Whisky wonderland

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Whisky wonderland

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

It’s St Patrick’s Day, and what better way to celebrate than with a dram of Irish whisky? But how should you drink the liquid gold? The connoisseurs will tell you that the water of life is best drunk straight, or with a couple of drops of pure spring water – chlorinated water ruins the flavour – to release the aroma.

Today though, whisky is being produced all over the world – in Sweden, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan and even high up in the Himalayas. With new audiences come new ways of drinking the spirit – and it seems unlikely now that the barman will look at you askance for ordering your dram on the rocks, or even with a mixer.

“It is exciting to see the inventiveness with which bartenders are approaching whisky drinking experiences in this country. The new trends, particularly the addition of flavours and bitters, are helping drinkers understand the complexity and depth of our whisky expressions”, says Sean Harrison, of Glenmorangie South Africa.

According to the Scotch whisky brand, changes are afoot in the way people enjoy the drink. In Japan, bartenders have made a theatrical display of adding ice to the drink. First freezing specially-filtered water in large blocks, they then carve off large chunks for guests. The larger piece of ice changes the dynamic of the malt, releasing alternative layers of taste.

Elsewhere mixologists are doing drastic things to the flavour, including ingredients like aromatic bitters and vermouths, as well as fruits and preserves, syrups and liqueurs. Waters flavoured with hints of rose, fresh ginger or mint, honey, lemon or vanilla are also being added to the whisky.

Waterfront cocktail bar, Alba Lounge, may offer a Bushmills Iced Tea, which mixes Irish Whisky with mint-infused sugar syrup and fresh lemon, but not all establishments are jumping on the whisky cocktail bandwagon.

Chris Brown of Café Chi c says the majority of his customers still go for their dram straight up or with a splash, but this could be down to the premium nature of his product. “I have about 47 premium whiskys”, he says, “there are only about two that I haven’t cracked yet”. He does however offer a whisky sours for fans of the less traditional manner of drinking it.

Sean Trollip, manager of Jozi bar, Kream, has a more pragmatic approach. “The question we ask is ‘how do you like your whisky’, so it’s completely up to the customer.” According to Sean though, many people still tend to order the more expensive whisky neat, with ice separately.

In recent years there has been a growing number of companies offering whisky tastings here in South Africa, and with local distillery, James Sedgwick Distillery producing the local Three Ships range, it would seem that whisky is beginning to take on our strong local wine culture. "We definitely still do more wine than whisky," says Kream's Sean, but even so, says that they buy in 20 000 rands worth of whisky a month. Whichever form it's going down in, it's clear that South Africans are learning to drink the water of life.

Image: Tim Rogers