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May Day! May Day! I’m going in!!!

April was put to rest by commemorating the past year of COVID-19 Lock Down and having made it passed the post-vaccination waiting period. I am my boon companion, Mr. D., toasted each other’s continued good health with a very special 26 year old Blair Athol from a sherry butt of European Oak.

We are both greatly fond of malts that have a inner complexity but with everything combining in to one entity, like a polished marble of depth and marvelous inner workings. And this certainly qualified, as the abundant vegetative notes were nicely woven throughout the maltiness and fruitiness from the sherry.

For May Day, I opened a delightful bottle of Armagnac.  Darroze’s Les Grands Assemblages 12 is an extraordinary bargain for the price paid.

I consider this delicious brandy superior to any single malt Scotch whisky available for sale in the USA for the same amount of money. And that is saying a great deal about the state of single malt today, as long-time champs like Highland Park 12 have become lesser descendants of mightier malts. Meanwhile, others I would have put in the same quality class are now priced far higher than they warrant, except for the economics of the times, which hasn’t raised salaries to match the soaring prices.

Sad times indeed.

Milroy Selection Whisky Tasting in Seattle

The John Milroy Selection Meet & Greet and Scotch Whisky Tasting – Seattle at The Rainier Club

820 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104

For those lucky enough to be in Seattle a few tickets are left…

 The John Milroy Selection Meet & Greet and Scotch Whisky Tasting - Seattle at The Rainier Club  820 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
 

Gabrielle Shayne of The Whisky Sisters and Doug McIvor of Berry Bros. & Rudd for a tasting of 13 newly released single cask, single malt Scotch whiskies from The John Milroy Selection.

Gourmet hors d’oeuvres will be served.

What does “Pure Malt” mean? – Reader’s Q & A

Where does “Pure Malt” fit in amongst “Single,” “Vatted,” “Blended,” and so forth?

Reader’s Q & A is a new feature at One Man’s Malt, which will be expanded over time.

I get this question about pure malt whisky from time to time, and tend to reply directly. But I have seen a ten-year-old post on Yahoo with the same query, followed by a bunch of replies, most of which are way off the mark. So here is a public answer.

The term “pure malt” was used throughout the twentieth-century, in a manner synonymous with “single malt,” meaning the bottle contained 100% pure malt whisky made at the same distillery. And it was likewise used to refer to “single cask” whisky as well.

At times, however, “pure malt” was used in place of “vatted malt,” which meant a blending of whisky from various distilleries, yet still consisting entirely of pure malt whisky. The term vatted whisky was recently replaced with “blended malt” in official capacities within today’s standardized whisky industry.*

For example, a label reading “Dewar’s Pure Malt Whisky” from the early 1900s would contain a vatting of various single malts from different distilleries.

But since commercially available single cask whisky and vatted whisky (with no grain spirits) were uncommon after the First World War, the term “pure malt” almost always meant what we today call “single malt” i.e. a bottle of malt whisky made all in the same distillery, but likely a mixture of various casks.

The term “single malt” was used from time to time since the 1800s, but it did not come into vogue until the 1980s. Up until that time, “pure malt” remained the common term in Scotland, while “single malt” and “all malt” were used more rarely, and were more frequently seen on export labels in America.

I suspect it was United Distillers (now Diageo) that started using the term in a uniform manner, primarily for whisky being exported overseas.

Examples include Auchentoshen from the early 1970s, which say Pure Malt, while the distillery’s label in 1977 says Single Lowland Malt. That same year, the label on a bottle of Mortlach, another Diageo brand, said Highland Malt Whisky, shortly before it changed its label to Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

But really, all of these terms are relatively new.

For most of the century, if the brand on a bottle of single malt whisky was that of a regional re-seller who did their own bottling, it was likely to say All Malt,  Pure Malt, or Single Malt. But anything like an official distillery bottling would simply say Scotch Malt Whisky.

Sometimes the name of the region was included. Here follow some examples:

“Pure Highland Malt Whisky,” was seen on Macallan labels from the mid-1950s.

A bottle of 1890s Ardbeg says “Fine Old Islay Whisky: Specially selected & Fully matured pure malt.”

Meanwhile, Laphroaig from the same period said simply “Islay Malt Scotch Whisky.” But exported Laphroaig often added “Unblended” to the title later on, probably due to the propensity for blended scotch being shipped to America.

A bottle of Springbank from 1960 says “Cambeltown style Scotch malt whisky made from 100% pure malt.”

Both Wm. Cadenhead Ltd. and Gordon and McPhail used the term “Pure Malt” on their independent bottlings of single-cask malt whisky well up into the 1980s.

However, they tended to use the same language that the distillery of origin used. So a Cadenhead bottling of a Glenlossie – Glenlivet from 1978 says Pure Malt Whisky, while a Cadenhead single cask bottling of Springbank from the same era says simply Campbeltown Malt Scotch Whisky.

It seems the more traditional the distillery, if they were not under the Diageo umbrella, the longer they took to start using “single malt” on their labels.

And that is one man’s word on…

Pure malt whisky and its meaning(s)

* The creation of “blended malt” as an official designation was almost certainly done to confuse blends of pure malt whisky in the mind of consumers with “blended whisky,” which can contain up to 90% grain spirits and still be called “scotch” if it is distilled in Scotland. Blends typically have 40% pure malt whisky mixed with 60% grain whisky, which is considerably less expensive to produce, while also being considerably less flavorful.

** The use of  “– Glenlivet” in the previous instance referred to the traditional name for the whisky producing region now called Speyside.

Pure Malt Cadenhead Glen Elgin Glenlivet

 

Tasteful Weekend of Whisky

While off at the 13th Annual Martinfest, there was collective bar of enjoyable spirits.

My own contribution was Glen Garioch Founders Reserve, and a liter Bank Notes blended scotch for the mixed drinks.

Spreading the Gospel

I was able to share the latest revelations from Dave Broom’s book, Whisky: The Manual by taking several people through tastings of various whisky with various mixers.

And I auctioned off a new copy of Dave’s venerable The World Atlas of Whisky, with the proceeds going to help fund next year’s Martinfest.

All and all, I netted some converts to the Great Malt and expanded the experience of many already converted.

Cheers!

Martinfest late night whisky collection 1mansmalt.com

American “Craft Whiskey” Often Made at Industrial Plant

Large quantities of American “craft whiskey” is actually made at an industrial plant in Indiana.

The distillery makes alcohol “used in everything from solvents and antiseptics to fungicides.”

This according to a report on the website The Daily Beast, which claims that various artisanal distilleries selling American “craft whisky” at premium prices, of the bourbon and rye varieties, are actually reselling spirit purchased from the Indiana plant.

This is what comes of not buying your whisky from Scotland or Ireland. 😉

Read the Full Article HERE

 

 

Excuse Our Mess While We Sharpen Our Saw

The new One Man’s Malt is still oiling the hinges.

But I will be out of town on guitar-oriented business from July 30 through August 5.

Once I return I will continue to add new content, while updating links still be pointing to the old, mothballed site.

Please bookmark 1mansmalt.com, as onemanz.com/malt will be going off line once the new site is fully updated.

Here’s to a great July finish, and the perfect August splash!

Whisky: The Manual – under review

Whisky: The Manual by Dave Broom is an entertaining, enlightening, and instructive book on how to achieve maximum enjoyment from the world’s most famous drink.

Small in size yet full of useful stuff, this is a portable companion of potable spirits that examines whisky from a fresh perspective, revealing how it was imbibed in the past, while focusing on the various and often inspiring ways it is enjoyed around the world today. This is a must-have book for whisky fans, but may also convert non-whisky drinkers on the spot.

Whisky: The Manual will make you see whisky in a whole new way, whether it is your favorite spirit or one you thought you could never like.

Read the Full Review of Whisky: The Manual by Dave Broom

Whisky: The Manual by Dave Broom review at One Man's Malt 1mansmalt.com

About

One Man’s Malt…

This site contains the viewpoint of one man, relating to his lifelong interest in malt whisky, the spirit of Scotland. After writing about an array of subjects from travel to politics to handmade acoustic guitars, he is fulfilling repeated requests to turn his public pen to the topic he holds most dear, following years of private advice conferred to friends on single malt scotch and it is various relations.

An American with multiple lines of Scottish decent, as well as English, Welsh, and likely Irish too, his is an affectionate attachment based upon a shared heritage and an idealist’s perspective. Romantic but not romanticized, due to an educated and realistic skepticism, his approach to profiling and critiquing malt whisky is inspired by the Scientific Method and honed by thirty years of personal exploration.

Acknowledgements:

The opinions expressed in these articles and reviews are One Man’s, but they are influenced and greatly enhanced by those he turns to for education and advice, within and without the whisky trade. In addition, he often enlists the nose and pallet of other tasters, who kindly endure his probing questions, survey sheets, and tasting wheels, as he continues to compile data.

No one individual deserves greater thanks and acknowledgement than the collected and esteemed members of the Eight Men of Malt. A fraternity that includes educators and businessmen, artists and artisans, and even an Oscar winner, they share a love for a good malt whisky, yet rarely agree unanimously on what makes a great one. And they are periodically recruited to contribute their own wisdom and personal taste to help shape the many profiles and reviews that appear on One Man’s Malt.

A Note On Reviews:

Subjects of review on this site will not receive a grade or ranking. One man’s 63 can rate another man’s 95. Rather, personal opinions and factual recounting of sensory perception are offered as a way of describing the spirits sampled, and at times compared to well-known styles and brands to give the reader identifiable points of reference. It remains with readers to determine the extent to which their own personal tastes accord with those of One Man.

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