Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/205467
Recipes by Tim Master PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG When Pigs Fly ◗ 1½ oz. Pig's Nose Scotch Whisky ◗ ½ oz. apricot liqueur ◗ ½oz. Green Chartreuse ◗ 1 oz. fresh orange ◗ ¼ oz. fresh lemon ◗ Shake all ingredients and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with twist of lemon and orange. Scotsman's Journey Tim Master is Director of the Specialty Spirits Division and Trade Education at Frederick Wildman and Sons, Spencerfield Spirits' U.S. importer. PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG ◗ 1½ oz. Edinburgh Gin ◗ ½ oz. Vya Dry Vermouth ◗ ½ oz. Yellow Chartreuse ◗ Absinthe rinse in glass ◗ Lemon zest for garnish ◗ Shake and strain over fresh ice into an absinthe-rinsed Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon zest. All products and cocktails photographed at Pouring Ribbons in New York City. PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG increasingly popular marketing concept of single malts in the late '70s and '80s. He wanted to make sure the legacy of true "artisan" blended whiskies did not disappear from the Scotch whisky lexicon. To do that, Nicol bought the rights to the two whiskies, both of which had been launched in the early 1970s to little acclaim and had almost disappeared from the marketplace by the time he purchased them. He then hired his good friend Richard Paterson—third-generation Master Distiller at Whyte & Mackay, whose nose for blending whisky is considered by many to be the best in the world—to revamp the blends, and re-launched the brands as whiskies portraying the culmination of the blender's art. "Blended Scotch whisky is about 90% of the total scotch market today," says Tim Master, Director of the Specialty Spirits Division and Trade Education at Frederick Wildman and Sons, Spencerfield's U.S. importer. "Single malts are more expensive and only became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, single malts and blended malts command a higher premium than blended whiskies, but there are some exceptional blended whiskies out in the market at a very fair price." Sheep Dip Blended Malt Scotch Whiskey—named after the insecticidal livestock bath Scottish moonshiners would mark as the contents of their whisky barrels to deter the taxman from looking too closely—is carefully blended from 16 different malts, primarily Highland, ranging in age from 8 to 21 years old, with the core components being 12 to 15 years old. Considering the two people in charge, one could assume that both Dalmore and Glenmorangie are part of the blend, though neither Nicol nor Paterson will divulge the exact makeup. Once blended, it is rested in straight American whiskey barrels for one year before being bottled. Wonderfully complex, it is billed as a sipping whisky and is best consumed straight. Pig's Nose Blended Scotch Whisky was first created with the idea of making a high-quality, well-structured blended whisky for mixing. Also re-tooled by Richard Paterson, it is a blend of eight different whiskies, 40% of which are single malt. Islay, Highland, Lowland and Speyside all show up in the blend, though Paterson will not divulge how much of each, or name their parent distilleries. The age range of the components is 5 to 8 years, and once blended, Pig's Nose is finished in first-fill bourbon barrels for one year before being bottled. Spencerfield's latest offering is Edinburgh Gin, while a step away from whisky, still plays true to the Scottish tradition of making fine spirits, particularly gin, which has a long history in Scotland. Made in small batches in a 200 year old copper pot still, Edinburgh eschews being labeled a London Dry, considering itself a "Scottish gin," and takes great care to note that its list of ingredient botanicals contains plants native to Scotland, such as heather, milk thistle, juniper and, most uniquely, Scottish pine. "With so many gins on the market these days, we really wanted to differentiate ourselves," says Master. "We think the delicate pine notes in the nose and palate, do just that." Three uniquely-positioned products, one unwavering vision to be the best—Spencerfield seems to have the perfect blend of ingredients for the current market. november 2013 / the tasting panel / 87 TP1113_066-107.indd 87 10/24/13 9:24 AM