“That’s one small step for a club, one giant leap for a whisky.”
(James Burton, WWC Whiskynaught VP)
The time approaches folks! The W.W.C. club meets for the second time of 2020, ushering in another Leap Year. One extra day to have a dram!
In keeping with the theme we thought it would be fun to go on a world tour leaping from one country to the next, exploring whiskies from more exotic parts of Europe, as well as from Asia and Australia.
We had so many options to choose from amongst the so-called world whiskies, whiskies from outside the top 5 producing countries of Canada, USA, Scotland, Ireland, and Japan, and had a blast choosing just five whiskies we think are going to be eye opening and unique in smell and taste. Some have won the highest awards a whisky can achieve, and some may be well hidden gems. Lets take the leap!
Leaving from the wonderful Isle of Islay where we last met for drams, we leap to France, where an abundance of wine casks lay just waiting to mature whisky in them. I hear the French like peated whisky.
A wee little leap to The Netherlands and…they like peat there too! Have we actually left Islay yet?
Leaping further East we land in India. It’s getting warm now. Real warm. And wet! Half the year is hot monsoon weather in Bangalore. What effect can this have on whisky?
We then leap to Taiwan… It’s hot there too. Nice, now we’re talking. A tropical heat. More heat interaction with the whisky! Thankfully they have holiday weather, whisky, friends, and Kavalan! OH boy, this trip keeps getting better and better as we go.
We make a final leap frog to Australia, where arguably our most lucrative whisky has been found. Here the weather is always nice, never too hot, and never too cold.
Back to the discussion heat and whisky making: If you can picture a warehouse on a cold, windy, and rainy Scottish coast… then try and picture a distillery surrounded by palm trees and humidity in the tropical mountains in Taiwan, for example. The effects due to climate on the maturation of a whisky greatly differs in both scenarios. Cold temperatures can slow maturation as a whisky sits in a cask, making some whiskies reach their peak maturation at a very old age statement – 21 Years, 25 years, 30 and older. Hot temperatures will have the opposite effect on a whisky. Heat will allow the spirit to mature faster and absorb more qualities of the wood its stored in over a shorter amount of time. This benefit to distilleries comes at a cost however, evaporation, “the angels share” can deplete a cask of delicious whisky very quickly, limiting the output of whisky these distilleries can deliver to our mouths.
And with that, it’s about time we head back home to our trusty meeting place and dive into these world single malts.
Here’s what we will be sampling:
1. Kornog Sauternes Cask 2016 (Pleubians, France) 46% vol. (peated)
2. Amrut Fusion (Bangalore, India) 50%
3. Millstone Peated PX(Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands) 46%
4. Rochfort Coriole White Port Cask (Hindmarsh Valley, Australia) 65.1%
5. Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique (Yilan County, Taiwan)57.1%
Winnipeg Whisky Club tasting #2 February 26th 2020
See you there!