Questions a Consumer Should Ask?

[cbenoit]

Hi all. In an effort to help my customers further their spirits education and figure out what they like, I've put together a draft "Questions to Ask When Buying Craft Spirits" pamphlet. Would love your feedback.

I don't want to presume (in this guide) to tell customers what each answer should yield by way of taste; just want to help them gather hard & relevant info.

Questions to ask when buying craft spirits:

• Is it a blend of spirits, or distillate that was produced from a single mix of grains ("single distillate")?
  

If Single Distillate:

• Ingredients:
  
  • What's the "mash bill"? (I.e., what feed stock was used?)
    
    • For whiskey:
      
      • If more than one grain, then what percentage of each grain makes up the mash bill?
        
      • Were any of the grains malted? (i.e., were grains sprouted before being "mashed", aka boiled together?)
        

      [*]For rum:

      • Sugar cane? Molasses? Something else?
        

  [*]Process:

  • What type of still was used? (Pot, Column, or Hybrid)
    
  • Was a single still used, or more than one type?
    
  • What size of still(s)?
    
  • Did the distillate pass through on one run of the still, or multiple?
    

• Ageing:
  
  • Was it aged? If yes, then:
    
    • What size of barrel? (Anywhere from 5-55 gallon barrels)
      
    • New barrel or one that's already aged alcohol? If used, then with what (e.g. old bourbon barrel, old port barrel, etc.)
      
    • What type of wood? (E.g. American Oak, French Oak...)
      
    • Were there wood chips in the barrel? (and if so, what type of wood?)
      
    • Barrel's char level? (Light #1 - Heavy #4)
      
    • Anything else? (E.g. accelerated ageing techniques).
      

If Blend:

Short answer is that all bets are off, unless the Blender or Bottler can answer the above for each spirit that was blended together. Even if they can answer though, they may not, as leading Master Blenders often won't share. And be wary of casual references when discussing blends. For example, it's not uncommon for whiskey that has a mash bill that is only partly rye grain (maybe less than half) to be referred to as "rye whiskey". So if someone says "a blend of rye whiskies", there could actually be all sorts of other grains used. On the other hand, some blenders (e.g. John Hall of Forty Creek) actually distill individual grains one at a time (so single-grain mash bills) and do their artistry on the ageing side of the equation.

Blending is definitely an art. Master blenders have a very tough job in producing a consistent flavor profile for what may be a huge production run.

But the bottom line on blended spirits is that you're generally going to have to accept your consumer education being limited to associations between brand names and tastes, as opposed to quantifiable information generally available for a single distillate.

[tl5612]

"Of course a lot of whisky history is fake or, at the very least, conveniently assembled. The idea of pure single malts – the “expressions” that distilleries slave over, and that whisky enthusiasts come from all over the world to savour and collect – did not exist until the 1960s. Before then, malt whisky was sold wholesale to be mixed with cheaper “grain” whisky (made out of wheat), and turned into blends. It was Glenfiddich, in a Don Draper-ish moment in 1961, that came up with the idea of distilling all that rain and Highland lore into something unique and expensive."

[jeffw]

Not sure I like the idea of claiming single malt is better. I imagine you are saying that it is better if everything is made by the same producer, which isn't necessarily the same thing. I really like the idea of aging different components of bourbon separately and then blending with them later. Perhaps you would make a better bourbon with 6 year old corn whiskey in large barrels using one yeast and a 3 year old rye from small barrels using a different yeast. I think I understand what you are trying to express, but I don't agree that single malt is better than a blend. At the end of the day taste should be the ultimate arbiter, with the caveat that I don't think there should be flavorings and additives.

[Tom's Foolery]

I really like the idea of aging different components of bourbon separately and then blending with them later.

This could make an interesting whiskey, but not a bourbon. According to the CFR, "Bourbon is Whisky produced .... from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn ..." What you described would be "BLENDED WHISKY OR WHISKY – A BLEND"

[Tom's Foolery]

Hi Cbnoit,

Great questions. I am thrilled that you are taking the time and interest to research this topic and to inform your customers. They are lucky.

I think I know what you are trying to get at with your question "Is it a blend of spirits, or distillate that was produced from a single mix of grains ("single distillate")"

Here is how the ADI phrases a similar question to craft distillers submitting products to be judged, which I think gets to the point in a farily clear manner:

"Was any part of this spirit distilled at another facility?"

Tom

[nick jones]

I'd like to start by saying that this is an amazingly important and worth-while project that you're undertaking. Bravo.

For what it's worth, here's my two cents:

Questions to ask when buying craft spirits:

• Is it a blend of spirits, or distillate that was produced from a single mix of grains ("single distillate")?
  

I believe that the question that you mean to ask is more like, "is it a blend of spirits from different distillers, or is was it distilled and bottled at a single distillery". "Single" refers to the distiller, not the number of different grains in the mash bill.

• 
  
  • What's the "mash bill"? (I.e., what feed stock was used?)
    
    • For whiskey:
      
      • If more than one grain, then what percentage of each grain makes up the mash bill?
        
      • Were any of the grains malted? (i.e., were grains sprouted before being "mashed", aka boiled together?)
        

The grain bill is important. Whether or not any of the grains were malted, in my opinion, takes a back seat to whether or not the mash was saccharified with only endogenous enzymes (e.g. no artificial enzymes added). If a mash is saccharified by only endogenous enzymes, than a sufficient portion of that mash consisted of malted "something" (most likeley 6-row barley) to turn it into whiskey, and that mash was conducted in a traditional manner. If artificial enzymes were used, the mash could consist of a mixture of flour and water and enzymes, saccharified at room temperature. Like you, I'm not making judgements, I'm just trying to think of what aspects of our industry consumers might be curious to know about, without giving them more information than they need or want.

• Process:
  
  • What type of still was used? (Pot, Column, or Hybrid)
    
  • Was a single still used, or more than one type?
    
  • What size of still(s)?
    
  • Did the distillate pass through on one run of the still, or multiple?
    
  • 
    

I think that the distinction between continuous stills vs batch stills is clearer and more important to make than the distinctions that you mentioned. In my opinion, the remaining aspects of the stills that you mention are TMI, and 99% of consumers won't care, even if we distillers like to brag about our stills to each other.

• Ageing:
  
  • Was it aged? If yes, then:
    
    • What size of barrel? (Anywhere from 5-55 gallon barrels)
      
    • New barrel or one that's already aged alcohol? If used, then with what (e.g. old bourbon barrel, old port barrel, etc.)
      
    • What type of wood? (E.g. American Oak, French Oak...)
      
    • Were there wood chips in the barrel? (and if so, what type of wood?)
      
    • Barrel's char level? (Light #1 - Heavy #4)
      
    • Anything else? (E.g. accelerated ageing techniques).
      

Of these considerations, I'd consider the continent of origin of the oak to be meaningless from a production standpoint (though marketers and consumers do love to talk about it, and many distillers will disagree with me), and I'd say that char vs toast is a more important factor than char level. Everything else is pretty right on.

When I read your analysis of blended products, I did not at all take it as a slight to the blenders that produce the amazing spirits that they do. But, as you say, a blender may not be the best source of information for how exactly each portion of his blend was distilled, and there are those blenders out there that seem intent on mis-information for marketing purposes.

Keep us posted on the result of your research, I can't wait to see it! I'd love to hand a poster of it out to our accounts!

Nick

[cbenoit]

jeffw - definitely not trying to make any judgments here, or promote or detract any production technique. Just trying to help my customers by giving them a spectrum of production questions, each returning a firm, non-subjective answer.

Tom & Nick, thanks for the support and feedback! Agreed that the "single distillate" thing is awkward, but I guess I was trying to phrase it so as to lock down whether the distillate came from a spirit run of a particular wash, or whether the spirit was mixed with other spirit (including in house) following the spirit run. Maybe that's getting too deep, but at the same time I'd like to avoid having assumptions embedded into the questions, because lord knows that's a slippery slope.

Nick, to your other points:

Enzymes - that's great, adding it, thanks.

Still - agreed, will switch to just "batch" or "continuous".

Ageing - yea, I'm inclined to agree, I'll just merge the wood type barrel question into "What type and size of barrel?"

Will share soon!