Appreciation of the perfect
scotch whisky – The Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve
(Episode 3)
Welcome readers.
Yesterday I spoke
about the origin of Black Dog Scotch and the reason behind the name. Moving
further, in today’s episode of Appreciation of the perfect scotch whisky – The
Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve, I will give actual information on how Barleys
from field is turned into Black Dog TGR blended scotch whisky.
Barley is a crop
grown in European belt in a plenty and its evidence is more felt in Scotland
and Ireland. Barley is a soft grain, and its inner material is a white
substance. Barley is mixed with water and mashed and fermented. Later, fermented
barley grains are heated in a copper pot, as Copper is one of the good
conductors of heat. The mixture starts producing alcohol.
The alcohol
produced should be trapped now. As alcohol is lighter in density compared to
water, the alcohol vapours start to rise upwards. This process is carried in
distilleries and alcohol vapours are cooled down to get pure alcohol. This
liquid after condensation is close to 80-90% pure. Andrew gave us a glass
container which had the distilled alcohol liquid. As soon as I opened the cap,
and took the neck of container near my nose, my nostrils experienced burning
sensation. Imagine the state of people in those early days when maturation was
not even discovered and people consumed whisky in this form. No doubt, maturation
of whisky has meant it is received by a wider audience and the taste and nose
of whisky is mostly derived from the wood used for Casks.
The Black Dog
Triple Gold Whisky follows all the steps mentioned above. The malt and grain
whiskies are matured in separate Bourbon casks and then these are married and
matured in Sherry casks for a third round of maturation. You can see the
different wood materials in the picture. Sherry casks add a lot of flavour and
aroma to the TGR as the married liquid breathes through the wood all
year long. As the wood expands and compresses due to different seasons, the
spirit extracts the properties from the wood. Lets pour ourselves a drink of TGR and
enjoy the flavors.
Andrew also
explained to us the process of preparing whisky as it has been followed since
time immemorial. While there are different types of whiskies, the most refined
sophisticated and authentic are those that follow the same process as was
followed when the preparation was first identified.
Whiskies can be
classified based on whether it is made out of Malt or Grains or Blended. It is
also further classified on the basis of how and under what conditions it is
matured. It can also be classified from where it comes, the Speyside, the
Highlands, the Lowlands and the Islands. While several whiskies these days may
be matured in Bourbon casks made of white American Oak, authentic whisky,
though expensive to procure, is still matured in European Red Oak casks that
once had sherry in them.
The story of how
sherry came about to be taken over by whisky was also an interesting one. While
in the 17thcentury, women generally had sherry and men stuck to brandy. At that
time an unknown bug wiped out and destroyed major crops of grapes resulting in
very low production of Sherry and Brandy. This created a demand for
alternatives and hence for something better. Whisky was available at that time
and was immediately accepted thus filling in the void created by Sherry and
Brandy.
Black Dog Triple
Gold Reserve is definitely an authentic whisky even today, from the time when
Sir Walter Millard first came down to Scotland to pursue his search for a
unique scotch and his love for angling, since the method of preparation is
hardly undergone a change. It has been streamlined, technologically improved
and employed the learnings from the past failures, yet, when the whisky is
supposed to be bottled, it follows a strong process of maturation and blending
that was laid down by Sir Walter Millard.
Dear Readers, this was all for the day. Come back tomorrow for the final episode of the appreciation of the perfect scotch whisky. Till then, keep reading about Black Dog TGR with a glass filled with Black Dog in your hand.
Dear Readers, this was all for the day. Come back tomorrow for the final episode of the appreciation of the perfect scotch whisky. Till then, keep reading about Black Dog TGR with a glass filled with Black Dog in your hand.
Disclaimer:
This content is meant only for people above the age of 25
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