World Spirits
Scotland
Scotland's masterpiece: whisky made from 100% malted barley at a single distillery, distilled in copper pot stills and aged in oak under Scottish skies. Ingredients: malted barley, water, yeast — nothing else is permitted. Method: 1) Mash the malt, ferment it into a beer-like wash, and double-distill in pot stills. 2) Age at least three years in oak casks — fine malts rest far longer, soaking up vanilla, dried fruit and smoke. 3) Serve neat in a tulip glass; a few drops of water open the aromas. The experience: a landscape in a glass — honeyed and fruity from Speyside, maritime and heathery from the Highlands, powerfully peat-smoked from Islay. History: Scots have distilled uisge beatha, the “water of life,” for over 500 years; today more than 140 distilleries guard the craft, each valley and island with its own accent.
A storied Scottish honey-and-oat whisky cream: part drink, part dessert, and the hero of a 500-year-old legend. Ingredients: oatmeal brose (the liquid from steeped oats), heather honey, single malt Scotch whisky and cream. Method: 1) Steep oatmeal in water and strain off the silky brose. 2) Stir in honey until dissolved, then whisky, then fold in lightly whipped cream. 3) Chill and serve in small glasses. The experience: soft, honeyed and warming — whisky wrapped in velvet, made for winter nights and Hogmanay toasts. History: the brose takes its name from the Earls of Atholl; legend says that in 1475 the Earl filled a well with the mixture to slow a rebellious rival's men, who stopped to drink instead of fighting. Whether or not the tale is true, Scots have been making it ever since.
Scotland's answer to the Manhattan — a bold, russet cocktail of Scotch, vermouth and bitters, named for the Highlands' most famous outlaw-hero. Ingredients: blended or single malt Scotch whisky, sweet red vermouth, Angostura bitters, a maraschino cherry or lemon twist. Method: 1) Stir the whisky, vermouth and bitters with ice until well chilled. 2) Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. 3) Garnish with cherries or an expressed lemon twist. The experience: rich and spirit-forward — malt and dried fruit up front, herbal sweetness beneath, a dry bitter finish. History: the Rob Roy was created in 1894 at New York's Waldorf Astoria for the opening of an operetta about Robert Roy MacGregor, the Scottish folk hero; it carried his name — and Scotland's whisky — around the world.
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