April 2nd, 2012

Lew Bryson reports from the ADI’s Craft Spirits Conference

John Hansell

Lew Bryson, Whisky Advocate’s managing editor and contributor, is our man on the scene at ADI’s Craft Spirits Conference. He will check in with us periodically and report on the happenings.

I’ll be at the American Distilling Institute’s Craft Spirits Conference here in Louisville through Wednesday, talking to new distillers and old ones, checking the feel of the industry, and representing Whisky Advocate’s interest in this new face of distilling. Things started last night with registration, which was combined with a little bit of drink and grub on the third floor of the Brown Hotel.

It was an interesting vibe in the room. I grew up with craft brewing, watching that industry grow from about 1983, so it’s a natural comparison for me; especially when you realize that ADI founder Bill Owens was also the man who started one of the very first brewpubs in America, Buffalo Bill’s in Hayward, California. So when I walked around the room, watching and eavesdropping, I was noting similarities and differences with the fast-growing days of craft brewing in the early 1990s.

For instance, both attracted support industries who saw opportunities in a new market niche. Still builder Vendome was there, with a portfolio of their work for small distillers; Alltech was showing off their technical expertise (while also pouring their whiskeys and beers, a popular spot); and there were bottle companies, records companies, and others who weren’t actually exhibiting…yet, but were checking things out. There were also more wholesalers and retailers and branding experts than craft brewing was attracting at this point in its growth curve; they’ve seen what happened with craft brewing, and that experience is helping to make this a faster-trending niche than craft brewing was. It’s simply not unbelievable anymore; we’ve seen the little guys charge more for an interesting product, and succeed.

The actual people at the conference, the distillers and future distillers, were a study in both similarities and differences. There was the same preponderance of men, and men who were clearly used to not fitting in (lots of hats, facial hair, and some tattoos and piercings, even a skateboard), and were perfectly comfortable with that. There was the same easy discussion of issues, the same general bonhomie.

But it was an older crowd than you generally saw at craft brewing gatherings 20 years ago. There are a lot more retirees here, more experienced entrepreneurs. Starting a distillery is expensive, and you can’t do it on a shoestring with some used dairy tanks and a re-purposed shrimp steamer; there’s not much of a used equipment market at all…yet.

After the scrum at registration, I was sitting in the bar, sipping a glass of Weller on the rocks (it was hot in there; the sun had come out, and I was still dressed in heavy clothes from the morning’s cold thunderstorms) and contemplating hitting the Few Spirits Texas Hold ‘Em tournament when I saw a familiar figure emerge from the elevators: Truman Cox, the new master distiller at A. Smith Bowman. I hailed him, we talked for a while about how he’s getting ready for a major launch (coming very soon) of what he’s been working on, and then I saw another familiar face: Andrea Stanley, of Valley Malt.

Andrea and her husband Christian are unlikely celebrities in craft distilling. Valley Malt is a micromaltings in western Massachusetts (watch for a piece on them in the next issue of Whisky Advocate) that is making all kinds of waves by hand-malting (almost literally) small batches of grains from barley to triticale, smoking malts, and experimenting with long-forgotten strains of barley ordered from the Agriculture Department’s huge seedbanks. It’s very exciting stuff for craft distillers and brewers alike.

Right now they were exhausted unlikely celebrities: they’d completed the installation of their major expansion (from a single one-ton malting vessel to four vessels) at 2 in the morning, got about two hours of sleep, then got up and drove to the airport for the flights to Louisville. Still, like the rest of us, they were excited to be in Louisville, temporarily the hub of craft distilling.

We got even closer to the hub when the four of us decided to go out looking for dinner and saw Bill Owens in a pizza shop. I went in to say hi, and Bill would have nothing but that we join him and his group – Tasmanian distillers, cork manufacturers, Swedish spirits consultants – for dinner. It was just a taste of the fun and stimulation the next three days will bring.

 

 

Category: Guest Blogger,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 12 Comments

March 30th, 2012

Willett’s making whiskey. Again.

John Hansell

Jay Erisman, Whisky Advocate contributor joins us today with news of Kentucky’s newest old distillery. (Be sure to check out the photos in the gallery included at the bottom.)

On January 18, 2012, a rare and marvelous thing occurred in Kentucky. A fermentation of 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% barley was begun at a long-shuttered distillery, just south of Bardstown. The distillery in question is the Willett Distillery, founded in 1935 by a passel of Willetts, most of all A.L. “Thompson” Willett, born in 1909. Three days later an even more special event occurred when the grandchildren of Mr. Willett distilled, as they are wont to do, that fermentation into whiskey…and once again the sweet dew of the mountain, fed by a true limestone spring, did flow from a copper worm, high on a hill overlooking the dales and distilleries of Bardstown, Kentucky, and the number of active bourbon distilleries in Kentucky increased to fourteen. And the bourbon lovers of the world did see this, and in their rejoicing they did say: this is a damned good thing.

In Kentucky, the common fate of an old distillery is an irrevocable death; typically the brands from that distillery are sold off and their production moved to the facilities of the new ownership, while the old buildings and stills are recycled, razed, or simply deserted. Such a fate might well have befallen Bardstown’s Willett Distillery were it not for a native of Norway who married into the family. Even Kulsveen, having married a Willett daughter, purchased the plant in 1984.

Ever since, he has steadfastly, sometimes with calculating slowness, returned the plant to production, all the while taking not one thin dime of outside investment. (The Kulsveens also operate Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, a bottling operation that produces a range of private labels, as well as their own brands, including Willett Pot Still Reserve, Johnny Drum, and Willett Family Estate.) The result is as rare as hen’s teeth in the bourbon category today: a small, independent, family-owned distillery. It is owned and operated lock, stock, and new-charred-oak barrel by Even Kulsveen and his children Drew Kulsveen, who runs the distillery, and daughter Britt Chavanne, who handles sales with her husband, Hunter Chavanne.

The distillery includes a new 1,200 gallon pot still made by Louisville’s Vendome Copper and Brass; a column with multiple plates sits atop the pot still, which may be introduced to the distillation for added flexibility. There is a vintage stainless steel column still of 24” diameter, holding sixteen distillation trays, plus six rectifying trays at the top, one of which is packed with pieces of copper piping so the new whiskey can acquire adequate exposure to copper. Along with a stainless steel doubler original to the 1935 distillery, the collection of stills is all but unprecedented in a Kentucky bourbon distillery, and allows for tremendous flexibility in producing whiskey.

For example, the initial distillation on January 21, 2012 was slated to run through the column still, but a balky pump led Drew Kulsveen to take the first fermentation to the pot still, where it was distilled one time, utilizing five trays in the column on the pot still. The resulting spirit of 110.3 proof — which was made of a narrow “center cut,” discarding the heads and the tails of the distillation — filled six barrels at 103 proof, on January 27, which would have been the 103rd birthday of Thompson Willett.

The old-time firepower afforded by the stills is impressive, but more remarkable yet is the entire infrastructure erected by the Kulsveens. There are two new cookers, of 6,000 and 3,000 gallons, which again allow a great flexibility in making different whiskeys, and seven 10,000 gallon fermenters. Fed by a brand new pneumatic grain handling system and hammer mill, these reside in the reconditioned distillery building, which is kept cool by some amazing belt-driven cast iron ceiling fans. The 1935 vintage gauging building has been beautifully restored to preserve the wood-grained character of the old structure.

The gift shop and tasting bar are housed in the former distillery offices, where you will be kept cool by more of those remarkable fans while sampling 28 year old Willett Bourbon. A lake fed by a real limestone spring behind the distillery provides water for the process; plans are afoot to build an elegant turn-of-the- 20th-century style house at the edge of the lake. Perhaps most valuable of all, there are eight well-weathered, traditional rick-style warehouses at the property. These currently hold aging bourbon destined for the various labels and brands produced by the Kentucky Bourbon Distillers bottling operation. Slowly but surely they will be filled with new barrels distilled onsite by Kentucky’s newest…old distillery.

Take a photo tour here:

 
 
 
 

Category: American whiskey,Bourbon,Distillery news,Writers Tags: 22 Comments

February 13th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Lifetime Achievement

John Hansell

The 18th Annual Whisky Advocate Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are Douglas Campbell of Tomatin Distillery and Dave Scheurich of Woodford Reserve. —Lew Bryson

Douglas Campbell, Tomatin Distillery

Our Lifetime Achievement awards go to people who have distinguished themselves in the industry over long years of service. In the case of Douglas Campbell of the Tomatin distillery, though…it goes a bit beyond that, in a generational sense. Campbell’s family has lived near Tomatin since 1894; his grandfather moved there to work on the Tomatin viaduct (completed in 1897, the same year as the distillery). His grandmother worked as a housekeeper at Tomatin house, and his father worked at the distillery as a cooper.

It’s no surprise then, that Douglas started work at Tomatin in April of 1961 at the age of fifteen. His first job was as a clerk, and he moved through almost every area in the distillery — the maltings, filling store, mash house, still house, cooperage — before being appointed head brewer in 1988, then distillery manager in 1990. He was appointed master distiller in 2009, and now, after 50 years with the company, man and boy, works as a brand ambassador.

Those who know Douglas Campbell describe him as a quiet, unassuming man who does not like being in the limelight. Our apologies for making such a fuss, Douglas, but dedication such as yours should not go unnoticed.  

Dave Scheurich, Woodford Reserve

Dave Scheurich started in the whiskey industry in 1969, with Seagram. After a solid beginning there, he moved in and out of the industry, always in production and packaging (including a stint as director of bottling for Wild Turkey), before joining Brown-Forman in 1989 as facilities manager for their corporate headquarters.

But what we really know Dave for is the project he got in 1994: the restoration of the Labrot & Graham distillery, which would become Woodford Reserve. He managed the $10 million renovation of the historic distillery, including the installation of the three copper pot stills. The enthusiasm and attention to detail he displayed in the renovation project led to his position as plant manager once the distillery started operations.

Dave took over Woodford in true old-school style: he moved into a house on the distillery property with his wife Della (who also worked for Brown-Forman as a Woodford Reserve bottler, tour guide, and brand ambassador). Until his retirement in 2011, he managed day-to-day operations: distilling, warehousing, bottling, and shipping.

He has since started a consulting business — clearly a man who can’t sit still — which is good news for those of us who enjoy his good company and habitual grin. Congratulations, Dave, and best of luck.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 4 Comments

February 12th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Distillery of the Year

John Hansell

Midleton/Irish Distillers

It may well be that whiskey lovers were not surprised to see the continued resurgence of Irish whiskey in 2011. But the major shock was that it was Irish Distillers who picked up the baton and ran with it most convincingly.

Cooley had another great year, of course, and three world class contenders from Ireland in one year is normally headline-making form. But somewhat strangely, the company’s many excellent releases in recent years have never centered around Ireland’s most emblematic whiskey style — pot still. That’s where Midleton seized the initiative.

Although Irish Distillers seemed content to build its fortress around Jameson, it kept the Irish pot still whiskey flame a-flicker, with two wonderful expressions of Redbreast of its own, and the fresh and fruity Green Spot, produced for Dublin wine and spirits merchants Mitchell & Sons. The perceived lack of genuine support for the pot still whiskeys antagonized and frustrated diehard supporters more than delighted them.

So its decision to release not just one new pot still whiskey in 2011 but three provided the year’s biggest ‘wow’ moment. What’s more, all three were excellent, were significantly different from each other, and were to Irish whiskey what a cluster firework is to a night sky — bursting out in exciting new directions and bringing new colors to the canvas.

Powers John’s Lane and Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy — the former a rough and ready oloroso sherry cask heavyweight; the latter a pricier, more refined whiskey matured in ex-bourbon and virgin American oak casks — were bottled at 46%, two sides of the pot still coin. If the buzzer had sounded at that point, the fans would have gone home happy…but Midleton put the game into overtime with a cask strength version of Redbreast 12 year old, keeping the best for last. It wasn’t just the best release of the three, either; it was the best Irish release of the year, and, quite possibly, of any other year, too.

The coup de grâce came with a new pot still-heavy premium Jameson under the name Black Barrel; a creamy, oily, but recognizably Jameson whiskey. Astounding stuff — and game, set, and match to Midleton. —Dominic Roskrow

Join us tomorrow for the final 18th Annual Whisky Advocate Award announcement: the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , , 14 Comments

February 11th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Lowland – Campbeltown Single Malt of the Year

John Hansell

Springbank 18 year old (2nd Edition), 46%, $150

Some distillers consciously set out to create trends and develop profiles, while others follow. A few more, however, really don’t give a damn about such things, and no one gives less of a damn than Springbank. Working on the ‘build it and they will come’ principle (as in God to Noah and the movie Field of Dreams), Springbank has developed a reputation for studiously avoiding trends and simply making excellent single malt whisky just the way it wants to.

The adjective ‘iconic’ is all too often lazily used as shorthand for something the writer cannot be bothered to pin down more specifically, but Springbank really does deserve the sobriquet, having almost single-handedly carried the torch for Campbeltown single malts and the whisky-producing region’s rich heritage through good times and lean; mostly lean.

Springbank remains one of the last family-owned distilleries in Scotland, and the distillery itself is superbly idiosyncratic, continuing to malt its own barley on traditional malting floors and to bottle on site. Three distinct types of spirit are produced, namely Springbank (distilled two and a half times), Longrow (heavily-peated and distilled twice), and Hazelburn (unpeated and triple distilled). The wash still is unique in being heated both by internal steam coils and direct-fired by oil.

It is an open secret that Springbank does not possess significant amounts of old stock, but 2012 is expected to see a very limited release of 21 year old, feted as a classic when previously bottled. For now, however, we have the second edition of the 18 year old version to savor. First released in 2009, with an additional bottling the following year, this expression has a high percentage of sherry wood-matured spirit in the mix, and it epitomizes the quirky, individualistic, robust, traditional Campbeltown single malt at its very finest. —Gavin Smith  (Photo by Jeff Harris)

Join us tomorrow when we reveal Whisky Advocate’s Distillery of the Year award recipient.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 2 Comments

February 10th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Highland Single Malt of the Year

John Hansell

Aberfeldy 14 year old Single Cask, 58.1%, £115

Today, Aberfeldy is a Highland distillery that actually boasts a higher profile than the single malt it produces, thanks in part to the popular ‘Dewar’s World of Whisky’ visitor center based there. Aberfeldy distillery was built by the burgeoning Perth-based family business of John Dewar & Sons in the late 1890s, and like so many Victorian distilleries, it was constructed beside a railway line to facilitate transport.

By the time of Aberfeldy’s establishment, blended Scotch whisky was taking the world by storm, and the new distillery was intended solely to provide malt whisky for the company’s increasingly popular blends. After passing through other hands, including Diageo’s, it was one of four distilleries acquired with the John Dewar & Sons name by Bacardi in 1999.

Inevitably, the vast bulk of all Aberfeldy single malt produced at the Perthshire distillery remains destined for the blending vats to help Dewar’s maintain its number one blended Scotch whisky position in the U.S. Nonetheless, Bacardi is keen to make more of this neglected gem of a single malt, and sales of the Aberfeldy brand have increased by 400 percent in seven years to some 25,000 cases per year, with the principal offerings being 12 and 21 years of age.

Single cask Aberfeldy bottlings are very few and far between, and this 2011 release is right up there with the best. After initial hogshead maturation, the whisky ultimately underwent a period of finishing in an ex-sherry cask prior to bottling. Here’s hoping 2012 brings more Aberfeldy bottlings of equal excellence. —Gavin Smith

Whisky Advocate’s Lowland – Campbeltown Single Malt of the Year Award will be announced tomorrow.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 5 Comments

February 9th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Islay Single Malt of the Year

John Hansell

Bruichladdich 10 year old, 46%, $57

There were any number of contenders for this: Kilchoman’s 100% Islay, the latest Special Release Port Ellen, Lagavulin’s stellar single cask Jazz Festival release, but the winner shaded it because it has something extra: symbolism.

In the decade that has passed since Bruichladdich’s reopening, the distilling team has had to contend with a hole in stocks — the result of the distillery’s closure — and the quality of the wood filled by its previous owner. They also had to make noise in order to ensure that the warm and fuzzy feeling generated by Bruichladdich’s re-emergence was maintained.

The way they answered these issues was by releasing a multiplicity of bottlings, often finished in different casks. While Bruichladdich was never far from the headlines, fans of the distillery and its people (and I count myself as one) began to wonder where Bruichladdich was underneath this plethora of different flavors and marketing bullshit. I wanted a marker. I wanted a bottling that said, “This is what we are, everything else is a variation on this theme.”

The 10 year old does just that. It is uncluttered by finishing and marketing; it is Bruichladdich, pure, clean, simple, identifiable. It says, “One chapter has finished, now the work starts;” it says, like Alice’s transforming liquid, “DRINK ME!” and that, let us not forget, is what whisky is all about. —Dave Broom

Tomorrow’s Whisky Advocate Award announcement will be the Highland Single Malt of the Year.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 22 Comments

February 8th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Speyside Single Malt of the Year

John Hansell

Macallan Royal Wedding Limited Edition, 46.8%, £150

Okay, this is long gone, and is now either an investment or another whisky fueling the speculative bubble, but rarity isn’t the reason I’ve chosen it as my top Speyside release. Neither is it because of fealty to the Royal Family. Rather this, for me, was a whisky that countered the sniping which has been targeted at Macallan for a number of years: that it was too expensive, that it was pursuing the luxury market to the detriment of quality, that it wasn’t as good as it used to be.

This bottling showed that Macallan continues to do what it has always done best: use high-quality sherry wood to produce a single malt with resonant depth of flavor — and intent. Great Macallan is one of those drams whose presence forces you to pay attention to the slow unfolding of flavors in its depths. This bottling had that quality, and in doing so it eloquently answered its critics. —Dave Broom

Join us tomorrow for the announcement of Whisky Advocate’s Islay Single Malt of the Year Award.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 29 Comments

February 7th, 2012

Diamond Jubilee by John Walker & Sons

John Hansell

A bonus post today: Dave Broom joins us with news of a charity bottling to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. (Yes, I know. This is just one for curiosity. None of us are going to be buying a bottle.)

It would be fair to say that £100,000 is a lot of money for anything, particularly so for a bottle of whisky, yet Johnnie Walker Diamond Jubilee justifies its stratospheric price tag. Why? Because all the profits from the 60 decanters which have been made of this ultra-rare blend are going to charity.

The concept was initiated by Richard Watling, ex-Diageo director and now chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust [QEST] which provides grants to British craftspeople and in doing so, keeps many highly specialized trades alive. He approached David Gates, who holds the Royal Warrant for Johnnie Walker at Diageo, to see whether the firm would create a blend to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The result is a blend not just of whiskies – all distilled in 1952, the year Queen Elizabeth acceded to the throne – but of a host of different crafts. The crystal diamond-shaped decanter is from Baccarat, its silver collar and stopper has been hand-crafted by Hamilton & Inches in Edinburgh and it resides inside a cabinet which has been made with wood from two of the Queen’s estates: oak from Sandringham and pine from Balmoral. There are two hand-etched Cumbrian crystal glasses and the presentation is completed with a white leather hand-bound book personalized by the Queen’s calligrapher (and former QEST scholar), Sally Mangum.

But what of the liquid? I was invited to Royal Lochnagar, next door to Balmoral, to watch the decanters being filled, have a chat with master blender Jim Beveridge and his assistant Matthew Crow, and, more importantly, taste the liquid.

“The brief was a blank sheet,” says Beveridge prior to the tasting. “but there had to be some connection with 60 years, so we looked to see what whiskies we had from 1952. Not surprisingly, there were only a handful and we even rejected some, as they were too woody.”

After vatting the components together, the blend was rested in two small marrying casks, made by Diageo’s apprentice coopers under the watchful guidance of master cooper David Taylor.  The oak – Quercus Petraea for the geeks among you – came from Sandringham.

“That marrying made a big difference,” says Beveridge, “because it allowed the key component to do its work.” That key element? “Old grain,” he explained. “It softened those crusty old malts and allowed new flavors to sing out. The surprise for me is the freshness, the softness. Old whiskies can be one dimensional, but this has layers.”

He raises the glass and takes a sip. “Aye,” he smiles, “that’s all right.”

93   Diamond Jubilee by John Walker & Sons, 42.5%, £100,000

The bright gold hue is maybe a shock for those who equate age with darkness. The surprises continue as a first sniff immediately reveals amazing freshness. Fruits lead the way, starting with quince, slowly evolving into mango, blueberry, and an almost jammy blackberry note. At the same time, spices begin to build, particularly when the surface is broken with a drop of water; exotic spices at that: Javanese long pepper, cardamom, then vanilla pod notes develop. Complex in other words. In the mouth you can see how that grain is smoothing all the elements, giving an unctuous feel, calmly revealing the blend’s secrets. There’s just sufficient oakiness to give structure, and while there’s smoke, it’s far in the distance. Its different facets weave around each other: velvet texture, the refreshing bitter perfume of spices, pools of soft fruits as it flows down the throat. It is a triumph of the blender’s art.  — Dave Broom

Category: Breaking news,Guest Blogger,New Releases,Writers Tags: , 7 Comments

February 7th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Blended/Blended Malt Whisky of the Year

John Hansell

Compass Box Great King Street, 43%, $45

Two outstanding contenders battled it out for this award this year: The Mackinlays ‘Shackleton’ whisky and The Compass Box Great King Street blend. Both tasted great, both took the category into new territory, and both showed what can be achieved through clever and thoughtful blending.

The Mackinlays ‘Shackleton’ whisky is a blended malt whisky — a mix of malt whiskies with no grain — and recreated the whisky found in the Antarctic camp abandoned by Ernest Shackleton. It was well packaged, was relatively well priced, and tasted great.

But the Mackinlays is all about history and the past. Compass Box Great King Street, a sweet citrusy and vanilla-doused blend, is all about the future. John Glaser and team don’t make bad whiskies, but often they have been esoteric, small batch, and all but unavailable to many of us. This blend is different, and is an attempt by Compass Box to introduce quality blends to a new generation. It had a relatively modest price point and brought the artisan skills of Compass Box to a new audience. It’s that rarity: a blend that drinks well on its own but tastes great when mixed. More than that, it’s perfectly placed to bring blends back into vogue. Anyone for a highball?  —Dominic Roskrow

Tomorrow, the Speyside Single Malt of the Year will be announced.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 8 Comments

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