hello you multi-munching munchkins and thank you to Dominic
for that malt mention thank you Dominic oh Fort Mitch I'm Rafi this is Ralphie review 943 extras
which means that um having done a Whiskey Review and providing extra perspective and information
to help you with your moments so we're we're in an old-fashioned classroom environment uh today
I've got the chalkboard out brand new piece of chalk I'm sure it will snap before too long
whether I snap it from leaning too hard in the chalkboard or just drop it in the floor of the
buffet something's gonna happen um and in this extras I'm going to talk about the levels of
Sensation that we encounter in whiskey and why when we're just getting into whiskey
it's a really good idea to start with what you find on the shelves of bars and in supermarkets
and even in some of the online whiskey shops who stock your standard basic bottlings and one of
the first whiskeys that I would encourage anybody to start with on their Scotch single malt Journey
is Glenn fiddich because Glenn fiddich is a very easy access single malt very unthreatening it
is sweet and sour that's the style and this is where we're starting with um get another
piece of chalk out here I should have had already but you know I'm not that organized
got my nicely red piece of chalk to highlight that
sweet and sour
fairly simple light fruity no peat no big Shady moments no monsters one of the most accessible
and polite of scotch single malt whiskeys not only that but Glenfiddich to their credit
are simply one of the most consistent bottlers of high volume single malt
uh within the whole category and you know occasionally I'll have a bottle of Glenn Finnick
and I might not be particularly impressed about it with it um particularly the older versions
but when I come back to The Standard 12 year old bottling it it works every single time
and this is where you start because we need to all of us allow our senses to bed in without
being rushed or hurried because in doing so and giving it time quite simply we end up getting
further knowing more and actually having more valuable senses because they're properly developed
um so you don't learn to run before you can walk simple analogy so we start with whiskeys
that tick the boxes for sweet and sour let me name a few to you um cardu great example it's
a sweet space site malt it's a multi-mult it's not particularly complex but it's very
pleasant and accessible the same with Craig and Moore and also with Glen Elgin these are really
good these are the sort of foundation malts that you find in many Blends they're not particularly
used for dressing or high-end flavors they're there to provide that maltiness in a blended
Scotch which lets you know that there's some much needed single malt in the blending recipe
another example would be ogintoshing and although I don't like the way ocontussion is bottled it's
it's a great light whiskey Tam the villain another good light light whiskey quite grassy and crisp
and Ben reek and Ben rinus and breval another good one these are light whiskeys which can
particularly when we're starting due to the process of chill filtration the fact
they've put hundreds of casks into a batch mix and because they're adding a little bit
of color they they reduce the complexity I mean this is this is this is well evidence
by the way it's not just an opinion anymore anybody that says that um that says that
chill filtration does not affect the flavor of whiskey is lying to you right you are being lied
to by them and the best way to prove them to be Liars is to see for yourself but we're starting
at the beginning because we're all starting as consumers and once we've had a bit of a time
with the sweet and sour thing and we're ready our pallets are telling us because our pallets will
tell us when they're ready and our nose will tell us when it's ready to move on we start to
seek some slightly more complex single malts which have the sweet and sour right the the
Baseline Sensations but add a little bit extra in for example slight saltiness it's generally
appreciated it's sometimes called brainy or Maritime and you'll find it predominantly
and Whiskey's like old potney which is a northeasterly Highland single malt and you'll find
it in bruchlari if you can find any broccolary because they don't seem to be bottling and much
broccoli at The Distillery at all these days I'm sure there's a strategy in there somewhere
um and another another fine example would be Spring Bank Spring Bank can be wonderfully
salty at times it just depends on the mood and the temperament and the
batch variation of the particular whiskey they're producing at any moment in time
and um so you get that sweet and sour and a little bit kind of and the note of another
sensation now it could be sweet sour salt or it could be sweet sour Savory and good
examples of savory whiskeys are Laphroaig it's a Savory whiskey that earthiness as soon as
you're talking about earthiness and mossiness and peat is always a driver when there's Pete in the
whiskey it's always a driver for the sensation of savory and it can contribute to saltiness
so you've still got the sweet and sour going on there but you've got this extra Dimension that
your pallets now looking to explore um and when you're looking at Savory elements and notes and
Sensations in in a whiskey irrespective of its actual flavor profile you're looking at again
Spring Bank alfreig uh McAllen not McAllen sorry a bit of last thing in my list the other another
Distillery they start with them called Mark black mark like a wonderful characterful Distillery
um in fact in my stash I have quite a few more likes quite a few more likes uh because it is
so charismatic Edward it's another a good example I've just reviewed in my last review 943. Edward
her 10 year old the standard bottling and despite it being uh chill filtered which
is very self-evident it's got enough substance a character and quality of casks that kind of
carries it over is actually a really good basic uh single malt so there we are we've got had I've
given you examples of sweet and sour salt and sweet and sour savory sweet and sour bitter no
these are a lot harder to find bitterness is one of the most intolerable Sensations to the modern
palette there's a very simple reason for that from childhood when we were being spoon-fed rusks and
pre-prepared baby food is full of sweetness full of sugar and what do kids want sweeties sweeties
sweeties and where do we find the sweeties every time Mommy and Daddy go to the supermarket
sweeties at the counter where the kids stop beside mum's trolley they see the sweeties and
mum's waiting she's getting nowhere to run dad's got nowhere to run the carers get nowhere to run
the kettle grab a bucket because it's right at kitty snatch height sweeties children are addicted
to sweetness and because of the over consumption of sweet foods and drinks at an early age
our pallets are deconditioned and become hostile to bitterness and yet there are many valuable
herbs and some very good quality foods spinach is a good example which have a certain amount
of bitterness in them Arctic choke's another one highly nutritious in fact some of the most
beneficial medicines her herbal medicines are quite bitter wormwood for example wonderful
alkaloid stringent helps you fight cancer but there's also the fact that in the natural world
bitterness can also mean poison and it's Nature's Way of stopping you consuming something poisonous
see that's the thing so there's a natural gut reaction a subliminal instinct to not enjoy
bitter whiskey and there's something it is the last sensation that you will start to enjoy now
I enjoy it a lot I enjoy bitterness particularly with heavily pitted whiskeys like Laphroaig and
color and sometimes I'm going to share this with you I have I take out my little dropper bottle of
um blended whiskey in which I have steeped wormwood herb to create an incredibly bitter
um concoction and I put a drop into a whiskey a peated whiskey and it just takes up a whole
new dimension you won't I'm telling you I'm just telling you mark mates you won't get this
information anywhere else I've even got to the stage and I'm occasionally going to my local bar
I'll get a pint of mild and a pint of local Alexa brewed by Odin Distillery best Brewer in Ireland
where I am and I'll get him a little bottle of Bitters and pump pump two three four drops of
bitters into the beer because I like bitterness um bitterness it keeps you awake it stimulates
the neurological senses it is a valuable tonic and in a whiskey it adds something
beautiful if there's loads of Sweetness in with a bitterness you'll get Tangy you'll
get Tangy that that marmalade you know that sort of confectionary jelly sours note um but the one
one Distillery which features bitter it's been rumach and the 15 year old you because they're
using sweet casks ex-bourbon casks uh further up to 10 years you you generally it's balanced
out produces a really really good whiskey especially when it's not chill filtered as
many of you found when you bought The Cask shrimp bottling and absolutely Overjoyed
by It Fabulous world-class single mode total five-star Ben Roma cast strength Edition one
but it's the 15 year old it's a little bit sour it can't be helped it's just the way it is just
the way it is and um another example of a bit of whiskey which features prominent bitterness
I can't give you one from official Distillery bottlings but you will find amongst the
independent bottles particularly in single Cask bottlings because there are natural wood chemicals
in the Steve's of casks which can add bitterness to a whiskey particularly if the wood's been
harvested in the autumn there we go finally sour bitter salt the sweetness gone the sour is gone
and you're left with the sour still there but the sweetness is gone
sour butter salt and you could even put some Savory in there as well
um this is where you reach the unpalatable end of whiskeys and they do have pm casks and they're not
enjoyable whiskeys but the fascinating whiskeys I've been fortunate over the years that people
have given me a cask sample particularly in the early days when it was easier to do so
and I'd taste the whiskey and thinking what on Earth is going on here this is just is this even
whiskey and you give it a couple of those in the glass with a drop of water and a lid on and you
come back to it and your nose it knows it knows it taste it and you realize it is whiskey but
what's dominated from that particular cask and why it's been rejected by the blender um for bottling
as a single malt and we'll go in as filler into blends it's because it's got too many of the
Lesser sensation range they're too prominent the sour well the bitter salt Savory and sour usually
you don't get a combination of them all I mean they've missed out the bit the Savory because
usually with this in my experiences it's been the sour bitter salt because sewer and bitter together
when they're dominant it's just awful actually and then when you've got saltiness in there
uh it's even worse frankly it's just even worse but what you have there is a sliding scale of
of accessibility when we're starting out in whiskey we start at the top with sweet and sour
and then as we move on get more years experience we start to seek out and invest in the more
complex single malts and knowing where to find these more complex single malts because when we
do our palette is going to be a challenge yet again as it was when we'll first had
a a single malt whiskey and we enjoy the experience we enjoy getting to know the
bottling which starts out as a stranger but by the time we finish the bottle we're good friends
what mates I hope you've enjoyed this extras I'm Rafi from the bothy um please subscribe
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which in my opinion is well worth a small investment of buying ralphia drum
I hope you've enjoyed this um and before too long I'll be giving you an update on the this
year's 2022 online Scotch whiskey Awards speak to you soon about that mates bye bye