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Kitchen Chat and more…
Kitchen Chat and more…
We are reviewing an interesting bottle today – The Wemyss Malt 1990. Although it is supposed to be a “secret” whisky, we are putting our fingers on Mortlach! Here are some of the interesting details of this bottle.
Name: Single Speyside Scotch Whisky “Freshly Cut Grass” (Single Cask)
Bottler: Wemyss
Bottled in: August 2010
Aged: 20 Years
Cask: Refill Puncheon
Number of bottles: 559
Mortlach is the first distillery in Dufftown, Scotland after the Excise Act was passed. James Findlater founded the distillery in 1823. William Grant, the founder of Glenfiddich, used to work at Mortlach distillery for more than 20 years before he went on to found Glenfiddich. In a way, we could probably say that Mortlach is the grandfather distillery in Dufftown, Scotland.
Let’s dive into the review without too much history. We will leave that for another day.
Colour: Gold
ABV: 46%
Nose: Freshly cut grass (as the name suggested) with a background spice hits the nose. Green apples with hints of oaky malts start to form as we nose it further. Sherry notes can be detected in the background after some time. (17/20)
Palate: Spicy mouthfeel covers the palate at the entry but the second sip reveals sweet sherry, green apples and green bananas. Let the whisky sit for a while, and we found fresh, green salads with green fruits on the side. (18/20)
Finish: The finish is medium long with a pleasant sweetness of sherry and green fruits. (17/20)
Body: Well-balanced and fresh whisky that delivers what the nose promised. A refreshing dram indeed! (32/40)
Total Score: 84/100
Geek Flora: “This is a nice, fresh whisky that delivers exactly what the name promised. The freshness of grass and various green vegetables and fruits combined with the sherry overtones to create a well-balanced whisky that is not too complex and easy to drink.”
Have you heard of Manhattan Bar? In case you have not, we wanted to highlight that it won the title of the NUMBER ONE bar in the top 50 bars in Asia in the 2017 Singapore Tourism Award Best Nightspot Experience, amongst other awards. If you are not aware, Manhattan is the grand hotel bar in Regent Singapore with their own Rickhouse and house-made cocktail ingredients. Manhattan boasts an intimate space for relaxation after a hard day’s work and house so many different cocktails that you are spoilt for choice! It is no wonder that the hotel holds the bar in high regards.
Manhattan is inspired by the 19th century’s Golden Age of cocktail and fine drinking. Its glamorous and modern space gives the illusion of stepping into old New York. The classy interior and the brightly-lit shelves with its marble bar elevated on a “stage” give first-time visitors the vibes of being transported back to the 1800s. For returning customers, the cosiness of the bar envelopes them in a warm and welcoming hug. Coupled with the music, the bar brings you back to the soul of the Golden Age of the 19th century.
A visit to Manhattan is an experience of both glamour and history. Besides the superb atmosphere, Manhattan also brings old and forgotten cocktails to life with craft bartending and artisanal spirits. All these are achieved with Manhattan’s dedicated bar team and their capable leaders.
Phillip is born in Berlin, Germany. His interest in bartending began at the age of 23 when he started to make cocktails for his friends at home parties. He moved on to catering events and finally, he began his career as a bartender at nightclubs. At Manhattan, Philip takes charge of the bar operation with a special focus on enhancing the beverage programme for the outlet and alleviating the overall guest experience.
Philip also leads the Friends of Manhattan Series, an initiative that encourages collaborations between industry partners, guest distillers and bartenders globally. This programme aims to provide trade professionals and cocktail aficionados with a platform to share their knowledge and passion for the craft.
In addition, he also plays a key role in expanding the selections from the Rickhouse together with the rest of the bar team.
Cedric Mendoza is a young, budding talent. His first experience in bartending was in Manhattan bar in 2014. The then 23-year-old young man was introduced to the world of cocktails and devoted the last couple of years to hone and develop his skills in both the art of bartending and the craft of cocktail-making. Cedric devours cocktail books to find new recipes and often strives to push himself further in his craft. That habit keeps him close to the fast-changing pace of the industry. Currently, he is one of the finalists in the Diageo World Class competition.
Gabriel, who prefers to call himself Gab, is born in the Phillippines. His interest in bartending began as a school curriculum in college. He fell hard and fast for the craft and has never looked back since. Gab started his career as a bartender with Manhattan bar back in August 2014. His tireless persistence in honing his skills helped him to establish a strong foundation in the art of bartending and the craft of artisanal spirits and cocktails. He rose through the ranks fairly quickly, taking on the challenges of new responsibilities confidently. Gab was promoted to Assistant Bar Manager in 2016, where he assisted Philip in overseeing the bar team and operations at the bar. Together with the experienced bar team at Manhattan, Gab now produces cocktails behind the marble bar of Asia’s Best bar.
In addition to Manhattan’s amazing array of cocktails and spirits, the bar is also a forerunner in creating barrel-aged Negronis. Guests are invited to join this unique experience to enhance their knowledge of cocktail-making as well as the influence of wood barrels on spirits.
Guests can choose to either fill the fresh barrel with the spirit of their choice on their own or to allow Manhattan to fill it for them. After a few weeks of ageing in the barrel, the guests come back to Manhattan bar for the bottling and tasting of the spirit. Before the tasting commences, guests learn to mix up classic cocktails and bottle-aged variations straight from the barrel. The session also includes a tour inside the Rickhouse, where they get to see how whiskies are enhanced with various finishes. They will also understand the process of ageing cocktails in customed American oak barrels for complex profiles. Guests will also get a chance to meet the chefs of Manhattan bar in the Ingredient Room, where innovative bar bites are made. As a bonus, guests will get a hands-on tasting flight of various aged Negronis before the bottling session starts.
The whole unique programme cost SGD$2,950/barrel and it can be shared between a maximum of 8 guests. This programme is exclusive in Singapore and hardly offered around the world too. Only a handful of microdistilleries currently offers this programme around the world. We could say that Singapore is really lucky to have such an offer at Manhattan!
If you are interested in this programme, you can contact WhiskyGeeks at slainte@whiskygeeks.sg or send us a PM via Facebook Messenger. We will link you up with Manhattan Bar’s programme manager for a discussion.
WhiskyGeeks met up with Mr Stuart Harvey, Master Blender of Inver House Distillers on Thursday, 12 October 2017 for a chat about whisky and the distilleries under the care of Inver House Distillers. La Maison du Whisky (LMDW) invited Stuart to Singapore to head a “by-invite-only” training session. The training inducted promising young talents into the world of whisky. Stuart was also involved in a few whisky pairing dinner jointly organised by Inver House and LMDW.
Mr Stuart Harvey joined the brewing industry straight after graduation and in 1995, he joined the distilling industry. He was an experienced whisky blender when he joined Inver House Distillers in 2003. Becoming the Master Blender of Inver House was naturally the next step of his career.
WhiskyGeeks had a good chat with Stuart over coffee; most of them were related to the process of whisky making and his preferences for the traditional methods. Let us summarised some of the things we discussed.
We asked Stuart if he has the intention to follow the trend of finishing whiskies in wine or port casks. Stuart replied immediately that he has no plans to do so because he is not a big fan of finishing. Stuart believes in the traditional methods of maturing new spirits in either American Bourbon cask or Spanish Sherry cask. The most he would do is to marry whiskies from these 2 types of casks before bottling.
Balbair distillery is relatively famous in Singapore. It has a core range as well as some vintage limited release. The interesting thing about Balbair is their preference to put the year of distillation and bottling on their label instead of stating the number of years.
Stuart shared that as the master blender, he has to ensure that each batch of the core range stays similar to the previous one and that is one of the challenges that he faces in his job. Therefore, he trains his staff well so that they are able to pick the right casks for him to nose whenever they start a new batch so that the profile of each batch stays similar. However, for the vintage limited release, every batch is different as the whisky of a particular vintage is only from the year stated.
Stuart also revealed that Inver House is in the midst of repackaging Balbair to reduce the confusion caused by their choice of labelling. In the coming years, it is possible that Balbair will start to show the number of years on their bottles instead of the vintage for the Asian market as they realised that Asians do not take very kindly towards the vintage style labelling.
Balmenach distillery is one of the latest distilleries that Inver House acquired. In the buying over of this distillery, Inver House did not buy the stock of the whisky, and hence production for Balmenach single malt is still underway. However, they have bought some casks from independent bottlers and might be releasing some limited edition Balmenach single malts in the next few years. Eventually, they will release a core range of 12, 18, 21 and 25-year-old Balmenach single malts matured in Spanish oak cask. At the moment, we can only wait. Well, good stuff are worth waiting for!
Well, good stuff are worth waiting for!
Old Pulteney is popular in Singapore. Most of their whiskies are matured in bourbon casks. Stuart revealed that their original core range includes an 18-year-old and a 25-year-old. However, Stuart advised the marketing team to create a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old instead because he felt that the whiskies were just right. So, the core range of Old Pulteney is thus born, with a 17 yo and a 21 yo.
Stuart also shared that an Old Pulteney 25-years-old is coming to Whisky Live Singapore 2017! It is an interesting bottle because the liquid is matured for 21 years in bourbon casks before transferring to sherry casks for the remaining 4 years. We are excited to try that one!
Interestingly, our conversation led us to the whisky-making process for Old Pulteney where we understood from Stuart that Old Pulteney takes 6 hours to collect the wash from their copper mash tun. By doing so, they ensure a fruity and citrusy wash. During fermentation, they used Anchor’s active dry distillers’ yeast to retain the fruitiness of the wash. The worm tubs also help to retain the flavours of the new make spirit.
The chat soon turned to the influence of casks. Stuart shared that many people did not know that different types of cask needed different treatment before they are used. WhiskyGeeks prompted Stuart to elaborate and he said that Spanish oak needs only gentle toasting to get the wood to open up. To get first fill Oloroso sherry casks, they only need to fill the casks with the sherry for 2 years. American oak takes more efforts and needs to be charred to open up the caramel/butterscotch flavours. These are used mainly in bourbon maturation. In the event that sherry is used, it is usually Fino or Manzanilla sherry instead of Oloroso sherry.
WhiskyGeeks asked about the collaboration between Inver House Distillers and LMDW in Singapore. We understand that the focus for Inver House whisky brands will be huge in Singapore as LMDW values the quality of whiskies from Inver House and their choices to stick with traditional whisky-making methods. With their long working relationship and their close collaboration (LMDW houses more than a dozen whiskies from Inver House), the plans for the future is exciting indeed!
As a teaser, a 1983 vintage (24 years old) bottle of Old Pulteney is releasing soon as an exclusive from LMDW!
Lastly, before Stuart headed off for the rest of his busy day, WhiskyGeeks asked Stuart what his biggest challenges are as a Master Blender for Inver House. Stuart cheerily replied, “Logistics is part of the job, and the hardest one. I had to secure casks and resources for the whisky in the long term and ensure sustainability. That is my biggest challenge for the last 14 years and I believe it will continue until I retired!”
Well, leaving a legacy is always the hardest thing to do, isn’t it?
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