Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb/Mar 2021 i Whisky Magazine

Like many people, my partner and I have had almost zero ‘in person’ contact with our siblings, parents and grandparents (or anyone else, for that matter) for most of the past year. There has been a fair bit of waving through windows, a few socially distanced front-garden conversations, a great many video calls (though probably not as many as there should have been) and a lot of grumbling about a Christmas spent apart. Perhaps this enforced separation from my own nearest and dearest is the reason why my mind has turned of late to the importance of family ties in the world of whisky. Ask any group of whisky drinkers about their first experience of the spirit and one is most likely to hear a story or two about how…

On the morning of 12 December, 2020, Simon Sinek’s TED Talk How Great Leaders Inspire Action had 52,852,152 views on YouTube. At the end of the day, it had two more because I watched it twice. I actually watch it every few months. I crave it like I crave watching a favourite movie or listening to a song I love. In the clever 18-minute talk, he explains how companies, brands or people inspire loyalty by simply inspiring in a way that has nothing to do specifically with the company, brand or person. He presents his theory of the Golden Circle: three concentric circles representing the questions why, how and what, starting from the centre and moving outwards. He sums it up as, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy…

Sponsored by AMORIM TOP SERIES INDUCTEE NO.69 FRED NOE Master distiller, Jim Beam A seventh-generation master distiller, the great-grandson of Jim Beam and the son of Frederick ‘Booker’ Noe Jr., Fred Noe III has curated a level of expertise within the industry that is truly top-class. With that he has rightfully earned his place in whiskey history and alongside that, his position as the 69th inductee to the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame. Fred was born Frederick Booker Noe III in Bardstown, Kentucky on 9 March, 1957. His formative years were spent growing up in the same house that his great grandfather had previously lived in. Fred’s life was steeped in whiskey culture from the word go and, upon his graduation from Bellarmine College in 1983, he began working on…

The eighth wonder of the world, as Count Basie called Art Tatum Jr., was born on 13 October, 1909 in Toledo, Ohio. Being blessed with an incredible sense of hearing, at the age of three Tatum could already play, by ear, the piano roll recordings from his mother’s collection. His perfect pitch probably compensated for the fact that he was virtually blind. Turning six years old he developed such an incredible speed and accuracy that he played compositions originally meant as duets. His great inspiration was famous stride pianist Fats Waller. When Tatum joined a cutting contest in 1933, he played against his hero and was propelled to stardom almost immediately. Throughout the years, he has influenced many jazz musicians, not only pianists. Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker is reputed to…

Sorghum is the fifth most cultivated cereal in the world and the most popular grain in spirit distillation. The reason for this is because China has more than 40,000 distilleries using sorghum to produce their national spirit, Baijiu. Centuries before Germany and later Britain began distilling beer, in the 14th century, China distilled proto-whiskies from mashes of sorghum, barley and rice. More than 1.2 billion cases of Baijiu sold last year, exceeding the total worldwide sales of whisky and rum combined. Due to its rapidly rising popularity sorghum is touted as the grain of the 21st century. Sorghum is a grass grain, native to North Africa and Australia. As a member of the Poaceae taxonomy, this means only cereal mashes from this grass genus can be classified as whisky by…

We all know that whisky takes a long time: a long time to produce and a long time to mature. “It’s the exact same process with its branding,” explains Steven Shand, brand manager at Wemyss Malts. The Edinburgh-based independent bottler and blender, managed by brother and sister William and Isabella Wemyss (pronounced ‘Weems’), was founded in 2005 and, since its inception, much of the growth and development of its ranges has been purely organic. However, since joining the company just under five years ago, Steven has been busy garnering customer feedback to identify exactly how people perceived the company and its products. Following years of research, in November last year a vibrant, new look for the company’s core range of blended malts – The Hive, Spice King and Peat Chimney…

Taster biographies Rob Allanson Rob is editor-at-large of Whisky Magazine and formally held the position as a global brand ambassador for William Grant & Sons' whisky portfolio. His experience in the industry, which has seen him explore whiskies from around the world, has given him a keen and well-versed palate. Christopher Coates A member of the team since 2013 and a keen whisky drinker long before that, Christopher was recently appointed as editor of Whisky Magazine. Beyond this, he is head of content and marketing for this title’s parent company and is also chair of judges for the World Whiskies Awards and the Independent Bottlers Challenge. THE PROCESS All samples are blind tasted, with ABV and style the only information disclosed. Samples are tasted individually over a two week period.…

Raymond left Airdrie Academy at 18 and joined Honeywell, an American company, as a technical apprentice where he soon became an environmental test engineer. Raymond always wanted a career in sales and moved to work for Crown paints and then Matchbox toys. One day a colleague asked if he would be interested in setting up a new division for Edinburgh Crystal, to manage their new corporate business. After a while he realised that Edinburgh Crystal were unable to supply the needs of this new range of customers. The corporate customers were far more demanding. Their technical demands, such as exacting fill levels, effective closures, and prevention of lead leaching told Raymond that there was an opportunity to establish a business to meet these requirements. Raymond established Glencairn but was always…

It always amazes me when people maintain that a distillery can’t be family owned because it’s so big, or the family is wealthy, or the product is so popular, or [insert caveat here]. In Kentucky, there are a lot of family-owned distilleries. When you look at the quintessential distilling family in Kentucky, you look at the Beams. There are Beams at distilleries not just in Kentucky, but dotted throughout history in various distilleries. The Beams owned a distilling company up until Prohibition. Some of the Beams stayed in the distilling business, though. Joseph Beam went to Juarez, Mexico during Prohibition with Mary Dowling, owner of Waterfill & Frazier, to set up the distilling shop outside the borders of Prohibition-era America and make Bourbon. In Kentucky during Prohibition, one of the…

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An overriding reason for ensuring that air flows through ageing warehouses is to prevent alcohol vapours from accumulating and risking a fire or explosion. But air flow also influences conditions in ageing warehouses, and consequently the ageing process. How influential this is depends on various factors, including the volume and rate of air flow, as well as the temperature and humidity levels. These are, in turn, determined by the individual design of a warehouse, as well as the location and degree of exposure to the climate. An initial division to note is between the traditional dunnage compared to a modern racked warehouse. A dunnage is a low building with thick stone or brick walls and a slate roof, where casks are stacked two or three high. Racked warehouses are larger-scale…