ralfy review 933 Extras - Information on quality of casks (Part 2/3)
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2022
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We should pay tribute to Ralfy, because if you don't have friends that they are working in this field and giving you precious information about all that stuff, how could you learn everything that Ralfy tells us?
A funny anecdote: Few days ago I found myself at a dinner with a few people I'd never met before, by chance the topic steered on drinks and whisky, a nice little conversation sparked.
As a good follower of yours, I went into it and in no time I was talking about casks.
So much so that one of the lads asked me "Did you work in a distillery?".
I couldn't hold a big laugh and replied "Never! But I do follow a great scottish gentleman on youtube, Ralfy, he's like a living bible of whisky".
I must admit, I felt quite proud to be one of the many wathing you.
Not sure how many malt mates out there are fascinated by every aspect of this master class on how and why the whisky we drink came to be, Thanks Ralfy
Well, at over 9k views in just three months .....
Good to hear you differentiating the kinds of American oak on offer from bourbon distilling companies. We tend to think of American white oak as a standard category but, as you mentioned, there's American oak and there's American oak. The factors about which growing areas are sourced in the USA, what the micro-climate looks like, what side of the hill the specific tree came from, when the tree was felled, how it was cut and subsequently dried: the mind boggles at the number of factors that can play a role. And then there's that important difference regarding the exporting of that American white oak in the form of whole casks or in flat packs of individual staves. And where and how long that cargo is stored once it arrives in Scotland (at what time of the year). What I would love to know is the proportion of ex-bourbon casks in flat pack form which end up in brokers' warehouses (and who, I imagine, may well sell these on to specific large cooperages for assembly) versus the proportion which are directly ordered by distilleries in whole cask form. I imagine the smaller distilleries might have to take what they can get because the big conglomerates probably have the say over this market. All the more praise to those new distilleries which are forging their own contracts with bourbon producers (and paying the extra premium) in order to lay their hands on good quality wood for their new make. Many thanks, Ralfy, for much more food for thought. This one will send me scurrying to some of my books to seek out some more details! Cheers.
This is a master class right here, folks.
It is one of those videos that you should watch several times! It's great to hear when the truths are so clearly and forcefully told!.... Great video! Thanks Ralfy.
So darn interesting and informative. RALFY, you are a blessing to us all!!
The extras are always such a joy to watch and listen to. Love all these monologues, so many things we want to discuss and need ralphy's explanations to help spread the word due to our own inexperience. Just wanted to say thanks again for all this knowledge. Thanks!!!
Thanks Ralfy! I can't wait for part 3!
Another wood industry veteran here, and one with considerable time drying wood under his belt.
No worries, I'm far less wordy than the other guy.
The issue with kilning is simple to grasp. Inconsistent moisture sort going into the kilns = Inconsistent moisture sort coming out of the kilns. About 70% of the time this is a non issue. But the inside of the tree is already dry enough to work. It now comes out "overdry" the cool thing about wood is that even off the stump it's still trying to "breathe" and will try and get back to a moisture level somewhere around 10-13% moisture. This attempt to return to stasis can be the wood equivalent of a petri dish. You're never going to "shock" air dried veneer. You're also never going to enjoy as good of sustained dimensional accuracy out af air dried as you will a kiln.
Now, the technology to do moisture sorts prior to kilning is there, but it's not cost effective on the lumber side to do so. Veneer, well, that's millions of dollars of gained production a year.
Now, in my opinion.... and I'm completely pulling this out of my ass here... The casks previous contents, how quickly it was transported and filled, and what the distillers standard is for a reject is about 90% more important than how the lumber was dried.
Thank you Ralfi. You do a great job. Bravo !
that was very enjoyable , some more please ;;;
That felt like a sermon on some mountain top at night, silent believers around crackling fires.
And I think I sprained my olfactory buds interrogating the casks in my dram
WERE YOU A SWEET CASK? WERE YOU A SWEET CASK?
Absolutely top infotainment! Thanks, you malticious old chap!
On another note, do start a third channel on amauter linguistics.
Pronounciation was spot on! Μιχαήλ (mi ha IL).
Cheers!!
This was a wonderfully informative extra episode. Ralfy was both educating and redressing the industry trend of promoting “spirit-driven” whisky, which is often sub-optimally matured spirits ages in inactive casks. Ralfy is helping us (the customer) differentiate proper cask maturation from superfluous age statements, transparent actionable information (on the bottle) vs. marketing distractions. Thank You for all you do Ralfy 🙏
Thanks Ralfy
Informative and entertaining ..As usual ..great stuff 👍🥃🥃
Gracias Ralfy muchos saludos 🤘🤘🤘
Floor malted vs kiln/drum. Old slow malted vs fast and hot. Huge variation. I confirm this in homebrew beer land. Not a huge difference, but it does vary.
Please check a turkish whisky, its not a crap malt, its good!! The brand name is Tekel Ankara Malt Viski
Great video! Love hearing people talk about casks, what I'd love to see more of in the whisky world is smaller casks for faster & more intense maturation, but this is again a higher cost...
It often isn't a good thing in hotter, more arid climates or climates that experience drastic changes in temperature I'll tell you that now. The wood imparts itself too quickly into the spirit and you often get a rough, hot product that is over-oaked for its comparatively young age. There's very minimal room for error when doing so. Larger casks fare a LOT better in these types of climates.
It would be interesting to see how they'd work out in more stable, cooler climates though.
@@TasmaniaIsAHole Sure maturation goes faster in hotter climates, but they could still impliment smaller casks if they wanted too, use a few small barrels and blend in with a lot of spirit aged in larger barrels etc. And we've found that spirit that is over-oaked can turn and become really good again, losing the sense of too much oak. But I get your point as bigger barrels are cheaper and easier to handle.
Here in Sweden it's quite common that whisky distilleries sell private casks to costumers, and those barrels are usually 30-40L and produce a great whisky in around 4 years, depending on if it's new oak or an ex-bourbonbarrels etc.
We did an experiment with different toasting degrees where we matured the same spirit (speyside newmake) in 25L new swedish oak barrels for 3 years. The lightly & medium toasted barrels could use a bit more maturation where as the heavily toasted & charred barrel were amazing, some say the charred one is a bit over the top, and it's only aged 3 years and 2 days! Goes to show how fast it can go in smaller barrels and how much of an impact the treatment of the wood has.
Cheers :)
Very interesting continuation of the last extras! Relating to the “overproof at all costs” part of the video, Michter’s (American distillery) has a barrel entry proof of 103 (51.5% ABV). I find their offerings to have a much better mouthfeel and richness of flavor compared to similarly proofed bourbons that go into the cask at the maximum 125 proof. As you said, that brings way down how many bottles they get out of each cask but I can taste the quality that it brings. Their age stated and other special releases are well worth the hunt!
This chapter even more so answered my questions from last week about the rather large difference in price that can be found when sourcing barrels. Names such as International Stave Company, Kelvin Cooperage, and Seguin Moreau Cooperage have shown up proudly on many labels of bourbon here in America I've noticed. Id take that as a mark of quality. The distiller is wanting to share that provenance with the interested purchasers.
Brown-Foreman having their own cooperage may or may not say much about the cask quality. But I wonder who GlenDronach got their bourbon barrels in the past from? I surely know who they are currently!
Thanks for the video Ralfy!
Looking forward to Chapter 3 already. Perhaps combine all these extras into one extended cut in the future?
Thanks Ralfy, really enjoy these extras.
Would like to hear your thoughts on rejuvenating of casks
Ive always been curious how the impacts from the agricultural industries quest for greater yields has affected the flavor of many products. What we grow today is entirely different from what was grown just decades ago. Most times these varieties and strains are created to boost yields above all else. We search for the best variety that not only produces well but makes it to market well. For example, watermelons in stores arent the best tasting varieties but they have tough rinds for shipping and decent enough flavor.
It would be fascinating to see someone make a spirit using old world varieties that have been kept alive and rediscovered over the years. See just what difference it makes because i bet the flavors would be far more complex with the old world varieties
I live on a property with a few varieties of oak and occasionally a 200+ year old one blows down and i cut it up and into slabs. Some of the old ones are like cutting stone. Completely different from the young wood which is quite soft when green. I can go through a 3" branch in one swing with a hand axe on them, but the old trees it just bounces off of.
.. Cheers to you. ..
Greeting mr Ralfy and thanks for the extra info.Single malt with coca cola my biggest nightmare,remember a friend of mine poured some coke in a 25 yr old Glenfarclas that I gave him and from next one,I switched his to JW red label. You don't deserve it.😆
I remember the moment when a senior manager told me some years ago "it only needs to be fit for purpose". I undestood immediately that quality had pretty much become of much lesser importance.
I detest the phrase "fit for purpose". It can be translated as "cheap".
Here here magic words my friend best is best 👌
Bourbon here, some produces are toying with green wood vs the old style seasoned wood. interesting for sure. the one product i'm into now is good and different
Problem is most bar-goers would enjoy sipping (or shooting) a cheap, sweet, and simple NAS than a 10 year Springbank (which is challenging). So it’s a hard sell to large producers trying to convince them to shift their product away from the many and toward the few. Sure, small boutique producers are happy to cater to us. But I understand why the big brands don’t, because if they did there is no guarantee that it would sell more (or even as many) bottles to the mass market which they have access to.
It would be like trying to convince Bud to switch their beer to a more flavorful craft style after all these years. That’s a niche compared to the couch potatoes who buy beer by the 30 rack.
Great video as always! Quick note though (and very much nit-picking here) but technically the husk of the barley adsorbs phenols and other peat derived compounds, not absorbs, as it is only bound to the surface of the husk.
What about doing a series on single grain whiskey
I've been browsing some this past month and most place do not have anything you or others recommended. AT ALL
Or very few to choose from. Bourbon it is for me lately.
These days it seems J.A. Mitchell and Bruichladdich are making some of the better distillate and you can taste it no matter what age it is. I can’t wait to try some of the Thompson Brothers stuff because they are true sticklers on quality over quantity
I have so many thoughts on this. First, what is it that makes new make spirit more characterful? Running into the feints? Wooden washbacks? Short stills? Local/heritage/low yield/ non-GMO barley? Wormtube cooling? Waxy build up in the stills? I love that old school waxy distillate mouth feel. Second, if a port pipe or other quality casks are much less money, why wouldn't you be using those? There is nothing wrong with using other fortified wine asks to make a rich, robust whisky. Third, Angus at the Whisky Sponge seems to bottle whisky that is light on the cask influence to allow the still signature to come through. I have a Balmenach 1988 33 year old from them that should be quite interesting. They seem to have a certain flavor profile to what they bottle. Fourth, I have a 2nd fill Arran sherry hogshead that was filled on 2/23/21. What age range should it be tasted at? When would you think it will peak?
Here in the USA if we get Liqueur that has been already been bottled but the product is damaged and can't be sold we store it. Then once a year the Fed's show up check and inventory everything and they escort it to to landfill and watch as the bulldozers destroy the product! I have been able to get a few collectable bottles that way, but they made me dump out the contents first!
Craft freeze dried of what ever they do now is very good. But that is far from the folgers crystals. ;)
Not to disparage Scotch at all (I love my favorites: Arran, Genfarclas & Glendronach), but I have to point out that Bourbon, with its strict guidelines/laws, this whole cask drama is a non-issue. New American White Oak is New American White Oak, and that's that. For Scotch, you have to do a lot more homework - which I think is the point of this tutorial.
Ralfy,could you do a video on proof/ABV and the differences between the British and American way,and why we do it different from the American way of just halving the proof to get their ABV.
Column Stills, bad cuts, and poor casks are prevalent in many new distilleries, cutting corners especially when trying to rush something to retail. Inexperience plays a part, too. IMO, it's important that distilleries be open to providing customers information about their products ON THE LABEL. I don't need to know this was an old recipe handed down from generation to generation, blah blah blah. A little disclosure never hurt anyone.
. . . you are right, and it does get noticed.
Is savoury a synonym of umami?
Do you seal your bottles with parafilm?
I'm sure if your keeping bottles in a collection it's always better to do so.If you're drinking them,there's not really any point.
. . . never.
@@ralfydotcom You seem strongly opposed?
🥃❤️👍
I think I understand most of what is said here but my question would be…are there a bunch of high quality casks laying around in different parts of the world that none of the distilleries are willing to purchase?
. . . probably. Due to red-tape and politics.
Yes too many newmakes are sweet, streamlined. No chance of getting a nice 25year old from those.
Ralfy, I recommend you also look into and talk about the quality of distillates. More people are aware of cask quality. Way less people are aware about why a quality distillate matters. A good cask can only carry poor distillate so far.
are you making your own whiskey ralfy
. . . no.
Yo Ralphy spelling was on point although I'm not the author of the mention, I'm Mikhail as well. Spells [MI ha i L], ancient Jewish name came to Eastern Europe and Slavic countries so to speak meaning Godlike. . All the best, now into the vid itself.
My god they're chill filtering the wood 🪵 😩 bakers oven, what next to rob us of flavour.