Everyone knows the adage about making lemonade when life palms you lemons, however what about when life as a substitute delivers a load of Vienna malt? For those who’re the distillers at Portland, Oregon’s Westward Whiskey, who by chance obtained the flippantly toasted number of malted barley usually utilized by brewers instead of their standard order, you make a brand new fashion of whiskey.
Distilled in 2019 and launched as an unique to Westward’s Whiskey Membership earlier this 12 months, to say that Vienna Malt Single Barrel is uncommon is a little bit of an understatement since distillers virtually universally favor the usage of the pale, enzymatically wealthy cereal often called distiller’s malt over some other sort of malt, together with Vienna. It isn’t, nonetheless, unprecedented.
Glenmorangie Distillery’s director of whisky creation Dr. Invoice Lumsden was impressed to formulate a scotch single malt primarily based on his love of espresso. To take action, he turned to a roasted malt. Figuring that roasted malt may convey to whisky a number of the flavors and aromas the roasting of espresso beans brings to his morning beverage. Lumsden created a mash with 20% chocolate malt and aged the ensuing spirit in a mix of virgin, sherry, and bourbon oak.
Within the extra freewheeling United States, the way in which was led way back to the mid-Nineties by what might simply be referred to as the nation’s first specialty malt whiskey, Anchor Distilling’s Outdated Potrero. Anchor founder Fritz Maytag fused scotch single malt distillation methods with America’s historic love of rye to create a whiskey distilled solely from malted rye, a grain then unusual even in craft brewing.
Distilleries like Westward, with its craft brewing background, and Chattanooga Whiskey, for whom specialty malts kind “a foundational part” of their whiskeys, adopted go well with, as did others within the U.S., Canada, Scotland, and even Australia. For Ru-tele˙ Marc˘iulionyte˙, who studied the usage of specialty malts in whisky whereas incomes her PhD in brewing and distilling at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt College, such practices characterize a large vein of untapped potential.
“Specialty malts can present an incredible vary of flavors, from caramel and raisin (crystal malt), to hazelnut and chocolate (flippantly roasted malts), to espresso and even smoky aromas (closely roasted malts),” she says, “Nevertheless, such malts are sometimes missed by distillers, as they’ve decrease quantities of fermentable sugars, which suggests decreased alcohol yield.” Additional, Chattanooga’s chief product officer Grant McCracken notes, “malt” is a phrase that applies to extra than simply barley. “We use lots of totally different malted grains, together with barley, wheat, rye, triticale, oats, and rice,” he says, “Whereas the varieties are just about infinite, it’s one thing of an uphill battle explaining that to those that view malt as solely pale, delicately flavored malted barley.”
Placing all these malts collectively is usually a problem, which is why Rabbit Gap Distillery founder Kaveh Zamanian favors a “culinary strategy,” tasting the substances earlier than assembling them in a recipe, very similar to a chef does.
“American whiskey tends to concentrate on the underside line, which precludes the usage of specialty malts.” he says. “However as I wish to say, bourbon is 51% corn and 49% potentialities, and I wish to discover that potential.” —Stephen Beaumont
Specialty Malt Whiskies to Attempt
94 Glenmorangie Signet Scotch Single Malt, 46%, $350
Distilled annually, the usage of chocolate malt delivers mocha aromas and flavors of bitter chocolate balanced by sweetness and spice.
92 Chattanooga Rye, 49.5%, $45
With 60% of the mash made up of pale, caramel, and chocolate malted rye, this boasts a forest-full of aromas and an virtually chewy texture.
90 Outdated Potrero 6 12 months outdated Rye, 48.5%, $65
A mash of solely malted rye gives ample berry and spice aromas and a wealthy spiciness on the layered palate.
90 Westward Vienna Malt American Single Malt, 45%, $100
The flippantly kilned Vienna malt produces contemporary grain aromas with fruity undertones, and candy vanilla and coconut on the palate.
89 Rabbit Gap Cavehill Bourbon, 47.5%, $65
70% corn and 10% every of malted wheat, malted barley, and honey malt gives a honey-ish nostril and a light-weight, fruity-caramel sweetness.
