Scapa 14 & Laphroaig Quarter Cask

[voigtman]

Having been unable to decide between purchasing a Glenrothes 1984 (anyone tried this yet?) or a Scapa 14 next, I chose to buy both, starting with the Glenrothes 1984 (which is not opened yet: I still have a 1989 waiting its turn). Today, I was just about to go buy the Scapa 14, but stopped at the last minute, for no real reason, and I'm glad I did! Just found out that the friendly and very helpful control state (maybe the only good one of the 18 in the USA) north of here is now listing Scapa 14 at $34.99 USD, which is much better than the local price of $45.99 USD. Their web site (http://www.state.nh.us/liquor/) shows no inventory yet, but it should arrive in the next month, if past history is any predictor. And their web site also shows Laphroaig Quarter Cask listed (no inventory yet either) for $44.99 USD. Sweet anticipation! I should note that they also have great straight bourbon prices (e.g., Elijah Craig 18 for $28.99 normal price and sale priced as low as $20.99, Evan Williams Single Barrel bourbon, 1995, for $19.99 normal, sale priced as low as $15.99) and frequent sales on single malts and straight bourbons.

[Mr Fjeld]

Sounds great, QC has received very good reviews and the Scapa I can personally vouch for as it's a terrific whisky!
But why not use the "purchase-thread" ?

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

As the various Glenrothes vintages are by definition all limited releases, I'd have bought that ahead of the Scapa.

Wait a minute...I bought a Scapa last week, and still haven't bought the Glenrothes '84... Guess I'd better soon!

Just passed through the big New Hampshire shop on I-95; didn't see the QC, don't think I saw the Scapa. They still have Bruichladdich Full Strength for $75, though--severely tempting, but I passed. I still have two bottles in stock. But I'm going to be thinking about it for a while.

[Deactivated Member]

A digression, I'm afraid, but I had the pleasure of tasting Laphroaig 17yo Douglas Laing OMC (1987) last night. It is an absolutely stonking Laphroaig. The nose is soft and sweet, with a definite marmite tang. There are peat notes and a medicinality, but you have to hunt for them amid the lush malt sweetness. The taste is initially malty, but the peat and iodine builds up slowly but surely. There is also a salty bacon flavour, but toffee too. The finish is long and sweetly smoky, but in a very refined way. The balance is perfect - an example of how an Islay can offer more than just peat and TCP, but without shying away from these core components.

This is Laphroaig as I remember it from days of yore - not dissimilar to the 30yo OB, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking. It's not cheap, and you can get bottles of equivalent age far cheaper. But who could put a price on quality?

PS - I had queried elsewhere (but can't remember where) whether this was from a bourbon or a sherry cask. My verdict is 100% bourbon

[Mr Fjeld]

Nick, I'm curious to know what you think of the Laphroaig 10 CS?

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

I'm afraid I've never had the 10yo Cask Strength. I really ought to get around to it but sometimes I spend so much time drinking the rarer malts (perhaps I think I should get them while I can) that I neglect some of the more readily available ones.

I am quite proud of my Friends of Laphroaig number, though: 2899. When I first joined, Laphroaig actually sent Christmas presents to their friends. I see they now have 265599 friends, so the presents are no longer really feasible.

[Mr Fjeld]

I'm afraid I've never had the 10yo Cask Strength. I really ought to get around to it but sometimes I spend so much time drinking the rarer malts (perhaps I think I should get them while I can) that I neglect some of the more readily available ones.

That's perfectly understandable! We have all different preferences and priorities - none is more correct than the other.

I rather like the CS myself and have from others that it's closer to what Laphroaig used to be untill the 80's (?) .

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

This is Laphroaig as I remember it from days of yore - not dissimilar to the 30yo OB, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking. It's not cheap, and you can get bottles of equivalent age far cheaper. But who could put a price on quality?

Frodo!

[Frodo]

[Admiral]

I find it interesting that the CS tastes just so different from the regular 10yo.

This was discussed elsewhere recently.....if we added water to the CS, shouldn't it just taste like the 10yo?

Clearly it doesn't, which leads me to believe that the CS is chosen from a different range of casks, or has older whisky vatted in, or something along those lines.

Cheers,
Admiral

[Mr Fjeld]

Admiral, so there's more to it than just the non-chillfiltering?

Skål!
Christian

[Admiral]

Well, clearly chill-filtering is playing a pretty major role.....whether anything else is going on is what I'm wondering?

Cheers,
Admiral

[Deactivated Member]

It could have something to do with the same source water being used in distilling and diluting by the makers.
When we add our own water, unless it comes from the same stream from which the base spririt was made, it will surely always have different characteristics. Even bottled water must undergo some form of change from spring to bottle.
Does anyone know if distilleries use a purification system for their water source or do most (hopefully) just filter out foriegn bodies leaving the flavour as nature intended?

[andrewfenton]

The standard 10 seems to vary a lot. Some are indeed like a watered down 10CS, some are much smokier and very different.

Anyway, I would never buy the standard 10 anymore - it's usually a good whisky, but the 10CS/15/QC bottlings are only fractionally more expensive and much better imo.

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

Crieftan, I would doubt in general that the source water is used in diluting whisky before bottling. The bottling plants are mostly around Glasgow and I do not believe that somebody makes the effort to bring source water from the distillery to the bottling facility with the barrels together. Could well be that most of our malts carry a load of Glasgow tab with them. Doubtfull seems to me furthermore that a OB, a bottling by the owner as a standard 12 year old would be transported to the bottling in barrels at all. It seems more likely that the whisky is transported in bulk by tankers having been vatted at the distillery. It´s all about costs, we all know, nowadays.
Most proably only cask strength whisky does travel in its own cask to the bottling.
Ah there goes all romanticism about the liquid gold of Scotland - but it is an industry now, gone the times of farm house distilling.
More´s the pitty.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Mr Fjeld]

Hi Kallaskander, I agree with you but I'm wondering if I'm not too romantic about whisky. I really would like to believe whisky was made by a guild of alves making the nectar at high noon but I wonder if we should ask the question; hasn't it always been a industry?

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

[color=darkblue]

Crieftan, I would doubt in general that the source water is used in diluting whisky before bottling.

Hi Kallaskander - You're probably quite right, sadly - but I seem to remember reading/hearing something about a distillery (Bruichladdich?) selling their own water to accompany their whisky. In any event experimentation is called for

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

I smile when I say that Bruichladdich does sell anything at the moment if it brings money in. Even whiskies one could frown upon. Fact is you can get small green bottles with water from Glenmorangie from time to time and I seem to remember that in some distillery visitor centres you can buy bottled water from their source in the shop.

A little bit off topic, but interesting in this context is the following

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/bus ... _page.html

Thank you Jeroen.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Deactivated Member]

Bruichladdich do make quite a point of using Islay water to dilute; they are the only Islay distillery, and one of the few if not the only overall, to have their own bottling hall.

Does anyone know if distilleries use a purification system for their water source or do most (hopefully) just filter out foriegn bodies leaving the flavour as nature intended?

Well, the distilling water gets distilled in the process, of course. As for anything else, given all the bloody sheep wandering around upstream, I hope to hell they do more than just filter.

[Tom]

Bruichladdich is one of only three distilleries (I believe, not entirely sure about this) that have their own bottling plant, Glenfiddich/Balvenie and Springbank are the others.
In Peat Smoke and Spirit Andrew Jefferdson writes that Bruichladdich also has its own cooperage, yet I cant find any info about this, is this correct?

[Deactivated Member]

That's something I'll try to remember to ask about when I go there next month. I don't recall seeing a "cooperage" last year, but then again I seem to forget a lot when flitting about distilleries! Don't most distilleries have coopers on hand to take care or barrels? They need to be reassembled and repaired, etc. As well, I understand it is standard practice to make four barrels out of every five bourbon casks (I still don't understand why), and that will certainly require a great deal of coopering skill, as well as new barrels ends (and there's another topic for discussion: the influence of new barrel ends).

Jefford also notes that 'Laddie's bottling water comes from a spring on James Brown's farm, presumably before the sheep can get at it. I feel good!

Edit: I've been thinking about geometry in the shower. I believe it is standard practice to make 250 gallon barrels out of 200 gallon barrels. Since the volume of the barrel will increase by a cube and its surface area will increase by a square, the ratio of old barrels to new will be considerably lower than 5:4. If I weren't so lazy, I'd figure out just what it is, but I'm afraid my math skills have eroded considerably.

[Deactivated Member]

Bushmills has its own bottling hall - this bottles all the Irish Distillers products. Purists will say that Bushmills is an Irish whiskey, but in manufacturing methods it is as Scotch as they come.