Thursday, May 10, 2012

Fiddling with Whisky

So I’ve been exploring the world of whisky, especially malt whisky for a couple of years now. I was drawn to this category of spirits by its aura of refinement, sophistication and mysticism. I don’t have a personal favorite, I’m still exploring the world of scotch, but I’m also interested in what the other major whisky producing countries are doing, like Ireland, Canada, and the US.

On a separate note, as I was researching scotch whisky in particular, I discovered that they use what is called a copper-pot “gooseneck” still. It directly had a lightbulb light up in my mind, those stills bear a striking resemblance to the still that my grandfather bought in the late 60’s or early 70’s, which he used for distilling grappa, brandy and arak. Also, earlier this year, my father started producing beer for export, so I stole a batch and distilled it for whisky experimentation purposes with the still that we had. I also started experimenting with different kinds of wood for aging.


My grandfather, George Hanna Riachi next to his Copper Gooseneck still. 

So far, it looks promising, but I don’t want to work with imported malt, so I’m also experimenting with malting some domestic “Lebanese” feed barley, and honestly its easier than I thought it would be. I still don’t know beer breweries aren’t malting Lebanese barley, It’s more accessible and more relevant than imported ones to the beer that they brew.

            In any case, I am brewing, distilling and maturing something interesting for you guys. Let’s see how much time it will take to have something that I think is worthy of releasing into the market.