The Glenlivet is a Speyside whisky, founded in 1824, one year after the . We tasted the Nàdurra, which is a 16-year whisky, bottled at cask strength (52.4% ABV). We’ll taste a cask strength whisky later in the week, and it’s important to remember to add plenty of water to the whiskey if it’s cask strength. Water should be added to most scotches, and if you don’t add it to a cask strength you risk having the alcohol kill your tastebuds and ruin the drink (or at least any follow-up drinks)

We got it at approximately $60 a bottle, and it has a fascinatingly light amber color, which becomes truly yellow when you add water.

The nose is light and nutty with some hints of oak. The body is light sweetness without complexity. The finish is very complex, goes from the light body becoming suddenly heavy with darker notes and very oaky. Finally, some bourbon notes come through and stay with you.

It’s better than the Glenlivet 12, which is not at all a bad base scotch. Recommended.

Lagavulin 16 is commonly cited as one of the best scotches, and after having a pour at a local restauraunt (a bottle costs $75-$90) it’s immediately apparent why.

Lagavulin is another Islay whisky, and unlike the Bruichladdich Rocks, it does not shy away from peat or smoke. The nose is a heavy, smoky peat, which carries through the body and finish. It’s hard to identify individual flavors within the drink, but wow is it delicious.

The distillery itself dates back to 1816, with illegal distillation on the site as far back as 1742. In its youth, the distillery was accused of attempting to copy the nearby Lagavulin’s style, but due to the different water source the resulting product was (and still is) very different. It’s very important to note how important the water is to a distillery, and indeed most distilleries are situated on or near a water source which they rely upon for their product’s specific characteristics.

Highly recommended.

The first scotch we’ll try is Bruichladdich Rocks. Bruichladdich is an Islay whisky, although the Rocks is somewhat uncharacteristic of Islay whiskys.

Normally, Islay whiskies are very smokey and heavily peated. Scotch in general is characteristically peated due to a shortage of wood in Scotland. Scotch is made from malted grains, which are allowed to sprout and then toasted. In order to toast them, fuel is needed, preferably wood. However, the wood needs of both Scotland and England, as well as the development of agriculture destroyed the Caledonian forests that once covered most of Scotland. By the time the scotch whisky industry was beginning to rise in Scotland there was not enough wood to use to toast the grain to make whisky. Instead, the scottish used what was available – peat.

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation, primarily mosses. It is formed primarily in wetlands, specifically bogs. Peat can be dried and then used as a fuel, which is what happened (and still happens to a lesser extent) throughout Scotland. When the peat is burned to toast the grain it imparts distinctive flavors on the grain which persist throughout the distillation process and are part of what makes Scotch unique.

Bruichladdich Rocks, however, is an unpeated scotch. Therefore, the barley was not toasted using peat, but some other heat source. Theoretically this should mean that the resulting whisky does not have any peat flavorings, but there definitely is a peaty smokiness, although it’s much less than one would expect from an Islay. Apparently, the peat comes from the groundwater, because the water used in this whisky has percolated through millions of years of peat, so it picked up a peaty flavor without the distillery having used peat to toast the barley.

Overall, it’s a very very light Islay, and is really wonderful. There is some frutiness in the nose, flavor and finish, with some pleasant sweetness. It’s extremely smooth. Definitely a whisky to try.

Today’s “drink” will be a quick overview of scotch. Next week we’ll cover 5 of our favorites, from the Islays to the Highlands, to an Indian whisky that ranks among our favorite scotches despite not technically being a scotch. Hemingway mentions scotch and soda and scotch highballs a few times, but we’ll focus on the base spirit, because frankly if you mix some of the brands we drink with anything but cold water you should probably find yourself a different source of alcohol advice.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the trip through a classic type of whisky.

Scotch is a type of whisky distilled in (wait for it) – Scotland. In order to legally be called Scotch it must be:

• Produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added) all of which have been:
  • Processed at that distillery into a mash
  • Converted at that distillery to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems
  • Fermented at that distillery only by adding yeast
  • Distilled at less than 94.8% ABV.
• Wholly matured in an excise warehouse in Scotland in oak casks for at least three years
• Retaining the colour, aroma, and taste of the raw materials used in, and the method of, its production and maturation
• Containing no added substances, other than water and caramel coloring
• Comprising a minimum 40% ABV

There are a few classifications of scotch, from single malt to single grain to blended, and we’ll cover those distinctions as we drink them in the upcoming week.

Historically, scotch evolved from a drink caled uisge beatha, meaning water of life. Documentation of scotch distillation dates back to 1494. The unification of England and Scotland drove scotch distillers underground. Many of the older distilleries in Scotland trace their origins, and their remote locations, to the era of illegal distilleries. However, the 1823 Excise Act legalized the creation of distilled whisky with relatively small licensing fees, which legitimized the scotch industry. Combined with a collapse of the French wine and brandy markets in the late 19th century, scotch’s popularity exploded across the UK and world to modern levels.

From wikimedia commons

Scotch is often distinguished by where in Scotland it comes from, with the Highlands and Islay being the major regions of production we’ll cover, but the islands of Mull, Orkney and Skye, as well as the Lowlands, Speyside and Campbeltown being important. As we go through the individual scotches we’ll cover some of their individual quirks and oddities.

Also, if you’re like us and don’t know how to pronounce the collection of seemingly random letters the scottish use to spell, here is a handy pronunciation guide