Slàinte Mhath! Cheers to the Angels and Scotch!

Slàinte Mhath!

Cheers to the Angels and Scotch!

Being a student of English literature is enough reason to be excited to see England but for Giri and I, we were eagerly waiting for the visit to Scotland.

The first ever whisky I tasted was Scotch and I realised what a fine drink it was. The golden colour and aroma adds to the heavenly feel of the drink. My tryst with Scotch whisky paved the way for a teetotaller in Giri to fall in love with the drink and subsequently become a connoisseur himself. That is a separate story by itself and can be told later.

In Edinburgh we visited ‘The Scotch Whisky Experience’. The young lady there with a strong Scottish accent, which irritated Giri as he was trying hard to follow but couldn't understand a thing, showed us how to drink Scotch. She poured us all a drink in the goblet and asked us to view it against the light to appreciate the colour, then swirl the goblet around to check the consistency, then smell it and thereafter to take a sip…. roll it in the mouth….and enjoy the feel and wait for the aftertaste. Whisky is a drink to be enjoyed and not to be gulped down (glug glug glug as we see in our movies!).

That night as we walked back in the biting cold, we encountered many Scottish men in jeans (and not kilts), merry, happy with their national drink.
The bus driver who took us to the Highlands of Scotland the next day, continuously narrated the history of Scotland. He was a proud Scotsman with fifteen years of experience in driving tourists around. He told us that approximately 20 million casks lie maturing in the 270 distilleries in Scotland at any given time.

We visited the Deanston distillery enroute where again another young Scottish lady was our guide. Thankfully she spoke clearly and Giri could clear his doubts!

She showed us the casks that were lying in wait to be filled with the whisky. The wood of the cask and the extent to which it was charred contributed to the flavour of the drink. She showed us how the malted barley is mixed with water from the nearby river and mashed. The mixture is then sent to large tanks where yeast is added and it turns to ale, which is similar to beer. The residue is used as farm feed. Nothing gets wasted. This is then sent for distillation. Distillation produces three types of alcohol - The Head, The Heart and The Tail. The Head is strong enough to make you blind if you drink it. The Tail will be too mild. Both head and tail will be sent back again for distillation with the next lot. The Heart is the one that is transferred to wooden casks and then stored for 3 years and one day to mature. One day is added to cater for any leap years in between. Scots are very meticulous about making their drink, you see!

The casks can be used thrice after which they transform into plant holders or wood for sought-after furniture.

The oldest cask in Deanston distillery is the one that was filled in 1974, that is one year younger to me. They are waiting for it to mature for 50 years.

The longer the maturing period, the more expensive the whisky would be. The young lady shared a secret with us, an expensive whisky that has matured in the cask for longer years, does not ensure a better quality whisky. A three year period is enough for the whisky to mature and once it gets transferred to the bottles, they do not mature anymore in taste. The flavour does not change much once it goes past the time period of three years.

Then why do men proudly display a bottle of whisky matured for 12 years or more? I saw 35 year old whisky in bottles with price tags that rattled the currency conversion machine in my head.

In Scotland, they believe that angels come at night to sip the whisky from the casks. They have to give 2 percent of the whisky to the angels every year. That is the deal. It is called the Angels’ share. If you keep them for more number of years, you will have to give them a higher share. If you keep it for 15 years, the Angels’ share would be 30 percent. Now you know, why the whisky that remains in the cask for a longer period is expensive.

The scientific explanation is that the casks, though watertight, are not air tight and so the whisky evaporates over a period of time. Two percent is the standard over a year. The Scots did try to mature the whisky in air tight casks but realized it wasn't tasting the same. It was fair enough to give the Angels their share, they decided.

The temperature in the warehouses of Scotland never goes higher than 15 even in summers. In India where they try to replicate the process of making Scotch whisky (?), the Angels’ share can go up to 15 percent a year due to the tropical climatic conditions. What a huge loss! I guess it is better to leave it to the Scots to distil the golden liquid in their pristine environs. The rest of the world can sit back and enjoy it!

Whisky is "very personal" as the Scots say. You can roll it around your tongue and choose the best for you!