Cask Strength

"> Why do the distillers releases Cask Strength whisky?

Drew,

As an avid fan of CS scotch, I had to ponder a moment when I read your post. Why do I like CS whisky? I have several CS scotches that have anywhere from

48% to 59% alcohol. The only one I can drink any quantity of without ever adding any water or losing any taste because of a burned out tongue is Laphroaig 10 year old CS at 55.7%. This whisky is smooth and very flavorful to me, even with a high alcohol content.

I've also had the pleasure of trying some rare scotches (Glen Albyn, Rosebank, Port Ellen, etc) from closed distilleries where the whiskey was straight from the cask, no rectifying with water or filtration. Those whiskies were the most flavorful, I suppose because they have been carefully managed and you get it as it is in its natural state without filtration, watering or coloring. To me this is the joy of drinking CS whisky. You get the full charge and you can personally adjust it to your own liking.

I don't drink many drams in a evening of this high-powered stuff, but I do enjoy a good dram of it over an evening of sipping and relaxing. I guess you could say I drink it for the rich flavor and the personal ritual of enjoyment. If I just want to have several drinks in an evening, I adjust to a whisky with less octane. So, I guess I could say that enjoying CS whisky requires a little rigid flexibility :-)

I recently attended a couple of instructional tasting classes, both presented by Regis "Whisky-Mad" Lemaitre who taught us how to properly taste single malts and how the whisky flavours can change dramatically by adding a single drop of spring water. It was really a watershed moment for me, as I have been experimenting with different amounts of water over the years and never found much point in it. The point being that any MORE than about one drop just dilutes the dram, covering up the rather spectacular change that happens with that one drop.

It was explained that whiskies were bottled at about 40-46% ABV because that level of alcohol protects the delicate oils and esters from oxidation in the bottle. Apparently the distillers, who would like their product to stretch as far as possible, tried to reduce the concentration to 35% but the regulatory authorities in Scotland stepped in and stopped it. Bottling at "cask strength" preserves even more of the flavours and preserves them longer. For this reason, it may be wise to add 2 or even 3 DROPS of water to high ABV whisky to assist in that initial release of flavours.

Try it yourself.

Pour two seperate small portions of your favorite whisky-perhaps an ounce or so.

Taste one of the portions by cupping a small sip in the center of the tongue for a few seconds, then swallowing, breathing and noticing the flavours that you detect on the tip, sides and back of the tongue and around your mouth. If you don't breath, you miss a lot of the nuances.

Add one drop of water to the other portion of whiskey (Regis used a small straw to hold a couple of drops and he put one drop in each of our glasses) and repeat the taste test. Out of about 20-odd tasters in the room there was not one of us who was not blown away by the difference in the flavours and aromas of the whisky.

We repeated this comparison several times with a nice selection of whiskies and confirmed the effect. I immediately went back to the venue (Spirit of Toronto) and re-tasted a number of regular strengh and cask strenght malts using the one drop technique and was forced to update my tasting notes, especially with the higher ABV malts.

We just had a dram from the same Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Really very nice. Added one, maybe two drops of water to "improve" it a wee. Great depth, and does not blow one away.