Whisky Lingo

@OlJas thanks for reviving this thread. It's interesting to review some of the things we discussed a couple of years ago and see what we think of them now.

Tonight's contribution- NAS

@Nozinan , I get a bang out of people using the derogative term "NASty."

INFLUENCED

This means the whisky was FLAVORED with the previous contents of the cask that the whisky was matured or finished in. I suspect that people don't want to admit that their whisky is flavored this way, thus the great currency enjoyed by the term INFLUENCED.

@Victor DEPTH doesn't have the same meaning for me. When COMPLEXITYfor me indicates a big number of flavors you can detect, DEPTH indicates the RANGE of those flavors going from low pitch to high pitch. Since, for me, most whisky desn't have a lot of good low pitch flavors, I have a tendancy to think that a whisky with depth is one with good low pitch flavors and I would not use the term for one with good high pitch flavors since is really common to ha ve good midrange and high pitch flavors without low pitch flavors.

I hope people are following since LOW PITCH and HIGH PITCH are certainly some arcanic lingo.

@OlJas For those of us that prefer whisky to white dog, poitin, etc. We are all drinking something that be INFLUENCED by the wood and therefore FLAVORED by it, even with VIRGIN oak. Good call!

EXPRESSION: This is another pretentious term used to emphasize the exclusivity and justify the high price of single malt Scotch whisky. "this (insert silly Gaelic name here) is the latest EXPRESSION from Glenwhatever."

@BlueNote

I don't mind the word EXPRESSION, as it differentiates the different malts of a single distillery, such as Amrut. But can see how the term could be abused.

''the darkest Ardbeg ever''

@BlueNote , I think you're right about EXPRESSION. It's the kind of term that almost no regular drinker would ever come up with to refer to the whisky he's drinking. But it sure does sound fancy in marketing-speak! I think that's another case of us collectively adopting the language that's used when we're being sold to.

I prefer the simpler "version" instead. And now that I'm thinking about it and hearing the words rattle around in my brain, I'm pretty sure "version" is the term that (unpretentious!) Ralfy always uses. Also good: just plain old "whisky"!

@Alexsweden , the whole sales pitch around that Ardbeg is asinine. In the spirit of this thread, though, I think I'll shine the spotlight instead on DARK SHERRY CASKS, which I'm pretty sure means absolutely squat.

Google the phrase and it's just page after page of people either parroting Ardbeg's sales pitch or asking WTF that's even supposed to mean.

HOT

When I see the word HOT used in a review or comment about whisky, I normally assume that the commenter is unusually sensitive to alcohol. People like me who are not very sensitive to high alcohol content almost never use the word HOT to refer to whisky. In 4,000 plus posts and reviews I may have used the word HOT three or four times, a rare event.

LIMITED

This means nothing.

@OlJas I disagree. Limited means there are fewer than unlimited bottles available, but more importantly, that they can price the bottle at a level that only allows you to buy a limited amount.

Or none.

I just watched this and had to add it - a quirky short (less than 90 seconds) for World Whisky Day. Enjoy, and I don't expect to read any of these in reviews any time soon. youtube.com/watch/…

@Hewie, yep, the nostril heat of a contented horse...giddyup.

KLÆK

Means "Damn fine malt!" Popularized by @marino in everyone's favorite-ever whisky review: connosr.com/aberlour-abunadh-whisky-review…

BATCH STRENGTH

Unnecessary synonym for CASK STRENGTH, with equally rigorous legal requirements—i.e., none.

That's New one for me. Batch strength could be interesting but is it truly un-adjusted? Where have you seen that?

The Wemyss site makes a big deal of emphasising that Batch Strength means for them reduced from cask strength with water added. From what I see for them batch strength = bottling strength. If this be so, then there is no particular reason to print the words on the label.

wemyssmalts.com/trade/documents/…

Scroll down to the Q & A about the differences between cask strength and batch strength

Do others use the term "batch strength" differently? Maybe. This just looks like more redundant and obfuscatory advertising BS to me.

Indeed @Victor, by that logic every OB would be "batch strength". Unless ofcourse they would admit to lowering the ABV below optimal in order to squeeze out some additional bottles from each cask...

@Alexsweden @Victor would Bookers and Rare Breed qualify as Batch Strength rather than cask, while Blantons SFTB would be Cask Strength rather than batch?

Don't like the statement on their site that Weymss can chose to have Batch strength as either the natural strength or with added water seems to be misleading/ slightly dishonest.

@Alexsweden, @Pete1969, I would avoid any usage whatsoever of "batch strength". The term remains ambiguous and unnecessary, at least in the way that Wemyss uses it. What bothers me about all of this is that usage of "batch strength" (e.g. in the way that Wemyss defines it) appears to me to be deliberately misleading. Every bottling which is not of a single cask could be called a 'batch'. "Batch strength" still looks to me like a synonym for 'bottling strength'. Bottling strength is either cut with water or it is not. If I had to guess I would guess that "batch strength" is supposed to convey a bottling strength which is usually less than cask strength, but greater than some assumed implicit but undefined lower baseline strength. This is vague terminology and is useless to the consumer.

@Victor I agree with you completely, but the wannabe lawyer in me would say that in a batch whisky such as Laphroaig CS, you could technically refer to the the batch strength as each of the batches are a different strength. As in, "the batch strength of 006 is..."

Of course, you could also say that "the ABV of batch 006 is..."

So, after due consideration.... see my first statement.

@Pete1969, these marketing types need a good f_cking tune up. They are slick word smiths with cold hearts and a moral compass that needs re-calibrating.

Batch Strength!

WTF is Batch Strength?

I concur with @Victor, let's avoid usage of the term...before you know it we'll all be using the term "irregardless".

@paddockjudge I disagree with you entirely. I don't think that a truly slick wordsmith would have thought up "Batch strength". As someone who is involved in debating, tweeting, and letters to the editor, I think you denigrate wordsmiths by calling these ones slick!

And I'm right....IRRIGARDLESS of what you think!

Well, shiver me batch-strength timbers! I was pretty sure a few sellers (like Tamdhu) had started using BATCH STRENGTH just as an idiosyncratic synonym for CASK STRENGTH. But it looks like most (all?) the folks using that term are (potentially) diluting with some water before bottling. Nice research, everyone. And I agree: Let's not give this term any currency.

@MadSingleMalt next thing you know, if it's 46.1% they'll be calling it "baby batch strength" if it's 50.1% it'll be "big boy batch strength"

I'm not even sure that CASK STRENGTH has any enforceable legal definition. And if it does, I bet producers could side-step it by just adding more water during the maturation.

Really, I wonder why they don't fill "cask strength"-destined barrels with more water on day 1 to ultimately turn that tap water into free "cask strength whisky." Integrity? That could be the answer for some, but surely not all.

@MadSingleMalt

Some spirit is diluted with water when it's barreled. This a common practice. Something about the interaction with the wood at certain ABVs. I don't mind that if it helps get the best out of the wood. What I object to is diluting the flavour AFTER maturation.

@Nozinan , yeah, that's what I'm talking about—that's why I said "more water on day 1." Most (not all) distilleries dilute newmake to 63.5% when they fill barrels.

I'm wondering what stops them from diluting it any further for the stock they intend to bottle as cask strength. (I can think of possibilities—I just really wonder which of them it is.) For that matter, what stops them from adding water to the barrels at any point during maturation?