Finally we’ve arrived at Scotch! Hallelujah!
Scotch is a spirit that’s not especially popular in the US, accounting for less than 3% of hard alcohol sales. (Vodka’s share is about 30 percent.) So this might be the only bottle of Scotch we get in this Advent calendar. Let’s hope it’s a good one.
For those of you who need a refresher, Scotch is a style of whiskey that uses malted barley, is aged in oak casks for at least three years, and is produced in Scotland. Typically those oak casks previously held bourbon or sherry, and now can impart some of that goodness into the new spirit. There are several sub-types of Scotch, but the only one you really want is Single Malt Scotch, which uses 100 percent malted barley and is distilled at a single distillery. There are other technical regulations imposed by the EU’s bureaucracy, such as requiring the distillate is converted to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems. Whatever that means. Oh, and the Scots spell it “whisky,” rather than “whiskey.”
Anyway, let’s see what the Glenlivet website has to say about today’s sample:
“One of the world’s most popular malts, the double-oak-matured 12 Year Old whisky embodies The Glenlivet’s signature fruity style. Representing the heart of The Glenlivet’s signature fruity style, this 12 year old single malt is first matured in traditional oak casks before resting in American oak casks intertwining tropical fruit and sweet vanilla flavours notes. The result is an irresistibly smooth whisky, crafted to be savoured slowly.
The mineral-rich water that comes from Josie’s Well helps form the flavours during mashing and fermentation, whilst the specific height and width of the copper stills add a delicate yet complex character.”
Here we go:
Appearance: It’s a little lighter than I’m used to seeing in a Scotch. It’s a light yellow, reminiscent of straw. But I’m keeping an open mind.
Aroma: There’s a strong scent of vanilla, with more subtle notes of pineapple and maybe dragon fruit. It’s got an inviting nose, to be sure.
Taste: I have good news and bad news. On the plus side, this tastes very smooth, no doubt as a result of resting in barrels for a dozen years. The taste is very round, easy, graceful, civilized. The mouth feel is high-viscosity, like a light honey. It’s really a pleasure to sip.
And yet, this stuff is inexplicably unpeated! Here is where I should mention that, in my opinion, the best Scotches come from the Islay, where they take enormous quantities of peat moss from the local bogs, dry it out, and then burn it under the barley malting floor, which imparts a distinctly smokey flavor into the resulting distillate. In my opinion, Scotch without peat smoke is like tortilla chips without salsa, like soft pretzels without pub cheese, like French fries without salt, like Chinese food without MSG….You get the idea. In my opinion, the whole reason to buy Scotch instead of some other whisk(e)y is the peat smoke. In fact, I use something called a SmokeTop (TM), which adds still more smoke to your Scotch just before you drink it. It’s essentially a wooden chimney that you fill with wood chips, place on your glass of Scotch, then ignite with a torch, forcing smoke down into the glass. I’m not making this up. Observe:
Finish: The finish is inoffensive. There’s no harshness, no bite, no bitterness. But there’s also no smoke. Which raises the question: What’s the point?
Bottom Line: There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who like their Scotch to be full of smoke, and those who are afraid of their own shadow. Which are you?
Chasing Phantoms 
Well, this is where we disagree. I detest heavily smoked scotch. It’s like a dense, noxious fog that obscures the complex wonders beneath. Now, scotch does make a fine companion to smoke and that is why God invented the cigar. Give me a Dalwhinnie 15, Oban 14 or Balvenie 12 with a Perdomo 20th Anniversary stick and I and my shadow will find comfort in each other’s arms.
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Two comments by way of response:
1. You are a poet.
2. This is what makes whisk(e)ys so idiosyncratic. Some people love the peat, and some prefer their smoke to come from the end of a Cuban. I totally respect your preferences. I’m just a humble country doctor, offering my own opinion of the virtues of drinking smoke.
3. I know I said I was only going to provide two comments, but I want to add thank you for your thoughts!
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I must admit to enjoying smoky whiskey – from which ever country it originates from.
I’ve had Icelandic smoked with sheep dung.
African with Elephant dung.
American smoked with wood.
Irish with turf smoke & yes,
Scotch with peat.
They all raise the drinking experience for me.
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Elephant dung might be a bridge too far for me…but I totally get where you’re coming from. Smoke is smoke, as they say.
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