Daniel, i am still a relative noob on all things whisk(e)y. I recently discovered this xhannel and its former companion channel. While i appreciated both, i must say i love the direction this channel in particular has taken. You are such a good story teller and also a wonderful educator. Keep up the great takes.
I would love to see a deeper dive into this where you take a blend that worked and then walk us through the process of how you got to that. You could grab three or four random bottles and show how you make it work. Cheers 🥃
I was at a friends house doing a tasting of all the spot whiskies we owned (GS, GS leoville, blue, red, yellow and gold 13) when we went through the regular green and the leoville he likes notes in both the green was too thin and the leoville had a bitterness for him so he threw what he had left of both together to try and round them out. If I hadn't smelled it myself I'd say he was lying but combining two greenspots he create the most caramel nose I'd ever experienced, like fresh caramel out of a candy bar didn't come across on the taste but it was so good I bought a bottle of regular green to try and recreate it but need to figure out the exact proportions. I'm glad we started mixing the whiskies we try because it leads to some interesting results.
More on blending please Daniel! I always enjoyed the old Vault episodes where you would do a scotch blend to mimic something better than the individual components. Truly a talent and skill that I and others would like to hear more about. What were some of your successful scotch blends using your paradigm of bass, midrange and highs? I would love an episode(s) on this. We can't always get what we want, but if we try sometimes, maybe we can blend what we need.
My favorite formula 1 part smoky scotch 3 parts briny scotch 6 parts bourbon So, for an example of a single pour 1 teaspoon Wee Beastie Ardbeg 1 Tablespoon Craigellachie 13 2 Tablespoons Evan Williams BIB Swirl together and let sit a few minutes before drinking🌟
Nice! Evan Williams isn't a fave but I adore Ardbeg and any Islay scotch - most scotch actually! Bourbon and Rye are nice diversions sometimes from single malt scotch!
Yes sir😜 nothing should be left out if it suits your palate. I'll add a little malt too our cheap & hot Bourbons sent over in totes, I mean it could be the journey that makes it undrinkable
I guess this new format is not as successful as the last one with the knucklehead. But I like it a hundred times more. This is how you started and it suits you so much better. Thanks! PS. I know Rex is (probably) not a knucklehead, but he does play one on RU-vid.
Really appreciate your unique perspective and personality. Hope to take a class one day soon. I have family in Austin maybe they’d join! I’m glad you’re glad I’m here. Cheers from Houston!
I never believed you about the blend collapsing thing, and then my first infinity bottle, after four years of brilliance, collapsed into a mushy mess of young malt that couldn't be recovered. Blending is a blast, even when it fails ... always interesting and occasionally amazing. Cheers!
Love pouring a dram from a few spirits to make a drink. Happens a lot with rum cocktails but also very nice for neat drinks. Especially fun with heels.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that! I feel like cocktails can get kind of a bad rep from people that swear by neat pours, tiki-style especially, but there's definitely a parallel between how spirits producers blend to get their products and how tiki drinks use blends of spirits in their recipes.
Was in Springbank last march. Did the "from barley to bottle" tour. Making your own Springbank was part of it. Great experience. Loved the "blending". Was surprised by the power of FF Sherry. One drop too much in the mix and everything tasted the same.
"...so many things fighting for supremacy in this" is exactly what I thought when I brought this bottle home to Virginia and tasted it. And I think THAT is what makes this bottle dynamic. Let your tongue have fun seeking out the nuances in those very unique barrels. I loved it (half a bottle left).
I think the gaps in the flavor spectrum are as important as gaps in the light spectrum. They've got so much going in, they've filled in the gaps and now it's "smoothed over." That said, it might be fun to do blending videos where you walk us through the process. If you stick with accessible whiskeys, we could even follow along at home and actually taste what you're tasting.
For Christmas my brother gifted me a Designer Dram set to make a blended whiskey sample, and from that the company will send a bottle, so this was actually particularly interesting topic for me. This might have been implied when you said take notes, but I imagine the importance of measuring out what you’re blending is key. This doesn’t seem like something that should be eyeballed
I tried Dalmore 12 a few years back and decided it just wasn't for me. I thought, well I can either use it for cocktails or see what I can come up with by experimenting with blending. The very first attempt yielded what is now one of my favorite pours. All you have to do is add 20% Balvenie Peat Week. Thanks Daniel for the inspiration to try blending.
I like to think of blending done in winemaking. Unlike whiskey, you’re usually blending grapes from that vintage, the year the grapes where harvest, and you have to deal with a lot more things than you do with whiskey like the weather, the health of the grapes etc. The one exception and where blending is fundamental is Champagne. You’re blending multiple vintage and wine held back called reserve wine. In some years, grape don’t grow in Champagne. Another way I think about blending is with writing instrumental music for a band. You want to make sure each instrument plays a certain role in the music to balance the melody. If everyone played the melody it would be boring. You want someone to harmonize, someone to play chords, and someone to keep rhythm. I know more about wine than whiskey so I base things off of what I learned studying wine.
I'm not a bourbon guy, but I like to make bourbons with the individual ingredients... A good corn, rye and malt. I can make many more dramatic flavors than I can get elsewhere, especially if you use a dramatic malt. I love using del bac in blends like that.
This bottle came in from nowhere and now it's on the channel. I first learned about this bottle a little over a week ago. I seen it on a shelf and said hmm, that's new and different. I'm going to look into it. A day later I found 2 videos about it and decided yep I'm getting that.
I could watch an hour-long episode on this topic - so interesting! I'm always trying to find different ways to mix bourbons and scotch to try and find a brand new flavor. Cheers!
No way, was just in Austin and talked about Lost Irish to Briana at Fang and Feather, had it for the first time the night before in a cocktail in downtown Austin. Thanks for featuring Daniel, I wanted to know more, it’s good in a cocktail 😂
I attended a Tequila Blending class one year at Arizona Cocktail Weekend at Bitter & Twisted. It was a blast, but I didn't want to drink my blends as I had only an airplane bottle of each (2). Alas, I enjoyed them, but kept the bottles, as they were mini glass tequila bottles. Wizard Whittington should give a class at AZ Cocktail Weekend about blending Whisk(e)ys. It is in February, a great time of year in Phoenix.
ive had a "flat" issue with an infinity bottle. too much rye and sherry scotch and smokey scotch. i drank it down halfway, added 2 measures of dalmore 12 and it came back. had similar characteristics as the previous good version, but not quite the same
Went to an old infinity bottle of Macallan 12, Monkey shoulder, Longbranch, Forty Creek, and a small bit of Frey Ranch Rye......... no idea what percentage other than most is Longbranch but I can taste the monkey shoulder.....or was that the dirty creek...I mean For ty creek? It is now kind of muddy creek. It still tastes ok..... gave something to the long branch. Water adds a butterscotch aroma that wasn't there before. 1+1 = 5ur3.....Sure. I've learned I need a pencil and pad for the whisk(e)y shelf.
Interesting. I bought some Lost probably 3 years ago and felt it had much more of the spiced barrels influence. Guess I'll have to find a new one and see if they changed their blend??
Please forgive the off-topic question, but I want to ask this every time I watch your brilliant videos: Does the painting/print to your right have a name and/or who is the artist? It's really beautiful and I'd love to find a print of it to buy.
Love the discussion of blending. You mentioned something I've heard before, perhaps even from you on another episode. When blending it can sometimes collapse under its own weight. If this is true, what do you make of infinity bottles where people pour an ounce of everything they have or like. Seems like collapsing in this scenario is inevitable and thus a waste of good pours. Note. I asked the same question with same premise on a another popular channel based in Texas and they thought I was nuts for suggesting it. I tend to agree with your re blending, so curious your thoughts on the infinity trend. Thanks.
I wonder how this all applies to an infinity bottle. I just started creating one but haven't tasted yet. Do infinity bottles constantly change and evolve? Or do they become flatter and flatter?
I have ruined some good whiskies, but I have been very positively surprised as well. About 19 cl Arran 10 with about 1 cl GlenAllachie 10 CS Batch 6… That turned into liquid strawberry jam.
Welcome all Whiskey Vaulters to Story Time with Daniel! For me, I still feel like I am towards the start of my whiskey journey, so I am trying to identify what I like and specifically why I like it. That makes me a bit nervous to try blending, but I might give it a try and see if that helps me identify elements/notes better.
I bought the exact same bottle, for the exact same reason. It sounded amazingly cool. Sadly, it was mostly bullsh*t. It's not bad. It's boring. I think that all the complexities of all the different variations just served to fill in and flatten out each other's flavor spikes until it ended up as a smooth ball... with nothing that's notable.
