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THE MACALLAN’S DOUBLE CASK
Get the taste: Toast The Macallan, the distillery’s educational and promotional tour, was recently held at the Westin Jakarta hotel in South Jakarta
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Get the taste: Toast The Macallan, the distillery’s educational and promotional tour, was recently held at the Westin Jakarta hotel in South Jakarta.
A new whisky and the new set of expressions that go with it are crafted in, by and using the casks where maturation takes place.
“Wood influences over 80 percent of the final character and flavor of The Macallan,” says Master of Wood Stuart MacPherson on the introductory page of the booklet on the Scottish whisky distillery’s latest single malt offering called Double Cask 12 Years.
Thus, by varying the types, proportion and treatment of the casks in which the distillery’s new make of spirit is matured, new blends with different flavor profiles and expressions can be created, and countless variations on the same theme can be generated.
Double Cask is made by “marrying together two different oak sherry casks, American and European, at a ratio of 50/50. So, it is balanced”, said senior brand manager Ardian Asmari.
He was speaking during a Macallan whisky tasting and dinner recently held at the Westin Jakarta hotel on the first day of the four-day Jakarta leg of Toast The Macallan — the distillery’s educational and promotional tour also held in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Technically, the term “Double Cask” refers to seasoning in two different types of casks prior to maturation and blending.
American oak timber sourced from the woodlands of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas, is cut into staves that are shipped to Spain where they are handcrafted into casks, filled with aged Oloroso sherries and left to season for 18 months.
There is no charring of the cask wall, as in the case of casks seasoned with US bourbon, which explains its lack of a smoky flavor. Also in Spain, their counterparts, European oak casks, are seasoned with the same sherries for 18 months as well.
Both types of casks are then emptied and transported from Spain to The Macallan Distillery in Scotland to be filled with its new spirit and matured for 12 years. Upon maturation, liquid from the two different casks is then blended, and Double Cask 12 Year Old is born.
The taste of this new-born spirit follows the generic vocabulary of flavors for the types of wood where it was conceived. American oak casks typically impart sweetness reminiscent of vanilla, honey and coconut, fruitiness with citrusy notes (lemon, blood orange), spiciness (ginger, mace, white pepper), and toasted oak.
Meanwhile, European (Spanish) oak casks contribute a sort of sweetness that brings to mind dark chocolate and treacle, fruitiness that makes one think of orange marmalade, raisins, dried fruits and dark berries, spiciness suggestive of cloves, cinnamon, star anise and resinous oak.
So, honey, vanilla flavors and citrusy notes in whisky may indicate that the proportion of American is higher than that of European oak. Which is the case with Double Cask although similarities with Sherry Oak of the same age is still highly noticeable.
The best company: The whiskey testing set is neatly arranged in front of the dessert. (Courtesy of The Macallan)
In other words, “the balance” in regard to “the 50:50 ratio” Ardian mentioned doesn’t refer to the actual composition of oak from the two continents in the blend but to the middle place the new spirit is meant to occupy within their 12 Year Old range, to enable them to create a “trilogy” pantheon for that age statement.
Thus, The Macallan is essentially saying that if you like the flavors of European oak, stick with the classic Sherry Oak but if you prefer the wood’s bolder expressions from across the pond, go for Double Cask.
The other member of the trilogy is Fine Oak, which was introduced at the same event alongside Double Cask. Unlike the latter which was launched to great fanfare, the former made such a low-key appearance that practically nobody paid attention to it. That’s because Fine Oak is not new. It has been around since 2004. It has only recently become available in Indonesia because it was initially intended for the European and US markets, Ardian said.
However, for me, it was the star of the evening, much to Ardian’s chagrin, facially expressed, as he glanced between my second-time emptied glass of Fine Oak and my quarter-full glass of Double Cask during the dinner.
The lovely dram, created by a triple-cask production using a mixture of American Oak Sherry casks, European Oak sherry casks, and American Oak bourbon casks, tastes markedly different from the other two. It gave the impression of lightness, cleanness, creaminess, crispness and subdued sweetness uniquely atypical for whisky in its type and range. Anise undernotes and hints of smoke made this restrained elegance a wow. It’s versatile, too. It goes very well with all the dishes served during the dinner.
Although those who first tasted it in 2004 may no longer as intensively succumb to its charm as they did back then, it still shone, brilliantly, in the shadow of its newest, massively promoted sister, the Double Cask. The latter’s expression of honey, caramel, raisin, and warm pastry cakes made it a perfect dessert whisky for this upcoming Christmas — which is another, far more powerful expression of wood and its influences.
