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>> All right, I feel like if I'm going to be drinking
this all the time, I need to know more about it.
I mean whiskey.
>> I mean if only there was magical
wizard's tower with a vice chancellor,
who is willing to teach us.
And it was right behind us.
>> I'm intimidated.
♪ 'Cause I'm a Modern Rogue ♪
[Jason] Feel like we should have swords, like walking up.
>> Brian: It really does.
>> Jason: Determination.
>> I'm pointing over here.
>> It's this one right?
>> Yup, yup.
>> Nicely done sir.
Look now Jason, I am unbelievable excited about this.
We have Daniel Whittington.
>> Sir.
>> The vice chancellor and co-founder of
the Whiskey Marketing School at Wizard Academy.
Thank you so much for joining us, man.
>> It is my pleasure.
>> I may cry.
>> It's okay, we have Irish whiskey for that.
>> Am I understanding this correctly?
You guys are the very first and currently
the only whiskey sommelier program in the world.
>> Officially, yes.
>> Wow and you get a sweet ass medallions.
>> Yeah, from Flavor Flav.
>> How many wishes do you get when you rub that?
>> I haven't capped out yet.
>> Does it deflect plans?
>> No one knows.
>> So what do you learn in the whiskey marketing program?
>> Well, the priority is to help contribute
to the community of whiskey drinkers
and anti-snobbery and innovation.
And then also to teach people how to
talk, market, and present and tell stories
about whiskey in a way that makes them a lot more money.
>> So you teach people how to be cool,
drinking whiskey, and telling rad stories.
>> That's right.
And make more money from it, most importantly.
'Cause otherwise were just drinking whiskey.
>> So we're in the whiskey vault,
a hidden room inside a library,
inside of a wizard's tower,
filled with amazing whiskeys.
>> Passed all of the trials,
we have slain the hydra,
and now we will take his booze.
>> Wait a minute.
>> Where do we begin?
Walk me through the basics of whiskey.
>> Okay, so let's just talk about what whiskey basics first
but we're not going to do that with an empty glass
because that's just wildly inappropriate.
>> Brian: I like your style.
>> Were going to to try a few things.
So I'm pouring you small amounts of whiskey.
Because otherwise we won't make it to the end of the video.
All right, Redbreast 12 Irish single malt whiskey.
Cheers to you gentlemen or as we say, slainte.
>> Slainte. >> Slainte.
>> Mm, okay I'll explain to you later what you're drinking.
But let's just talk whiskey first.
So whiskey is a generic categorical term like vehicle.
So a Hummer is a vehicle.
>> Right.
>> So's a Prius.
So whiskey just means grain alcohol, aged.
How you age it, depends on the country.
How long you age it and requirements on the country.
>> And what grain is negotiable as well?
>> What grain changes the name. >> Okay.
>> So the name's going to change based on where it's from
or based on what it's being made
out of the name will change.
So first let's just say American whiskey.
By the way, the E and not E, it has
to do with the country of origin.
So Scotland was no E.
And whiskey just comes from the term uisce beatha,
which just means water of life in Gaelic.
>> And so it was shorted to uisce,
and then whisky with no E.
>> That's appropriate.
>> It is appropriate.
>> I like that.
>> And then the Irish, in order to distinguish
their product on the market--
>> That's us.
>> Added an E.
>> I forgot that's us.
I found out I'm Irish recently.
>> We just add a vowel?
>> You're surrounding an English Scotsmen right here.
We can go to an out right warfare.
>> We can go to combat.
>> That's right.
>> E just was added as a marketing differentiator.
>> That's it? >> That's all it is.
And so if the country making the whiskey
has its origin in Irish whiskey,
then they'll add an E.
American whiskey adds an E.
If it's based in Scottish whisky, then it's not.
Japan, no E.
>> So when you say grain alcohol,
is there a particular type of grain?
>> Any type of grain.
Now traditionally, almost all whiskey
is made from four grains, right.
The majority of them.
There's the one off doing weird things.
But the majority of whiskey is either
corn, barley, rye, or wheat.
Or any combination of those four.
Now if it's malt whiskey,
it almost always means all barley.
Now in America, there's no legal requirement
to have all barley in malt whiskey.
But it very often does mean it's barley.
In Scotland, if it's a malt it has to be all barley.
Grain whiskey traditionally, in UK,
just means a mix of grains.
>> Okay. >> Not a grain.
>> Help me out here because what little I know about this
is that when you get alcohol out of that,
you know creating ethanol basically, that's moonshine?
How does it become?
>> It's only called moonshine in America.
>> Okay, it's just clear alcohol, right?
>> It's just a clear spirit, looks like vodka.
We've got some examples of that back here.
Just totally clear.
It's only when you add aging and wood,
that it gets all the color.
Now different countries have rules
on whether you can add things, fake coloring or not.
>> And what type of wood you can use.
>> Yup. >> And so forth.
>> See that seems remarkable to me,
that the flavor and the color of this
is just from the wood.
It doesn't seem like it's wood.
>> Now Scotland will allow a little bit of caramel coloring.
>> Who's the most stringent?
Ironically, America has more strict rules
then just about anybody.
>> Really? >> Yeah.
Not on what you can make but on what you can call it
once you've made it and based on how you made it.
>> And that's enforceable by law, right?
>> Yup.
>> For a while, and this has probably happened
with a variety of whiskeys,
things were calling themselves Scotch,
even though they weren't made in Scotland.
>> Yes, yeah. >> That's all pre-prohibition.
>> Lets talk about the words here
because you got Scotch, I know bourbon is a thing.
>> Yeah, lets hit this.
So real quick, the way you describe,
remember this vehicle, whiskey, just means whiskey.
>> Whiskey, yeah, got it.
>> So how you call it, it either has to do with
where it's from-- >> Yup.
>> So Scotch can't be called Scotch
unless it's from Scotland,
or it has to do with the grain recipe.
Now the stores will call this mash bill.
A mash bill is a definition of
the recipe you use of your proportions of grain.
5% malted barley, 60% corn, and you know,
20 percent rye and so on.
So if you have a bourbon, legally it is at least 51% corn.
>> If it's under 51% corn, it can't be called bourbon.
>> So, okay. >> It's rye.
>> So, if I'm sorting all the secret code words,
Scotch equals from Scotland.
Bourbon equals 51% plus corn, okay.
>> And American.
>> And American, bourbon's only American.
>> Now, now they are.
Not Kentucky.
You can make a bourbon anywhere in the United States,
although most people from Kentucky will argue that with you.
>> Not true.
>> That's the law though.
>> What about rye?
>> Rye means 51% rye, that's it.
So lets try a bourbon.
>> Brian: I'm drinkin' slower than you guys.
>> So, maybe we should do a different one.
This one's a hundred proof.
We'll do one of my favorite classic bourbons.
That's totally affordable
and in my opinion, way under priced.
>> Okay.
>> Way under priced. >> Henry McKenna?
>> This is a ten year old Henry McKenna,
bottled in bond.
I'm not going to go into what that means.
That means that this is at least 51% corn.
And it's aged, by law, in new charred oak barrels.
>> Here's what little I know.
You could buy old barrels that were used
to ferment sherry or something or whatever.
>> Wines. >> Yeah, absolutely.
>> Right, wines, and that will
color the flavor in a certain way.
But these are brand new barrels, what kind of barrels?
>> American oak.
>> Oak, okay, great.
So this will taste vaguely oaky, I guess?
>> Yes. >> Cheers to you.
[clinking glasses]
>> Oh, yeah.
That's just a good bourbon right there.
>> Yeah.
>> Just a good simple.
>> Did you notice the difference?
>> Yeah, I definitely detected the higher alcohol content.
It's got a little more bite.
>> Now Irish Whiskey traditionally which we started with,
now remember it's a single malt,
so that means it's all barley.
>> Single malt means one single,
not a blend of grains, but one type of grain.
>> That's now nerdy we are going to get right now.
>> Okay, great, okay good.
>> Okay, so what were going to do is
I'm going to draw a little sketch.
This is a sort of a device I use
to understand the five kinds of Scottish whiskey,
and it also defines a lot of other whiskey
terms at the same time.
>> Okay.
>> So in Scotland, you've got five different
kinds of labels that could be on a bottle.
You also have five regions of whiskey in Scotland.
That's a different thing.
So were just going to talk about
the kinds of Scottish whiskey, right?
Now I break it down into mom, dad, and the three kids.
So were going to say dad, mom, and the three children.
Now dad, were going to call single malt.
>> And that is one type of grain
distilled and then aged in a barrel.
>> That's right.
Now in Scotland, it has to be a used barrel.
>> Okay. >> Not a new barrel.
>> Now this is an important thing and
I'm going to do this right here.
Single grain.
Single is not a descriptor of grain.
Single malt.
Single is not an adjective describing malt.
They're two words talking about two different things.
>> Oh.
>> Single simply means one distillery.
>> Okay. >> Right?
Malt and grain refer to the recipe of grains
used to make the whiskey.
If it says malt in Scotland, it's all barley.
If it says grain, it's a mixture of grains.
Which is closer to an Irish whiskey
or an American whiskey actually.
>> And the single, so I guess I'm now learning,
that you will take alcohols from multiple distilleries
and blend them together.
>> Yes.
>> That's what blended Scotch is!
>> Hey! >> I can be taught.
>> That was fun watching that realization.
>> All right so if you understand that
single grain doesn't mean one grain,
>> Right.
>> It means one distillery grain whiskey.
So all we do if we had multiple distilleries
is now there's only three other products.
>> Yeah.
>> So here's two kinds of categories.
You got a single malt and a single grain.
If you have a whiskey that's made up of two dads,
we're equal opportunity,
then you have now a blended malt, right?
The only thing that changed was single and blended.
If you have two moms, you have a blended grain.
>> And grain is code for multiple different
>> Grains.
>> Grains, yeah.
>> If you have one mom and one dad,
you're now a blended Scotch, also known as
the cheapest category of Scottish whiskey.
>> That's anything goes.
>> Because you can basically get it from anywhere you want.
>> Now hold on, but it has the word Scotch, which means--
>> It's still made in Scotland.
>> It has to, okay got it.
>> And it's still at least three years old and used oak.
So that's all you need to know.
Now, the terms that we just learned,
single and grain and malt,
those all apply to a lot of other countries as well
but they're just not as heavily enforced,
like for example, American have a malt whiskey
Like Balcones in Waco.
And they can do a single malt.
Well they can't call it single malt Scotch.
It's not from Scotland.
>> Right.
>> And legally, it's not even required to be a
100% barley to be called a single malt.
They could have corn in there,
they got some wheat to flavor it up, right?
>> But, mostly when you find a single malt,
it's them doing a Scottish style whiskey in America.
>> Okay. >> Most of the time.
>> What we just tried now, Ireland,
and this is why I describe this.
Ireland has a very traditional way
of making whiskey that's a single pot still
and single malts and then the blended grains
came later in history.
But one of the things that is a trademark
Irish whiskey flavor, which I think is awesome,
is a percentage of unmalted barley.
And that results in a very unique flavor.
Shows up, I've only ever experienced it in Irish whiskey
and historically was their way to cheat
the English tax system.
So the English tried to tax them out of existence,
same way they did everybody,
and they started taxing malted barley.
And so the Irish said well screw you,
we're going to start using unmalted barley
percentages, cut down on the tax liability,
and make the same amount of whiskey.
>> Okay, unmalted barley means?
>> Now malted means that you have gone through the process
that lets the grain trick it into growing
and breaks down the starches.
It gets super nerdy.
>> Okay. >> All right?
>> Unmalted just means you took it straight
from the plant and you haven't done anything
but grind it up.
>> Right off the vine so to speak.
>> You malt it, it's a process of tricking it into growing
and cracks it shell and all this stuff.
>> Wait, so the Irish just added some
unprocessed original pieces--
>> That's all it was.
Now it results in a really amazing flavor
that you got to try in Redbreast.
But lets talk about rye.
>> All right, yeah, wow, lot to process.
>> I know, were rocking it here.
>> I'm gettin' the words.
>> As a matter of fact, lets talk about rye
then we'll finish with Scotch.
>> Okay.
>> Is that fair enough?
>> Yes. >> Yes.
>> You know what, we're going to to go with Whistle Pig.
So Whistle Pig is made in Vermont.
There was a lot of uproar originally
because they were sourcing their whiskey from Canada,
before they were old enough to have
bottled and aged their own.
>> Oh, okay.
>> All right.
>> So that was their runway before they could--
>> That's right.
Now this is very common in whiskey distilleries,
which is you open today, what happens when you can't label
a straight whiskey straight unless it's four years old?
How's that for an outlet?
Like hey we opened!
When can we have a bottle?
Four years.
>> Wow I never even thought about that.
Because you want to launch a brand,
you start right away and it's like you
all ready know the flavor profile that you're going for.
>> Yeah. >> Yes.
>> So you just buy the right parts from other people.
>> Think about how much money it costs you
to start up a distillery.
Because most businesses fail within the first year,
you've got to go four, five years.
>> You got a million dollar outlay.
>> Wow. >> Yeah, no big deal.
So there's two ways distilleries solve that problem.
First is, they make something else.
Vodka, Gin, Rum.
Something that they can age.
>> Something that doesn't have to be aged.
>> Oh, okay. >> Right?
>> So now you're bringing in capital
while you sit on your whiskey.
The other way is--
>> That's an old Irish infective.
Sit on your whiskey!
[laughs]
>> Hey you, it's like go fly a kite, yeah.
Go sit on your whiskey.
So the other option is, you buy already aged
whiskey from bulk producers or other distilleries.
You age them a little bit longer but not four years.
Or you age finish them in a different barrel
than they would have originally done it.
And then you bottle it and sell it immediately.
Now there's a company called MGP
and this is going to start a lot of fights.
Sorry about this. >> No, I'm ready.
>> There's a company called MGP that's
responsible for about half the bourbon brands
on the shelf in a store, at any given time.
>> They're like the Budlights.
>> They're a massive bulk facility, they're amazing,
they know exactly what they're doing,
and they're creating great whiskey.
That's what's going to start fights.
>> Oh, hey, everyone wants to believe.
>> Because whiskey snobs will argue to the death
that MGP is a hell hole of non-creativity.
>> Like is there something on the label
you would look for?
>> That's another thing that will
start a fight in the comments.
So legally, they're not required to say
we got ours at MGP but if they do have to say
where it's distilled and MGP is located in Indiana.
So you'll see a thing on the back of the bottle that says
distilled in Indiana, in the heartland of America
or something like that, right?
>> It's code.
>> And what that means is oh, it's a MGP whiskey.
>> But they're all still different?
>> They're all still different.
>> Okay.
>> The cool thing about MGP is.
Now here's how I argue with those people.
If you go out to dinner, let's say Sullivan's
in downtown Austin, you order steak.
Are you disappointed that you didn't raise
and kill and then butcher that steak yourself?
>> No, it's just steak.
>> Are you disappointed that Sullivan's didn't do it?
>> Yeah, no.
>> It's like hey, Sullivan's this steak is not legitimate
because you didn't raise it, kill it,
and butcher it for me first.
>> I want to see the chef come out with a giant scimitar.
>> Blood all up his hands.
>> How's your steak? >> It's fresh.
He puts up a noble fight.
It's a good death.
>> I lost two line cooks.
>> Wielding a rubbair.
>> Exactly.
Do you need more mashed potatoes?
>> That's right.
>> Wait so while we drink this,
this is rye whiskey, which means it's at least 51% rye.
>> Got it.
>> This is now, now Whistle Pig is
doing everything in one location.
Growing the grain, harvesting the grain,
making the whiskey, aging it in barrels they made.
>> And the benefit of all that is that
you get a more consistent product and
that your brand is stronger.
>> And it's local.
>> And you appeal to purest.
>> And you get featured on Portlandia.
>> Hey!
[clinking glasses]
>> Notice the kind of black pepper spicy notes?
>> Yeah, it's so smooth.
This one doesn't have the kick or
the bite of that last one that we did.
>> It's a little sweeter.
A lot of bourbons will use a higher
percentage of rye grain to mellow out the corn.
>> Okay.
>> Right so you get high rye bourbon.
And all high rye means is,
the next most grain was rye.
>> It's funny because the second one
was a lot more smooth than the first one.
>> Brian: Oh, I disagree.
>> Yeah?
>> That hundred proof one, was the second one?
That one, that one--
>> That was a little punchy.
I think the Irish was smoother.
>> Jason: Really?
>> But this is my favorite thing about whiskey.
Is it's so subjective that you
can have completely different opinions and
everyone is absolutely right.
>> This one is definitely sweeter.
>> Yeah, that's smooth, smooth.
>> Okay, this we're going to end with and call it a day.
>> Okay. >> Fair enough?
>> All right, yeah. >> Wait, hold on.
>> This is a way for you to understand, were you listening?
>> I was, I was.
>> This is a blended malt Scotch called Monkey Shoulder.
>> Okay, so. >> What does that mean?
>> Blended means it came from multiple distilleries.
>> Daniel: Yup.
>> So you bought a bunch of alcohol and
got the mix that tasted they wanted it to taste.
>> Malt means it was barley.
>> Yup, yup, yup.
And Scotch means this comes Scotland, right?
Now wait a minute.
>> And you know it's at least three years old.
>> Oh, and sure enough whisky is spelled without an E.
>> That's right. >> Because came from Scotland.
>> Okay, good.
Boy, man, Scotch whiskey with an E,
like, that just screams counterfeit now.
>> It does. >> Now I know.
>> Have you seen one? >> No.
You got really rude friends.
>> I got you this amazing present Brian.
It's a Scotch whiskey, Scotch spelled with an X.
>> Shhh, just sayin' man, come on, let's...
Some of us are on a limited budget.
>> All right, all right so--
>> Just enjoy blended malt Scotch,
sort of a butterscotch finish, light smoke,
and let's be friends.
[clinking glasses]
>> What's the thing you said?
Sriracha?
>> Cilantro.
>> You animal!
>> Your not Irish!
>> He just found out.
>> I did, literally last week.
>> Your still a wee maybe Irish, yeah.
It's Slainte.
>> Slainte.
And what does that mean?
>> It means basically health to your health.
>> Okay, Slainte!
>> Slainte.
>> To your health dummy.