January 31, 1996

In Good Spirits

All you ever wanted to know about top-of-the-line Bourbon, Scotch, vodka, gin and Cognac

By Mark Vaughan

Chances are, if you enjoy great wines, good food and the other finer things in life, you also like premium spirits. Though consumption of vodka, gin, Bourbon and Scotch hit its zenith with the post-Prohibition-World War II generation, maturing baby boomers have rediscovered the joys of an after-dinner single malt or a quiet hour by a crackling fire with a snifter of Cognac.

Chalk it up to the realization that despite daily trips to the local gym we are not going to live forever, or to growing affluence as we and our careers mature. Whatever the cause, the countercultural generation has discovered the haute cultural delights of the world's great spirits.

Though practically a cliché, it is still worth saying: As with wine, we may be drinking less spirits, but we are drinking better. While consumption of brands at the lower end of the price scale is static, sales of those at the premium and deluxe levels are soaring. To accommodate this growing thirst for the best of the best, spirits producers in the Old and New worlds seem on a constant quest to introduce older, better and pricier libations. In fact, the past decade has seen an explosion of new labels, new brands and even entire new spirits subcategories.

All this activity has, understandably, led to some consumer confusion. For instance, few people really understand the single malt Scotch category (after all, there are nearly 100 brands on the market) and few can define the difference between single malt and single barrel. For that matter, what distinguishes V.S.O.P. and X.O. Cognacs from one another? Are there really flavor differences from one brand of vodka to another? Is British or domestic gin better for mixing that quintessential American cocktail, the Martini?

To answer these questions, clear up other confusion about this vast beverage category and encourage the experience of sensual delights offered by super premium and deluxe brands, Wine Spectator offers the following guide to distilled spirits. We hope that it will further encourage the sense of connoisseurship that many of you already have discovered exists in today's world of great spirits.

The Still

All spirits have at least one thing in common: They are distilled from a fermented mash. Unlike wine, which is an agricultural product, spirits have always had an industrial quality about them. After all, you can make spirits from any fermentable agent, anywhere there is running water. The key to the process is the still.

Stills come in two basic types: the pot still, which is thought to have originated in China and come west with the Arabs before the 14th century, and the continuous still, a 19th century invention. As its name implies, the pot still is simply a large copper pot perched over a fire with a long, coiling tube coming off the top. Fermented mash is heated in the pot and the resulting alcohol vapors are cooled and condensed back to liquid in the coil. The continuous still consists of two tall columns, which can be as high as 80 feet, that take in a steady stream of fermented mash and, using steam, separate alcohol vapors from the waste products in a steady, continuous stream.

The qualitative difference between the pot and the continuous still is that, with the former, the distiller can choose what part of the alcohol vapors to keep because different agents in the mash vaporize at different temperatures. The control afforded by pot distilling is a great advantage in making premium spirits. With the continuous still, which heats to much higher temperatures, the operation is much faster and more efficient. The drawback is that there is no way to separate the good vapors from the bad. To eliminate unwanted elements, continuous distilling includes a second pass of the raw alcohol through the still (double-distilling). The result is a high proof neutral spirit, with little or none of the original flavors from the raw materials.

American whiskeys, gins, vodkas and other so-called white spirits are all made in continuous stills. Most premium brandies and single malt Scotches are made in pot stills.

Vodka

One of the most versatile spirits, vodka's big advantage lies in the fact that it is as near to neutral as any spirit can be. With all the flavor-giving (and headache-producing) impurities, known as congeners, distilled out via the continuous still, vodka makes a good match to juices, sodas or nearly any other beverage. Once only potato-based, it can now be produced from any starch. The choice and quality of raw materials account for flavor subtleties from brand to brand. Brands of distinction include Absolut, Finlandia, Smirnoff and Stolichnaya, all of which retail in the $10 to $15 range. For a treat, try Tanqueray Sterling ($18) or Stolichnaya Cristall ($23).

Gin

Like vodka, gin starts life as a neutral spirit. Made from a malted barley mash, gin has its flavors added back after distilling according to various secret recipes. Juniper berries are a dominant ingredient, though lemon, orange peel, almonds and coriander are often used. Generally speaking, the higher the proof the more flavorful the gin. Since English gins tend to be stronger than those made elsewhere, they make the tastiest Martinis. Gin is also one of the best spirits bargains to be had. Top-of-the-line brands such as Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire, Bombay, Boodles and Tanqueray all retail for $15 or less.

Brandy

Made almost exclusively in pot stills, the best brandies are grape-based spirits aged in small oak barrels. The quintessential and most revered brandy is that from the area of Cognac in the Charente Valley of France. The best Cognacs are made from grapes grown in the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne regions, near the center of the town of Cognac. Less important Cognac-growing regions include Borderies, Fins Bois, Bon Bois and Bois Ordinaires (or Communs).

Cognac derives its golden colors and vanilla-like sweetness from the wood in which it is aged--and sometimes from additives. The longer the aging, the deeper and more concentrated the colors and flavors. Cellar masters marry Cognacs from different vintages and regions to produce a distinctive style. The V.S. designation on a bottle means the Cognac has been aged for at least the legal three-year minimum; V.S.O.P. denotes five years or more of aging, while X.O.s may be seven years old or older. In practice, many X.O.s actually contain blends of brandy that have been aged for up to a century or more.

Like France, Spain has a long tradition of brandy-making. The best Spanish brandy comes from the Sherry region in southern Spain and is aged in recycled American oak barrels previously used for aging Sherry. This adds the sweet, nutty quality to Spanish brandy that differentiates it from its French counterpart. Spanish brandies are categorized as Solera, Solera Reserva and Solera Gran Reserva. Top-of-the-line Gran Reservas have an average age of 15 years or more.

Domestic brandies have made great strides in recent years, with a number of California producers, such as Germain-Robin and Carneros Alambic, employing traditional Cognac techniques and long barrel aging.

There are many excellent V.S.O.P. Cognacs on the market. Three of the best are Martell, Hennessy Privilege and Rémy Martin, all of which retail for around $50. In the X.O. category, those of distinction include Hardy ($89), Rémy Martin ($100), Hennessy ($110), Courvoisier ($120) and Hine Triomphe ($150). Your best bet from Spain is to stick to Gran Reservas. Among the most notable are Lepanto, Conde de Osborne, Carlos I, Gran Duque de Alba and Cardenal Mendoza, all of which retail in the $30 to $45 range. Two domestic brandies worth trying are Carneros Alambic RMS Special Reserve ($29) and the super deluxe Germain-Robin ($100), although the latter producer has several bottlings that are less expensive, too.

Scotch

Of all the spirits categories, Scotch has undergone the biggest metamorphosis in recent years. Once the exclusive domain of a few megabrands, it has seen an explosion of labels over the past decade that's dazzling. Most of the activity has been in single malts, but many of the traditional blending houses have expanded their portfolios to include ultrapremium blends that rival single malts for their complexity and depth of flavor.

The distinction between blends and single malts is simple: blended Scotch is made by mixing barrel-aged whiskeys from a variety of distilleries with neutral spirits, while a single malt is the product of a single distillery and contains no neutral spirits. All Scotch is distilled from a fermented, malted barley mash. Blending has a long tradition in Scotland and always has been viewed as a way of improving and smoothing a whiskey's character. Single malts, on the other hand, more closely reflect the nature and personality of the region and distillery from which they come.

Like Cognac, single malt Scotch is made exclusively with the pot still. There are five producing regions in Scotland: the Lowlands, the Highlands, Speyside, Campbeltown and Islay. Each makes whiskies of distinctive characters: Lowland whiskies are soft and smooth, Highland whiskies are spicier with a touch of peatiness, Speyside whiskies are complex with a touch of refined smokiness, Campbeltown whiskies are briny with distinctive peat and smoke qualities and Islay whiskies taste of the sea. All single malts are aged in oak, some in recycled sherry barrels from Spain and many in recycled Bourbon barrels from the United States. In either case, certain flavor nuances are passed on to the Scotch from what was previously held in the barrel. The smoke and peat flavors common to all Scotch whisky come from the tradition of toasting malted barley over open peat fires.

Though the great number of single malts now available is ample terrain for the most adventurous of explorers, it would be a mistake to eschew blends altogether. Traditional brands such as Chivas Regal, Cutty Sark, Dewar's and White Horse all offer unique flavor experiences and are all made to the highest standards (ranging from about $12 to $15). Justerini & Brooks' J.E.T. ($23) and Johnnie Walker's new Gold Label ($60) are a good measure of the range of premium Scotch blends on the market today. For a treat, try Johnnie Walker's standard-setting Blue Label ($160).

The difficulty in recommending single malts is that there are simply too many good ones to name them all. Such well-known brands as Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet and The Macallan are worthy of mention, and smaller brands such as Aberlour and The Balvenie are attracting new drinkers. If you are new to the category, it might be wise to try one of the single malt collections offered by some importers. Schieffelin & Somerset's Classic Malts of Scotland, for example, features whiskies from all the major producing areas. Most single malts retail in the $30 to $50 price range.

Bourbon

Like single malt Scotch, Bourbon is never diluted with neutral spirits and is always the product of a single distillery. But Bourbon is made principally from fermented corn, not barley, and the column, not pot, still is universally used in its production. The resulting clear liquid is a high proof, odorless, raw spirit tasting only slightly of corn kernels. Though master distillers put great stock in the purity of their water sources and the often generations-old yeast cultures used in fermenting the mash, Bourbon derives 90 percent of its flavor from the charred oak barrels in which it is aged.

As with Scotch, Bourbon also has undergone great changes in recent years. In 1984, Ancient Age released the first single barrel Bourbon, which, as the name implies, is a bottling of whiskey from one barrel only. By law, Bourbon must age for a minimum of two years in new oak barrels that have been charred. Bourbon aging sheds are huge, barnlike structures holding 20,000 barrels or more each. Master distillers have always known that certain barrels in a given warehouse will age to perfection, and it was these that Ancient Age tapped for its Blanton label, which was the first single barrel. Since then, a dozen or so super-premium brands have been introduced to the market. Some are single barrel and others are small batch (spirits mixed from a selection of 20 or so barrels). All share the rich, toasty, caramel flavors that characterize the best Bourbons.

The word "Bourbon" is often misused to refer to its close cousin, Tennessee whiskey. The name originates from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Though there is some great whiskey produced in Tennessee--notably Jack Daniel's, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack and George Dickel--it's not Kentucky Bourbon. Names to look for include Baker's 107, Basil Hayden's, Blanton, Booker, Elijah Craig, Hancock Reserve, Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, Rock Hill Farms and Wild Turkey Rare Breed. Prices for the best Bourbons range from $30 to $50.

Rum and Tequila

Once principally seen as the base for fanciful cocktails, several brands in both categories now seem more at home in a snifter than in a highball glass. Rums are made from fermented sugar cane and distilled in both pot and column stills. The best are those that have spent five or more years in oak. Names to look for include Bacardi Gold Reserve from Puerto Rico, Flor de Caña Grand Reserve from Nicaragua, Appleton 12-Year-Old from Jamaica, Pampero Aniversario from Venezuela and Barbancourt from Haiti (all retail for around $15).

High-end tequilas, distilled from a mash made of the blue agave plant, spent three or more years in oak. Some of the best include La Reserva de la Familia de Jose Cuervo, Herradura Añejo, Patron Añejo and Sauza Tres Generaciones. Expect to pay up to $100 for an ultrapremium label. There's also a new ultrapremium mescal on the market; distilled from agave cactus in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, Encantado is a unique product (approximately $40).

Mark Vaughan has written about spirits for Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado.