It happened again. The wine I opened to review, a 2003 Mak Coonawarra from Coonawarra, Australia, is corked. How do you know if a wine is corked? Well, first, is it sealed with actual cork and not a synthetic cork or screw cap? Second, does it smell like wet newspaper and taste like wet cardboard? In that case, I'm afraid that your wine is infected with 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA for short). Don't worry, you'll smell it... the human olfactory system can detect TCA down to parts per trillion... it's that unmistakable. It won't hurt you, either... you can drink the wine without worry, it may just taste a bit unpleasant.
TCA affects anywhere from less than 1% to around 10% of all wines, depending on who you ask. You don't know and won't know if you have an infected wine until you open it. TCA can also infect barrels, pipes, hoses, and other equipment in a winery, in which case the percentage of bottles with cork taint will be much higher.
I want to get rid of these wines, but I'm a bit hesitant to open my fourth bottle in two days... I might be heartbroken a third time. Don't have any cold beer at the moment... I suppose I'll have to undertake my first spirits review!
If there's one thing I love just as much as wine and beer, it's Scotchy Scotch Scotch. But Scotch whisky is a confusing mistress. First, here's the CliffsNotes on how Scotch is made:
Most importantly, you need to be in Scotland. Then you get some barley and steep it in water until it germinates and enzymes break down the starch. The barley is dried with smoke (usually with some peat) then ground up and added to boiling water; starches are converted into sugars via those enzymes, yeast is added, it ferments, and you end up with a crappy-tasting beer that's then distilled in pot stills two or three times (depending on the location and producer) and transferred to oak barrels that have previously been used for maturing Bourbon, Sherry, Port, etc. How long in oak? However the bloody heck long you want it in oak! Although you will lose a portion of your product due to evaporation the longer it sits in oak... about 1.5 % each year. This is called the "Angel's share." Assemble a blend of all your barrels (or sell it as single barrel Scotch), add water to cut the strength (or sell it as "cask strength"), bottle it, and you're good to go.
Old Bourbon barrels are probably the most popular barrel for Scotch, as they're quite plentiful due to the law that requires every batch of Bourbon to be aged in new barrels.
So, this Scotch that I'm drinking... an 18 Year Old Highland Park Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The label tells us that this is a single malt, meaning this whisky is 100% malted (steeped in water and germinated) barley whisky from a single distillery... if other grains aside from barley were used in creating this Scotch, it legally couldn't be called single malt. The age tells us that the youngest whisky in this bottle has been aged in cask for at least 18 years. Also, the Highland Park Distillery is the most northern distillery in Scotland, located on the Orkney Islands.
Poured from a 50 mL mini bottle that I had... added a smidgen of water to release the esters. Very nice pale golden color. In the nose there's honey, moss, herbs, smoke, and floral scents. Smoke, honey, peat, a little taste of salted nuts and sea air and a very dry finish of oak make up the flavors. Incredibly smooth too, no harsh burn. If I could afford it regularly, I think this would be my go-to Scotch.
Oh, and generally, whiskey is how it's spelled when referring to American or Irish whiskeys; whisky is how it's spelled when referring to whiskies from anywhere else.
Smart ass.
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