Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/551222
august 2015 / the tasting panel / 43 L ast issue, I began my search for William Grant's Rare Casks. It turned out to be a fascinating journey, visit- ing the Glenfiddich distillery complex in Dufftown (self-styled "Whisky Capital of the World"), meeting Master Distiller Brian Kinsman, exploring some of the self-same Rare Casks, getting a privileged look inside the rarely seen Kininvie Distillery and having the chance to try my own hand at blending. In this series of four articles, I'll be explaining the Rare Cask story, looking at the commercial imperatives behind it, exploring the unique attributes that a family company brings to this very special kind of project and discussing with some U.S. customers their experiences on their journey, from distillery to liquor store shelf. Last time I detailed some of the early releases in the Rare Cask series; in this issue, I want to take a deeper look at blending. Blending was once memorably described by David MacDonald, the last family owner of Glenmorangie, as "the art of combining meticulously selected, mature, high-quality whiskies, each with its own flavor and other characteristics, with such skill that the whole is better than the sum of its finished parts, so that each makes its contribution to the finished blend without any one predominating." As a defini- tion, it could hardly be bettered. With blends accounting for more than 90% of global Scotch sales, the blender is at the heart of the global demand for Scotch whisky. Blending as we know it today began around 1860 as Scotch distillers responded to growing customer demand for a product more pleasing to a range of palates than the very assertive "single" whiskies that then predominated. The collapse of the brandy industry (due to phylloxera) and the spread of the British Empire gave them an unrivalled opportunity, which they seized with relish. Scotch has never looked back, and products such as Grant's Family Reserve soon came to dominate world markets. The principle is simple: Various whiskies are mixed together (or "blended") to provide a product that can be branded and produced consistently time after time. It sounds easy, but as I learned by spending time with Brian Kinsman, there is more to it than I first imagined. Kinsman began, as he would with any customer for the Rare Casks, by offering a bewildering range of whiskies in small samples, rather resembling a row of cough syrup bottles! Of course, he wasn't trying to confuse, merely demonstrating the riches that are available from the extraor- dinary depth of stocks held by William Grant & Sons. In fact, had I rejected these, he could have replaced them several times over. He then explained that, for simplicity, he'd taken out the major variable of age by offering me only whiskies that were 25 years of age or more. So it seemed I was going to be making a 25 Year Old! We began by nosing all the samples. They were unlabeled, Kinsman encouraging me to select or reject according to my personal view rather than being unduly influenced by a distillery name; as he said, a little-known distillery can often produce an exceptional whisky. And there were, he stressed, no right or wrong answers, simply what worked for me (though he did gently guide me through the choices). Then we looked at some samples of grain whisky, the base or platform for any blend—the core component that acts to carry the more highly flavoured malts and encourage them to work harmoni- ously together. It became clear as we worked that certain whiskies just fitted—Kinsman knew this instinctively, where I was proceeding slowly (and sometimes a little painfully) by trial and error—where others jarred and fought for prominence. Eventually a dram emerged under my trembling hands that seemed to appeal. We left it for a while and talked about blending—opening a door to a lifetime's lightly-worn skill in a precious few hours that would be a unique and very special experience for any whisky lover. Kinsman is quietly spoken and undemonstrative, but friendly and open to sharing his knowledge. Returning to the glass, it seemed richer, more beguiling for his subtle expertise. And that is what the spirit buying teams from Binny's, BevMo!, Total Wines & More and Spec's Liquors have done in creating their own limited-batch releases. The family name for these micro- blended, truly hand-crafted expres- sions of the Rare Casks is Annasach, which, appropriately, is Gaelic for "rare." Find them at around $300 and savor something out of the ordinary. William Grant & Sons Master Distiller Brian Kinsman dis- cusses the art of blending with author Ian Buxton. The Annasach Reserve 25 Year Old is a Rare Cask selection bottled exclusively for from Binny's, BevMo!, Spec's Liquors and (this bottle) Total Wines & More.