Whatever your whisky love story is, we’re curious: how do you choose your drink? Are you team tested-and-trusted, or, are you open to trying new brands?  If you’re in the latter category, how do you decide what new brand to try out? Do you just glance through the label and follow your gut? Or are you drawn more by what your eyes can see?

While there may be no right or wrong way to make a decision, Sotheby’s has a guide that can give you an idea of what a bottle of whisky would taste like even before it hits your tongue. And even if you belong to the tried-and-trusted gang, it does not hurt to know that, should you decide to be more adventurous in the future, there is a foolproof guide to making the best decision quickly.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s what to know

Whisky or whiskey? The spelling matters!

Not in a pedantic sort of way. However, there is a difference that is beyond the spelling. If it’s American or Irish, it’ll be ‘whiskey’. If it’s from Scotland, Canada or Japan, that will be ‘whisky.’

But the difference doesn’t end there. American and Scottish whiskeys are distilled twice while their Irish cousins go through distillation three times. That’s why they are also so smooth and buttery-soft.

Location too!

Of course, where a drink comes from determines how it tastes. The originating region influences the style, flavour and colour of every whisky. There are three classic regions in this regard: Scotland, Ireland, and America. All scotch comes from Scotland (of course) and must have been aged for at least three years. Irish whiskey is made from malted or unmalted barley and is typically triple-distilled, resulting in a characteristically smooth taste.

Whiskey from America’s South – which by the way is referred to as Bourbon –  is notable for its slight sweetness and richness and is made from a mash containing at least 51% corn, aged in charred wooden barrels (cypress or oak) and bottled at no less than 80% proof.

Japan is another notable player in the world of whiskies, although it does not have a long provenance like the other regions. The Asian country produces scotch-inspired whiskies that tend to be lighter (both in flavour and colour) with a slightly fruity taste.

Casks are important …

Casks are a crucial part of whisky production, as they are used in its storage and maturation. The type of wood used, and how said wood is treated imparts a distinct flavour on this deliciously golden liquid.

Casks are traditionally made from oak sourced from Europe and America, and in the United States, they are charred to remove traces of previous use and imbue the fluid with a rich flavour. Once the whisky is distilled (in a large device called a potstill), it’s poured into these wooden vessels for maturation. The length of time spent in the cask is noted on bottles as the whisky’s age.

Also, whisky distillers may state whether the casks are ‘first-fill’ or ‘refill’. A ‘first-fill’ cask is one that has never been used and will therefore transfer the most flavour from wood to spirit. A refill is just what it sounds like – a previously used cask. Refills are often used to balance and adjust mellowness in whiskeys initially seasoned in first-fills.

Sherry-seasoned casks are also commonplace, the wood imbuing a mild flavouring of the sweet wine to the whisky.

… As are the ABV and age of the particular bottle you’re looking to purchase

ABV, alcohol by volume, tells you what percentage of alcohol each whisky contains, while age indicates the amount of time the whisky spent maturing in the cask.

The average ABV for whiskies is 40-50 per cent. Scotch, by law, must have a minimum ABV of 40 per cent, while special ‘expressions’ ( whisky-speak for limited variations, or special editions) often boast of higher percentages. Special expressions are typically stronger, more complex in taste and, in some cases, bottled directly from the cask with no added water.

Some whiskies spend their entire lives in a single cask, with distillers regularly tasting to achieve the right flavours. However, the usual method is to move them from cask to cask during the maturation cycle to balance or shift their flavours. Age corresponds to a whiskey’s richness: the longer the maturing process, the longer the flavours have to develop. This doesn’t mean that younger vintages aren’t flavourful, but typically, they will likely be less complex.

And finally, mash, peat and smoke

You’re more likely to hear the word ‘mash’ from distillers than you are to see it on a bottle of whisky. Mash is the mixture of grains used to create the whiskey, with malted barley being the most typical grain used. There’s also corn and rye, and, depending on the region and variation, wheat.

Peat is primarily used in Scotch whiskey from the Northern Isles. It typically refers to a distinct, earthy, smoky flavour that is achieved when peat is used to dry malted barley as part of the whisky’s production. The length and intensity of exposure to the peat smoke will determine just how smoky the final product will be.

And there you have it. So, the next time you want to try a new bottle of whisky, maybe instead of trusting your gut, thoroughly read the label to make the right decision for you.

Source: Sotheby’s

The post What to Look Out For on The Label Before Purchasing a Bottle of Whisky first appeared on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

The post What to Look Out For on The Label Before Purchasing a Bottle of Whisky appeared first on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

The name, for the average Nigerian, conjures up images of an illicit trade conducted under the cover of darkness; of tiny sachets or bottles with funny names and current street slangs, sitting snugly in the hands of people that are often described as belonging to the lower echelons of the society.

Illegal, dirty, poisonous. All these are adjectives that have been associated with ogogoro, qualifiers that are false and rooted in our colonial history

Ogogoro is an alcoholic beverage like rum or tequila. The only difference? It originated in Africa

“Ogogoro is a very dirty word in Naija culture today, and has been for some time,” says Lola Pedro of Pedro’s Ogogoro. “Firstly it was criminalised by the British: when the colonisers came, they needed to sell British, or London dry gin [to us]. So the first thing they had to do was vilify our own products, our own indigenous spirit which is not a gin, it is a palm spirit, it’s ogogoro. And they did that very successfully.”

If you were to go online today in search of the definition of ogogoro, most of the results will refer to the alcoholic beverage as a local gin indigenous to West Africa. Armed with this ‘knowledge’, we thought it best to work with a home brand in celebration of this year’s World Gin Day. And so, imagine our surprise when we reached out to the co-founder of Pedro’s Ogogoro, Nigeria’s first formally distilled ogogoro and were told:

 “Ogogoro is a palm spirit from palm wine and gin is a grain spirit that is infused in juniper berries. So calling ogogoro ‘gin’ is a complete misnomer.” 

If this is the only difference between both drinks, why is it generally believed that the former is a cheaper, inferior kind of the latter?

[Due to colonisation] “Ogogoro never developed or evolved. And it was made very informally, almost similar to moonshine. Oftentimes it would be adulterated especially the kind of stuff you would drink in the cities and you’ll always tend to see low-level people in society consuming ogogoro. Think of the mama on the side of the road with the sachets. Most of that is actually not ogogoro but that’s what we call it. Because it’s just cheap, synthetic ethanol mixed with aromas and different colourants and flavourants. [sic] But now, the word ‘ogogoro’ has become a catchall phrase for bad alcohol, and for this reason, it’s really been demonised and ostracised,” explains Lola.

Ogogoro sits somewhere between a rum and a tequila actually.

“And this is actually because of the properties of the actual raw materials. We distil from the raffia palm (which is the tree from which we take the sap) … and not from grains steeped in juniper. If you think of tequila, it comes from the agave plant which holds many similarities to the palm. [Ogogoro] is like a lighter, softer tequila or even a rum, which is obviously from sugarcane.”

“When we work with mixologists who are unaware of the historical and cultural context surrounding ogogoro, for example, in Europe; when they want to play around with Pedro’s, they tend to naturally use our spirit in classic rum or tequila cocktails [in place of rum or tequila].  These cocktails are much more befitting of our product and really work in terms of the flavour profile and properties of ogogoro.”

As the world celebrates World Gin Day on June 11, we choose to honour a truly exceptional drink that has suffered so much indignity and has been wrongly called a gin for almost a century now. In celebration of the legendary ogogoro, here are recipes for three truly delicious cocktails, featuring Pedro’s Ogogoro. But don’t take our word for it: go ahead to make a glass – or two – of any of the cocktails below.

Zobogoro

Zobo ingredients

• Zobo leaves (Hibiscus)
• Water
• Dry or Fresh ginger
• Cloves
• 1 Large Pineapple
• Soursop juice

Zobo Preparation.

Peel and dice the pineapple, then set aside. Wash the hibiscus with cold water. Place the washed leaves in a large pot of water and boil for 25mins whilst adding the chunks of pineapple, ginger and cloves. Sieve out the extract into a bowl and leave the drink to cool. Add the soursop juice, then refrigerate the drink.

Cocktail Ingredients.

• 150ml Zobo
• 50ml Pedro’s
• Ice

Garnish: Fresh mint leaves

Steps.

In a ratio of 1:3, Pour Pedro’s and the zobo mixture into a cocktail shaker, with ice and shake well for 20 seconds.

Serve in a cocktail glass and garnish with mint.

Sapele Sour

Cocktail Ingredients.

• 60ml Pedro’s
• 40ml fresh lemon/lime juice
• 20ml Sugar Syrup
• 1 egg (optional)
• Ice

Garnish: Orijin bitters

Steps

Add the Pedro’s, lemon/lime juice, sugar syrup, and egg white into a cocktail shaker. If using the egg white, dry-shake for 30 seconds without ice, then add the ice and shake again until well-chilled. Otherwise, shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a rocks glass or a coupe and garnish with 3 or 4 drops of Orijin bitters.

PPC (Pedro’s Piña Colada)

Cocktail Ingredients

• 60ml Pedro’s
• 45ml  cream of coconut
• 45ml   pineapple juice
• 15ml  lime juice, freshly squeezed
• Ice

Garnish: pineapple wedge and leaf

Steps

Add the Pedro’s, cream of coconut and pineapple, and lime juices to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.

Strain into a chilled hurricane glass over ice and garnish with the pineapple wedge and leaf.

About Pedro’s Premium Ogogoro

For the increasingly discerning imbiber, Pedro’s premium ogogoro, is a batch distilled, 100% organic palm spirit. Handcrafted in Nigeria’s riverine communities and then refined in Lagos, Pedro’s is spearheading a new African narrative, audaciously unsurpassable and unapologetically local.

The post World Gin Day 2022: Ogogoro Is Not Gin! first appeared on Aspire Luxury Magazine.

The post World Gin Day 2022: Ogogoro Is Not Gin! appeared first on Aspire Luxury Magazine.