When it comes to booze, older means better. At least that’s what we’ve been led to believe, especially when it comes to single malt Scotch.
If we think an 18-year-old is better than a 12-year-old is better than a blended whisky, that perception is the result of fairly recent efforts by the Scotch industry. (Single malt whisky didn’t really exist until the 1960s.) Touting a hierarchy based on maturity helped Scotch distillers weather the vodka-soaked 80s by inspiring consumers to think about the time and effort that went into crafting an 18- or even a 10-year-old whisky.
Back when whisky appealed mainly to the same niche demographic that owned humidors and smoking jackets, it didn’t really matter if a bottle labelled with a riper age was met with more enthusiastic approval.
But over the past few years, whisky – bourbon, Canadian, Irish, Japanese, Scotch, all of it – has become way more popular than distillers predicted or prepared for. Not to sound apocalyptic, but there’s no longer enough of it to go around.
That’s where no-age-statement (NAS for short) whiskies come in, and lately there’s no shortage of them. Laphroaig introduced Quarter Cask when reserves of its 10-year-old bottling began dwindling, and The Macallan was one of the first brands to replace its core age-statement expressions with the colour-coded 1824 series.
Ardbeg continues to release exclusive NAS whiskies like Dark Cove, Supernova and Perpetuum with incredible success, and Hibiki Harmony and Suntory Toki are both currently available at the LCBO – though good luck finding a 12-year-old Japanese whisky in Ontario. Even premium whiskies are appearing without a number, like Laphroaig Lore and Macallan Edition No. 2.
Though the catchy acronym is new, whiskies without age statements have always existed. (Blends, for instance, still make up over 90 per cent of Scotch whisky sales.) Still, the disappearance of 10-, 12- and 15-year-old staples from the market doesn’t sit well with avid appreciators, and neither do the edgy or nostalgic whiskies of indeterminate age that are popping up instead.
Dan Volway, Canadian brand ambassador for whiskies like The Macallan and Highland Park, admits it’s been a challenge to convince consumers that the removal of age statements isn’t tantamount to a drop in quality.
“Even before we had the [1824 series] whiskies in the market, there was a lot of hate mail and bashing on the internet. People are still very confused, but they’re coming around once they try them,” he says.
“The assumption was that we’d release young whiskies, but this is still Macallan. We haven’t changed the way we make our whisky.”
What some consumers may not realize is that most whiskies, even coveted 21-year-old single malts, are blended for consistency and profile before they’re bottled. An age statement simply denotes the youngest whisky in the blend.
Some might argue that an age statement offers valuable transparency and curse the insanity of charging hundreds for a NAS whisky others could counter that age was always a too-rigid context set by the single malt industry and never a fair or consistent indicator of deliciousness.
While it sucks to see cherished age-labelled drams go the way of the dodo, NAS whiskies, while a necessity for an industry trying to keep pace with demand, are also loosening up perceptions about whisky in positive ways. Previously restricted by age requirements, master blenders now have more freedom to get inventive.
“Now our whisky maker, Bob Dalgarno, can select barrels at their peak, when he feels they’re ready, not necessarily dependent on age,” says Volway.
If you’re a real optimist, you might even argue that whisky is currently more democratic than ever before. Though upper-echelon whiskies are restricted to flush connoisseurs – I’m never going to be able to afford a 50-year-old Scotch and I’m perfectly cool with that – old stock is now finding its way into new NAS expressions. While a 21-year-old single malt was once way beyond budget, now there are a few drops of it in your $60 NAS house whisky.
Whatever side you take, just remember that whisky’s radical makeover is our own fault for being so damn thirsty in the first place.
What we’re drinking tonight
Why While age-statement whiskies may be slipping into scarcity, a portion of old stock is going into new blends. Regarded as Japan’s first whisky house, Suntory has always had a handle on the art of the blend. Toki (which means “time” – somewhat ironic since we have no idea how long its components spent in casks) is a blend of whiskies from three Suntory distilleries: Haku-shu, Chita and Yamazaki, the company’s birthplace. Light and sweet with aromas of grain, apple, raspberry and caramel, it’s perfect in whisky highballs with soda, tonic or ginger ale and an optional slice of citrus.
Price $59.95/750 ml
Availability LCBO 465484
drinks@nowtoronto.com | @S_Parns
