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Kitchen Chat and more…
Kitchen Chat and more…
Great news to all whisky lovers in Singapore! Finally there is a whisky fair we can go without taking the airplane! WhiskyLive is an international whisky tasting and sampling event that is held around the world. Happening almost every weekend in a different city, it is a prominent event that brings on excellent exhibitors and sell-out crowds.
WhiskyLive is not new to Singapore. It was held since 2010 and it was always concluded with great praise and fanfare. 2017 marks the 8th year that WhiskyLive is in Singapore and it is the first time to run over a 2 days period at 2 different (but nearby) venues. That’s why we are excited to announce WhiskyLive 2017 to our readers!
Organised by Maison Du Whisky, this year event showcase not just whisky, but also various other spirits such as gin and tequila. Cocktails are also not forgotten as there will be a cocktail street. For keen learners, there will be masterclasses where experts will teach you what they know. Currently, masterclass details are not out yet, but we will update when they are out! For the serious whisky connoisseurs, there is the VIP lounge and the Collectors’ Box where rare whiskies will be available for tasting! Doesn’t that sound truly awesome? So, what are we expecting from WhiskyLive this year? It’s simple. We expect rare, interesting whiskies, gin and tequila, interesting cocktails, learning opportunities and lots of fun!
The event is happening on 25 to 26 Novemeber 2017 from 1.30pm to 8.30pm at TheatreWorks and STPI over at Mohamed Sultan Road.
Here’s how it works. The exhibitors booths are on the ground floor on TheatreWorks, while the VIP bar and the Collector’s Room will take the upper floor. STPI is hosting the masterclasses, a special event (we don’t know what) and an exhibition. Food and cocktails are available on Caseen Street.
Tickets are open for sale from 18 August. For the Super Early Bird, tickets are going at $79 for Standard, $159 for VIP and $700 for a group pass of 10 pax Standard. Super Early Bird ends on 18 September, so hurry to get your tickets at Peatix.
Singapore is a friendly transport city and there are simply so many ways to get there.
By Bus
(River Valley Road) 32, 54, 139, 195
(Clemenceau Avenue) 64, 123, 143
(Havelock Road) 51, 64, 123, 186
By MRT
Clarke Quay MRT (15 minutes walk)
Chinatown MRT (15 mintues walk)
Dhoby Ghaut MRT (21 minutues walk) – seriously, please do not walk from Dhoby Ghaut unless you want to exercise before drinking back the calories!
By Car (Available Parking)
Mohamed Sultan Road
Robertson Quay Hotel
Robertson Walk
Sultan Link Car Park
If all of the above do not suit you, there is still Grab and Uber!
In Part One, we brought you some history of Yamazaki through its museum. Part Two consisted of the actual distillery tour. In Part Three, let us bring you back to the museum to see the different whiskies made by Suntory.
The impressive display above caught our eyes as soon as we walked in. It showcased all the major whiskies produced by Suntory over the years. We couldn’t get a good shot of this display even with our wide angle lens, so we settled for a paranoma instead.
Quiet little corners are often the best places to seek for treasures. We found a treasure cove behind some pillars and discovered the various old whiskies from Suntory!
Torii-san imported the Akadama Port Wine by the name of Kotobukiya back in the 1920s. This Spanish port wine was popular among the Japanese. The profits from the wine went towards the founding of the Yamazaki Distillery. In a way, we can say that Akadama Port Wine was one of the sponsors of Yamazaki Distillery.
This was the first whisky made by Suntory. It was a failure because it did not capture the hearts of the local community, but it was the reason why Suntory became better.
These are some of their really old whiskies made at Yamazaki Distillery. Rare aniques on their own, they are made more special by the roles that they had played in making Suntory and Yamazaki Distillery the way they are today.
Tory Blended Whisky was a special whisky that played a huge role after World War 2. Produced by Suntory, it was the number one favourite whisky for many of the Japanese population – both men and women – after the war. It was so well received that bars named “Torys” popped up all over Japan.
This section is the most crowded as visitors clicked their cameras and crowded around the display. The birth of the Yamazaki 12 Years Old generated a lot of interest for all visitors alike.
One of the Yamazaki 12 years was prominently displayed in the museum, with a simple write up of how it came about. There was also a flavour profile for some popular Yamazaki produced by Suntory.
For us geeks, the Mizunara cask generated more interest as we were keen to see the difference between this and other casks such as the Sherry and the Bourbon.
During WW2, mizunara was used due to scarcity of sherry and bourbon. The challenges to use the mizunara were tremendous. Leakage, astingent woodliness that created bad whisky were all part of the reasons, but Suntory eventually figured the best way to use the mizunara as a second or third refill for a distinctive Japanese flavour of sandalwood and Japanese incense.
We head down to the highly anticipated whisky library after we have settled our curiousity for old whiskies and the mizunara cask of Yamazaki.
This is the famed Yamazaki Library. There are about two rows of such shelfing with tons of whiskies sitting on them. It was impressive at first look, but it became disappointing when we noticed many repeated whiskies. Nonetheless, we did find something of interest.
There are Scotch whiskies in the library. We are not surprised given the history of Yamazaki. Torii-san had started the distillery based on knowledge from Scotland.
Other interesting finds include new make spirits and a selection of young Yamazaki.
We ended the tour with a drink at the bar, but it was nothing fancy. We left the distillery shortly afterwards to head back to Toyko. It was an interesting tour, even if we felt a lack in enthusiasm in their whole presentation. Our opinions shouldn’t stop you from visiting the distillery though. It is a personal experience for everyone!
We left off in Part One where we were recalled to the meeting point of the distillery tour. We were given English audio guides as our tour will be in most part Japanese. The audio guides also come in other languages – Chinese, French, German and other major European languages.
We were invited to explore the space within the starting point of the tour after gathering our audio guide. We managed to take a picture of the space before it was crowded and that’s what it looks like from the picture above! Nice, clean space with artful designs set to give visitors the maximum comfort.
There are also miniatures casks on display as well as sample spirits from Yamazaki very own whisky library. More about the whisky library later. For now, let’s go explore the facilities!
The actual production house is of course, away from the main visitor centre but once we got there, the amazing aroma of malt drifted through the air and into our nose…making all of us go “mmm”…
The first station was the mash house where malted barley is produced for fermentation. Malt whisky is made from selected two-rowed barley and water. The selected barley is germinated and dried to produce malt, before it is finely grounded and mix with water in a mash tun. The enzymes in the malt will break down the starch contents into sugar. Once that is completed, the mixture is filtered to obtain clear, unclouded liquid called wort.
The temperature in the mash house was high due to the ongoing mashing. The smell of malted barley was rather heavenly though, and we would not have left the station quite as quickly as the tour guide wanted us to if not for the heat.
Once the filtered wort is collected, it is transferred to the washbacks, and yeast is added to the wort, starting the fermentation process. The yeast converts the sugars in the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide while generating “wash”, the distinctive flavours that define whisky.
Temperature in the fermentation room was just as high, if not higher. The sweet smell of sugar was distinctive here, and many of us agreed that it kinda smell like fresh bread due to the yeast in the room.
Next, we walked on to the distillation room, or what they called the Still House.
Distillating the alcohol “wash” generated by fermentation is an art on its own. The shape and size of the stills plays an important role in the characteristics of the final “new make” spirit. This character of the “new make” spirit will then influence the way it takes to the casks during maturation.
You can see from the picture above that the stills are of different shapes and sizes. The difference in the tilt of the angle, the size and the shape produces different kind of new spirits. The distillation process happens twice to produce a high alcohol content “new make” spirit.
At Suntory, they make use of different stills to produce different flavours of “new make” spirit. As you can see above, the new make are labelled for easy identification.
This is how the “new make: spirit is collected. The clear liquid shown here has a high alcohol concentration. If it makes the cut as a premium “new make”, it will make its way into a cask for maturation into whisky.
Coopering is part of the whisky making process. Being equally important when compared to the spirit itself, it certainly deserves a station of its own.
Coopering refers the the making of a cask and how each step of the cooperage experts will influence the eventual cask that they make. The casks used by Suntory are all hand-made, which makes the process even more challenging. We are sorry that the picture is rather blur as the bright light on top of the signage at the darken warehouse had made it difficult to take a good, clear photo.
These are some of the casks that were on display. The tour included education on the different names of the casks such as butts, and hogheads. We will write another article on the different names of the casks soon!
This was the defining moment of the distillery tour! Casks upon casks of maturing whisky stood before our eyes, and we got to say that it was just pure delight to walk in and smell that lovely, familiar aroma of wood and whisky.
Just look at that! Rows and rows of maturing whiskies…Our hearts were so full at that moment we though it could burst. Here’s an upclose picture for you.
Notice the different years on the cask? The years tells you when the new make spirit was distilled and poured into the cask. There are plenty of casks with different years, from 1970s, to 1980s and the 2000s. None of them, however, were as exciting as the very FIRST cask ever filled at the Yamazaki Distillery!
Remember the replica we shown you at the extrance? The picture on top shows you the real deal. The real No. 0001 cask made and filled in 1923. All of us were so excited that we were told to tone down so as not to disturb the harmony of the maturing whiskies. It was a tough fight to just take this picture because of the excitement generated!
We ended the tour with a tasting session. We will not be a spoil sport and revealed what you will taste at the session. To find out, go for the tour when you head for Japan next time!
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