In Focus
2008: The Sate of the Barrel
My fellow whiskey aficionados, the state of the barrel is good. Shortages that have plagued the industry in recent years have begun to ease as increased production comes closer to meeting demand. New and exciting releases are coming to market, joining old favorites on store shelves. Distilleries long silent, and whiskey producing regions hitherto un-recognized are playing an important role in the ever expanding pantheon of whiskey. We live in a time of exceptional diversity and innovation throughout the whiskey world.
As consumers however, we must remain vigilant. Amidst the plethora of new bottling, an increasing number fail to live up to the expectations of their marketing or the price on the shelf. Other classic bottling, seemingly familiar, have quietly decreased the age of their contents with little or no mention. Price increases, some driven by shortage, others by greed have become common across the world. The price of many bottles can be expected to rise as much as 20% over the course of 2008. While shortages in younger whiskies have evaporated, aged whiskey continues to dwindle in supply and increase in cost. Moving forward, consumers are well advised to talk to their retailers, and be open to trying newer and often better valued bottling.
Kentucky Bourbon, bathed in the light of a golden age, has possibly never seen a greater diversity of bottling available. Secondary cask finishing, now common amongst single malts, has begun to appear in bourbon. Distilleries such as Buffalo Trace have released several experimental collections of such whiskies, and Woodford Reserve has now followed suit with a Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay finished bourbon. Still tremendously rare, each release typically has less than 1000 total bottles, and disappear quickly from shelves. Barrel strength bottling, another trend adopted from single malt, has also become popular with a variety of bourbon, and rye bottling coming to market in quick succession. These barrel strength bottling range in quality from the superb releases in the Buffalo Trace antique collection to the superficial. Single barrel bottling of bourbon have continued to multiply on store shelves, each barrel with its own unique nuances. While many of the single barrel bottling offer little to no distinction between each barrel, many now include information on the bottle allowing customers to distinguish between them in the same way as vintages on wine.
At Whitehouse Liquor, we are proud to offer single barrel offerings of numerous brands, including two distinct barrels of Buffalo Trace. Each of our single barrel offerings has been selected from numerous samples for their distinctive characteristics and unparalleled quality. Our two most recent barrels are Buffalo Trace barrel #930 (known as “The Company Man”), and Buffalo Trace barrel #928 (known as “The Winter Rose”). “The Company Man” is a super limited bottling with deep brown sugar and soft nougat notes, a real old fashioned charmer of a bourbon. “The Winter Rose” is an exceptional bottling with silken texture and pronounced aromas of rose petals. With less than two hundred bottles in each barrel, these barrels are certain to go quickly, but others are on the way. In 2008 look for new hand picked single barrel bottling of Eagle Rare 10 year old, Blanton’s, Sazerac Rye, and more.
Single Malt whisky has continued to swell in popularity over the past decade, with demand outpacing supply. Consistently high demand, coupled with the time required to age the whisky, has lead many consumers to explore new regions and styles such as single malts from the Pacific Rim. Demand has also lead several formerly mothballed distilleries to re-open, including the maverick Bruichladdich distillery under the guiding influence of Master Distiller Jim McEwan. Classic distilleries, under pressure to maintain a steady stream of supply are now releasing a slew of new expressions, tapping the best younger casks, to fill the gaps in supply of their aged bottling. For the connoisseur of single malt whisky, the horizons are expanding daily.
The Pacific Rim is home to many of the most exciting new single malt whisky producers in the last decade. Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Oregon; have begun to sell distinctive single malt whisky in markets traditionally dominated by single malt Scotch whisky. From Japan, Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery single malt is now widely available in the United States in a style reminiscent of many classic highland malts. Domestic single malts include the excellent McCarthy’s from the Clear Creek distillery in Oregon, and Old Potrero from California. McCarthy’s particularly represents a solid value and unique lightly peated malt with complex nutty characteristics. Other notable single malts from the Pacific Rim remain rare, including the excellent Bakery Hill from Australia, and Milford from New Zealand. The distinctive characteristics and bargain prices for the Pacific Rim single malts should prompt any single malt lover to take notice.
While Pacific Rim single malts are increasing in availability, shortfalls in stock have forced many Scottish distilleries to come up with new bottling utilizing younger whiskies and a dazzling array of secondary cask expressions to keep up supply. Single malt Scotch, as a category long dominated by age statements, now offers numerous bottling such as Ardeg Uigedail, Bruichladdich Rocks, and Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or with scant reference if any to the age of the contents. While many such bottling are of the highest qualities, others are mere attempts to pass off sub-standard product at high prices. Secondary cask expressions, utilizing wine and spirits barrels to provide extra nuances of flavor, continue to gain popularity since their introduction nearly two decades past. Not only has the number of secondary cask expression bottling increased; the variety has also increased with daring new bottlings using an ever wider array of wine casks. Joining the ranks of port and sherry finished single malt are Sauternes, Pinot Gris, Rioja, Bordeaux finishes and more. The quality of these finishes is widely varied from release to release and distillery to distillery. The flurry of innovation in the single malt Scotch industry comes at a time when many of the classic expressions have become more difficult to find. With the incredible increase in popularity and the lengthy aging process, distillery stocks will continue to be short for the foreseeable future, with greater shortages in the older age statement bottling.
In all regions of whiskey production, independent bottlers are playing an increasingly important role in bridging the gap between distillery stocks and consumer demand. Independent bottlers such as Murray McDavid and Black Maple Hill, purchase barrels of whisky to age as they see fit from numerous distillers which gives them a tremendous flexibility and range in bottling. With such diverse holdings of whisky, and no set bottling expressions, the independent bottlers often have irregular age statements and avant-garde cask finishes designed to bring out the fullest measure of quality from each barrel. Such bottling are not cheap however, and the small quantities produced disappear quickly from store shelves. Despite the drawbacks of price and availability, independent bottling remain worth the effort to find, their quality and innovation being generally superior to most distillery bottling available in 2008.
The state of the barrel in 2008 is good. The quantity and variety of whisky available to the consumer has rarely, if ever, been better than it is now. Innovative bottling by producers ranging from cask strength, to single barrel, or daring cask finishes strive to bring out the fullest potential of every barrel of whiskey. In the face of shortfalls from classic producers, independent bottlers and distillers from hitherto unheralded regions have stepped in with bottling of tremendous quality and price. The sole cloud on the horizon remains the threat of price increases, however as prices increase, one need only to look to the myriad of whisky in the world to find tremendous value. In this whisky world, ask questions of your retailer and don’t be afraid to try something new. You never know what hidden gem you might uncover. |
