In the beginning... oh wait, I'm not James Michener, I don't need to go back quite that far. Ok, let's start at 1978. Why 1978? Because before my freshman year of college in Florida, I did not have any desire to drink anything stronger than milk. Hmmmm, why is it that all good drinking stories seem to involve freshman years in college and Florida? ;-)
Anyways, I was first introduced to Jose Cuervo by my roommate. Oh he was tempting, but I wasn't interested. Finally I gave in at a dorm party. OMG! Who knew tequila had such chocolaty undertones? Amazing. Jose and I became pretty good friends my freshman year, especially during the 4-month long Daytona 1979 spring break. Hmmmm, that may have had something to do with me terminating my affiliation with my first university.
Overtime, other friends introduced me to Ms. Disaronno, The Captain, piña coladas (but never in the dunes of the cape), and finally single malt scotches and single pot Irish whiskies. Like people, I found that each had their unique personalities, their quirks, and their baggage. Over time, I found that the cheap stuff is a solo act with one dominant voice with, if lucky, a couple of background singers. The expensive stuff ranged from quartets to small chamber ensembles. For a brief time I tried to become a wine aficionado, but I just couldn't get comfortable with the ostentatiousness of wine tasting. There were just way too many pretentious rules and specific vocabulary to differentiate the connoisseur from the wino.
Fast forward to March of this year (2011). Our family was lucky enough to take holiday in the Emerald Isle. For me, there was no way a trip to Ireland would be complete without a tour of a distillery. I found the perfect one in a small town west of Dublin in County Westmeath called Kilbeggan.
Kilbeggan is home to the oldest registered distillery in the world. From 1757 to 1957, the Kilbeggan Distillery made Irish Whiskey from the local barley. In the 1980's the distillery building was sold to the Town of Kilbeggan and they have since developed it into a museum of traditional whiskey making. In recent years, the original granite warehouse was acquired by Cooley Distillery and is being used to age their Kilbeggan spirits.
The tour was quite fascinating. In most aspects, it looked and smelled like a combination of an old barn and an old factory. We saw the old boilers used to heat the water. We learned how they malted barley and how the used barley was recycled back to the farmers to be used as livestock feed. We saw the massive steel mash tuns, and the equally massive wooden fermentation vats. At the end of the tour was a tasting room to sample a couple of Cooley's Irish whiskies. Ok. Interesting stuff. I didn't appreciate how easy it was to distill whiskey.
As we were leaving the tour, fate stepped up in the form of a young intern distiller working the small pot still for Cooley's "boutique" distillery located on-site. She asked if we would like to taste the spirits coming off the second still. "Sure, why not?" She escorted us into a small room opposite the stills. She opened the collector and drew out an once of the clear 180-proof liquid and placed it into a disposable shot glass. I poured a small amount into my lower lip to allow it to vaporize before I direct it across my tongue, a method of tasting scotch whiskey I had figured out a few years earlier. Oh My God! It was amazing. I had just tasted a full orchestra. The fruitiness of it was indescribable. As the spirit wafted through my sinus and wandered across my taste buds, its multitude of notes combined to create its distinctive melody. I had no idea.
By the time we were heading home, I wanted to make some of that myself. I have realized over time that I am not a big fan of oak. I felt a bit simple because I prefer silver tequila to gold or anejo. But with my experience of the new-born Irish, I realized exactly how much oak tends to be the 300-pound primo uomo overpowering the rest of orchestra.
Upon arriving back home, I started to research "boutique" distilleries, artisan distilleries, the principles of distilling spirits, and how to make a still. I figured it would be a simple matter to buy some lab flasks and a condenser, and to make me some whisky. Oh, how naive. Yes, I could buy a couple of glass flasks and a condenser, but I also could lose my house, make some new friends in federal prison, and make some rot-gut moonshine. To make what I tasted in Kilbeggan was going to be a lot more complex. Even then, I had no idea how much more complex. This blog will document what I learn, the obstacles I find, and what needs to be done to actually produce a quality spirit in a legal artisan distillery both to store my own information, and to help others afflicted with the same obsession to navigate the process.
Welcome along for the ride...
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