, like Vat 69, Cutty Sark, Black and White, Dewar’s, White Horse, Hankey Bannister, Ballantine’s, The Famous Grouse, J&B, Haig, Queen Anne, Lord Elcho, etc.
A lot of people write about whisky, and if you have to
believe them, there are only excellent whiskies. That is simply not true. There
are a lot of excellent whiskies, yes, as there should be, because good whisky
today is expensive! But there is a lot of indifferent product and some stuff is
just not good enough. There is a clear need for independent reviewers. I am one
of them. I have nothing to do with the industry. I don't sell anything. I don't
have the perfect Palate. My opinion is as good as yours! I just taste whiskies
and tell you what I think about them. That's all. And I don't peddle horseshit
on my blogs.
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