Independence Day Special Release! (2023)

Introduction

Ben & Charlie uncork our latest USA Exclusive Cask in celebration of Independence Day 2023!

Enter the lottery for a chance to order your bottle here: smwsa.com/pages/3-346-lottery-drawing

Video

Hey everyone welcome back to the scotch malt whiskey Society of America, America, America, as you can tell we're feeling very American today.

Actually, this is like we've we're on our American roll this week tonight we're gon na be uh on corking, our brand new USA exclusive Cask bottled for Society, members on America and chosen specifically for the birthday of America Independence Day.

So it's a big one.

It's a big one.

We were here.

We were here well, Charlie, you weren't here Scott and I were here on the channel a couple nights ago, doing a pretty American themed.

You know tasting, which was three American whiskeys I've recycled, my America lighting background for the stream and uh you're on location, right, you're, trying you're, you're you're, your usual home bar is nowhere to be seen it's nowhere to be found.

I am instead in America.

No I'm! I'M always in America, but I have taken the opportunity to come visit my parents in Florida, so I am now in South Florida and I'm doing a little bit of an impromptu version, no sweet background.

I only have the bottles I need uh, but luckily the bottles.

I have are still spectacular and exciting and I get to do a little tasting with my family too.

So it's all going to be good down here in Florida, very nice, very nice um well yeah we're looking forward to this one.

It won't be that long of a stream.

You know, of course, we're just uncorking one whiskey.

Typically, we'll do a you know at least three to five whiskeys on these when we preview our out turn um, but we got one tonight which we're pretty excited for, and first just a quick shout to everyone.

First Duke Mikhail, says good evening.

Duke was the first one in the chat good to see you Luke whiskey, Franco's back good, to see you again hello and good evening.

Folks, a lot of good evenings um and Sean Spieth comments.

It was so hard to refrain from buying those B7 bottles during the sale yesterday.

Well I hear you I uh.

I felt that way, but there's always another fish, I don't say a bigger fish, but that's a good thing about the society.

It's like man.

We always have new things rolling out, so maybe this is something up your alley, but uh glad you've enjoyed those in the past, so um you're excited yeah yeah.

I I just want to jump in because you're saying it's not typical that we just do a One.

Whiskey tasting, but you know looking forward to this one, not really knowing what to expect aside from what's on the stat sheet here, I think it's one that deserves the full attention of an evening like I'm, actually excited that we can just sit down.

Take as much time with this as we need dig in as deep as we need to dig in and we've got this whole Cask for our us members right.

So it's something that you know.

I, I think it's a really special one.

It's for a special occasion.

It's super exciting and I I don't know it's gon na be good, I think yeah.

So we will that's a good point.

I think we'll do go as deep in this dive as uh.

Everyone here would like us to, I mean I think Charlie night would probably be able to do that with subconsciously, without really being conscious of the time that goes by, but we won't, you know it won't take forever, but yeah we'll we'll introduce it we'll get into It there's a lot to talk about.

I think, because there have been some similar tasks uh recently, and you know I think for us, as our members understand too, of course, but there's, although we might bottle whiskeys from some same distilleries, similar cast types.

No two single casts are ever alike, and I think that was really accentuated a couple nights ago, when we did that B7.

The bourbon uh tasting Scott Scott and I all all three Bourbons from the same Distillery, different Mash bills.

But man they were like totally different.

Whiskeys so um anyway, that's just the the our motto is not to judge the whiskey by its cover and judge it by the liquid and, of course, uh we'll do that tonight.

Have you no? Have you tried this one yet so I tried it uh probably about two weeks ago and then I took a tiny sip of it just because I was so excited and then I put it away, I haven't tried it again since so I don't.

Actually.

I didn't even take notes.

I didn't try and bias my opinions anyway, because I knew we were going to do this tasting.

I just saw the bottoms like I can't let I can't be looking at this every day for the next two weeks and not having even taken a sip, so yeah yeah, yeah, we've um.

So before we I have policy suspension.

I have not opened mine yet usually I try to open these for the first time on the live stream.

I didn't do that for the Bourbons, but here we are um I'll.

Pour it we'll have some time to talk about it, see if it changes in the class.

Of course, you know why Independence Day well, I think for everybody, if you've been a member for at least a few years now, you may have noticed probably four or five years ago we did we we were assigned, or I should say we had the the opportunity To offer or excuse me bottle, what am I trying to say here bottle offer a U.S exclusive cast to our members here in the US, our club has grown a lot man in the US.

Things have been different.

I remember four or five years ago that the opportunity to get a full cast just for American members was something we had to pitch with our colleagues in the UK and um.

It was very different from sort of how we've operated, which is to share some allocation of every Cask around the world um.

But now it seems, like you know, with the sort of increased interest of Americans for the society growth and sort of our membership.

We've been able to every year now turn to them and say: hey, look.

We want more than one we want.

You know we've been, I think, we've had like a dozen, so it makes sense right because our club's grown and there's only so many bottles per single cask.

But I'm excited for this one because hey I, I hope I'm not wrong.

I'M taking a shot here because I I don't actually know the answer.

Lawyers say: don't ask a leading question.

If you don't know the answer, but I'm going to take my chance here was that was that first task that was brought in that you're talking about for Independence Day.

Was that the one that you named um - I didn't name it I did the I did.

I did the pick there was the oh, you did the pen 93.

yeah, so I we've had a few over the years for Independence Day and I think it's sort of been our leading because it was one of the first.

What we offered we, we got for members, the Independence Day theme Cask.

It was um, I think it's been one of our strongest ones, but yeah barbecue and fishnets.

It was 93 point.

I don't know, forget the number at this point, but um.

That was if that was the one we saw with a few years ago, and we've had since then uh some sort of uh, again Independence Day exclusive Cask.

But we've chosen these.

Oh here gcat, 93 114 George Kaplan yeah.

Well, you would think in 2019.

Okay, that's what I was thinking um, so we've had a few since then last year was called the rockets red glare.

I saw a comment earlier about um Tommy JB said number three big difference from the 58.

yeah Rockets right glare, roster anyway, yeah we've um, I'm gon na I'm not gon na I'm gon na not continue rambling and bore everybody.

Maybe I think actually we did choose the name.

I think I chose The Cask and Tom and I together came up with the name we so anyway.

The theme of these casts are always, of course, independence day, but it's not just like here's, a whiskey for the birthday of America, it's kind of like what's a good whiskey for the summer time, and so we started with barbecue and fishnets.

It was like a really bold Camelton, whiskey in uh podcast, and we thought man.

This would go really well with like it was like just sampling it.

We thought man.

This is incredible for uh, just for for grilling out like it would go really well with.

Obviously, the past time of grilling and being outside on 4th of July, so we've kind of taken different approaches over the years and this one we'll uh we'll see.

I mean I I've sampled this I should mentioned a year ago when we went made the pick, but it's been that long since and now to be able to actually see the bottle, have the whole thing ready to go and in the glass again.

It's always a different experience.

Should we show everyone else, the bottle is it? Is it that time or uh should we keep talking? Let's show the bottle.

So this is it it's three now my camera, maybe I got you, I got you yeah.

I have some auto focus thing on, so it's a special label Again cast 3.346, nothing quite like it.

It's kind of a bit of a challenge we'll we'll see, but it's an 18 year old, Isla uh cask and now the celebratory labels are pretty cool, but they don't there's some information.

That's left off that you would find on our core labels, but it's 18 years old from a second fill X, bourbon Hogs, head 57.3 percent, ABC so pretty special Whiskey on paper.

I think those we see like the interest of Isla whiskey and mature Isla whiskey just through the roof, I'm in I'm excited.

Let me ask you Charlie what what are your initial thoughts like? I guess you've tasted it so, but I honestly don't remember anything okay about what it was in the glass, though so I'm coming into this totally blind aside from remembering that, I liked it a lot yeah, nothing specific.

I think what we'll do, let's I'm going to open this one up right now, we'll taste this, what I'm excited for I'll, just yeah, I think it's.

We try not to make any judgments before tasting the liquid, but what I'm excited for when I see this on paper is that it's in a pure American Oak, ex-bourbon Hogs head older, islet whiskey.

I love and I don't get me wrong.

I love the style of maturing peated ILO whiskey in some sort of wine cask, particularly like a Sherry cast.

I love that combination.

In fact, we have one right now in our shop, which is still available, which was The Distillery three rare release bottle in a release.

Last month, so maybe what we'll do is is taste this one and revisit that one at the end and sort of make a comparison, because I understand a lot of you at home.

Probably have that bottle or picked up something like it and we'll do a little comparison.

So so I've heard you say at least twice.

You know you don't want to pre-judge this one and it can.

It can be For Better or For Worse, but this one also has been judged in multiple competitions and has done extraordinarily well, so you know whether we're we're judging it or not in blind tastings yeah, where you don't have the stat sheet, it has done really well That I think, when you come into a tasting with an expectation like that, sometimes it can actually have the opposite effect.

You've built it up too much and it can be a letdown.

So I'm trying to like rebalance it's almost like the resetting of the karma by acknowledging that this thing is good, so hopefully I'm not setting my expectations too high um, but it is supposed to be phenomenal.

Whiskey, I'm super excited.

I I really want to dive back into this.

I don't know just everything about it, screams that it should be awesome.

I'M with you, I love getting to try.

I call them just like naked whiskeys, they haven't been finished up in a wine cask or you know, share a cask or anything too exotic.

You know you're, seeing a lot more.

I mean even the side zones, I'm like IPA cask and just really exciting experiments, but sometimes especially, if something's a little bit more matured.

I love just tasting it on its own, at an experiment or out of a French oak or something yeah, I'm at that point too.

Um you're right! So this this one.

Just we found out, we scored 95 points out of 100 at the uh Ultimate Experience challenge.

Uh 2023 also won a gold medal at the San Francisco Earth competition, so yeah it has been entered and performed really well in two of like the most uh prestigious Spirits competitions in the world.

But you know I every time I also say this.

Every time we even having written that email announcing it every time we win Awards it's great, but I just want to remind everybody that every whiskey we bottle is scored rigorously by our own expert tasting pedal on Edinburgh.

So so the whiskey by definition, has to pass a certain uh level of scrutiny even before it goes in the glass so and even just talking specifically about competitions.

One thing I didn't really consider it's obvious when I think about, but I didn't consider it until I started working in the industry and was in a position where I had to select bottles to submit to competitions.

Logistically, especially if you're dealing with single cast, you can't submit everything you have to give multiple bottles to each competition and we can't Rob our members of that.

So we have to select from this great subset, which ones we want to put in, and that doesn't mean that these are exclusively necessarily the best whiskeys that we make each year.

So these are the ones that that we had in time or that fit a certain need that we wanted to Showcase in competition.

So it's not not always going to be the best, but at least it's qualified as great.

So let's get into this one.

I I fully agree, and I've just knows this.

I think this is uh.

I'M already my mind is already the wheels are spinning, because I I think this is very, very different.

First of all than other Distillery, three bottlings we've had recently immediately.

It's a very, very sort of evocative, deep, complex, Aroma lightly: peated, that's the flavor profile.

But for me I I mean, I think, that's on the money that we've talked about this Charlie there's some some whiskeys, that we came out in the flavor profiles and they can go either way, especially if it's lightly peated or oily and Coastal.

This to me is right on the threshold just nosing first impression between oil and Coastal and lightly peated, and for me it's actually not.

You may disagree, it's not driven as much by the amount of peat but by the amount of coastal I'm getting in it.

There's so much Maritime in this glass for me that that's actually more so than the fact that it is lightly peated.

What makes me think like? Oh, this could go either way because I definitely do get heat and it's it's a really aromatic kind of like charred fruit Distillery.

Three often for me has like grilled, pineapple or charred pineapple notes, yeah, but it's really fruity and leathery and very Coastal yeah.

I definitely get that a little big, big Russia saline um.

You mentioned grilled pineapples and, as you were saying, as you said, grilled pineapples, I was smelling just that I mean it sort of triggered the recognition of my mind, but I was thinking like sort of uh, stewed, red apples as well, very, very fruity and aromatic as You've said um any real spices, I'm not getting a tongue.

No.

For me, I'm getting more even florals, like almost delicate flowery, like almost steep Botanicals um, which for an island I mean, I guess maybe that speaks to the age, but for an Isla whiskey to be getting such subtle.

Bright floral notes is pretty atypical yeah very very overall, I would say in the in the category of Isla whiskeys.

This is on the very sort of uh elegant side of the spectrum.

If there's such a side um, it's not the Bold in your face, like the P smack in the what do they say like the rush of salt, water or smacking in the face, it's a very, very sort of faint Coastal, Breeze um, which has me thinking.

You know when we, when we did our first USA exclusive pick back in 2019.

The intent there, the the the the the the setting that we envisioned this would be enjoyed, is was afternoon or like early evening palette, saturated something that can hold up to barbecue and everything.

This is more for me just nosing, this sort of after dinner fireworks, maybe even post fireworks.

If you're watching fireworks come on we're all American here um, you know what I mean like it's.

Definitely it's it's a it's a more tranquil relaxing thing or maybe, but challenge that I I would love this with a fish taco I mean maybe that's sacrilegious, because I probably wouldn't actually drink it with the fish taco.

But just like those notes to me would go so well together, maybe with like a a mango salsa or something yeah.

That would be superb uh I going back into it.

I was getting way more bourbon Cask notes, um, which I think again speaks to how lightly peted this actually is that you're still getting those caramely, vanilla notes actually being able to jump out of the glass put the glass up here.

You can't really see it doesn't Focus this eye tracking, but um color wise.

It's it's pretty like a light Amber.

I think mine looks darker yeah.

Your your screen, I think, shows a more accurate Hue, but mine looks darker just with the other lights behind me.

Um.

That's classic, you know almost two decades in Bourbon wood and uh.

I love I love with our whiskeys, with the no color added that, like two decades it can be an active task and for the most part, it's still not super dark, and I just love doing tastings with people who haven't ever experienced that in they're, like wait.

You're telling me that's 20 years old, why is it so light? It's like? Well, because that's the color, it actually is.

You know um well, natural, oh natural, um, let's, let's taste this real, quick I've seen a lot of great questions come in, but I think maybe just for the for the flow of this, and also so I don't have any more patience.

So I want to taste this and then come back to I'll I'll, let you jump in while addressing a question uh the blockling was asking.

If this is the lottery bottle we announced today.

Yes, this is the lottery bottle uh.

Unfortunately, this can't be available to everyone.

Anticipating the intense demand it would have uh we've done a lottery to be fair to everybody, so make sure that you check that email click, the link submit your email address to be entered and for a chance to win this one.

I think it'll probably be good.

I I don't know we, you know, we don't know, that's for sure.

I think they'll probably be good odds if you enter I'm not.

You know, of course, there's no guarantees because we have more members and we have bottles available, but I think for this one um.

I just have a feeling, if you, if you want it, you can probably get it.

Please don't quote me on that, because again I have no idea.

We are kind of we've shared.

The news of this has won a couple Awards and whenever our Whiskey's win Awards, I do see like a big increase in interest from the membership, but anyway 252 bottles available.

So yeah, it's a I mean we got the whole Cask right.

We wanted to make sure we secured that, so it's a it's a pretty good showing you should have a pretty good chance.

But yes, this is a lottery bottle, so cheers I'm gon na give this one cheers so, first of all right away, much Bolder on the palette.

I was kind of commenting on how just elegant or delicate the aroma was it's a really really big, bold delivery and the peat smoke is, I think, for me continuous to what you experience.

It's pretty light.

You know it's not it's not a rush like a smack.

In the face of smoke, but it's a big I don't know for me at gas strength, it's a much Bolder whiskey that I anticipated.

I was surprised at the continuity, at least in notes.

I think that it turned the intensity, the volume of the flavors up, but it actually had a lot of very strong continuity in terms of the specific taste I was getting that I had on the news and then very exciting for me, because I love this.

It's something I generally find more in like sweet, fruity, mellow drams, but got like the white gummy bears into the Finish.

There was like a very I even noticed.

I was making a face, there's like a moment where it just flipped from being this peat forward bigger kind of more intense experience into this really fruity kind of bright, Lively thing going on at the back of the palette, I'm going straight to water.

You know.

Typically, I'm sitting here thinking you know when we often open bottles of various pita or pita whiskeys or Island whiskeys.

Here on the channel, it's usually uh following a couple, others in a sequence, and so this is I'm relaxing.

This is the.

What I'm saying is like wow.

This is so much stronger than I thought it would be, but maybe I want to just double check that, because um, it is the first Whiskey on the palette right now, so I've immediately added some water to open it up.

A little bit and see what we have going on here, but man.

This is it's funny, I just very often for me when I'm nosing in particular, but sometimes when I'm tasting as well.

I get brought back to a place and I may not even remember specifically what I was drinking, but I'm just back in a setting where I had something else, and I was just transported renosing - that to Golden promise in Paris, in their Cellar.

Doing like some phenomenally old whiskey tasting with the the gentleman down there and and my girlfriend Katie, and we just had like one of those legendary nights, and I was just totally transported back there smelling.

It's just got that like old style, that I don't know that old style, Isla Pete, really integrated, so much Coastal influence, just beautiful yeah this.

This is everything going on.

It's it's multi.

It's fruity there is that gentle sort of sea breeze.

I've added some water by the way, and so so for me, you know the water, unsurprisingly, did its job and it's sort of calmed down the overall delivery.

It's opened up more flavors, getting a little bit more like a lemon seed oil there's just a natural like more it's more citrusy a little bit, if I'm just on the Finish now, a little bit more Woody, of course.

Typically, when you'll Add Water, you, you tend to get more fruity notes and Woody notes as well um and I'm getting all that.

But everything for me on this one taste it again, but nothing everything's, pretty, really well balanced, nothing's standing out.

You know The Cask, the spirit I think the time so it's 18 years in a in a second Felix bourbonahong, said man.

I just think that's like a magic formula.

You know 18 year.

Almost you know a couple decades or less in second fill not like a first fill third fill I mean it's all gray, but I mean just I think I've seen reminding myself of exactly what this is on paper like we see so many of these second fill For this amount of time is just such a beautiful combination.

That, I would say, is the is the unsung hero of the cast selections.

It's a more old-school way of doing it.

I mean, if you're intending that long extended maturation a lot of the time.

You'll want a cask, that's not quite as active, so you can kind of get that gradual development that more extended interplay between distillate and cask, and I actually uh.

Just last November I was working with the Distillery.

I bought a cask from them and had that option.

If I wanted it to be in first fill a refill - and I I plan on Aging this thing, for you know, 20 plus years, so I asked them drop that in a refill barrel for sure I imagine, I'm probably one of very few people who chooses that Option you know, but I'm thinking long term on this and I'd love, you have a little bit more control a little bit more flexibility to monitor.

With that second fill before The Cask really starts to put his fingerprints in the whiskey you can always.

If The Cask is Super Active, then you know it won't really matter as much that a second film, but but do you think? Okay, let's just say, hypothetically man, this is where this is, where things go deep, hypothetically, let's say, aging a whiskey and, of course, this changes over time.

So this is always something hypothetical.

This is not realistic, but let's say a first fill cast so that so, if everybody I'm sure a lot you know first fill cast would be like if it's a bourbon Castle, bourbon cast that was used to make bourbon shipped overseas to Scotland, filled with new make Spirit from the Scottish Stills and then bottled, and that would be a whiskey bottle matured in a first bill of Cask second fill means that that whiskey was then dumped, and that cast was reused a second time in Scotland technically a third time for whiskey, because if You include the bourbon that was made, but really it's like a third use, but the second pill anyway, let's say hypothetically a first fill cask interact with with the spirit twice as actively as a second fill.

So it's like two you get.

The relationship is like two acts, and I'm not saying it is it's not that much.

Let's say it's okay, so that would mean that in 10 years, hypothetically of 10 years in a first fill, you know is equivalent to 20 20 years in a second fill.

Oh, where am I even going with this? Do you think they are the same meaning like yeah? Does everyone get my question? What I'm trying to say is like because I I hear this a lot and I would also say I hear this more about like climates and different regions, because I, I think, there's a lot of claims that you know in our climate, in our region, a whiskey Ages, twice seven times as fast, you heard about Taiwan right, like yeah yeah four years in Taiwan is 30 years in Scotland yeah.

You hear that all the time and it's like or you could say the same thing - people using one gallon casks versus 50 gallon casts and I'm exclusively parroting something I have read.

But the book Proof the science of booze.

It's not whiskey specific, but it's kind of lay people, science on alcohol production, aging, maturation, distillation, all of it and the guy talks about um rates of chemical reactions.

So there are reactions that can happen very quickly.

Think about explosions right now, we're going into high school chemistry from two people have no idea what the heck they're talking about but like that is a reaction that happens very quickly, so it releases a lot of energy.

There are other reactions that take place very very slowly.

The molecular change actually takes a lot of time and he went through and talked about a lot of the conjuna.

Our influence between Oak and ethanol actually can take years, so it actually isn't about surface area contact.

It isn't about how much liquid, how much proof any of that kind of stuff it's just the actual interaction of the lignin and the ethanol, cannot transform in less than x amount of years, yeah, okay, so right so there's there's a technical, technical explanation to back up.

I think what I mean I I just asked a leading question, because I I I've always felt you know it's like the difference of microwaving, something for 30 seconds versus baking.

Something for 20 minutes like the temperature might be the same at the end, but the outcome is very, very different, so anyway, we're kind of going off on a tangent with this one.

But I just I found that a second fill X, bourbon Hogs head because think about men and think about like the science or the the art of of it is this, of course, when this was the cast was filled, it wasn't planned to be bottled by the Scotch Walt whiskey Society after 18 years.

You know there was no true objective or you know our goal with that in time it was just.

Let's fill, let's ask and deal with it later, but man.

I just found that second Phil expert in Hogs heads like that size Cask most common for the about this amount of time generally produces.

I think some of the most balanced whiskeys yeah I've seen and if you like, and if that's what you're into then like man, I think this is worth it, but I also recognize Some people prefer like a more Cask driven profile.

You know Bolder wood, flavors or wine cask and yeah.

Well, we talked about this when we did the the festival review uh and we talked about the distiller 64 rare release versus The Distillery 24 rare release and I've been asked.

The question of like which of these is better and it's massive Oak extraction appropriately named if you're someone who really wants that wood forward, the tannins are hyper present you're getting a lot more of that Oak profile.

There's no question: that's the whiskey, for you doesn't mean it's the better whiskey, it's just whether people like where they like that balance of distillate versus uh versus Oak influence.

Yeah.

That's a really good point, because I think it's very common for people, maybe such as you and I and and ever been chat, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts too.

If you're like this to go down this path of whiskey, enthusiasm and the further you go, there's like a natural tendency to sort of shift away from the boulder Cask, driven, whiskeys and and kind of start to seek out.

Maybe balance was because, maybe because we we finally start learning a bit about distillation and we I don't know, appreciation for whiskeys can change, but it's, but I just to play The Devil's Advocate.

So I've gone down that route.

But you know Scott here and our team brought up a good point a couple months ago and just says said: name the 10, most memorable whiskeys or like your 10 favorite whiskeys of all time, and I I was like all right.

Fine - and I did that and I realized actually my 10 favorite whiskeys of all time were all pretty active cast.

I mean that blew my mind because I was like when I reach for something I don't go for that.

So I've kind of this point in life.

I'M just like man, there is no better.

You know what I mean it's just, but if we're making, if we're going down that route - and I was the outlier in Scott's experiment - so I I did not go that way, but this is also the beauty of single cast, like I think, if you're trying to Lump things so categorically together, but all of the things you're referring to are single Cask.

It could just be that you've tried 10 outstanding tasks, you know or those had that Perfect magic combination, but we're trying and there's no right answer is what I'm trying to say.

It's if you prefer Sherry, I totally get that and there are times that there's nothing else that will suit.

For me.

You know it's like I could try 10 different drams that are second fill perfect, beautiful ex-hogs, head whiskeys, but if I'm in the mood for Sherry or if I'm in the mood for Pete, it's it's never going to fit quite right yeah.

So I want to go Charlie to go a few, some great questions I saw earlier uh George Kaplan asked earlier question about the picks: do they get bottled immediately when picked, or are they already bottled, or can they age another year before bottling um? In this case, they're they're still maturing in our warehouse in Scotland and we'll re receive or order different samples and do a tasting of samples um and then so, which means and that's well and the time between the cast selection and bottling could be.

You know anywhere from a monthly even six months I mean there's been some instances where it's been longer.

For instance, we did that we do the tasting panel experience every year with uh we used to do a Charlie McLean.

We uh Robin Lang.

Did this this last year for us, but we're us members, if you maybe some of you have participated in this, but U.S members can actually participate in the cast selection process.

Here we bring the samples over and some of those you know this.

We have to order the samples it takes some time to get them ship them over.

The us.

A couple months can go by you know already, and so, if it's a younger whiskey that that time is relatively significant um and then by the time of the bottle, it could be like another six months later, so uh that's fun.

I mean that's why I said I've tasted this like a year ago, but it was not exactly this, but I don't think it's changed too much with a time in the wood.

You know, um Matthew, bro, says hi friends joining.

I heard massive Oak extraction and thought yeah.

Always a good idea.

Well done Matthew, Welch yeah um.

So how would you sort of just summarize this whiskey, relatively? We were just talking about like the the? Where does this sit in the realm of I'm? Probably gon na further complicate things, because I have had the very fine Fortune of trying things that were distilled across many decades, and I I haven't had much.

I've had a couple, but I haven't had much Scotch distilled before the 70s and certainly the 60s.

But for me in my mind, the cut off is like there's a style that I can think of up into and through the 70s.

That just has this different character.

To it and a lot of the stuff, I've tried from that decade isn't necessarily like 40 years old right.

It might be a 1970s while that was bottled in the 80s or something so there it can be more comparable, and this has it's not totally there.

I don't think I would taste this in fact.

Oh, that's a vintage bottling, Dusty bottling, but it has a lot of that character to it even Beyond just The Cask and the the type of profile it has just kind of tastes, old style, old world, which I generally really appreciate.

I love it's almost like a little bit more balanced things.

Don't real those don't really jump out as obviously in a lot of those older whiskeys, they have a different Oak character and again just parroting.

I'M I'm no expert in this, but I asked this question one time and I got a really interesting answer of yeah that the question was specifically geared towards blantons, but it applies here.

I have a bottle of blantons from I think, 1993 or 1994, or something like that, and when I got it, I tried it side by side with a contemporary bottling and it wasn't that one was better or worse.

But there was something very different about how the maturation demonstrated itself in the glass, and so I went and talked to a couple: different forums, a couple, different people, I know in the industry and the clearest answer I could get which bringing it back.

I promise I'll get there eventually.

Is that so much of the oak that Coopers use today, because whiskey and general Spirit Wine maturation is such a big business? Many of the trees are grown, purpose grown for coopering and are basically cut down as soon as they are of an appropriate size to be used for a barrel, whereas in the 60s, 70s 80s even into the 90s, they were still just using a lot of wood.

That was, forested right was found out in nature, so they may be trees that were one two three hundred years old and the chemical makeup of that bark is very, very different, um, so really roundabout way of getting to this has some of that character of the The wood expression of an older style of whiskey yeah, it's interesting, I mean, I think, um there's a lot of.

Obviously, I think a common opinion amongst whiskey, uh whiskey drinkers, is that they don't make it like they used to, and I think you know, Nostalgia probably plays a big role and I mean I've made that claim I've had I've had makes from you know, uh previous Era of like yeah, I prefer that one, actually, you know versus what the story is doing today.

There's also been it's an interesting coming about the wood.

The intent of the wood reminds me of also like with Sherry maturation, seasoning cast for the intention of uh yeah whiskey maturation, as opposed to just making cherry and I've.

You know I've heard people say they don't make like they used to, but I've also found that maybe on the the new approach on paper, I think can produce a better product.

But maybe it's not as romantic and I see what you're saying is.

I totally get the old word world vibe to it and I think you're articulating, probably what I'm just experiencing at a very technical level.

You know which is really helpful for all of us.

I just poured for the sake of comparison, a little dram.

Sorry, I think that's a weed RAM for a moment.

Okay well come on yeah the silver three rare release which is still available in the shop actually right now to compare it to it.

Now this one as I as I recall, was made from uh a blend of different casks from Distillery three, but predominantly Sherry cast.

Is that correct? I should probably uh before I got and speak up the differences.

It's a mix of second fill bourbon.

So perhaps one of the uh, the cast that came for you know this is a single cast, perhaps from a similar lot, but instead of second fill bourbon Hogs heads mixed with second fill Spanish Oak olarosa yeah.

I I find this my first impression again.

I have I've added some water to both.

I got two things going on just for comparison, the the the the festival, bottling is much Bolder.

Obviously, the the Sherry casks create a much richer warmer.

I think uh characteristic I for me the P, the persons of the peat is actually higher in the festival, bottling which is interesting because for the majority of my experiences, I find what a pita Whiskey's matured in a bourbon Cask.

I find that I find the peat to be more dominant than when it's buried in a wine cask of some sort.

So it's interesting just in this particular instance.

I mean this is kind of.

This is look the the reinforces that Whiskey's a natural product.

At the end of the day, of course, you know, one of these is a blend of multiple casts, but just walk.

The draw this new one, the Independence Day exclusive cast.

The Single Cask is more elegant.

The peat content is lighter, uh, maybe more refined, but naturally refined again, whereas the The Vessel bottling is a bolder, more um richer.

I don't know more intense whiskey, which yeah for what that's worth one one's, probably the purest approach, one's more of a a new world.

Uh creation, I wish I had it on hand, because my memory, which is obviously nowhere near as accurate as you tasted them side by side, could ever be.

I remember tasting the um, the festival, bottling and being like it's odd that this is in the peded profile.

To me, this should be in the lightly peated, and to me this one is like, like you said correctly, definitely correctly labeled um, but I would have guessed that this was the boulder tasting that yeah the boulder tasting of the two.

I thought that the the festival release was very delicate, very light um, but I'm just going off of memory from a few weeks ago.

So yeah I mean I think it's it's who knows the experience is, you know, um, there's a lot going on in both classes.

Here also, we drank that one around the 53 Festival released.

That's a good point.

It's all! It's all relative you're right of the peated whiskeys that we tasted together for the festival.

It was the lightest.

By far you got the 253s, the 10 right, the two ten.

I'M trying to remember yeah 110 253s and a 93 that was surprisingly Punchy, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, exactly so um anyway.

That's kind of my my takeaway is you know what we're talking about, and this can I feel like this can get like role pretentious, but if you're interested with so I want to be just call it out, because I think I also think it's a whiskey nerds.

We you need to get a bad rap, but I think if your desire is to experience, you know the balance of the distillate and the wood and the time - and I mean that this is in the environment, but probably the Water Source, more of the nature uh.

The natural side of whiskey making this is, in my opinion, this cast 3.346, nothing quite like it.

The former focusing on tonight is that whiskey, it's, I think it's the pure representation, a pure expression.

I should say I think the silver is a rare release.

Is I don't want to use the word more fun because that's that's totally subjective, but again it's just Bolder.

It's richer! It's more in your phase and so the two coexist very well because they're very, very different whiskeys.

You know, and I'm not I mean at the end of the day like I don't think it would be it's.

You can't really pick one over the other, I'm just trying to really articulate the differences, and I think because I think realistically in the class they're very different whiskeys.

So this I'm asking this because I can't actually do it and I always think this is really fun.

One of the fun things with single cast and we have a great single cast here.

I love pouring things from the same Distillery, but that have enough variance where, if someone is trying them blind, they may not immediately know that they're from the same Distillery, and so just from my memory from the slightly different task variations.

You know.

Is this an instance where you think if you poured them blind for someone and they tried both of them and then you're like these are the same Distillery? They are the same age.

They are very tightly controlled.

Do you think people would be surprised to learn that or are they more like their variations on the theme than they are really different? That's a good question.

I mean I can't we.

I can't speak for everybody else's palette and experience, but of course knowing what they are.

You know I would say yes, I'm meaning to say I don't.

I don't think I would be terribly surprised to be told they're, both from Distillery three they're both of similar age.

You know, I think, maybe for the festival, bottling.

I could be convinced that it's because how old is that one also 18.? Oh, both okay, so they're both 18.

I could probably be convinced that that's younger because I think it's easier to emulate age or time in wood with like wine cast.

You know it's just it's easier to lose that um.

So if you told me that was a 12 year old, I would believe it.

But if you told me that was a 22 year old, I would believe it.

You know what I mean, so that's with the wine.

It makes it yeah.

It's not that it's! I don't want to put your words in your mouth, but to rephrase I I wouldn't say it's easier to emulate the maturation of age.

It's just yeah when you use that type of cast you can make it more difficult to discern what the age is.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah, and that's it because that's your question, it's like! Really! If it's in a blind presentation, it's like man, it's I mean one.

I can play guitar, so I think of it.

This way, like one, is an acoustic guitar.

That's the one we're tasting tonight.

The festival, one is electric guitar with effects and Distortion and like that's at the end of the day, that's what it is.

It's really easy to mask things like poor Technique.

No, but I'm just saying like with electric guitar, like it's re, it's I don't know you're on you're on the spotlight with an acoustic guitar.

You can't you can't hide anything.

There's no delay pedals like you just it is what it is and you got ta like hit every note, and I think this one hits every note which I, which is what we can conclude on that, but I'm not saying this the festival.

Bottling is like a lesser whiskey, I'm just it could be the same same quality.

It's just what you get it's harder to really discern like how artistic is this thing you know just because of the nature of the influence.

I realize it's, like you said totally subjective, but I actually really appreciate the the use of the term fun uh and I use that a lot when I'm describing whiskeys as well, because it's like the way not tasting them.

But the way I would interpret the same thing is like this is one kind of like you said earlier on: it's not as much of you bring it to the barbecue you're, not like as it's not one.

You can socially drink.

This for sure, like it is approachable, but if you've really just sit down and like focus in on it, there is so much depth to this whiskey and elegance and nuance and um yeah.

I I can see why I fund isn't the first adjective I jump to for this whiskey, whereas I think that the rare release from my memory um, like I said when we initially tasted it.

I was like.

I think this is the whiskey out of the festival and said I'm going to bring to this bachelor party, because I think you know it's approachable.

It has something that even if you're not really into Pete, you could probably really like this.

It's got a lot going on, it's exciting um, it's very vivacious - and this is a little bit more, like lower mood energy a little bit deeper, a little bit more contemplative yeah.

That's that's exactly that's kind of what I'm experiencing as well and that's.

I think I think the key theme is or the common denominator, it's all relative and I think, with these two, the I would describe them more as Moody whiskeys.

That's why I was about to say this one's more fun, but I was like, but it's not like a nine-year-old, or what do we have over the festival for like Distillery 10, you know like a 60 plus percent strength, Isla whiskey and some that was a fun Way, yeah, you know, that's what I call fun.

I mean again we're everybody has a different idea, definition of a good time, but for a fun, whiskey, yeah.

These are two serious whiskeys I would say - and I think this one we're tasting tonight - it's 3.346 is perhaps more serious because on a technical level, you know, I think it would pass more tests of the most serious of whiskey.

Enthusiasts 95 points.

Ultimate Spirits, challenge goal.

San Francisco yeah, I think these are the tests that you're referring to yeah yeah you're right you're right you're right I mean, I think, that's that's a good point, um um anyway, that that's that yeah, both both great whiskeys.

I think this is fantastic.

This is a whiskey again.

I chose it for Fourth of July, but it's different from our Independence Day cast in the past, which we kind of focus more on daytime good on the beach grill out.

You know in sort of early evening.

This is more of like sort of end of day.

For me, you mentioned the comment about fish tacos.

I don't know where fish tacos, you know, sits in the context of everyone's Fourth of July plans, but, like you could also have you can do this like a late morning, dram too, because it's delicate, you know when your palate's fresher it's, maybe that's a better time.

Um or you just have it late morning and then you have it for dinner and then you have in the evening and like no one really cares, but maybe just us um, so yeah Duke McHale's asking so is this seriously good? I have to say yes Ben yeah.

This is this.

Is me it's a no-brainer.

I mean I, but I personally I try to like get my personal bias out of this, but I personally the I think I told you this Charlie after the festival tasting with all these whiskeys.

We have, I know, you're a different location, but at your home too, with all the whiskeys we have.

This is the ultimate first world problem is when you want a whiskey.

What do you pour like? I can't think of a a bigger first world problem or more first world of a problem than that um, and I have to tell you, I'm I often reach for whiskeys like this from the celery three, because it seems like more often than not.

I want an Isla whiskey, but I don't necessarily want a total smoke bomb of a whiskey.

I just want something balanced, and this is like within the Wheelhouse of what I personally gravitate towards at home.

I feel like, if I have my druthers oily and Coastal, is what I like most often am in the mood for and just with the history of what the society has released since I've been in it.

It means I end up drinking a lot of Distillery, 93 oily and coastals.

I love them.

That is like one of my bread and butter go-to.

When I think of like what is my go-to thing on a given day, it's probably going to be a Distillery.

93, oil and Coastal 15-year - you know just so good.

I can easily see if I'm like, on the fence of whether I want that or I want something PD.

This is that Niche right there like it's, just I've got a little bit more eyelid going on.

It's got a little bit more peat going on, but it's still in that oil in coastal land.

It's still got all of that depth.

That complexity.

There's no story like oh.

I know what that is, but I just can't put my finger on it because it's like right outside the realm of common reference, so it takes you in a lot of fun directions.

It's got a lot of balance.

It's just.

I don't know it's really nice yeah.

I want to go back to where there's a question earlier sorry from the whiskey Franco.

This is like a whole 30 plus minutes ago.

Uh I've been going all over the place uh, so if you're still around, this is for you.

If you, Scotland, Society of America, curious, if you all have ever sampled something that inevily didn't pass the bar and become a bottle that you felt should have um yes, yes, well, I have personally participated in cast elections um where I've you know like we.

I couldn't believe like some didn't get picked like.

I have fallen in love with whiskeys and then realized.

The group didn't feel the same way and was I and I felt the disappointment Logistics and I was like the time we got ta repurpose this whiskey.

You know we have to bring this and he's like yeah.

Absolutely we have to and like so that's happened a few times.

Um I'll tell you guys if everybody watching tonight, you guys are like the most loyal, uh members and whatnot, but you'll see the last year.

I went over to Scotland with a friend, Neil Patrick Harris, you've, probably seen around his 50th birthdays today so um, but we we you'll you'll, find out soon.

I think we did um.

We used to pick some exclusive casts, which will be releasing in a couple months or later later late summer early fall, and we started with six samples and chose three, and I got ta tell you man, all six were amazing, like they were so good and like He picked three and I'm like I'm happy, you can well, you have those three, but there was another one in there.

I'M like this is one of the best whiskeys I've had for me personally.

You know and I was like so I guess we have to bring this one to the us too and so uh yeah.

That's are we or no yeah yeah? We will yeah yeah yeah.

I've got two uh, one is society, one is not so I'll go to society first, and this is, I haven't gotten to participate in cast election, so there's a little bit of a different story, but the first time I went to greville Street the members house in London, nice yeah they had like five or six bottles, they're, all the same thing on the bar with the original archives label, but no Distillery number on it, and so I was like I was there with a buddy who's.

Also, a member we were like what's up with that bottle and they're like well, we had this Cask.

We really didn't feel it was good enough to bottle it just didn't pass the test, but we didn't really know what to do with it.

So we just threw it in these.

These bottles we put the old label on it, doesn't have any information, but we figured.

We could just give it to people to try here, because why not we had it and it's something.

That's fun and it'll be in a different label.

We've tried it.

We were like.

Why did you not buy? What do you like? Can we buy these bottles? This is outstanding.

They'Re, like oh, it just didn't meet the cut wow, okay uh.

This is legit uh, the other one, which is a story.

I've mentioned once and it's similar to your experience, which is so sad.

It was not the society, I won't say uh which Distillery it was, but I was there and was doing a private tasting and it was a I think, 25 or 28 year whiskey, and this is from like a Top Flight Distillery.

If I said the number I imagine, everyone on this chat would know what the Distillery is without having to to reference any guides or anything - and I was like this - is one of the most beautiful whiskeys you know best is hard to judge, but like most beautiful Structure, balanced Lush, it's just like, oh my eyes - are like watering tasting this thing and they're like yeah we're gon na put it in the most active, Sherry Cask.

We possibly can try and like pull all of that sweetness out, get as much color into it as we can and then we'll bottle it like that.

Just like.

Oh that's, so sad yeah um, no, it's just different strokes for different folks.

But for me it's like this is close to perfect.

Oh, I think you've told me that story before and that that's the ultimate, that is the esab story of whisk Enthusiast, to know that something is so.

I I that's worse than saying you know we're not going to bottle this one we're just gon na.

Let it mature a little longer or or just it's gon na go to another members in another country like at least then I'm like, oh okay, well, they'll get to enjoy it, but yeah.

If you find something - and it's going to be - I don't want to say destroyed, but it is effectively killed in its current form when transferred into a different cast.

Ask for better or worse foreign, I'm thrilled.

I got to try it myself, but it's one of those ones where it's like.

Oh I just wish.

I could share this with somebody because it's one of those magical one of those few magical, tastings, yeah yeah, so that's sort of um, Deep dive in this thing.