品飲: Lost Distillery Auchnagie Batch 002 Blended Malt 46% Vintage Selecton 600B
時間: 2016.01.08 16:46
杯子: 波西米亞 LOGO 杯
C: 淡金色
N: 橡木、水果糖、細微的煙燻、柑橘、細微的麥芽、皮革、香草、核桃、烤餅乾、罐頭鳳梨、蜂蜜、硫磺、牛奶糖、蘋果、棗子
P: 酒體柔軟沒什麼刺激感，堅果、橡木、麥芽、木材、辛香料、堅果
F: 甘草、堅果、話梅
合計: 86 分
些許像是軟木塞的味道，但一下就消散無蹤，只是中段的香氣會有一些硫化物的表現，但不會太明顯也會消散，雖然一開始會讓人覺得香氣的表現有些沉悶感，但是會慢慢的展開，而且香氣當中的蜂蜜甜感也會越來越明顯，後段也有著相當香甜的水果香，像是常見的綠色棗子水果。
入口的酒體讓人覺得柔軟微甜，一開始入口時，這嘴裡的堅果香與所有的香氣混在一起時，有一種像是正在吃堅果麵包的感受，許多的堅果在嘴裡爆發開來，尾韻的長度中等，不過這最後收尾時的話梅香氣很明顯，讓人不斷的流口水。
這一款一直讓我覺得是較為偏女性的酒款，不管是在香氣或是口感上的表現都是柔軟偏甜的調性，也讓人覺得隱約中好像有一些花香與帶有細微粉粉的感受，但我覺得這一款酒較為一絕的是這尾韻話梅的香氣吧！
以下資料來自於: http://www.lost-distillery.com/pages/auchnagie
Auchnagie Distillery 1812-1911 -
Auchnagie Distillery existed for almost 100 years, starting work as a remote farmhouse distillery and ending its days as, arguably, the jewel in the crown of a global whisky empire. It had at least seven different owners and was silent for large parts of its life. This was not unusual for small-scale 19th century distilleries, as their precarious existence was often at the mercy of lack of water, lack of money, changes to duty laws and local demand for the product.
Auchnagie Distillery (or Tullymet as it was later known) was located near the hamlet of Tulliemet, approximately 6 miles South East of Pitlochry in Perthshire. The land in this area is rural, a mixture of pasture and rolling hills, with ample supply of water flowing off of the high ground. Local farms in the area (from the 17th century) were built next to the streams, and many generated power by water wheel. Auchnagie Distillery augmented its water supply by constructing a water pool just above the distillery site – the remains of this can be seen to this day.
Auchnagie Distillery 1890 – an artists’ impression. By Adrian B McMurchie.
There were several distilleries in the local area, and at least 3 in the immediate vicinity of Tulliemet. Knowledge of distillation seems to have been handed down through the generations, and several local farming families were involved in illegal distilling. This activity centred on the remote Loch Broom, where water and peat were in ready supply for those who worked the unlicensed “stells.” One local farmer constructed a barley “steep” underground, and covered the workings with wood and soil. Sheep grazed over the construction – this remained undiscovered by “the excise” and continued to provide malted barley well into the 19th century.
The precise location of where Auchnagie Distillery once stood is somewhat confusing, but our own research we believe, has identified the place. Tulliemet boasted three distilleries – Milton of Tulliemet, Braes of Tulliemet and Auchnagie. Alexander Duff, the owner of Milton, also owned a warehouse at Wester Auchnagie farm – which led many previous authors to assume the distillery was located there. In fact it was warehousing only – we believe that Auchnagie Distillery was located half a mile away, at Easter Auchnagie. Just to confuse things further, Auchnagie changed its name in later years – to Tullymet! Still with us?
Auchnagie was reliant on water for both power and production. The water came from Loch Broom and flowed past the distillery via the Auchnagie Burn. The burn itself was deepened, widened and rock-lined for 500 metres above the distillery. The water had a particularly high mineral content, having been filtered through peat moss and granite. It was understood to be particularly good for making malt whisky.
“This distillery is favourably situated, and the water – a very important factor in the manufacture of whisky – is received from the springs of the Braes of Tullymet, and is especially suited for the making of Malt Whisky. The Whisky made here is of the very highest quality, and possesses the soft, mellow flavour now so generally approved of by connoisseurs of fine Scotch Whisky.” Alfred Barnard – Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom.
Auchnagie’s channelled water source drained into a specially constructed pool, with a sluice gate positioned at the bottom to control the flow. This construction helped to prolong the distillation season . The pool is still visible on a modern Google Map. Barnard noted that there was no production when he visited as it was too warm for mashing – this was considered the norm, as Auchnagie, like other water-wheel powered distilleries was entirely at the mercy of rainfall for power supply. Also, with no temperature control on yeast activity, there was always the potential to lead to “blown” or “stuck” fermentation.
Bere barley (also referred to as beer or bygg) was the most common strain used. This was an ancient strain brought to Scotland by the Vikings. Availability of local and surplus barley generally governed the beginning and end of the distilling season. Poor harvests led directly to shorter seasons, or in extreme cases, no production at all. As an ingredient of whisky, its major drawback was inconsistent size of grains. This created unevenly malted barley, leading to partially malted barley being mashed adding a greenish flavour note to the flavour of the whisky.
Commercial yeast was not available until the 1870’s, although its influence in fermentation was understood. Farmhouses could maintain a home-made yeast culture made from potatoes and sugar. Alternatively they could harvest a culture from the remnants of the washback. However this technique was prone to contamination with bacteria, and was not an efficient way to initiate fermentation.
Auchnagie peats were cut from the high ground above the distillery, adjacent to Loch Broom. Each family devoted time to securing their fuel for home and for industry. They were dried on the high ground and carted down to Tulliemet. The major components of the dried peats were heather and moss, which gave off a delicate, perfumed note when tossed on the fire.
The copper mash tun would have been direct-fired by a mixture of coke and dried peat. The tun itself would have been made of wood and in the earlier years probably an oak puncheon. Later on, a purpose built mash tun of around 2000 gallons was installed. There was a resident blacksmith in Tulliemet. Alexander Cameron was particularly skilled at making “vessels for the distillation of spirits,” and was in all likelihood the local purveyor of unlicensed distilling equipment in earlier times. Cameron also transported and sold his whisky to local taverns in Tulliemet and Ballinluig. Once Auchnagie was licenced, Cameron supplemented his income by renting a room in his house to Nicolas Oliver, who was the assistant Exciseman at Auchnagie, and who later moved to work at nearby Ballechin Distillery.
The washback would have been of wooden construction and in early years at least, unlikely to be purpose built. Early distilleries on this scale would have used a puncheon, or other portable vessel. The main problem would have been keeping the vessel free of yeast bacteria from previous batches of wash. Yeast works best in ambient temperatures and in the absence of any impurities. A build-up of bacteria would contaminate the wash with pungent farmyard off-notes. If this was in sufficient concentration it could halt yeast activity altogether, with potential loss of the entire batch.
In pre-industrialised times the size of the still dimensions and capacity were purpose-built to fit the space where they worked. In many instances they were similar to other stills in the area. A fair comparison can be made with Edradour Distillery, and with Grandtully. Stills were constructed inside existing farm buildings, which generally restricted their height and capacity. Whisky from Highland distilleries was considered particularly desirable because unlike Lowland Distillers, they used much smaller stills. It was long understood that whisky from the “sma” stills was far superior. While this may be true, it may also have been a reflection on the quality of Lowland Whiskies in the 19th century.
Legislation on still size changed several times between 1780 and 1823. For highland distillers from 1823, they were permitted to use a still of “not less than 40 gallons,” (the spirit still) providing they also operated a still of 500 gallons – no doubt the wash still. Therefore it’s fair to assume that stills were generally just over minimum size permitted, and this only changed when purpose-built still rooms appeared as demand for whisky increased.
From this chart we can deduce that there is no correlation between still size and production of spirit.
Output depended to a larger extent on how many months per year the distilleries operated, as they were highly dependent on local barley, and more importantly, local water supply. If Auchnagie was producing 19000 gallons in 1887 and had a capacity of 24000, then we can assume the distillery worked around 9 months, September to May. These figures equate to 2111 gallons per month or in modern measurement, to 9288 litres, which would today fill around 77 ex-bourbon barrels per month.
Successive owners improved Auchnagie’s capacity, not by adding bigger stills but more likely they developed techniques to lengthen the season, such as adding the water pool, or providing consistent supply of barley.
Whisky distilled in the early 19th century was generally not aged. Duty was paid on proof gallons produced – there was no incentive to watch it mature and evaporate. Whisky was stored in cask as it was a means of transporting the goods to market. Cask size was usually octave or firkin. In the second half of the 19th century, hogsheads and butts appeared in greater number. Whisky in the earlier 19th century was generally all sold locally, and in cask. Retailers would dispense from the cask, customers would arrive with a receptacle which would be filled accordingly. Commercially made bottles were not available until the late 1880’s – their appearance, plus the invention of cork stoppers transformed the industry, and its means of shipping the product.
Industrialisation and completion of the Highland Railway in 1863 created the means of transporting greater quantities of produce to a much wider area, including the wholesale markets in Edinburgh and Perth.
Aside from whisky, these merchants traded in wine, rum, sherry and madeira, and were the source of different types of cask bought, sold and refilled with Scotch whisky. The railway construction boom of the mid-19th century connected Perth with Inverness, with a station opening at Ballinluig in 1865. The main line followed the Spey River for much of its length, and several branch lines were built through communities now famous for whisky production. The proposed branch line from Tulliemet down to Ballinluig was never built, which meant transportation of bulk whisky down to the railway continued on horseback until the distillery ceased production in 1910.
There is evidence from Auchnagie’s later history, that some whisky was matured for a number of years. Local retailers sold whisky at “Never less than five years old,” and John Dewar and Sons offered a facility for storing privately purchased casks for a minimum of four years. If there was a taste for older whisky in the late 19th century, then eight years old was considered extremely mature spirit.
Compulsory bonding of two years was not brought into practice until 1915, later expended to three years in 1916. This was a compromise negotiated by the Wine and Spirit Brand Association (which became the Scotch Whisky Association in 1940) with Lloyd George, who deplored alcohol consumption, particularly in the workplace and especially in wartime industries.
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