Experiments

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Master of Malt’s Bloggers’ Blend

Posted in Experiments, Other Blogs, Shops on March 16th, 2011 by Mark – Be the first to comment

Master of Malt's Drinks by the Dram bottles.

I am proud to announce that I’ve been asked to be a part of something pretty unique in both blending and retailing: The Bloggers’ Blend. Master of Malt have come up with a cunning scheme involving ten whisky websites/blogs/podcasts/magazines to produce a new blend. Each of the ten will be furnished with samples and equipment to concoct their own style of whisky before MoM reproduces all ten recipes and puts these on sale in their Drinks by the Dram bottles. The public can then vote on their favourite which will eventually become a full-sized bottling. The ten collaborators will also come up with the branding and labelling.

Here is the list of participants:

• Rob Allanson – Whisky Mag
• Mark Connelly – WhiskyWhiskyWhisky, Glasgow Whisky Festival
• Mark Gillespie – Whiskycast
• Joshua Hatton – Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society
• Chris Hoban, Lucasz Dynowiak – Edinburgh Whisky Blog
• Jason Johnstone-Yellin – Guid Scotch Drink
• Neil Ridley, Joel Harrison – caskstrength.net
• Sam Simmons – Dr. Whisky
• Karen Taylor, Matt Chambers – Whisky For Everyone
• Pierre Thiebaut (plus tasting panel) – Connosr

I’ll post more details and updates as I progress through my experiments and will also try to link in with other sites involved where possible. Having only created two blends before I am under self-instruction to go really easy on the Islay. REALLY easy.

We don’t know the distilleries or the ages of any of the samples other than some are ‘old’ and some aren’t. We have a price calculator so we know the rough price our blend would cost. Apart from that it’s pretty much up to us what we do. This should be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to seeing what the others come up with too.

A Dram A Day – Day 20

Posted in A Dram A Day, Experiments, Whisky Reviews on July 20th, 2010 by Mark – 1 Comment

Ardbeg new make

Another sample this time, but it’s not exactly whisky. This is whisky before it touches the inside of a barrel and three years and a day before it can legally be called whisky. New make, new spirit, whatever you want to call it is the product that comes straight from the stills before any ageing takes place. This particular one is from the Ardbeg distillery on Islay and was bottled in a little 4cl vial as part of a range sold by La Maison du Whisky in Paris. It’s 67.5% so I might add a drop of water just for curiosity’s sake.

Colour: Funnily enough, clear 

Nose: Unmistakably Islay, and unmistakably Ardbeg, even in this form. Briny, sweet, kippery peat with underlying spirity notes and cut grass.

Okay, before I go any further I’ve had a thought and I’m going to try a little experiment. Since I have barely a mouthful of this spirit I’m going to try and change it into matured Ardbeg in a couple of hours. I’ll pop a little piece of toasted oak into the vial and leave it to do its magic. Here goes nothing.

Ardbeg new make with heavily toasted oak from a whisky barrel

(Two hours later…)

Ardbeg new make after two hours with toasted oak

Well that looks interesting. The proof is in the pudding, though, as they say. Time for pudding…

Nose 2: Very woody and chemically. Furniture polish and nail varnish remover take top billing with a support act of turpentine. The peat has been tempered quite a bit, in fact I’m finding it hard to pick it out at all apart from a teeny hint of smoke underneath which may have come from the wood. Eventually some dried fruits come through, almost like a very old sherry cask whisky.

Palate: Ouch…that’ll put hairs on your chest. Or strip them off… Heavy spice and pepper with some dark, dark, black as hell oranges from Satan’s banquet table. Bitterness and drying of the mouth. Tannin Central.

Finish: See above. Vegetal bitterness to end. Heavy on the tannins.

Comments: Do not try this at home, kids. Next time I will try a larger sample and shorter timescale!