The game of three barrels. Making your own dream spirit

[99call]

So the rules of the game are...you can choose.

1 - Any 'new make' spirit from any distillery you like. Any variety of spirit.

2 - You have 15 years to play with as you wish. No more.

3 - Specify 3 barrels of any spirit/wine etc. In which your spirit will age...and give the division of time as to how the 15 years is divided.

Game on...

 

[99call]

I'm thinking 

New make distillery Edradour.Abv 54

1st barrel. First fill Japanese Mizunara Oak. 10 yrs

2nd barrel. Amontillado for 2 years

3rd barrel. PX for 3 years

I would be hoping for a highly unusual savoury sweet whisky with a Christmas cake richness. But also aspects of tobacco and salt from the amontillado and incense from the Mizurara.

[SirVantes]

Ooh fun. My first instinct would be that my dream spirit wouldn’t be aged <15 years, nor would it see 3 woods. But having thought about it a bit:

New make - Oban (need a distillate that presents well in its mid-teens)

Refill bourbon - 8 years

1st fill manzanilla - 5 years

1st fill mizunara - 2 years

Bottled at cask strength. Expecting bright orange, salt and an ethereal nose. Should be killer with fruits de mer.

 

[99call]

1 hour ago, SirVantes said:

Ooh fun. My first instinct would be that my dream spirit wouldn’t be aged <15 years, nor would it see 3 woods. But having thought about it a bit:

New make - Oban (need a distillate that presents well in its mid-teens)

Refill bourbon - 8 years

1st fill manzanilla - 5 years

1st fill mizunara - 2 years

Bottled at cask strength. Expecting bright orange, salt and an ethereal nose. Should be killer with fruits de mer.

Interesting. a very soft touch on this. Particularly interested you went for second fill on the bourbon barrel.  It this because you want to tamp back the vanilla?

Yep, I thought is would be an interesting game.  It seems the good people of FOH don't agree, Ha! Would be interested to see what @Ken Gargett would put together a dream spirit.

[99call]

1 hour ago, SirVantes said:

Ooh fun. My first instinct would be that my dream spirit wouldn’t be aged <15 years, nor would it see 3 woods.

3 wood isn't my ideal either, but it's actually quite difficult, which is why I thought it would be fun.  i.e. I think it's very easy to mess up a whisky the more switches you have, hence when someone gets it right, it's very impressive.

[SirVantes]

Yup. Within your rules, I was going for something that lets the distillate sing a little, and the refill bourbon is intended to let it mature rather gently. Not a fan of vanilla (particularly new oak expressions).  

I was tempted to game the rules by going 3rd fill - one day, 3rd fill - one day, then a damn good cask for 15 years minus 2 days! How about Yoichi in a sherry cask selected by the gentlemen who did the Suntory Owner’s Cask programme? Would never happen given the Japanese mentality, but could literally be awesome. 

[99call]

32 minutes ago, SirVantes said:

I was tempted to game the rules by going 3rd fill - one day, 3rd full - one day, then a damn good cask for 15 years minus 2 days! How about Yoichi in a sherry cask selected by the gentlemen who did the Suntory Owner’s Cask programme? Could never happen given the Japanese mentality, but could literally be awesome. 

I haven't had any Yoichi as yet, will put in on my list. 

I fully expected a lot of gaming the system. As long as nobody chooses a Cohiba barrel!!

[SirVantes]

15 minutes ago, 99call said:

when someone gets it right, it's very impressive

I’d like to see someone beat Yellow Spot!

[99call]

25 minutes ago, SirVantes said:

I’d like to see someone beat Yellow Spot!

Yep, love all the Spot's, but Yellow is very elegant.

[99call]

1 hour ago, SirVantes said:

Bottled at cask strength. Expecting bright orange, salt and an ethereal nose. Should be killer with fruits de mer.

Would this be too vanilla heavy for you. Love Old Pulteney, but I do wish they would try some more savoury forward expressions.

Love Pineu de Charentes. And would be interested to see what it imparts on a whisky.

 

[SirVantes]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

Love Old Pulteney, 

Love Pineu de Charentes

Ditto. Haven't had this one yet; and I'm always wary that 1+1 sometimes yields -1, but will give it a try.

[loose_axle]

Foursquare rum.

10 years bourbon barrel

2 years mizunara barrel

2 years palo cortado barrel

[SirVantes]

33 minutes ago, loose_axle said:

Foursquare rum.

10 years bourbon barrel

2 years mizunara barrel

2 years palo cortado barrel

At this rate, the Japanese oak forests will be denuded in no time.

[Doctorossi]

I've been missing Bowmore lately, as I haven't bought any in a while, so...

 

Bowmore:

1 barrel of first-fill bourbon for 15 years

1 barrel of second-fill bourbon for 15 years

1 barrel of PX sherry for 15 years

 

Then, vat them all and bottle at cask strength, non-chill-filtered.

 

Or, maybe the same formula using Brora juice could turn out well.

[99call]

35 minutes ago, Doctorossi said:

Bowmore:

1 barrel of first-fill bourbon for 15 years

1 barrel of second-fill bourbon for 15 years

1 barrel of PX sherry for 15 years

 

Then, vat them all and bottle at cask strength, non-chill-filtered.

Although I'm not a massive Bowmore fan, I admire your sneakiness on aging separately and then vatting together at the end. Touché.

[Cigar Surgeon]

• Edradour 8 years in re-char bourbon barrel
• 5 years in Oloroso sherry
• 2 years in Pedro Ximénez sherry

[GavLew79]

Ben Nevis. 3rd fill Bourbon. 15 years. 

[Ford2112]

Mug

Uganda French Roast

Half and Half

[99call]

5 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Mug

Uganda French Roast

Half and Half

OK agreed, but this has to be the coffee mug.

[loose_axle]

10 hours ago, SirVantes said:

At this rate, the Japanese oak forests will be denuded in no time.

I was originally thinking chestnut after some work done in that area by one or two cognac houses and method and madness Irish whisky but if not done well adds a bitterness that isn’t great. Whereas I love everything that’s been aged in Japanese oak. 

[Ken Gargett]

13 hours ago, 99call said:

Interesting. a very soft touch on this. Particularly interested you went for second fill on the bourbon barrel.  It this because you want to tamp back the vanilla?

Yep, I thought is would be an interesting game.  It seems the good people of FOH don't agree, Ha! Would be interested to see what @Ken Gargett would put together a dream spirit.

knowing how truly difficult it is to competently blend spirits, would not go near this. toss in that you might, say, choose five year old sherry barrels. if you have ten of them, they will all have very minor differences. so trying to do this makes little sense to me. but please don't let me stop anyone. 

 

[99call]

On 7/20/2024 at 9:49 AM, Ken Gargett said:

knowing how truly difficult it is to competently blend spirits, would not go near this. toss in that you might, say, choose five year old sherry barrels. if you have ten of them, they will all have very minor differences. so trying to do this makes little sense to me. but please don't let me stop anyone.

Completely agree with you on that Ken. The idea was less mass production, more of an personal project of three solitary casks, not like trying to take a product to market etc. 

What I found interesting about the prospect of three barrels changes is @SirVantes is right, it's unbelievably difficult for it not to detract from a spirit instead of actually adding value/flavour. 

I would say someone like Billy Walker for Glenallachie is incredibly impressive at this, and somehow manages to extract every single drop of flavour out of the cask, without anything competing, or dulled down by other influences. 

[Doctorossi]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:54 AM, 99call said:

Although I'm not a massive Bowmore fan, I admire your sneakiness on aging separately and then vatting together at the end. Touché.

Well, I'm not a big finishing fan, if you couldn't tell.  😁