Balvenie At Whisky Live - Part 1

Female: What is malt? You describe it as malty but what it malt? David: So, malt is actually the barley that’s being prepared and before we make Balvenie with it. Female: Okay. David: So, it’s like—once it’s harvested off the fields, its then and arrived to Germany under special conditions so the roots grow and then we dry it. And the reason why we do that is to create enzymes which we’ll show you later on the process convert starts to sugar. Did I say like a biology teacher? Female: How do you dry it? How do you do dry, this is the specific way you need to dry? David: Well, yeah. I mean the—you know when it gets to with the drying stage after seven days of growth at German nation. We, dry it over a fire which consist of a small pit and when you burn pit because of a very distinctive smokiness pit can only give on them. And then what you in doubt with is called malted barley. If you bite into, I don’t have any either. If you bite into, it’s really crunchy and very sweet and malty to taste. And that’s favored carries on all the way through to the final taste. Female: Through the finished product. David: The other thing is but then, the main taste giving time for using malt whiskey is in maturation from the barrels. We get great oak flavors, honey scotch, sweetness from the cherry cask and spicy and honey from the bourbon barrels. Female: So if it’s a malten whiskey, it starts with the— David: The barley. Female: The barley, which has been malted. David: Yes. Female: And then the flavors then influenced by the cask that you put it in so the wood and how it’s been, not treated but how it’s been used before, how it’s been matured. David: Right, yes definitely I mean, you know with the bourbon casks we use then, you know the bourbon casks, over seven yeas to mature bourbon in the USA. But the point being that we never use new casks because if we use new wood, new casks, then the flavor becomes too intense with oak then it becomes like bitter. So we always—not because we’re Scottish, it’s because we get a better flavor right of a cask that’s been used before. So whether it’s a bourbon barrel or a shady cask, we get different flavors right out of the two, but flavors that really work with the whisky. Female: So I'm curious, how does a bourbon cask taste different than a cherry cask? David: In a nutshell, bourbon to me is vanilla of honey, honeyish and a cherry cask is very much rich and fruity like your grannie’s fruitcake. Female: Okay, so let’s try some. David: Yeah. Female: In this case what are we trying today? David: Well, this is called Double Wood and then it’s called that because we’re using different types in its maturation, your biggest there by giving time. So, we’ve got eleven and a half years of this total maturation period on bourbon barrels and then seven months, very short. Seven months of the final period of maturation and first to fill cherry cask. Female: Oh, so you got a combination of the both. David: So, the cherry of course comes through in fruitiness that cherry can only give. Female: Okay let’s— David: Yup, so it’s a nice malty smell, just little bit on the tongue there. Enough to get the flavors, you know not too much and then the flavor begin to change. We’ll go through this fruitiness, just trying to changes to like oak vanilla kind of flavor and then to me, because we’re all different and a few seconds time that begins to go nothing like walnut. And this isn’t kind of flavor I do get didn’t felt and it goes nutty. Female: Nutty? David: If you want to make life easier, if whiskey is too strong for you. Then it’s quite simple and the best thing to do just to add a spot of water. Female: Just a spot of water. David: Let me see, what you have here so, try with that and give a little bit of shake around. Female: Now, that we’ll change how it— David: Definitely, it begins too smell more with more aroma comes with adding water and then when you come to drinking it, it should be easier to drink because it’s not alcohol content. We’ve added some water and it should be a more pleasurable experience. You may also want to add ice and add ice actually takes away some of the flavor in the beginning because it’s cooler, that once you drink it warms up but that’s very much individual choice and the enjoyment is the only rule, I keep saying that. Female: So there’s no right or wrong way? David: But there isn’t the way and some people, who actually say well, that’s the way to do it. You don’t need to listen to these people who say that. Me, an individual enjoy it the way you want to enjoy. Find the way that you like to drink and that’s the correct word. Female: So new whiskey drinker should try few different things and— David: Experiment, get your friends to buy it for you. Female: Come here and try to view but— David: This is the ideal play.