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Up close & personal

- Single malt means two things: Single means that it is the product of one distillery, while malt means that it is made from malted barley and no other grains

Arif Suryobuwono (The Jakarta Post)
Fri, October 23, 2015

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Up close & personal

- Single malt means two things: Single means that it is the product of one distillery, while malt means that it is made from malted barley and no other grains. In the sense that it is from one distillery, it could be said to be single origin (like in tea or coffee), although that terminology is not used in single malt whisky production.

- A blended malt scotch is a blend of two or more single malts. A blended scotch is a blend of one or more single malts with one or more single grain scotches. The other types of whisky include single grain whisky (made from cereal grains other than just malted barley, which can include corn, wheat or unmalted barley, etc.) and blended grain scotch, which is a blend of two or more single grain scotches.

- There is no benefit in cellaring whisky. If properly stored, whisky normally does not change or undergoes a very slow change after it has been bottled, which may show up 20 or 30 years afterwards. For practical purposes, it can be said that a 12-year-old Glenfiddich bottled in 2002 will still be a 12-year-old today and the taste is more or less the same.

- Keep whisky bottles in an upright position to prevent them from getting corked or leaking. Don'€™t lay them down. Keep them at room temperature '€” if possible at 16 to 19 degrees Celsius, as room temperature in Indonesia is different from room temperature in Scotland from where they come. Don'€™t expose them to light or extreme temperature.

- It is advisable to drink expensive, premium whisky neat. However, if you really want to use them in a cocktail, that'€™s entirely up to you, and some may even work well, like Glenfiddich 21 in a cocktail called the '€œOld Fashioned'€.

- Ice tends to subdue aromas and therefore subdue flavor. So avoid ice in single malts. Of course, it is entirely up to the individual how to consume whisky, but if you want to maximise flavor and aroma, avoid ice.

- The older a whisky gets, the greater will the wood in which it is matured influence the taste of the spirits. So it can be very difficult to differentiate between a very old blend and a very old single malt, but when the whiskies are under 30, it is usually fairly obvious. The different grains used and the different distillation techniques mean that the grain whisky used in blends is very different from single malt whisky. Describing the taste difference, however, is difficult.

- It is advisable to drink whisky without food '€” ideally after a meal. If you decide to pair whisky with food, see to it that the powerful kick and harshness of the whisky do not eclipse the flavors of the food and you have a glass of cold water on the side. So, patterned after wine and food pairing, it can be speculated that whisky with sweet, bold and rich flavors would go well with mostly strong-flavored Asian food; whisky with sweet, crisp, fresh and fruity flavors may complement seafood and whisky with the flavors of spices may pair well with meat dishes and vanilla and berry desserts.

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