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26 June 2007
Everything anyone could possibly want to know about Society malt whisky
By
Charles MacLean
I had come early off the hill, having dispatched a stag around tea-time. Brian Hamilton, head stalker on Dorback Estate, where we were hunting, took me into his cottage and offered tea or whisky.
You can guess my reply. He produced an unlabelled bottle of very dark spirit and asked me to guess what it was. Given where we were (Speyside) and the fact that it had clearly been matured in a sherry cask, I hazarded "Glenfarclas". Correctly, as it happened. One dram later Willie Grant, the understalker (although he is twice Brian's age) arrived with my host, the Captain of Cleish, and eyed the bottle hungrily.
"Come on then Willie", said Brian. "Tell us what it is".
Willie took the bottle and held it up to the light. "Sherrywood. Fresh cask". Then, to my astonishment, he shook it violently, again held it up and considered the foam that had appeared. "Over proof by a couple of degrees. I would say around 58% alcohol". Only now did he pour a measure into his glass, swirled, sniffed and tasted it, pondering solemnly while he judged its flavour. "It's a Glenfarclas. Around 12 years old". He was right in every particular! Impressed though I was, it was the vigorous shaking that impressed me most. I asked him what it was all about.
D'you no ken aboot the beading? And you a whisky man.
That's how you gauge the quality. A man of few words. Willie Grant would say no more. Later I asked various chemists about this "beading". Few had heard of it, and being a "pseudo-science" no serious study has been made of the practice,but they confirmed: a) beading does not occur unless the spirit is over about 50% Vol; b) the amount of beading is not related to the strength of the spirit (you don't get more beads at higher strengths);
c) both the size of the bubbles and the length of time they linger on the surface of the liquid tell you about the liquid's density, and so about its likely mouth-feel, texture or body: the larger the bubbles, and the longer they linger, the bigger the body.
Ever since my encounter with Willie Grant fifteen years ago, I have used the "beading test" when I am evaluating a whisky, and we do the same at the Society's Tasting Panel.
Next time you are pouring a glass of Society's malt for a friend, shake the bottle vigorously and comment on the beads. You will horrify them!
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