Glasgow 1770 Tokaji Cask

It’s one of the many reasons why as enthusiasts we spend so much time with this glorious liquid. When speaking about whisky to non-drinkers, we can explain how slippery a slope this can all be when you start to delve into whisky.

Picking Scotland as an example, you can pick whiskies from parts of the country to show how different things can be. Peat vs non-peat is another topic for discussion. Then if you find a flavour profile and style you like, how does this translate to whisky created in other countries? Overwhelming when you come to think of it, but it’s exciting to dissect and get stuck in.

However, debatably, you can point to the influence that casks can have on the final makeup and character of whiskies. There are arguments out there that casks can imprint up to 80% of the liquids overall flavour. That’s both a huge statement and such a percentage of impact that one single aspect can have in the post-creation part of whisky making. In post-creation I’m talking about after malting, drying, mashing, fermenting, distilling and condensing to where an actual liquid is created by a distillery.

The OGs of bourbon and sherry stand tall as the cask of choice for most distilleries. In choosing these, the previous cask fills have proven to give us outstanding whiskies and diverse flavour profiles while at the same time creating a followings for one or the other. I for one like both, but give me my whisky in a bourbon hoggy all day long. Just a personal preference, nowt wrong with something rested, finished or matured in sherry or something else entirely.

So this ‘something else entirely’ is what I want to touch on today, as we look at a unique offering from Glasgow Distillery Co. as part of their small batch series.

Now I’m not clued in on how a distillery comes about getting their hands on various casks or particular varieties. Does the master distiller or master blender taste an array of different wines individually to see how a particular flavour could compliment or change their own distillate? Or does one simply buy from cask sources that’s privy to those in the industry?

My own curiosity got the better of me and I reached out to a few folks who might know how sourcing casks within whisky works. The guys at Copeland distillery told me a few weeks back when I visited their distillery that sometimes they’ll get a phone call informing them of a certain type or variety of cask that’s available to them. At a premium I might add.

Another take that I’ve been told is that it’s more of a seek and ye shall find, while not necessarily being offered. For a cask that has any seasoning whatsoever, it can be up to five years for your order to be fulfilled. Which can be a bit of a headache in regards to future volume and release planning. All in a day’s work for a distillery eh?

The latest small batch series from Glasgow Distillery sees them finishing their unpeated whisky in Hungarian Tokaji Sweet Wine casks for 3 years and 6 months. That’s a super long finish if you ask me. Where do we draw a line when it comes to something that’s matured vs something that’s finished? It’s my own personal opinion that a finish is any period up to and including 12 months. With a discussion between the other Dramface writers, there was a collective, ‘What actually is Tokaji?’ An alcoholic drink that I’d not heard of before but here we are delving into a look at Tokaji.

Firstly, it’s pronounced ‘Toh-kai-yee’ (not ‘Toh-kah-gee’ as I’ve been saying it), and the wine is from a region in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. The region, named Tokaj, was declared a World Heritage Site back in 2002. This characteristically sweet dessert wine is made from white grapes and is cultivated from one of 6 grape varieties in order for it to be an official Tokaji wine. The 6 varieties being: Furmint, Hárslevelű,Yellow Muscat, Zéta, Kövérszőlő and Kabar.

The peculiar sweetness and style of Tokaji wines is built on something known as ‘noble rot’; aka botrytis. There are better folks on the writing team that would explain this in a level of detail that’s beyond my understanding. That being said, ‘…Botrytis occurs only when the climate is right for it, and dries and shrivels the overripe grapes, turning them into raisin-like “Aszú berries.” This concentrates their flavours and their sugars, and gives the wines made from them distinct complex flavours, a honeyed character, and high amounts of residual sugar.’ [Referenced and info gathered from – Understanding Tokaj – Taste Hungary]

You start to wonder why a distillery would choose such a different and unique type of wine or cask variant for release. It’s hard to know if it’ll work and Glasgow using Tokaji in their small batch range is testament to experimentation here along with Cognac casks, tequila and more. It wouldn’t have been a dessert wine I’d heard of or even tried previously. With such sweet characteristics and tasting notes from the wine below, my interest is spared in tasting this new offering from Glasgow.