ANNANDALE DISTILLERY IS COMMITTED TO RESPONSIBLE DRINKING

Barley – What makes it so special?

Chill Filtration - Sacrilege Or Saviour?

Copper - It's Effect On Single Malt Scotch Whisky Flavour

Kilning – Charles Chree Doig and his iconic pagoda-roof malt kiln ventilators

Single Cask-Single Malt Scotch Whisky vs Vatted Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Small Casks - Why Don't We Use Them?

STR's - Shaved, Toasted & Re-Charred Wine Casks

What's the correct way to drink whisky?

Making Single Malt Scotch Whisky is part science and part art. As a scientist, I rejoice in the artisan aspect of whisky-making and sincerely hope that the human senses and the human mind will forever be the final arbiter of sensory maturity and sensory excellence rather than some mechanical device. Nonetheless, over the past 50 years especially, science has revealed some of the mysteries of whisky making and exploded some of the unhelpful myths without, I hope, ruining the mystique and the majesty of Scotland’s Single Malts.

This section of Annandale’s website comprises a series of short Technical Notes on various aspects of Single Malt Scotch Whisky production, from barley through to the mature product. The topics are presented alphabetically, and the series will be expanded over the coming months.

I’m deeply grateful to the late Dr Jim Swan and to Dr Gordon Steele for educating me in the science of whisky making and to Mark Trainor (Head of Production at Annandale Distillery) for schooling me in the practical subtleties of making the very finest Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

Professor David Thomson

Co-Founder – Annandale Distillery

Just as the biological processes associated with germination are triggered by increasing the moisture content of the barley grain, they are arrested by reducing the moisture content of green (germinated) malt from about 45% back down to 5%. Drying takes place in a malt kiln using warm air, hence the expression ‘kilning’. When dried to 5% moisture, malted barley may be stored for extended periods with minimal deterioration, it can be transported safely with minimal risk of physical damage and it can be readily milled into grist for subsequent mashing. Kilning also removes certain undesirable flavour components whilst desirable flavour compounds are created from endogenous flavour precursors and from extraneous sources such as peat smoke.

In the era when most Single Malt distilleries malted their own barley, they would have had a malt kiln. By the beginning of the 20th Century, many of the kilns in Scottish Single Malt distilleries would have been identifiable by their iconic, pagoda-roofed ventilators. As with traditional maltings, most of these natural-draught kilns are no longer used for their original purpose but they remain icons not just of the Single Malt Scotch whisky industry but also of Scotland.

The original design was created by Charles Chree Doig an architect cum engineer who worked out of Elgin (Morayshire) from 1882 until his death in 1918. Very few architectural designs are so stunning, so iconic, so immediately recognisable, so strongly associated with a particular industry and a particular country, so beautiful and yet, so practical. The design was first adopted when Doig was commissioned to carry out alterations to Dailuaine Distillery on Speyside in 1889. As part of the commission, he embellished the existing, inefficient kiln with his new pagoda roof ventilator. Sadly, the original Doig ventilator at Dailuaine was destroyed by fire in 1917.

Although the pagoda roof design was borrowed from Oriental architecture, it proved very effective in creating an up-draught through the damp malt bed almost irrespective of wind strength and direction, whilst keeping the rain off the drying malt. According to various archives, Doig worked on 56 different Scottish distilleries. However, this list is inaccurate because there’s at least one notable omission! Annandale Distillery in the very south of Scotland possesses a magnificent and beautifully restored pagoda-roofed Doig kiln that’s now used as the stunning main entranceway to the Distillery. The plans for Annandale Distillery were obtained from the Charles Doig Archive which is held at Elgin Library.

Many recently-built distilleries in Scotland and other countries sport faux Doig ventilators atop some building or other that never did and never will have anything to do with malt kilning. They’re a horrible pastiche of Doig’s original design that look absolutely absurd and otherwise offend the sensitivities of anybody who knows anything about Single Malt distilleries. It’s hugely disappointing that distillery architects of the modern era can’t think of anything more original to define their designs. (Perhaps someone should start a competition to identify the most absurd faux Doig ventilator.)

Early, natural-draught kilns were fired solely with peat in hand-stoked furnaces. In the days before the railways, peat was the preferred fuel, largely by default, because of its abundance across the length and breadth of Scotland. When the rail network expanded and coal could be transported more easily, kilns were often fired with a mix of anthracite and peat. This increased the temperature of the furnace and consequently, the speed and effectiveness of drying. The peat smoke (peat reek in Scots) created by burning peat contains a class of chemical compound known as phenolics. These are highly volatile and very potent odorants. Wet malt is very receptive to phenols, which absorb onto the surface of the damp barley grains during drying. Typically, about one third of the phenolics eventually transfer into the final whisky, giving it a characteristic smoky, antiseptic/medicinal character (usually but quite wrongly described as ‘peatiness’). The strength of the ‘peaty’ character depends on the amount of peated loaded onto the furnace when the barley is still damp. Such is the potency of these phenolic compounds that the amount in dry malt is measured in parts per million (ppm).  A level of 5ppm would be barely detectable whereas 50ppm is very distinctive. In the 21st Century, the fact that peat was and still is used for drying green malt is a very happy coincidence because it utterly defines Scotch whisky and differentiates it from whisky made in every other country.

In spite of the brilliance and beauty of Doig’s design, natural-draught kilns are intrinsically inefficient because the airflow is relatively weak (unless it’s blowing a gale) and consequently the temperature of the furnace is relatively low because of the modest up-draught. This means that the malt beds are necessarily shallow (30cm) and temperature control is somewhat erratic. This makes it difficult to regulate and otherwise control the malt drying process. Lack of uniformity and lack of control, invariably has a knock-on negative effect on spirit yield.

Modern malt kilns are essentially an elaboration of the traditional kilns described above. Typically, large volumes of air are heated using oil or gas burners and drawn through the bed of green malt using powerful fans. This system would produce unpeated malt. At Port Ellen Maltings on Islay, peat smoke is generated by burning peats on an auxiliary furnace. The reek is introduced into the flow of hot air and up through the drying malt bed. Port Ellen’s peat furnaces, of which there are three, consume a staggering 6 tonnes of peat per kiln firing.

During kilning, it is of paramount importance that the enzymes, created naturally in germinating barley to convert starch into sugars, should be preserved intact. These enzymes (known as amylolytic enzymes) are reactivated during mashing, where they convert starch (amylose and amylopectin) into simple sugars (largely maltose). The temperature profile throughout the drying process has a profound effect on the viability of these enzymes and hence on the subsequent fermentability of the malt. A typical kilning cycle is 12 hours with an air temperature of 60oC, followed by 12 hours at 68oC and finally by 6 hours at 72oC. A modern maltings should produce malt for Scotch whisky with a fermentability of almost 90%. Fermentability (%F) is an index of the proportion of carbohydrate in the malt that is ultimately converted into alcohol during fermentation. This depends to a considerable extent on the viability of the amylolytic enzymes.

Dark malt, as used in brewing of ales, stouts and porters, is kilned to much higher temperatures where colour and flavour compounds are produced via non-enzymic browning (otherwise known as the Maillard reaction). However, these are undesirable in the production of Scotch whisky.

Modern maltings, such as those at Diageo’s Roseisle Distillery, use combined germination and kilning vessels (GKVs). These use space efficiently and reduce mechanical handling. At the end of the germination phase, the flow of humidified air through the GKV is stopped and replaced with warm air heated by the kiln burners.

These days, there is much greater awareness of the environmental issues associated with CO2 release when ancient, natural peat beds are disturbed, and when peat is subsequently burned.  This needs to be reconciled against the fundamental importance of ‘peat flavour’ to Scotch Whisky. These and other issues regarding Annandale Distillery’s journey towards ‘net zero’, will be considered in subsequent technical releases.

David Thomson

Annandale Distillery

29th November 2021

We’re often asked why we don’t mature our whisky in quarter casks (125 litres), octaves (50 litres), and firkins or blood tubs (~30-40 litres). (200 litre ex-bourbon barrels are the smallest casks we fill at Annandale Distillery.)

To address this question, we need to consider the role of oak in whisky maturation:

Oak adds to maturing whisky as well as taking something from it. If the cask has previously held bourbon, Scotch whisky, sherry, wine, port, rum, cognac, etc., some of this maturing liquid will have become impregnated in the staves (staves are narrow lengths of wood with chamfered edges that form the body of a wooden cask). This liquid remains, impregnated in the stave after the cask is emptied. When new-make spirit is filled into the emptied cask, some of the previous occupant will be extracted from the staves, adding flavour and colour to the maturing liquid, often quite quickly.

The maturing spirit also extracts various naturally compounds from the oak, including vanillin (vanilla/sweet/confectionery flavour), tannin (astringency and golden brown colour – as in black tea) and various sugars (principally xylose but also arabinose, galactose, ribose rhamnose and glucose).

Whisky casks are usually charred inside. Charring has a three-fold effect:

1.) It produces a layer of carbon on the inner surface of the stave. Carbon is very porous, which allows it to adsorb (as opposed to absorb) various compounds from the maturing spirit. Some of these adsorbed substances may be undesirable flavour and odour compounds.

2.) It increases the porosity of the surface of the stave which encourages deeper penetration of the spirit into the oak.

3.) It induces chemical reactions in the oak that are implicated in the conversion of hemicellulose (one of the principal structural components of oak) into the aforementioned sugars (although glucose arises from elsewhere).

The sum total of all of these effects is known as ‘cask effect’ (or sometimes ‘oak effect’).

Probably the most important consideration when choosing casks for whisky maturation, is the extent to which the distiller wishes the flavour of the final whisky to be influenced by cask effect. The nature and extent of the cask effect depends on three factors:

The ‘freshness’ of the oak (i.e. how often the cask has been filled previously and for how long). The fresher the oak, the greater its potency in terms of delivering vanillin, tannin, xylose and other oak components.

The nature of the previous occupant(s). Sherry is likely to have a fairly potent effect. However, if the previous occupant had been Scotch whisky, the impact would typically be much less.

The ratio of the inner surface area of the cask to the volume of liquid held within the cask. The smaller the cask, the greater the ratio of the inner surface area of oak to volume of liquid inside, as shown in the bottom row of the table below. The smaller this ratio, the bigger the cask effect.

Firkin - Volume/litre 40 | Surface area/square metre 0.82 | Volume/square metre (litre) 48.8

Barrel - Volume/litre 200 | Surface area/square metre 2.23 | Volume/square metre (litre) 89.7

Hogshead - Volume/litre 250 | Surface area/square metre 2.59 | Volume/square metre (litre) 96.5

Sherry Butt - Volume/litre 500 | Surface area/square metre 4.03 | Volume/square metre (litre) 124.1

By way of example, a 40 litre firkin has the equivalent of 48.8 litres of spirit per square metre of inner cask surface area (i.e. a ratio of ~50:1) whereas, with a 200 litre barrel, it’s 89.7 litres/square metre (~90:1). In other words, there’s much more oak contact in a firkin than in a barrel (x 1.84) and therefore the ‘cask effect’ is likely to be bigger. The difference between a barrel and a sherry butt is also considerable (89.7 versus 124.1 litres/square metre, respectively). There’s even a noteworthy difference between a barrel and a hogshead.

Make no mistake, cask effect is often used quite deliberately, as means of expeditiously bringing Scotch whisky to an acceptable level of sensory maturity, at an early age. There’s nothing wrong with this as such (in my opinion) provided the resulting whisky remains within the boundaries of what is an acceptable/credible Single Malt Scotch Whisky and provided the defining character of the distillery’s spirit is still evident. (These are the criteria applied at Annandale Distillery). However, it’s totally unacceptable if some sort of cask effect (e.g. ‘finished in Madeira wood’) is presented as an intriguing adjunct, when the real reason is to mask bad, imbalanced, rough or otherwise immature spirt. Sadly, this happens. I’m always very suspicious when multiple cask effects are used to finish a whisky, especially a young whisky.

Amongst purists, there’s even a point of view that once-used ex-bourbon barrels (i.e. barrels that have only been used once to mature bourbon) exert too much cask effect on the flavour of the whisky. Whilst this point of view may be a little extreme, it’s certainly possible to ‘over bourbon’ Scotch whisky (again, in my opinion).

To summarise, at one end of the spectrum, the most benign maturation vessel for Scotch whisky (i.e. with minimum cask effect) would be a several-times-used ex-bourbon cask (ideally of known provenance). The whisky may take longer to mature but the intrinsic character of the distillery’s spirit will surely shine through (warts and all). During the first three years of production, Annandale Distillery laid down ~50% of its stock in several-times-used ex-bourbon casks with a view to longer-term maturation. The other end of the cask effect spectrum would be represented by a never-used-before, 40 – 50 litre cask made from virgin Spanish oak and conditioned for two years with either oloroso of Pedro Ximinez sherry. In this case, it’s entirely possible that the maturing spirit will be ‘over-oaked’ (i.e. excessive cask effect) before reaching the legal 3 year minimum, and any evidence of distillery character will have been overwhelmed.

At Annandale Distillery, we’re entirely confident in the quality of our new-make spirit*, so we don’t want to (and we don’t need to) obliterate its intrinsic character using excessive cask effect. That’s why we don’t mature our whisky in small casks.

(*We’re so confident about the quality of our new make spirit that we bottle it at 63.5% ABV and sell it as Rascally Liquor®. Why not give it a try?)

David Thomson

Co-Founder – Annandale Distillery

The Scotch Whisky Regulations (2009) specify that Scotch Whisky can be matured in a variety of different casks provided that the cask is made of oak and provided that it is no more than 700 litres in volume. The reason why oak is specified in law is because it has a particular effect on the maturing spirit that gives Scotch Whisky its characteristic flavour (sensory characteristics). In essence, oakwood maturation is fundamental to the flavour of Scotch Whisky.

Most of the maturation casks used in Single Malt Scotch Whisky have previously matured either bourbon, Tennessee sour mash (e.g. Jack Daniels), cognac, brandy, rum, tequila, and a multitude of wines including various red wines, white wines, sherry, Port, Madeira, etc.

Oak has three very specific effects on the maturing spirit:

1.) Extraction – the spirit extracts various flavour components from the oak, predominantly, vanillin (vanilla, sweet), various lactones (coconut, cocoa, toasted, nutty, creamy, woody, maple) and tannin (astringency and colour).

2.) Extraction – the spirit extracts residues of the prior occupant – the barrel staves will have become impregnated with vestiges of the previous occupant.

3.)Absorption – the oak absorbs various undesirable flavour compounds from the maturing spirit (especially sulphur compounds produced during fermentation).

In other words, the cask both ‘gives’ and ‘takes’ from the maturing spirit. The balance of these three effects is critical to the flavour of Scotch Whisky.

Virgin oak casks (i.e. casks that haven’t been used previously to mature other spirits or wines) are rarely used in Scotch Whisky maturation, simply because of the potency of the virgin oak extracts. In contrast, the regulations governing bourbon production in the USA (Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits – 27 CFR 5) stipulate that charred virgin oak casks must be used for maturation. It’s the extracts from virgin oak that give bourbon much of its character. (If Scotch malt spirit was matured in virgin oak, it would eventually become very bourbon-like.) The US bourbon regulations create a mountain of once-used ex-bourbon casks, the vast majority of which are bought by the Scotch Whisky industry. Consequently, much of the Single Malt Scotch Whisky produced in Scotland has a ‘hint of bourbon’ due to further extraction of flavour components from the oak, as well as the extraction of residual bourbon from the barrel staves.

In more recent times, Scotch whisky distillers have become increasingly adventurous and innovative in their choice of oak casks (see above) to either mature or finish their whisky. These different cask types produce Single Malts with flavour profiles that are distinctly different from those matured in ex-bourbon barrels.

The STR is one such innovation! STRs are ex-Burgundy (red) wine casks that have been shaved (S), toasted (T) and re-charred (R). After a cask has held Burgundy for several years (possibly as much as 7 years), the oak barrel staves will have become heavily impregnated with the wine. If such a wine cask was subsequently filled with malt spirit, it’s possible that the resulting Single Malt would be too ‘winey’ in character, too red in colour and, because the inner surfaces of the cask may have been stripped of all of its flavour compounds, there could be too little oak character.

It was the late Dr Jim Swan, a great friend and guiding light to Annandale Distillery, in collaboration with Bodegas José Y Miguel Martín (Spain), who developed the idea of carefully shaving the inside surface of Burgundy casks (to a depth that’s a closely guarded secret) to remove some of the wine-impregnated oak, thereby bringing some of the active oak, held deeper in the stave, closer to the surface. The inner surface is then toasted to break down certain structural elements in oak (particularly lignin and hemicellulose) into sugars which are subsequently caramelised by the heat (via Maillard reactions). Toasting also releases a variety of potent flavour compounds including vanillin. In the Swan/Martin STR process, toasting involves the burning of oak chips milled from redundant wine barrel staves. The temperature and duration of toasting, and the precise source and mix oak chips, is another closely guarded secret. Finally, the inner surface of the barrel is charred on a gas burner to create a charcoal (crocodile skin) surface. This is essentially activated charcoal, which has a huge surface area (due to the charring), and phenomenal adsorptive capacity for soaking-up undesirable flavour compounds. (You’ve guessed it – the extent of charring is another commercial secret!)

Whilst cask rejuvenation via shaving and re-charring isn’t new, the ‘clever’ part of the Swan/Martin STR process is leaving enough residual ‘wine effect’ whilst reactivating the oak by toasting and re-charring. This is a very difficult balancing act. It’s also worth noting that thermal reactivation, whether it’s by toasting and/or re-charring, does not recreate exactly the flavour potential of virgin oak. In particular, lactones (coconut, cocoa, toasted, nutty, creamy, woody, maple), tannins (astringency and colour) and eugenol (cloves) are not recreated.  Consequently, the balance of wood extractives in regenerated casks, such as STRs is rather different from those of a new cask, which makes them interesting and different.

The Swan/Martin STR process undoubtedly brings another flavour dimension to whisky maturation…but does it create great-tasting Single Malts? Jim Swan was heavily involved in the development of Kavalan Distillery in Taiwan. In 2015, Kavalan Solist (Vinho Cask) won the accolade of the ‘Best Single Malt Whisky in the World’ (World Whisky Awards). Working with the team at Kavalan, Jim matured Solist in Swan/Martin STRs! Solist is variously described as having extra-fruity notes (melon, mango, citrus, vanilla, oak spice and dates). Not bad considering just how young this whisky was at the time of the award!

In late January 2017, Jim Swan met with David Thomson and Teresa Church, Co-Founders of Annandale Distillery. We talked about wood policy and nosed a lot of Annandale’s peated and unpeated young, maturing spirit. Jim was convinced that our spirit would mature very well in his STRs. His parting words, as he left the distillery for yet another overseas consultancy trip, were…… “Don’t forget to order a consignment of STRs from Miguel Martin!” We invariably took Jim’s advice, and so 90, 230 litre STR hogsheads were ordered. Just over two weeks later, Jim passed away. We were broken-hearted.

Fast-forward three years and Annandale’s spirit, filled into Swan/Martin STRs, has metamorphosised into peated and unpeated Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Jim was right! The union between Annandale’s malt spirit and Jim’s STRs is a marriage made in heaven.

In mid-July 2020, Annandale Distillery will launch Swan/Martin STR-matured, peated (Man O' Sword) and unpeated (Man O’ Words) Single Cask, Single Malts under its Founders’ Selection label. It’s our tribute to the great man.

As a distillery owner, I’m often asked…… “What’s the correct way to drink whisky?”… “Should I add water?”… “Do you drink your Scotch on the rocks?” … “Is it OK to add cola, soda, lemonade, green tea, etc.?”. The honest (if trite) answer is that people should drink whisky in the way that pleases them most. If someone wants to spend a lot of money on a bottle of Man O’ Words or Man O’ Sword and then add cola, that’s their prerogative and I’m definitely not precious about them doing so, although I never would. Each to their own!

However, as the above response is neither helpful nor satisfactory, I usually end up telling people how I choose to drink my whisky……so here goes:

My great preference is to buy Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, non-chill filtered and at cask strength.

“Why Single Cask?” Because every cask matures whisky differently and I really enjoy the sensory variety (and sometimes the surprise) that this delivers. Personally, I see very little point in buying regular Single Malts where cask differences are blended-out to deliver uniformity. Surely, uniformity is for Blended Scotch whiskies and not malts! Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the blender’s art, but I believe that any blend benefits from the addition of grain whisky to open out and balance the flavour. Yes – I do enjoy Blended Scotch Whisky, but only those that are blended to create a well-integrated and balanced flavour with real depth, rather than one that’s blended for cheapness.

“Why cask strength?” Simply because I like to add my own water to taste! I never drink my whisky at cask strength because the alcohol makes it too pungent for me to enjoy, so I carefully add water in small amounts, sometimes using a dropper. It’s a matter of trial and error, so I add the water judiciously …sipping and adding until it’s just right for me. Whisky is quite unusual as adding water (up to a certain point) will often intensify the flavour. This happens because many of the flavour components are preferentially soluble in alcohol rather than water, so adding water brings them out of solution and into the headspace above the whisky (known as partitioning) where they can have much greater impact on the sense of smell. In my opinion, there’s a ‘sweet spot’ where the flavour peaks just before the point when any more water would make it taste thin and watery. My best guess is that I usually end-up somewhere around 35% ABV.

“Why non-chill filtered?” I fully appreciate that unless chill filtered, whiskies at 43% or 40% ABV would become slightly turbid, especially when chilled with ice, and this could be off-putting, especially when the whisky is displayed on-shelf (see my technical note on chill filtering). However, when adding water to taste (as above) and drinking it there and then, I don’t think it matters if my whisky is turbid. In fact, once I see my whisky going streaky, I know that I’m getting close to that ‘sweet spot’.

I don’t like to drink my whisky at room temperature, especially in a hot climate. It has to feel slightly cool on my tongue but never cold. This usually means that before adding water to my whisky, I chill the water by pouring it into a small jug, adding a small amount of ice to cool it. Tap water is usually OK in Scotland but elsewhere, I generally use low mineral content bottled water. I occasionally add ice directly into my whisky but usually very little and only enough to cool it to the desired temperature and, when it’s melted, to dilute it to my desired %ABV. In warmer climes I have on many occasions asked a barman to cut a cube of ice in half or even into quarters, so as to obtain the correct level of cooling and dilution. Some barmen ‘get it’, others just stare at me askance! Adding too much ice simply chills the whisky to the point where it anaesthetises the palate and eventually over-dilutes it. Pouring good quality whisky over one of these huge round ice balls that almost fills the entire tumbler is just bonkers in my opinion…but each to their own! Whisky stones (usually granite) provide a great way of cooling whisky without over-diluting it. And yes…I do have a digital thermometer! Why not? Good quality Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch Whisky is expensive so why not take the time and trouble to get it just right for you! It also adds a little theatre. Don’t worry if all of this sounds like too much of a palaver or a bit of a faff! With practice it becomes second nature.

And now, my final confession. My favourite way to drink whisky is drawn straight from the cask in one of Annandale Distillery’s bonded warehouses. The whisky is always cool, as is the water. I dilute it to taste, sample the whisky and take notes. This is part of our routine quality control process for monitoring maturation, and also the method we use to select casks for our Founders’ Selection bottlings. Yes – I really do taste every single one and Teresa (co-owner and my wife) always sniffs the final selection (she’s tea total). No – I don’t spit it out, although I only take a small sip and allow it to warm-up in my mouth before swallowing! Yes – I do have someone to drive me home afterwards…usually Teresa!

Sip, savour and enjoy!

Slainte Mhath

David Thomson