Cask Strength 1:1 (What better time than 10:30am for a dozen whiskeys?)
Posted on July 11, 2009
Filed Under Matthew B. Rowley | Leave a Comment
Matthew B. Rowley (Rowley’s Whiskey Forge) is an advertising executive, former museum curator, and past board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.
We’re are not drinking; we’re learning.
~ Francesco Lafranconi
10 July 2009
10:32am
Cesar Cestari, master distiller of Cabana Cachaça, was among the panelists joining Francesco Lafranconi for “Cask Strength 1:1” today at Tales of the Cocktail. The panel explored barrel aging of spirits, the origins of woods, degrees of charring and—to some extent—how long is “too long” in a barrel.
Whiskey and brandy lovers know that distillers put high-proof white dog straight from the stills into oak barrels where they grow more complex and mellow. Many assume that barrels made of white American oak—and, to a lesser degree, French or other European oaks—are the only suitable choices for aging spirits. Look in the right places, however, and you’ll discover more exotic woods being put to use.
Cestari, for instance, brought samples of his double-distilled cachaça aged in Jequitiba rosa, a Brazilian hardwood. While Americans are becoming more familiar with the Brazilian sugarcane spirit, most of what we see here is not barrel-aged. The result was a light, honey-colored spirit with a soft touch, but clear woodiness. I hope we see more of this as the American market for cachaça matures.
Larry Kass of Heaven Hill Distilleries spoke about types of American straight whiskeys and the charring processes used to create them. Bringing in staves with various levels of char (coopers typically offer increasingly burnt char levels from #1-4), Kass discussed how the raw white spirit moving in and out of the porous wood becomes over time the golden, amber, brown and “red” whiskeys we know and love.
Over the 90-minute session, the panelists presented a variety of spirits, including; Cabana Cachaça, Cabana aged in Jequitiba rosa, Cabana aged in American oak, Evan Williams single barrel, Elijah Craig 12-year, Elijah Craig 18-year, and Glenmorangie white dog as well as their Nectar D’Or aged in lightly toasted American white oak.
All images are from the Independent Stave Company, a Missouri company founded in 1912 that provides American white oak barrels to distillers around the world. See the full video here.
