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Have you ever tasted a Tokaji Cask Finish whisky? No? And have you ever tasted Tokaji wine? This is a special late harvest wine from the North-Eastern region of Hungary, called Tokaj. „Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum” as we say it in Hungary, which means: The wine of Kings, the King of the wines. And it really is! There are even 3 distilleries which found it a good idea to put there Single Malt Scotch whiskies into ex-Tokaji wine casks for a couple of years: Isle of Arran, Benromach, Edradour. I heard once from Edradour that after one and a half year they had to take the whisky out of the Tokaji barrels as the wine itself is so characteristic and had so much influence in such a short time, that ageing longer in Tokaji wine casks might have ruined the whisky. As the Tokaji wine itself is very sweet, a wee bit spicy, but full of aromas of sundried fruits, the casks transfers these aromas into the whisky, too. So grab a bottle of a Tokaji Cask Finish next time you are in a whisky store, and taste it! (The very same post you can find on forscotchlovers.com, too.)

Traditionally, Scotch whisky was matured either in Bourbon casks or Sherry casks. Couple of decades ago, some marketing guru might have advised to leading Single Malt distilleries to use Bourbon casks for the first period of the maturation, then Sherry casks for the last couple of years … then label the whisky as Sherry Cask Finish. To be honest, I don’t know who was the very first to play this card, but did it right. Since then distilleries marketed several variations of cask finish whiskies: Port wood finish, Madeira wood finish, Burgundy wood finish. But have you ever tasted a Cognac Cask Finish whisky? No? No wonder, because Cognac is hardly available for cask finishes. The reason is simple. Cognac itself is a trademark. Therefore Cognac producers do not intend to let anyone else to use and place the word ’Cognac’ on any bottle of spirits, except real Cognac from the French region of Cognac. So, even if any of the Scottish distilleries tried to finish its Scotch Malt whisky in ex-Cognac casks, they need to be tricky to be allowed to place the word “Cognac” onto their whisky label. Isle of Arran does many variations of cask finish whiskies. The way they do it with Cognac is that they set a deal with Hardy Cognac, USA.

A whisky tasting is easy to organise. Don’t take it to seriously - it’s meant to be fun, but follow the 6 steps below to be able to distinguish between different whiskies.

What you need is A) a range of whiskies (e.g. blended scotch variants, various single malt whiskies, Jack Daniel’s against bourbon whiskies, etc.) B) sampling glasses (preferably stem glasses, than whisky tumblers, e.g. Glencairn) C) water, and bread or biscuits to cleanse the palate.

Step 1 Pour about 2cl whisky into a glass.

Step 2 Check to colour by holding the glass up to the light. This can tell you a lot about its taste and character. The colour may vary from very pale to a rich caramel brown, depending on how long and what kind of casks was the whisky stored in.

Step 3 Check out the ‘nose’ (aroma) of the whisky. This tells you about its flavour as 80% of what you taste is actually through the nose.

Step 4 Now add the same amount of water to your whisky and nose again. You should feel a real difference, more intense aromas then before.

Step 5 Take a sip of the whisky and look for the following: the body (texture), the palate (flavour), the finish (aftertaste).

Step 6 Have a drink of water and some bread or biscuits to cleanse your palate before trying the next whisky.

The Pact simulator is a tool of Johnnie Walker to promote its Responsible Drinking programme. It is a futuristic pod, which will provide consumers with a practical demonstration to remind them of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol in a controlled virtual environment. It is better to crash yourself in the virtual world and learn from it. You have several lifes in the virtual world, while only one in reality. Don’t risk it! No whisky is worth it.

We are here again! The Whisky Society of Hungary and WhiskyNet proudly present the 2nd Whisky Show in Budapest. The event will take place on October 15, 2011 in the very same hotel just like last April: Ramada Plaza Budapest Hotel.

Isle of Arran, Glenfarclas, Benromach, Gordon & MacPhail, Inverhouse, BenRiach, Pernod Ricard whisk(e)y brands, William Grant’s & Glenfiddich, Brown-Forman’s Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, as well as WhiskyNet with the wide selection of its whisk(e)y portfolio will definitely be there.

15 masterclass seminars, bagpipers, Irish band, celtic harp, lounge DJ and short whisky presentations will be on stage.

Buy your ticket online now! » HERE

Whisky & Whiskey for Everyone!

Experts know, but rookies probably don’t, that each of the famous Scotch blended whiskies has its so called fingerprint single malts among their 40-50 ingredient whiskies. Just some examples to catch interest: Ballantine’s Finest two characteristic fingerprint malts are Miltonduff and Glenburgie, J&B’s one of the main fingerprint malts is Knockando, Chivas Regal (12 YO) has Glenlivet., while the 45% malt containing Teacher’s has Glendronach and Ardmore.

Although, each whisky distillery makes its own, unique Single Malt Scotch whisky in Scotland, but there are some similarities in their character by regions - this helps to group them in “families”. 2% of the ageing whisky evaporates through the wood of the barrels each year, and gives its space for the air surrounding the casks during the maturation period. Therefore it is possible that Single Malt whiskies aged in similar micro-climate carry similar characteristics in aroma and taste. According to the various micro-climates, there are 4 big whisky regions in Scotland:

Highlands

The Highland region means the major part of the Scottish Highlands, north from the Glasgow-Edinburgh line. The whiskies here are rich, robust and autumnal character.

Speyside

Speyside is a relatively area of the north part of the Scottsih Highlands, between Aberdeen and Inverness. High proportion of Scotch whisky distilleries work here compared to the extension of the Speyside territory. The most important characteristics of the Speyside Single Malt whiskies are the elegant, honeyed and summer flowered flavour.

Islay

This region simply is the Island of Islay. Typical character of the Islay whiskies are very much different from the “mainland” Scotch Malt whiskies, however only a few distillery works on the island. The speciality of the Islay whiskies are their full, salty and traditionally smoky taste and aroma, thanks to the closeness of the sea, as well as the use of the smoky peat in the process of whisky-making.

Lowlands

There is not so many whisky distilleries working on the Scottish Lowlands. Notwithstanding that the Lowlands is a great area in its extension, the few Single Malt whiskies handcrafted here are very similar in taste and character. Their similarities are the gentle, submissive and spring flowered aroma.

Some older books and desription of whisky regions sometimes also distinguish the Campbeltown, or the Island (Outer & Inner Hebrides, plus Orkney), but only a couple of distilleries are still working in these areas nowadays.

The wartime looting of the ship SS Politician, which sank off the Outer Hebrides with a cargo of whisky and inspired the 1949 comedy classic Whisky Galore, is a tale of happy-go-lucky islanders outwitting killjoy tax inspectors. The novel of Compton MacKenzie, and later the film, was supposedly inspired by the story of quenching a thirst for whisky born in wartime rationing. In reality the Hebridians were overcome by greed and ready to use violence to protect their booty, 24,000 bottles of whisky. The records show that beside “liberating” the whisky, the islanders stripped the vessel of about 10,000 GBP worth of furnishing, lamps, writing desks and even the ship’s compass. Some of the 3 million GBP cargo of banknotes bound for Jamaica also went missing. On the first interception by local Custom officials, the crew of three boats carrying 42 cases of whisky included an 84 year old man. The grandson of one of the islanders who was arrested and fines, said that the battle became heated because islanders could not bear to see the cargo go to waste. “That must have been extremly frustrating for people who didn’t like to see waste” he said.

By the way, the name whisky is an English corruption of the ancient name for spirits “water of life” according to Edinburgh University. It comes from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic “uisge beatha” or “usquebaugh” which to English ears sounded like “uishgi” and henceforth became whisky.