so, guys.
whisky is a alcoholic drink made from fermented grains, mostly barley. it is primarily produced in Scotland.
other spirits are also made with grains, too. however, these spirits made with grains are not whisky.
note that - despite what the forum's spellchecker says - whisky is spelled without the final e. that's whiskey and it generally refers to other similar alcoholic drinks, mostly those made in the US and in Ireland.
for example; Talisker is a whisky. Jack Daniels is not.
now, cask strength and what it means.
whisky gets most of its flavor and color from the maturing process, where the alcohol is stored in wooden barrels; different barrels impart different taste and color, and more often than not separate barrels will make different tasting whisky.
also, when whisky comes out of the barrel, it tends to be much stronger than 80 proof.
what does this mean?
through a history of weird tax laws, and also companies trying to appease a broader market of drinkers, including women, whisky has been brought down to 40° / 80 proof.
also, because companies wish to have a standardized product, identical through the years and across all the barrels, whisky from different barrels (albeit from the same production year) is mixed together so to average them out and produce pretty much the same taste for every bottle.
the drink is also generally diluted with water from the same source as it was used to make it.
now, plain and simple, if you drink this diluted, averaged product and you think you are drinking something "good", you don't know whisky.
the current marketof whisky is divided in three parts;
cask whisky - bottling the drink as it comes out of the barrel; this gives nearly every bottle its own distinct flavor, and every bottling will have a slightly different alcohol gradation, generally marked it by hand on each bottle.
single malt - a stupid name to indicate most malts brewed by competent Scottish breweries, such as Talisker, Oban, Laphoraig, and so on. Again, you really want to avoid most of the 40°'s as they will have gone through the watering-down process.
Whisky which is brewed to a lower gradation is ironically tastier, as it needs less water added; for example, Ardbeg.
"stuff" - everything else which is not the above. From the truly poisonous Claymore, to Jack Daniels.
you are free to drink anything you want, but just like vodka is not whisky, bourbon is not whisky either.
And unless you manage to grab a hold of cask-strength Jack, you still fall under the same rule as above - you are drinking a watered down version of the drink which has been homogenized to remove any trace of individual character.
on a further note,
there are now many new brewers that have jumped on the hype train and put out even cask strength whisky, but are rubbish - i recommend you stay away from them, and instead go with one of the older breweries.
in addition, to make things worse, there's whisky out there that just isn't particularly good, such as Springbank; i myself threw a bunch of moneys at a Port Ellen bottling that turned out to be crap (they used to bottle the best whisky in the world)and i'm still crying about it.
unfortunately the market has changed considerably in these last 15 years, and prices have skyrocketed, but there are still some decent full cask you can try without going poor, such as Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Miltonduff. Also i recommend you stay away from the Aberlour cask, it's just not good.
i suggest you stay around 55-60°, above 60 it tends to taste too much of wood, and below 50 it doesn't have the stinging, medicinal characteristics which bring out the flavor.
that's the basics. there's many other elements which make a whisky great or horrible, and different bottlings can have very different taste. but please by all means do try a real, BS-free whisky as nature intended.
whisky is a alcoholic drink made from fermented grains, mostly barley. it is primarily produced in Scotland.
other spirits are also made with grains, too. however, these spirits made with grains are not whisky.
note that - despite what the forum's spellchecker says - whisky is spelled without the final e. that's whiskey and it generally refers to other similar alcoholic drinks, mostly those made in the US and in Ireland.
for example; Talisker is a whisky. Jack Daniels is not.
now, cask strength and what it means.
whisky gets most of its flavor and color from the maturing process, where the alcohol is stored in wooden barrels; different barrels impart different taste and color, and more often than not separate barrels will make different tasting whisky.
also, when whisky comes out of the barrel, it tends to be much stronger than 80 proof.
what does this mean?
through a history of weird tax laws, and also companies trying to appease a broader market of drinkers, including women, whisky has been brought down to 40° / 80 proof.
also, because companies wish to have a standardized product, identical through the years and across all the barrels, whisky from different barrels (albeit from the same production year) is mixed together so to average them out and produce pretty much the same taste for every bottle.
the drink is also generally diluted with water from the same source as it was used to make it.
now, plain and simple, if you drink this diluted, averaged product and you think you are drinking something "good", you don't know whisky.
the current marketof whisky is divided in three parts;
cask whisky - bottling the drink as it comes out of the barrel; this gives nearly every bottle its own distinct flavor, and every bottling will have a slightly different alcohol gradation, generally marked it by hand on each bottle.
single malt - a stupid name to indicate most malts brewed by competent Scottish breweries, such as Talisker, Oban, Laphoraig, and so on. Again, you really want to avoid most of the 40°'s as they will have gone through the watering-down process.
Whisky which is brewed to a lower gradation is ironically tastier, as it needs less water added; for example, Ardbeg.
"stuff" - everything else which is not the above. From the truly poisonous Claymore, to Jack Daniels.
you are free to drink anything you want, but just like vodka is not whisky, bourbon is not whisky either.
And unless you manage to grab a hold of cask-strength Jack, you still fall under the same rule as above - you are drinking a watered down version of the drink which has been homogenized to remove any trace of individual character.
on a further note,
there are now many new brewers that have jumped on the hype train and put out even cask strength whisky, but are rubbish - i recommend you stay away from them, and instead go with one of the older breweries.
in addition, to make things worse, there's whisky out there that just isn't particularly good, such as Springbank; i myself threw a bunch of moneys at a Port Ellen bottling that turned out to be crap (they used to bottle the best whisky in the world)and i'm still crying about it.
unfortunately the market has changed considerably in these last 15 years, and prices have skyrocketed, but there are still some decent full cask you can try without going poor, such as Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Miltonduff. Also i recommend you stay away from the Aberlour cask, it's just not good.
i suggest you stay around 55-60°, above 60 it tends to taste too much of wood, and below 50 it doesn't have the stinging, medicinal characteristics which bring out the flavor.
that's the basics. there's many other elements which make a whisky great or horrible, and different bottlings can have very different taste. but please by all means do try a real, BS-free whisky as nature intended.
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