Thirst Boston 2013: Japanese Whisky Seminar with Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale, Nick Korn, and Gregory Fitch

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2013
Japanese Whisky Seminar:

Our gracious hosts and lecturers were Nick Korn (Whisky Enthusiast, Founding Member of Boston Bartender Collaborative and bartender at Drink, Silvertone Bar & Grill  and many others), Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale (Advanced Sake Professional & Manager of O Ya Boston) and Gregory Fitch of Anchor Distilling.

We tasted 4 different expressions of 12 year Single Malts.  Three by Nikka and Glenlivet
to compare the Speyside scotch.

We began with a cocktail made with 12 year Taketsuru with Punte mes (an Italian vermouth which I admire for its cherry fore and mid-palate notes and bitter finish), a reduction of cherry wine created by Nick Korn, Luxardo Maraschino (a cordial made from the pit of a cherry), and a salted cherry blossom for garnish.

The room suddenly became more interesting.  We opened up as much as our palates were peaked.

Taketsuru is a formidable cocktail Japanese whisky for its price point.  It’s a pure malt by Nikka

Japanese whiskys are blended.

Alyssa points out that we must give a nod to the Japanese drinks culture.  For instance, sake is mentioned in early Japanese history as early as 712 AD.  The Northern most island of Japan is important when talking Japanese whisky.

In the 9^th century, tea made its first appearance in Japan.  In the 16^th century, the first teahouse in Osaka was established.  By happenstance, Osaka became home of Yamazaki Distillery.  Whisky appeared during trade negotiations with France, England and Scotland.  After the turn of the century, Japan would try to emulate whisky and gin by adding chemicals and different additives to Sake (Japanese fermented rice beverage) and Soju (South Korean distilled beverage made from rice, wheat, or barley) to mimic the flavor profile of Scotch.

The process by which the Japanese chemists went about mimicking the taste of Scotch is not much unlike today's few awfully flavored vodkas which use chemical additives to simulate 'natural flavors'.  The Japanese used chemicals added to distilled products native to the region.  Interestingly enough, Nick mentioned that it was reminiscent of a book by Darcy S. O’Neil called "Fix the Pumps" which delves into the history  of the soda fountain in America.  The soda fountains in America were originally found in pharmacies and the flavors added where part of the chemical menagerie of compounds found in American pharmacies.  If this book were available via my iPad's Kindle app, I'm sure I'd be finished reading it by now, however, I have hesitated purchasing the paperback...yes, the lasted generations have rubbed off on me as I sit here with way too many paperbacks currently in storage.

Anyway, the methods used to produce artificially flavored sodas are similar to early processes that the Japanese used when attempting to develop whisky.

Alyssa dove a bit more into the history of the Japanese whisky companies.  One Japanese company, interested in developing whisky, sent one person to Scotland to study at University of Glasgow.  This chemist was Masataka Taketsuru.  Taketsuru is the founder of the Japanese whisky industry.  He travelled from distillery to distillery to find out which one he wanted to work with weeding them out through a series of questions.  When he decided upon Hazelburn, where he interned, his decision was based on the fact that they had a laboratory.  Others were working on tradition and intuition.  He stayed in Scotland for two years and in addition to falling in love with Scotch, he fell for a Scottish woman who soon became his wife.

Our First taste of the evening was a Glenlivet 12 year, not a foreign Scotch for many of us in attendance. Glenlivet is a single malt from Speyside northeast Scotland. It boasts caramel notes, but I also found it smoky, nice peat mid palate and fruity on nose (orchard fruits like pear and peach).  A pretty classic Speyside.

One of my favorite topics of conversation with novice whisk(e)y imbibers is 1.The difference between whiskey and whisky.  A neat trick to remember which spelling is correct: If the country of origin does not have an 'e' in its spelling, they produce whisky NOT whiskey.  Think about it... Canadian Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Japanese Whisky, American Whiskey, etc.  
Other fun facts about whisk(e)y, the most commonly used grains to produce it, whether it's bourbon whiskey, scotch whiskey, rye whisky, etc. are barley (Single malts like Laphroig and Balvenie), Corn (Bourbon like Bulleit (KY) or George Dickel (TN)), Rye (Rye whiskey). and wheat ("Wheated" bourbons like Maker's Mark or Pappy van Winkle)

What are the requirements for a Tennessee Whiskey vs. a Kentucky Bourbon?

Unlike popular belief, Bourbon can be called 'bourbon' if it is produced outside of Kentucky.  

Per Unites States regulations, overseen/enforced by The Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau, Bourbon (which can actually be labeled an American Single Malt, but never an American "Scotch"- because Scotch must be produced in Scotland) must meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Bourbon must be produced in the United States

2. The spirit must be produced from distillation not to exceed 160 Proof (80% ABV- alcohol by volume)

3. Bourbon must be distilled from a fermented mash of not less than 51% corn

4. It must be stored at no more than 125 Proof (62.5% ABV) in charred NEW American oak containers

Generally, there's no limit on how long it remains barreled, but Straight Bourbon Whiskey must be stored for at least 2 years.

Tennessee Whiskey

Meets the standards of bourbon listed above, but is traditionally filtered through maple charcoal before going into barrels.  

The process is known at the Lincoln County Process.

  This is the process used by popular Tennessee whiskeys Jack Daniels and George Dickel.

Tennessee whiskey, unlike Bourbon, does have a geographic requirement in that it must be produced in Tennessee, hence, you can produce a Bourbon in TN, but cannot produce a TN whiskey in KY or any other location.

The Lincoln County Process is officially recognized by the federal government. 

  However, The Lincoln County Process is not required to label a whiskey at "Tennessee Whiskey".  A prime example of this is Prichard's Tennessee whiskey which does not use the charcoal filter.  They are exempt, though they are located in Lincoln County.

Confused yet?  

Trust me, this is great party conversation!

 Let's quickly review Categories of Scotch Whisky

Single malt: A scotch produced from one particular batch from one particular distillery, from one place. One single grain-barley malted

Blended Scotch: can come from a variety of locations and even distilleries.  Other grain whisky can be used as well such as bourbon or a grain neutral spirit .

Aging: A bottle will list the youngest scotch in the product.  It is rare to find a single barrel whisky like you might a bourbon.

Batted malt, now called blended malt, has been called a pure malt as well…everything in the product is a single malt with no other grain whisky, but they are all from a different place. 

  Not one product in the blend is anything but a malt whisky. 

  This can lead to Scotches with very interesting flavor profiles. 

The distillation process, as with any spirit, can involve two very different styles:

1.  Copper pot still

2.   Column still

The way that distillation works: 

Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so if you take a pot with the mixture, the first vapor to come off is alcohol, which you capture and separate.  That’s distilling.

Copper pots are super inefficient because you have to use higher heat and distill multiple times to rid of impurities, unlike a column that distills multiple times per session with less heat. It’s thought to be more artisanal which is why the Scottish love this process.

Photo Credit Column Still on left, Pot Still on Right/In Middle

 

A purer product is produced with a column because it gets rid of most of the impurities. 

Back to Japan...

Nikka has two different locations, the first

Taketsuru left Kotobukiya where he established the whisky distillery to make whisky near and dear to his heart.

He moved to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō, where he found the best location as far as temperature and it being near the sea which was close to mimicking Hazelburn in Scotland as much as possible.   

Years later, he opened up his second location in Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Northern Honshū  (main island in Japan).

He wanted to have two separate products flavor wise.

90 % of the process is similar to Scotch with one key difference being how the wort (fermented grain, basically beer until it is distilled into Scotch or Whisky) 

There are 3 different styles of wort, though in Scotland they will tell you it’s only 2.

  1. Cloudy wort - grain cooking in water which is then  distilled.

2. Clear wort - particulate matter is strained leaving only the liquid component.

3. Crystal wort - in Japan, they filter the clear wort again. It’s transparent and this is what goes into the still.  It imparts no more grain flavor once in the still.  The flavor is from the filtered wort, not the distillation.

So when tasting Japanese whisky, you will not note heavy grainy flavors, but more floral on top, no grainy middle and barrel bottom.

This is how all Japanese whisky is made. 
Distillation is important, but so is blending.  
Nothing is from a single batch or year, but it is from one single place. 

The head distiller has hundreds of barrels to choose from at any given time and they are meticulously cataloged and tasted constantly.   

They use a different heat source than the peat that is used in Scotland.
 

Even styles of warehouses have an impression on flavor.  

 Barrels, of course affect flavors, for example, used bourbon barrel, sherry barrel, rejuvenated, re-toasted, or even Mizunara (Japanese oak) wine barrels, which is a different species of oak that is hard to work with, expensive,and imparts almost no flavor impart new characteristics to whiskys.  

The Mizunara barrels force a 40-50 year aging time for Japanese whisky to consider its contents aged and drinkable.  Nikka has these because they have been distilling for 80 years.

Both of the distilleries have their own cooperages on site.

I was introduced to Japanese Whisky by a colleague at Harvard Medical School a few years ago, but maybe only tried it again once or twice since that moment.  
Overall, I find Japanese whisky, and especially their history as fascinating as I found Indian whiskey one Spring afternoon in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Anything that takes you outside of your comfort zone is a plus for me.

Have you tried Japanese Whisky?  What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.