Kalak Single Malt Vodka is…oh wait, what? Single malt vodka, you said?! Yup! We were really excited when Sarah from The WhiskyStore invited us to the tasting of Kalak single malt vodka, gin and whiskey! It was a collaboration from The WhiskyStore and The Other Room to showcase their newest products in town.

Introduction to Origin Spirits and its products

Origin Spirits is the baby of Patrick Shelley (picture above). Founded in 2015, the company currently holds three different products – single malt vodka, gin and whiskey. Patrick previously worked for LVMH and loves his whiskies! However, he dislikes vodka because he couldn’t understand why people enjoy a drink that is tasteless! When Patrick started his own company, he decided to create a vodka that he likes to drink. He found his answer in local Irish barley and he swiftly set to work to develop a series of products made from malted barley.

Kalak Single Malt Vodka

Kalak is the phonetic spelling of the name of an Irish Celtic goddess. The name of the goddess is Cailleach and she is the Queen of Winter. Legends have it that she appears every winter to protect the animals from the harsh weather and when spring arrives, she turns into stone. She is the closest thing to Mother Nature that the Celts had; the embodiment of the darker, more powerful side of nature. Kalak takes her name as a reflection of Ireland’s terroir. The bottles hold Ireland, her weather and her people’s ancient knowledge in distillation.

Origin Spirits sources local Irish barley from the South East of Ireland as the farmers follow a strict chart of sustainability. The wort from the fermentation is distilled four times in a copper still to make sure that the vodka hits 96% abv as per the rules from the European Union. These are then watered down to 40% before bottling. The vodka is clean and smooth, with notes of butter cookies, salt and some fruitiness. It is definitely not the usual vodka that we see in the market!

PEATED Kalak Single Malt Vodka

What got us really excited, however, is the PEATED Kalak Single Malt Vodka. The peated version is technically a cask-aged vodka. Origin Spirits buys virgin American oak casks and charred them with peat fire to infuse the cask with smoke. The vodka is put into the casks for four months to allow the spirit to develop a delicious smokey flavour on top of the buttery character from its standard single malt vodka expression.

Ornabrak Gin

Origin Spirits uses the base spirits from its vodka production to create a floral and complex gin. The four-time distilled base spirit goes through a fifth distillation with five botanicals carefully sourced to emerge as Ornabrak Gin. The five botanticals are juniper berries, lemon peels, angelica roots, Douglas fir, and lemon verbena. The distilled gin is cut at 76% abv and watered down to 43% abv before bottling. The nose is full of citrus peels (think orange and lemon), hint of white pepper, gentle juniper notes and lavendar. The palate is smooth with citrus peels and lavender petals. The finish is full of orange and lavender. It is also drying which makes you want to have more.

Currach Atlantic Kombu Seaweed Cask Single Malt Whiskey

Currach single malt Irish whiskey is the one bottle from the entire offering that got us jumping up and down with impatience. The whiskey matures in ex-bourbon casks before getting a finish in a seaweed-infused cask for two to three months! How exotic is that!?

When Patrick first decided to do a whiskey, he wanted to add a new element to his whiskey. As he looks into Ireland’s terroirs, he stumbled upon seaweed. The seaweeds that he uses grow in abundance around Ireland’s coasts and the family of harvesters whom he works with takes pride in their ability to keep the business sustainable through their hand-harvesting technics.

Patrick experimented with seaweed and oak chips extensively before going to full production. What they do is to first cook and dry the seaweed to remove the natural “fishy smell”. The team uses 0.5kg of dried seaweed per virgin American oak cask. They lit a fire using the seaweed as a sort of fuel. Once the fire is stable, they closed the cask and then rolled it around to ensure the burning seaweed reaches every part. They repeated the process six times for each cask.

The nose is full of kombu dashi, sweetness, a hint of sea brine and nuts. Once it opens up, the fragrance of roasted black sesame seeds is undeniable. The palate is nutty, with some sea salt and a dash of kombu dashi. The light smoke couples with roasted black sesame seeds to produce a sweetness that is quite unlike any other whiskies. The finish is extremely long, with some ash and full-on black sesame seeds. It’s really lovely once the whiskey opens up, so be a little patient when trying it!

Cocktails from the Spirits

The session also started and ended with cocktails made from The Other Roof. We started with Espresso Smokatini, which is a cocktail made from espresso and PEATED Kalak Single Malt Vodka. It was superbly delicious! The creamy foam increased the enjoyment of the cocktail. Any coffee lover needs to try it!

The second cocktail is Zucien Gaudin, made with Ornabrak Gin. The addition of Campari made the cocktail rather bitter, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as the first one. However, anyone who is in love with Campari would definitely fall in love with this one!

Where to buy Origin Spirits’ products?

As usual, you can find all the products (except the cocktails) retailing at The Whisky Store. Prices are reasonable so go ahead and buy them! Do tag WhiskyGeeks and The Whisky Store on social media when you crack the bottles open and have a go!

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We were excited to be part of the Glen Scotia Virtual Tasting hosted by The WhiskyStore. The distillery is part of the triplets in Campbeltown, but its smaller size often gets overshadowed by its neighbours. The team at WhiskyGeeks has been following Glen Scotia for some time now, as we find its liquids really palatable and beautifully matured.

It was, therefore, with great anticipation, when we joined the Zoom tasting on Tuesday, 14 July at 8 pm. Follow our journey as we partake in one of the greatest virtual geek fests with Glen Scotia!

First, an Introduction of the Speakers

We had two speakers that evening. The first speaker was Mr Bill White, the master distiller for the Loch Lomond Group. Yes, Glen Scotia belongs to the Loch Lomond Group. Bill comes with years of experiences, with 22 years working in William Grant and Sons. He eventually became their Group Operations Director before he decided to join Loch Lomond Group as their master distiller around 2015.

The second speaker is Ms Ashley Smith, the master blender at Loch Lomond Group. Ashley has eight years old experience working in the whisky industry, but she has only joined the company for about ten months. Her work revolves around whisky blending (of course!) and she has her hands full with the single casks programme as well as ensuring that the core ranges from both Glen Scotia and Loch Lomond are consistent.

Short History of Campbeltown

The year was 1597, and an act of Parliament established Lochhead. Settlers flocked to the sea-side town, and by 1607, various traders and settlers were setting up businesses in the town. The Kintyre peninsula (where Lochhead was) had plenty of local ingredients for distilling, and soon, industrious settlers built illicit stills to make whisky. It wasn’t until the mid-19 century that the town became Campbeltown, named after the local lairds, the Campbells!

Campbeltown quickly became the whisky capital, with 21 known illicit stills in the town and 10 in the surrounding countryside by 1795. There were probably more than 50 illegal distilleries in total by the 19 century. The Victorian Era was booming with economic activities, and there was a growing market for whisky both at home and in the USA. Cargo ships meant to carry whiskies to the USA would call at Glasgow and sail down the Clyde, called in at Campbeltown as their last port call before taking the journey to the USA. Therefore, the town proliferated to become the “whisky capital of the world”.

History of Glen Scotia

As the town prospered, the Dean of Guild James Stewart and Provost John Galbraith came together to build Scotia Distillery in 1832. In three short years, the distillery grew and thrived alongside the remaining 29 distilleries in Campbeltown. Disaster strike in 1923 when the Drumlemble Colliery closed, ending the era of cheap, local fuel in the town. Coupled with the Great Depression and the Prohibition in the USA, the distilleries in Campbeltown suffered tremendous losses. In a short nine years, only three distilleries remained in Campbeltown. Scotia was one of them.

Owners of Scotia Distillery

The survival of Scotia distillery depended on its owners. James and John managed the distillery until 1895. It became one of the founding members of West Highland Malt Distilleries in 1919, with five other Campbeltown distilleries in an attempt to share costs and prevent closure. The project failed, and Scotia was left standing alone. In 1924, Duncan MacCallum purchased Scotia but closed to close in 1928. When he reopened the distillery in 1930, he met with an unfortunate scam in which he lost his savings and committed suicide. The Bloch Bros brought over Scotia and added the word “Glen” to its name. Glen Scotia was born.

The Happening after the 1930s

The Bloch Bros saved Glen Scotia. They retained ownership of the distillery until 1954. That year, Canadian giant, Hiram Walker bought the distillery estate but quickly sold it to A.Gillies & Co – a blender in 12 months. The distillery changed hands again and became part of Amalgamated Distilled Products Ltd (ADP) which owned Barton Brands (including Loch Lomond). Glen Scotia started reconstruction works towards the end of the 1970s, but unfortunately, it closed between 1984 and 1989. During the closure, Gibson International bought over ADP’s distilling assets. Glen Scotia reopened in 1990 under new leadership. In 1994, Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd bought over Glen Scotia and promptly mothballed in. It returned to full production only in 1999 under the Loch Lomond Distillers Group.

The Production Process

Glen Scotia produces both peated and unpeated whisky. The team dedicated six weeks per year to producing peated whisky. What I find interesting is that the distillery does two different styles of peated whisky. One is a mildly-peated whisky at 25ppm while the other is a heavily-peated whisky at 50ppm.

Milling

Glen Scotia sourced and used only Scottish malted barley from the east of Scotland. The grain undergoes milling in the Bobby Mill owned by Glen Scotia (See Ardbeg Distillery for more Bobby Mill description).

Mashing

The mash tun is a relic at the distillery. Made of cast iron, it dated back to the Victorian era and held the history of the distillery within its pits. The mash tun uses a rack and pinion system (shown in the second picture above). The team uses four streams of water for wort extraction. The first two streams, with a temperature between 64 and 76 degrees Celsius, enable the collection of wort. The third and fourth streams, added at 85 degrees Celsius, allowing the collection of sparge. The process takes about eights hours to complete, and the distillery does ten mashes per week. The distillery’s water source is Crosshill Loch, providing them with fresh, clean, soft water.

The team cools the wort to around 17-18 degrees Celsius before pumping it into the washback for fermentation. The reason is to prevent the temperature from killing the active yeast.

Fermentation

The fermentation at Glen Scotia is long, with each cycle lasting more 92 hours on average. The long hours creates what is known as a “second fermentation” where fruity esters are developed to give the wash a fruity flavour. The distillery uses commercial distiller yeast as it is best suited for them to create the fruity wash.

Look at the graph above. You will notice that after 48 hours, there is no longer alcohol production, but the ester concentration keeps going up. This is the reason why long fermentation produces fruity wash, which, in turn, will create a fruity spirit. The alcohol percentage of the wash is around 8-9% abv.

We understand that Glen Scotia has both internal and external washbacks. For the outer washbacks, they have cooling jackets on them to maintain the temperature at an ideal level.

Distillation

Glen Scotia owns a pair of stills and has a production capacity of 500,000 litres to 600,000 litres. They produced 535,000 litres of spirits in 2019. The distillery also installed a new spirit still in June 2020, making them look unique.

The wash still takes in the wash at 8-9% abv. After the first distillation, the low wines stands at around 25% abv. The spirit still then takes in the low wines and increase the alcohol percentage to about 74% abv. The foreshots or head is between 74% – 71% abv, while the heart runs from 71% to around 63% abv. The feints are below 63% abv.

The average alcohol percentage of the new spirit is 69% abv, and the distillation team will add water to lower the abv to 63.5% abv before transferring it to the casks for maturation.

Maturation

Glen Scotia has three kinds of warehouses – dunnage at the Visitor Centre (around 150 casks), palletised and racked warehouses (for the rest of their casks). The different environment provided by the warehouse help Glen Scotia to achieve the differences in their whiskies, which work well for the brand. Currently, the distillery has about 12,000 casks onsite. Typically, the distillery fills 99.9% of their new spirits into first-fill ex-bourbon casks. We also understand from Bill that the oldest cask currently still maturing on site is over 45 years old! We were excited as Glen Scotia recently release a 45 years old bottling, which means there is a chance that they will release something older in future!

Whiskies we Tasted

The WhiskyStore selected four whiskies for the session. My personal favourites are the 15 Years Old and the 25 Years Old, both of which showcased different styles. Every expression has its fans, but the 25 Years Old was the ultimate winner.

Double Cask

The Glen Scotia Double Cask is a non-age statement expression that is matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished 6 to 12 months in Pedro Ximenez casks. Bottled at 46% abv, it is gentle and easy to drink. The sweetness of the PX casks complements the bourbon maturation beautifully.

15 Years Old

One of my personal favourites is the 15 years old expression. Matured fully in ex-bourbon American oak casks, the whisky is fruity with cedarwood and hints of pine trees. The sweet, fruity palate coupled with some dryness in the finish keeps me going for more.

18 Years Old

The 18 years old expression is a favourite for many participants. Matured 17 years in refill ex-bourbon casks and finished one year in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks, the whisky is flavourful with a complexity of both bourbon and sherry influences.

25 Years Old

Finally, the 25 years old expression is the crowd favourite! Matured fully in ex-bourbon American casks and then married in first-fill bourbon casks for the extra flavours, the 25 years old Glen Scotia is full-on fruity with tropical fruits such as pineapples, guava and hints of mangoes. It also developed vanilla, coconut and pine wood. The finish is not as dry as the 15 Years Old expression, but it continues to beckon me with its long finish.

Where to Buy

The WhiskyStore is the official distributor of Glen Scotia in Singapore, and you can easily find all the above expression at their online store. If you are not ready to commit a bottle, you can still try the tasting sets available.

What to Expect Next Week

The Loch Lomond Powerhouse – Bill and Ashley – will be back next week with a Loch Lomond presentation! They promised that it would be another geekfest, one that is better than we had with Glen Scotia. If you enjoyed our post, don’t forget to head over to the Whisky Store to purchase your Loch Lomond Tasting Set and join us next week!

 

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Life took an unexpected turn at the beginning of 2020, and our lives changed 360 degrees when Covid-19 surfaced and killed more than half a million people worldwide. Many of us have stopped work, or at least started working from home as countries move to curb the spread of the virus. Many lives were changed, especially those in the food and beverage industry. However, out of all that negative vibes, hope rises as people band together to create a new way to drink and socialise. A virtual bar, or a virtual tasting, is fast becoming the newest trend to hit the world as the alcohol industry strives to continue serving its customers through the next viable means.

1887 Virtual Bar

William Grant & Sons, our friendly family-owned distiller, is no different. With the global situation getting worse, the company decided to do their part to help local bars to survive by opening a virtual bar to serve drinks, live from your home bar. The virtual bar is codenamed 1887 Virtual Bar to commemorate the year that WGS opened. The platform features weekly guest shifts hosting some of your favourite bartenders in Singapore together with brand ambassadors, Charmaine Thio and Brett Bayly of Hendrick’s Gin and Glenfiddich respectively.

Kick-off Guest Shift

The first session of the 1887 Virtual Bar started with Sam Wong, the head bartender at Shin Gi Tai, via Zoom on 9 April 2020. We logged in using the link given, and we found our hosts waiting for us. Charmaine Thio, brand ambassador of Hendrick’s Gin and Brett Bayly, brand ambassador of Glenfiddich, were already online together with the head bartender of Shin Gi Tai, Sam Wong. To kick start the session, Charmaine introduced 1887 Virtual Bar and what they hoped to achieve. She encouraged participants to ask questions via the chat function found in the Zoom sessions and to interact as much as possible through the limited functions available.

The virtual bar also sells cocktail vouchers, which participants can buy to support the bar. These vouchers can be redeemed at a later date at Shin Gi Tai when the Covid-19 situation in Singapore eases.

Cocktails on Show

1. The Dragon’s Daughter

Sam Wong is a familiar face for many of us. For the first session, Sam created four different cocktails for the audience, based pretty much on what Shin Gi Tai is well-known for. Charmaine had the chance to request for the first cocktail (because ladies first!) and she asked for something light and refreshing. Sam took up the challenge easily, creating what he called, “The Dragon’s Daughter”.

You can check out the ingredient in the picture below.

From the screen, it looked like an orange/pink drink and being a virtual session, not a lot of garnishes went into it. Nonetheless, it looked delicious, and I would highly recommend that you try this the next time you are at Shin Gi Tai!

    2. Coffee so Stronk

After encountering the Dragon’s Daughter, Brett felt the need to have something solid to keep his nerves strong! So, he requested for a whisky-based cocktail. Sam, in response, created a cocktail that is not only whisky-based but also involved caffeine. Coffee so Stronk uses Nanyang infused coffee as part of its ingredients and it looked like a stiff drink! It is perfect after a hard day’s work.

Here are the ingredients.

You may not have the Nanyang Coffee infused Fernet at home, and it is probably too troublesome for you to make it at home. So, head over to Shin Gi Tai after the Circuit Breaker eases off to have a taste of this cocktail!

   3. Highball

Everyone loves a highball on a hot day! That was what Sam recommended after the first two cocktails. He said that the weather is terrible nowadays and a highball can help to bring down the temperature! After all, nobody wants to have a high temperature now too! Hahaha!

Yup, a highball is easy to make. As long as you have some whisky and soda, you can easily make your own highball! A note on Glenfiddich 15 years old though. This is one of the easiest whisky to drink and its sweet character makes it a great conversation starter. In case you are wondering, a highball is a Japanese concept of drinking whisky on a hot day. It is a simple mixing of whisky and soda (in the portion you want – most people do 30-70). You prepare a tall glass, put in ice, and you pour first the whisky into the glass, and then top the glass up with soda. Stir the mix with a spoon and you are done! If you want more flavours, add in a slice of lemon after squeezing some zest into it.

You may think that you wouldn’t want to order a highball in a bar, but trust me, it is really the best drink to have on a hot day!

   4. SGT Negroni

Next up, Sam introduced Shin Gi Tai for those who have never been there. If you have never been there, you should try to go after the Circuit Breaker ends and bars reopen. Shin Gi Tai is a cosy, intimate bar in Telok Ayer with no menu! Yes, no menu! What the bar tries to achieve is to tailor a personalised service and cocktail for each patron. Tell the bartender what you fancy in terms of flavours, and watch them shake it up for you!

Shin Gi Tai, however, has its favourites. SGT Negroni is one of them. Made using only three ingredients, the Negroni is a classic favourite at the bar.

Sam showed us how simple it is to make the Negroni but I can assure you that I am not going to know how to make it so I am better off heading to Shin Gi Tai when the virus goes away!

The Conclusion

The session concluded with a call for participants to ask questions. Sam took a few questions from the audience and he showed how experienced he is when someone asked for a low-calorie cocktail. I will not spoil the mystery here, so be sure to go to Shin Gi Tai to ask him! Finally, the hosts reminded everyone that we can support our bars through our kind purchases of vouchers to help them survive this tough period. Due to the time limit, the Zoom session ended with a final call to tune in again next week!

Some Thoughts about 1887 Virtual Bar

Well, it was a good session and I do encourage all of you to join in the next one (details below). However, I think the session could be more interactive. It would make the sessions more fun and resembles a real bar. Nonetheless, these are challenging times and we have to make do with what we have! Please support the 1887 Virtual bar and stir up your own cocktail at home!

Details of the Virtual Bar Sessions:

You can find out more about the guest shifts and participating bars at the below link:

1. https://www.instagram.com/1887virtualbar/

 

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