Even internal supply changes can affect resources say for instance (all of this being completely hypothetical) Diageo HQ decided that Caol Ila is on a strong upward trajectory as a single malt. The trickiness in this setting though is the variability that comes from not completely controlling all of the input variables say a contract with another company is ended and their distillery components are no longer available for use. Again, in this instance there will still be many set parameters, previous examples to refer to as standards and a recipe guideline. This will set a starting point which, especially when averaged over large batch sizes, should get the blender to within a very narrow margin of the desired outcome.Īnother example is a blended whisky which needs to pull resources from a much larger pool say for example Johnnie Walker Black Label. In this case there will also be a baseline recipe the blender ought to work from too how many first fill versus second and perhaps third or even fourth fill casks, STR/decharred-recharred, how many should be bourbon versus sherry or some other previous fortified type. The blender will also be working from a large backlog of bottlings as reference points bottlings from different eras which demonstrate which ranges of organoleptic properties the final blend should fall within. In this instance, a number of parameters have already been set for the blender the minimum age of the stock they’re working with, the distillery profile, the final ABV etc. A common example is a core range that a group or distillery has been making for a long time, say for instance something as well known as Glenfiddich 12yo. One ought to deeply understand the specific goal of creating a blend. Let’s ponder a few of those intricacies before utterly brutalising an attempt ourselves. The number of variables that must be balanced at the same time while not losing sight of the larger picture of the overall flavour profile is quite daunting. It’s an entirely different thing to have a specific flavour profile handed to you and then, with whichever blending tools exist at your disposal, combine them in a mind-bending superposition of art and science to bring forth that goal from the ether. It’s one thing to have a few open bottles and muck around mixing different ratios of things together, but not exactly outcome oriented. How do we plan on getting the same flavour profile you may ask? Well, by doing the same thing as our friends at Nikka did blending. I’m absolutely, unequivocally and axiomatically not a blender, but having had the opportunity to speak to a few people that are, as well as work in or alongside a few micro-distilleries here in South Australia, I can say one thing with absolute confidence - it’s a seriously tough job. Continuing a recent theme of ridiculously expensive and otherwise difficult to obtain whisky, let’s look at an old Japanese malt blend and also ways we might get close to the same flavour experience without remortgaging any properties.
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