ralfy review 934 Extras - Information on quality of casks (Part3/3)

[@richardkilley6838]

On a slightly different note, king Henry the 8th used to purchase yew bow staves from Scandinavian country's because the Scandinavian yew trees grew more slowly than the English yew trees due to the colder climate which gave wood with a tighter grain which made stronger bow staves. Just a bit of wood related knowledge for you malt mates!

[@oldandintheway1955]

A wonderful series Ralfy! The insights and knowledge you're sharing is marvelous and very much appreciated. Knowledge is power. An enlightened Malt Mate, Gary

[@FerNightwalker]

A real Masterclass IMO, to see it several times, and begin researching for distileries sources.. Thanks A LOT Ralfy!!! Cheers

[@RebMordechaiReviews]

Perhaps you were thinking of Tomintoul who most of their bottlings are Ex-Bourbon? Tamnavulin used to be almost entirely Bourbon Barrels before the closure in 1995. Today they use only a percentage of Bourbon barrels in the vatting. The others are old Refill Ex-Sherry casks, many second hand casks from other distilleries, many rejuvenated casks. Not the best quality in my opinion. Distilleries where I have been impressed with their highly professional cask policy have been Deanston, Loch Lomond, Wolfburn, Kilchoman and Glencadam, to name a few where they have real cask experts who know quality and love to talk about their casks. A sure sign they take pride in them, when they are enthusiastic to talk to you about their casks.

[@bryan5884]

And Arran is worth mentioning too.

[@geo5291]

My biggest upcotes here would be for Glencadam, Kilchoman, Wolfburn, Arran and Tobermory. I need a bit more Deanston to sign off and I have to say - I'm not dissatisfied with Loch Lomond, but I think they are banking on the strength if the spirit. Bc even in their old whiskeys, it's the dostillery character talking and not the casks. At least the casks didn't kill what was there, but idk if they add to their potential.

[@davidwiberg423]

Absolutely fabulous series on casks! Makes me sad to believe that the “golden age” of scotch might be done forever - done in by the greed of big companies through the over commercialization of casks. This is something that can only get worse over time as costs will always need to be cut to compensate for higher shipping costs. I recently talked to a rep who was excited by the idea that this will make new spirit gradually rise from the bottom shelf

[@cnwilliams59]

Ralfy, thanks for doing this series. It has been one of the best!

[@francisojavierpuertamaya9086]

Excelente clase magistral sobre tonelería, muchas gracias Ralfy.

[@davet7185]

Always on the money Ralfy - thank you for yet another insightful vlog and what is perhaps the most important factor in the production of a quality spirit; i.e. the wood.

[@nicktheflybradley]

Hi Ralfy, your Xtras are wonderful. Top class tutorials to the industry and drinkers! Well done and thanks, a delight to watch. Nick from York

[@richardbostan4286]

The statement Ralfy makes about 90 percent of bourbon being "about 2 years old" is just flat out wrong. The bourbon that young probably isn't even as high as 2 percent of the total, and all of it would be made by tiny craft distilleries, not ANY of the big corporate distilleries. Big distilleries want to be able to put the word "straight" on the label and they DON'T want to have to put an age statement on it saying it is less than four years old (required by law if straight whiskey is under four years old), hence almost 100 percent of bourbon produced by the big distilleries is at least four years old. The only example of a bourbon from a big distillery that is under four years old that I can think of is Benchmark from Buffalo Trace (which Ralfy scored "87" several years ago), and even that has an age statement of 3 years. Ralfy likes to criticize Jim Beam but 100 percent of their bourbon is at least four years old, and as the case of Benchmark proves, Buffalo Trace cannot make the same claim.

[@robfut9954]

I’ve been experimenting with using oak cubes that I “first fill” age for a few weeks using cheap bourbon or sherry and then let faux age in bottles with my malt. It has its flaws, but it’s been educational with regards to the flavors of oak and previous content (what I soaked it in for the “first fill”).

[@whompbiscuits8930]

I'm just glad that Coopers are still needed. With everything having gone mechanized over the past several decades, especially with the dawn of the personal computer, I would have thought that coopering would have long been done by machine. Little, if any, human intervention. I hope my post here doesn't give distilleries what is really a bad economic idea.

[@geo5291]

Well, good news - your idea might be inevitable in the long run, but they won't be able to do ur any singer just bc you the it in here. There is no way to do this at 100% by Machesney just yet, but we can delay it by not purchasing crap made by crap casks and showing on here that we know why it happens!!! So all that crappy Basil Hayden and most JD lines, tons of independents that just rebottle MGP aged juice without changing it, etc. - bye 👋 🤣 😴. Same with the crappy Japanese stuff that isn't even Japanese and they mysteriously blend unwanted Scotch, Bourbon and other things. Enough. This is like sex education for booze. If you know the consequences. You can make informed choices.

[@michaelhoresh-businesscoac8313]

Thanks for the masterclass. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. New perspectives looping up in front of us

[@chrisrussell3131]

“How thick is the wood? How thin is the wood? How neat is the chob?” - best Ralfy review ever!

[@alexmil002]

Wonderful video. Thanks for the info Ralfy. Alex

[@georgeheitzman3610]

Thank you Ralphy for this fascinating series. Another factor to consider is that bourbon barrels are charred to different levels depending on the flavors the distillery seeks in their product. This, combined with the varying amounts of corn, rye, and wheat in the bourbon, creates a wide range of flavors in the re-used casks for the Scotch whisky distiller to select in complementing their spirit.

[@SidequestBear]

That’s why we like to know what distillery our barrels are coming from….

[@geo5291]

And that different bourbon makers use different yeast strains u like Acotland - as many in the US come from a brewing background and it's another twist/permutation on what's possible. It can come through, even with a column still.

[@TheRealDanBell]

What an informational video. I know more than I have ever thought I would about casks.

[@MurrayCohenbluesandwhisky]

Ralfy, once again you hit the proverbial nail on the head regarding the reality of the importance of cask wood/management for whisky. I've had this discussion with distillery manager friends of mine in Scotland who speak the truth as well.

[@ralphwatten2426]

I saw a Jack Daniels commercial on TV a few years ago where they had a large fire and were charring oak chunks and were putting the chunks in the casks to give it flavor and color. I wonder if anyone else here has seen that? The flavor not coming from the cask but from the charred wood put in the cask.

[@geo5291]

That was probably for a particular release? Or at least b4 the Tennesee Whiskey designation they entered on the books. I'm sure this process is not allowed within it. There is no problem doing this, but the indo would be best if transparent and should have a name to go with it. Wine does this with additional insert staves and oak chips all the time. Cask becomes an enclosure and the wood element is what's inserted.

[@georgeheitzman3610]

Makers Mark is doing something similar with their Maker's 46 series, in which individual French oak staves are toasted and charred to different degrees and placed in the barrel for final finishing. To me it's an interesting and delicious approach to crafting a bourbon. When done on an industrial scale (yes, Jack Daniels), it's a shortcut.

[@PierreMoisan-vf2ze]

Shortage of peat, shortage of good cask…. It’s time to be creative We can always find a solution but we have to be open minded first! Those who wait too long will end up playing fiddle on the deck 😉 Good job Ralfy

[@Seronu]

Jack Daniel's does some quite exceptional expressions: - Single barrel | Barrel strength - Coy Hill - 10 and 12 years old - Single barrel | Barrel-proof rye These are their super-premium expressions and are excellent expressions. However, JD mention that only 1/100 barrels are deemed worthy enough to become a part of their single barrel series, which sounded quite nice and quite "selective" and carefully chosen to me before you mentioned that actually their barrels are of bad quality and lack character as compared to, say, Elijah Craig. If only 1/100 barrels are good enough to become sippable, then the other 99 must be plain bad!

[@geo5291]

A lot of bourbons are pot still now and say so on the label- now those are good stuff, bc the combination of various grain has it's contributions. Plus, diff distilleries use diff strains of yeast. And this applies to rye. I think most unique is pot still rye, that has little to no corn. And you can find it. Now this is the new direction of American juice. That, and American single Malt bc of barrel shortage and addition to the American Malt Mate society. Plenty of small distilleries to choose from. Just make sure you don't support (most) MGP sourced whiskey and some Dickel sourced whiskey. Bardstown and Heaven Hill source plenty too, but just make sure you buy for what makes the final product different from the specific bottler.

[@varieedeventualii]

Thank you Ralfy, food for thought really: I'd like to add that to produce good whisky we need good casks and to produce good casks we need ultimately... good humans. But we have abandoned any high standard, or good reference, on how to produce good humans... who don't just live craving for money. Until well produced humans are so few and far between, so will all the things on this little rock of a planet, too bad. Sorry for the philosophical rant :)

[@varieedeventualii]

No, I must correct myself, good humans are present in a good quantity, they just don't run things.

[@geo5291]

Or they have been sanitized, watered down, etc by removal of inspiration, infighting bw others, given drugs, or thrust into social or economic position of insignificance, etc. But it's good humans' fault for rolling over. Good isn't good enough: resilience just be shown, cunning, influence. We can't shut down our complain, we must be the cream that rises. And even then, they must succeed us when WE become complacent!

[@degmar]

Too much nostalgia. Post-prohibition was about developing market share. The demand was there, companies were in a race to get product out so they could develop their brand.

[@javieracosta3439]

Very much the same situation now. Demand is up and the industry is putting what they can out onto the shelves, because it will be bought up. Once this bubble bursts, where do the distilleries go from there? It won't be about price and number of products, it will be about quality. If too many stray from that tenant now, it will be hard to stay relevant in such a climate in the future.

[@degmar]

@@javieracosta3439 Interesting question. Considering that the demand has been increasing for the last 10 years, and assuming that distillers have been increasing production in response, and further that it takes ~10 years to mature, what you'll be drinking when the bubble bursts is already in the warehouse.

[@javieracosta3439]

@@degmar I was thinking even more so on the Scotch end which relies heavily on American bourbon. As Ralfy mentions, there are a lot of subpar casks out there because the bourbon was dumped at two or three years (or less!). Someone's picking up those hastily crafted and used barrel's across the Atlantic. I wonder how much their product will suffer for not doing the due diligence.

[@degmar]

@@javieracosta3439 I'm pretty sure I don't agree with Ralfy on that. The bourbon industry is exploding - there should be a glut of used barrels on the market. And, they aren't all bad. Dumping a bourbon at two years should lead to a supply of casks with a lot of life left. The number of quality bourbons on the shelves is not decreasing, so there should be a lot of quality casks around. But, the scotch industry is also exploding, so there is more competition for those casks. Given that the Scotch industry doesn't like to use new casks, they are stuck trying to buy those used casks, which are in limited supply due to demand. I do agree with you that, once the bubble bursts, there will be a shake out of distilleries.

[@geo5291]

Agreed in the shakeout of distilleries. Well lose some good guys, as well as some bad guys. But any downturn soon, means the stuff we'll drink is aging. Thing is, they may leave the crappier stuff in crappier balrrels to continue aging (see Port Ellen), and release most of the best at higher strength, blended better. Etc. We will pribbably get a higher percentage of better barrels kn there. They will probably still color most Scotch.

[@cameronshine3465]

I just bought a American white oak barrel ralfy. a 10 liter i think it should be worth it. Time will tell :)

[@scoobtoober2975]

I watched a few videos on making casks. Some still keep a wood in spaced out stacks and air dry/season for years. I figured some rush it. I didn't know they are just kiln dried as fast as possible. The kilns i know for sure, some at least. They are microwaves. That is true vaporizing the moisture. Shout out pinhook bourbondini. Give that a go. Higher proof, modest age (3 years) and interesting. Not a rushed poor quality product. Says not filtered. Not 'no caramel' but I doubt it.

[@gareth630]

Enjoyed this three part extras, cheers for sharing. Did you see that Wigan RLFC were sponsored by Loch Lomond whisky, malt mates in Wigan, the word is spreading !

[@Mark_R_]

Cask-tastic wee mini-series, Ralfy, slainte!

[@10lauset]

.. Cheers to you.

[@michaelgonzalez347]

Very informative. Thank you very much. I just hope the distilleries that are getting good quality casks now don't try to cut corners later with cheap poor quality casks. I guess we will fins out in the whiskey.

[@carlubambi5541]

Most Sellers want to keep consumers ignorant so they don't know what quality product is .Many do it because of losses due to large amounts of losses and waste because of poor barrels ,storage and handling and of course the angels share losses .Some distilleries are just about staying over that red line .The more educated a consumer is the more threat to their pocket book they become.Its just like the fashion industry especially the watch and jewelry .Nothing special no value no precious metals an air of exclusivity mass produced ,no limited production. On the other hand you have alcohol,a perishable food product, that has limited production and limited quality that is much more friendly as a fashion statement and cost more than most jewelry and watches and clothing and once consumed has no future monetary value but does give temporary pleasure !

[@finallydone8640]

Have to agree with you on the bourbon comments well made and aged bourbons are far more complex than most people ever get the chance to try

[@TasmaniaIsAHole]

Probably because they cost far more than aged scotch these days.

[@tooslow1614]

Thanks Ralfy

[@easer777]

I have a few bottles that I have bought which are not great, and watching this video, it came to me, why not get some quality oak and put a chip into the bottle, coulden't thát improve on the whisky....??? ;- ) - As You say, it is my bottle and I'm not in Scotland, and the whisky even have been bottled already, so it is hardly illegal....;- ) ;- ) ;- ) I love first-fill whisky, how much would it take to improve on a bottle, and will I have to soak the wood in bourbon for half a year for it to work....??? ;- ) - I know that You don't know, but if You were to take a guess....???

[@rocketeer.]

To get to a time before genetically hybridized grain was mainstream in production one would probably have to go to the early 1930’s. That would be to reach the time when botanical wheats were the norm.

[@logangallagher7050]

I think the amount the government tax these whisky companies plays a big part, they tax so much that the companies have no choice but turn churn out the whisky at the expense of quality to make any real profit.

[@elvrro]

Thanks for know how

[@JohnParishPhotos]

Ralfy, should we as whisky drinkers be worried about the barrel shortage in the US and lack of new Oak being planted? Also the economic downturn of the UK, I'm worried that we may see some of the small distilleries shut down, and maybe one or two of the bigger ones. Who else has these concerns, have we come to the end, or nearing the end of the golden age of whisky ( for now)?

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . basically, yes.

[@bobi-gr]

I watch each episode with interest, and I learn a lot of interesting things, for a better journey in the world of whiskey! Can you add subtitles, thanks and cheers!

[@farshadp6114]

Greeting and thank you again for another very informative review, I am afraid it is not just the whisky, many places you go such as supermarket, appliances store ect which staff have very limited knowledge of their own products.Cuttimg cost is everywhere these days and in regards to bourbon , nobody cares cos it ends up being mixed with coke anyway 😂

[@petersneddon1579]

In the future good quality whiskies will be the preserve of the elites.

[@jamespayne5570]

People in positions they've not earned ruins everything.

[@whompbiscuits8930]

Absolutely correct. "Earned" is the key word here. Far too many times are unqualified people promoted to positions of power and status when they've achieved little to nothing; the only reason they're promoted is due to who their friends and family are. I think the glossy term for this is "networking". Tangible experience and meaningful achievement be damned. And too many wonder why the economies of the advanced nations are in such shitty shape.

[@geo5291]

Stealing is a type of earning. If we are shrewd we can beat them at their own game. No one gives you a free lunch in life.

[@madpete6438]

How about the people who use Stainless Steel Tanks with a big sock full of Toasted Oaks hanging down the middle, with a stirrer in the bottom... gives good flavour but no more casks.....and cheap "bourbon" style whiskey is the result..... Then what does the scotch whiskey industry do ? They will have to start making their own "Bourbon" to get casks....

[@jefferychartier2536]

would you recommend Macallan Sherry Oak 12-Year-Old @43apv?

[@arunboy6307]

Sadly right across the board, we're living in a world full of titled and entitled people with scant regard for their employees or their consumers. Like crypto this Whisky bull rush is nearly over and sadly some integrity distilleries will fold. Hopefully we'll all wise up , consume a little less and force these people to listen and produce whisky that reflects the exuberant prices they're asking.

[@robfut9954]

Thing about Bourbon is that is was never pretentious back in the day. 99.9% of it was made knowing full well that it was going to be mixed, in a cocktail, or at best on the rocks with a lot of ice. These days Bourbon is starting to get an ego trip. Prices are soaring, but quality is about what it’s always been. The issue is, now with the prices where they are people are intending to sip them and not all Bourbon is great for that. Look at the age difference between a $50 Bourbon and a $50 Scotch… you’re often looking at at least 10-12 years of age in your Scotch, but the Bourbon I see at that price has either no age or a much lower age. You think those will sip the same? Ha!

[@geo5291]

Qell the difference in new vs used casks and aging temperatures makes this an apples and oranges comparison. BUT, a lot more bourbon is distilled in pot still. Ow, so if we look at and buy those, the playing field is more equal. And if it's mostly or 100% rye in a pot still?! Oh, now THATS everything.

[@riccardo5281]

Maturation in Scotland is much slower, obviously it will take less time for a bourbon to reach the same maturarion. Same goes for rum.

[@robfut9954]

@@riccardo5281 for rum I get it, but it isn’t like North America is as hot as Jamaican weather and it isn’t like the US doesn’t use temp controlled warehouses. I think rum is an outlier because they typically mature in hotter environments which are open air.

[@simongilbert2704]

just slow down to produce better stuff ;; good point ;;;

[@Johnstone72]

An Encyclopedia of Ethanol. If my Crypto wet dreams ever come true I'll be in touch!!

[@JimmyLeg]

Ralfy, you really should stop hanging around warehouses. It sounds sketchy.

[@triplecap4307]

Ralfy's ignorance on bourbon is a bit shocking.