Seawind and whiskey

[Psychotic Jehovah]

On Dutch whiskey websites they say that the taste of seawind is embedded in the taste of some whiskeys stocked near the sea. I haven't found any english websites, which makes me doubt it.

[Zep]

Yes, you ARE psychotic.

[shemp]

This calls for a long series of taste tests.

[Psychotic Jehovah]

Yes, you ARE psychotic.

I beg your pardon?

[ChristineR]

All other things being equal, the taste of whiskey should reflect the chemical composition of the soils the grains are grown on.

Of course all other things never are equal, so I wouldn't count on it.

But I agree with shemp. We need to start immediate research so that we can control for all these variables. We'll need to evaluate a large number of samples, as it will be hard to find two whiskeys that are identical except for "seawind."

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

All other things being equal, the taste of whiskey should reflect the chemical composition of the soils the grains are grown on.

Of course all other things never are equal, so I wouldn't count on it.

But I agree with shemp. We need to start immediate research so that we can control for all these variables. We'll need to evaluate a large number of samples, as it will be hard to find two whiskeys that are identical except for "seawind."
For the furthering of understand for the forum, I volunteer my palatte.

[TX50]

All other things being equal, the taste of whiskey should reflect the chemical composition of the soils the grains are grown on.



The wood the whisky is matured in has a much stronger influence.

ETA: In my explorations of the wondrous nectar that is Scotch Whisky I have
experienced flavours that range the entire gamut from "PVC plastic"
to "toffee". "sea spray" is a flavour note commonly attributed to some Islay
malts.

[jsfisher]

I've always considered Ardbeg (http://www.maltmaniacs.org/ADHD/ardbeg.html) to be an odd single malt, but mostly because it's green. That aside, one taster's appraisal of the 10-year-old variety is:

Sweet at first, followed by smoke and brine.


If I recall correctly, kelp is used in smoking the aging barrels.

[brodski]

All other things being equal, the taste of whiskey should reflect the chemical composition of the soils the grains are grown on.

Of course all other things never are equal, so I wouldn't count on it.


The water used in Whisky manufacture is also vital- hence the very distinctive peat flavour of Islay malts, as typified by Laphroaig.
They type of drink which was originally stored in the barrels is also vital. Scotch aged in Sherry casks is very different from scotch aged in Bourbon casks.

Oh and chill filtration is a fantastic method of destroying the taste, avoid.
As you say, all other things are never equal. ;)

[TX50]

Almost all mass-market bottlings are chill-filtered - I think Springbank is the
only one that isn't. As well as affecting flavour, chill-filtering also affects
mouth-feel.

They chill-filter whiskies for consistency of flavour and to accommodate
those unsophisticates who want to put ice in scotch whisky. As well as
being a flavour-killer, ice makes un-chill-filtered whiskys go cloudy.

To respond to the original post:

1. What do Dutchmen know about Scotch anyway? ;)

2. There is no "seawind" per se in the whisky of course. The whisky derives
its flavour from a variety of sources; starting from the variety of barley, the
soil it grows in, the water that is used to germinate the barley, the way the
barley is dried, the containers the wash ferments in, the wood that it
matures in, the atmosphere in the warehouse (the casks breathe during
maturation), the water that is used to dilute the final product before bottling
(all bottled whisky - even "cask strength" is diluted) etc, etc. The "seawind"
flavour could come from any of these.

[Dunstan]

The water used in Whisky manufacture is also vital- hence the very distinctive peat flavour of Islay malts, as typified by Laphroaig.

That's really a marketing myth more than reality. Almost none of the peat content in the finished whisky comes from the water; it comes from the peat smoke used to dry out the malted barley. Hence you can have Islay malts like Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain with very low peat content, even though they get their water from the same island as the peaty Islay malts like Ardbeg and Laphroaig. In fact, Bruichladdich now makes a special edition malt called Port Charlotte that has a peat content of 40 ppm as compared to the 5 ppm of their regular whisky. (http://www.realmalt.com/pc5/outpcsells.pdf) They use the same water; they just use more peat in the barley.

On the "sea air" issue: I can detect that kind of smell and taste in certain whiskies. And it's also true that some whisky is stored in warehouses that are right on the shore (Laphroiag is one example). But whether that's really the reason is hard to say. Whisky makers blend barrels that may have been stored in different warehouses, too, so you don't necessarily know where the whisky you're drinking was stored. 10% of it might have been aged in barrels near the sea, while the other 90% was aged in a warehouse in the middle of the mainland.

[Soapy Sam]

Blend? :faint:

[Dunstan]

Blend? :faint:

If you're referring to my post, I was talking about blending different barrels. Single malt whiskies are still made up of whiskies from different barrels, unless you're buying something specifically labelled as "single barrel whisky."

[DangerousBeliefs]

True confession - I like to drink 12 year old Scotch... with Coke.

(But it's a very very good whiskey and coke!)