ABOUT THE WHISKY CLUB
The Whisky Club is the brainchild of Bert Cason, one of the lads at Sullivans Cove Whisky in Tasmania (if only we had the space to list all the awards it’s received). The club offers members a genius combination of whisky education and a monthly supply of the world’s finest and rarest single malt. If you already like, or would like to like, whisky, then you’d best go to www.thewhiskyclub.com.au and sign up pronto! Best of all, it’s FREE!
1. Whisky or whiskey? The Irish and the Americans spell it ‘whiskey’ (with the exception of Makers Mark), while the rest of the world spells it ‘whisky’. During the late-19th Century the Scots were producing terrible whisky using Coffey stills (column stills), so the Irish and the Americans added an “e” to differentiate themselves.
2. Vintage drop. The world’s oldest whisky is over 150 years old, with rumours suggesting it was bottled between 1851 and 1858. The Guinness World Record for ‘World’s Oldest Whisky’ is held by a 400mL bottle of Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky. It fetched over $26,000 at auction!
3. Single malt vs blended. Single malt whisky is the good stuff, and is made in a copper pot still from malted barley grain and water. Furthermore, a single malt has to have been made and bottled by a single distillery. Blended whisky, as the name suggests, is a blend of grain and malt whiskies. The grain component is distilled in a Coffey still and the rule of thumb is that the cheaper the blend, the less malt whisky it contains. A good example of this is Johnny Walker Red (lower end), as opposed to Johnnie Walker Blue (very expensive).
For the full feature and images grab the August 2014 issue of MAXIM, in stores from July 17 to August 21.
To grab a digital copy CLICK HERE. All past issues available for download.
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