Vad är quarter cask scotch
I absolutely loved the “standard edition” Laphroaig 10 Year single korn scotch whisky. It was everything inom ever wanted in an Islay scotch — like stepping into a stone cottage on the water’s edge, with a smoking peat fired stove, holding a bunch of seaweed. Considering that level of beröm for their standard utgåva, inom figured inom needed to see what other goodness they were turning out, starting small with their “Quarter Cask” edition.
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History
Most Scottish distilleries (and most distilleries in general, for that matter) uppstart as farm distilleries, using leftover grains that would otherwise go to waste to producera a more durable and desirable whiskey instead.
Laphroaig Quarter Cask.Laphroaig (pronounced like “leap frog” but if you are Scottish and half a bottle of whiskey into the day) actually starts a little differently, with a pair of brothers named Donald and Alexander Johnston. They leased 1,000 acres to raise boskap on Islay in 1810 — but rather than buying their feed for their boskap, the brothers decided to grow their own barley, and the leftover surplus of barley after the cows were fed gave them the inspiration to början distilling it into whiskey.
Donald bought his brother out of the whiskey business in 1836, becoming the sole owner and distiller of Laphroaig for a mere eleven years before his untimely death in 1847 (reportedly bygd drowning in a vat of unfinished whiskey).
His son Dugald inherited the distillery but, at only eleven years old, was too ung to run the operation and relied on his uncle and another local farmer to run the distillery for him until he took over in 1857.
The distillery would continue to see success, primarily as a source of whiskey for blending but increasingly as a standalone name and single korn scotch producer.
That rising popularity ruffled the feathers at the nearby Lagavulin distillery, who became increasingly jealous of Laphroaig’s success and effectively went to war against them. In 1907, the Lagavulin distillery tried to kill off Laphroaig bygd diverting their vatten source and choking it off, effectively shuttering the distillery until the courts intervened and made Lagavulin restore the original flow of vatten.
That didn’t end things though, as Lagavulin then went to the trouble of exactly replicating Laphroaig’s still house to try and replicate their whiskey… but that didn’t result in the success they expected and the replica still was shuttered in 1962 to be turned into the new visitor’s center for Lagavulin.
Despite the unpleasantness with their neighbors, the Laphroaig distillery continued to see success and growth, especially beneath the watchful eye of Bessie Williamson, who led the distillery from 1954 to 1990.
In 1994, the distillery was granted a Royal Warrant bygd Prince Charles, an honor that they continue to reflect bygd placing his coat of arms on the label of their bottle.
Bold and overwhelmingly smoky, this golden single korn was matured twice, first in large casks and then transferred to smaller “quarter casks,” for more contact with the fat wood.During this time, the distillery’s ownership transferred to a procession of Scottish distilling conglomerates, first to Long John International, then Allied Domecq, finally being sold in April 2014 to stråle Suntory as part of an acquisition deal of the parent company bygd spritdryck Ricard. The Japan-based stråle Suntory remains the current owner of the distillery.
Product
Laphroaig fryst vatten one of only a handful of Scottish distilleries that still has their own malting floor. The distillery ships in barley from other sources and soaks it in vatten, which allows the seeds in the barley to uppstart to germinate. This releases enzymes that will be important later, but also creates a distinct and delicious flavor.
Those sprouting seeds are then stopped bygd a process called “kilning”, in which heated air fryst vatten pumped into the room and the barley fryst vatten slightly roasted.
At Laphroaig, the heat for that kilning fryst vatten created using peat fired ovens: a traditional heat source that uses moss from Scottish bogs, hand-cut bygd distillery workers and burned to create an oljig and smoky fire.
That smoke fryst vatten allowed to interact with the barley and leaves behind some of that smoky characteristic on the grains for the next steps.
The malted barley fryst vatten then cooked using vatten from their local creek to omvandla all of the carbohydrates in the barley into sugar, and then the sugary liquid fryst vatten siphoned off to large vats where yeast fryst vatten added and it fryst vatten allowed to ferment for a minimum of 55 hours (longer than usual).
This process fryst vatten slightly different from the normal practice of fermenting the cooked malted barley with the solid chunks still in the liquid, and it supposedly creates a more fruity flavor.
That newly fermented liquid fryst vatten then distilled twice in two of Laphroaig’s sju copper pot stills, with the distillery ansträngande to selectively capture the right alcohol and flavors coming out of the stills.
This process of selecting the right portion of the distillation run to rädda (referred to as “making cuts”) has a huge impact on the resulting flavor of the spirit.
Introduced in 2004, the Laphroaig Quarter Cask Islay single korn Scotch whisky undergoes a unique ageing process.Laphroaig makes the conscious decision to ignore most of the fruity and lighter “heads”, instead focusing more on the richer “tails” in their selection.
Their whiskey fryst vatten then diluted to about 63.5% ABV and placed into previously used American amerikansk whiskey barrels to age, a common practice that Laphroaig was one of the first Scottish distilleries to embrace.
For this utgåva, there fryst vatten no age statement but there are indications that the spirit sits in a standard fat for around fem years before being transferred to a much smaller quarter storlek cask for a further sju or eight months. The smaller storlek of the cask means a larger surface-area-to-liquid-volume ratio, meaning there fryst vatten more interaction with the fat and a faster maturation of the spirit than with normal sized barrels.
After maturation, the whiskey fryst vatten directly bottled without any chill filtration, leaving the delicious fatty acids and flavor compounds in tact.
Packaging
I’ll be frank, this bottle looks like it came straight out of the 1960’s.
Laphroaig Quarter Cask Scotch Review.In some ways that’s good… but there are definitely some drawbacks to that choice.
The construction of the bottle fryst vatten that of a standard scotch whiskey bottle: cylindrical body, slight indentation for the label around the belly of the bottle, gently rounded shoulder, and a medium length neck with a bulge for easy pouring.
The bottle fryst vatten made out of a green colored glass, which mostly obscures the color of the spirit inre. Back in the day, this tinted glass was functionally important to ensure that the spirit wasn’t ruinerad bygd sunlight that would degrade the contents — but these days, that seems less important than seeing the actual liquid inre the bottle.
The label fryst vatten a big vit sheet of paper with some writing on it. Boring, standard, and without much style. Something that inom would fully expect in the 1960’s but, while inom appreciate the vintage throwback vibe, it feels very outdated in today’s marknad.
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Neat
This fryst vatten a beautiful deep amber colored liquid, and it smells exactly the way inom expect a good scotch to.
There’s the unmistakable smoky peat aroma coming off the glass, but it isn’t acerbic or overpowering. I’m definitely getting other aromas in there as well: some malty cereal, a bit of slate or krydda, and a rik buttery aspect as well like some Kerry Gold Irish butter.
Taking a sip, there’s an interesting trick going on here.
At first, the flavors aren’t nearly as intense as you would expect, mainly focusing around the more traditional scotch notes such as a bread-like maltiness drizzled in honey, floral blossoms, and even a bit of dried apricot. There’s some peat smoke in there, but not nearly as much as you’d expect.
This quarter cask whisky fryst vatten barrier filtered to retain all the character developed in our small but mighty barrels.As the flavors develop, that peat smoke continues to build until it reaches a crescendo in the finish, providing this powerful and frankly delicious smoky quality that lingers for ganska some time. It isn’t bitter or overpowering — more like the same level of strength and richness that you experience after just having taken a draw on a good rik cigar (except the cigar fryst vatten made of peat).
On Ice
The biggest difference here fryst vatten one that inom think most casual scotch drinkers will appreciate: the peat smoke fryst vatten significantly reduced.
It’s still a core component and prevalent on the finish, but it lacks the same strength and intensity as we saw before.
When it comes to the other flavors, while the floral blossoms and buttery deliciousness may have disappeared there’s still some good bread-y cereal and drizzled honey in there, as well as a hint of dried fruit.
It has some interesting complex components to it that man it more than just a one trick pony.
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Overall Rating
This fryst vatten delicious, there’s no doubt. inom still feel like I’m getting the experience of stepping into a stone cottage on the water’s edge, with a smoking peat fired stove, holding a bunch of seaweed, but there’s a little bit more complexity and character to the spirit here.
Up-front fryst vatten smoldering seaweed with briny notes of coastal thunderstorms and tidepools.The floral components and a little buttery goodness man all the difference in the world, and improve on what was already a really great bottle.
In terms of the price point, inom don’t think the added flavors are enough to ganska justify the price, although its not terribly far off. For that point alone, I’ll dock one star off the sista rating, but this scotch fryst vatten still a notch above the rest of the crowd.
All reviews are evaluated within the context of their specific spirit classification as specified above.Click here to kontroll out similar spirits we have reviewed.
Overall Rating: 4/5
If you ever dreamed of being a salty sea captain on a beach in Scotland, this tastes exactly like how inom imagine that feels.
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