Scotch whiskey as an addition instead of bourbon?

[befus]

I have read several pages of threads and find hundreds of examples of bourbon being added, usually with oak chips, to various beers. I also see folks mentioning Scotch whiskey as a possibility, but I didn't actually run on to a beer which had been made with it. Are there such animals? I had in mind a wee heavy which instead of peated grains, which I just don't use in Scottish/Scotch ales, I would use a smokey Scotch to boost flavor, etc.

Also does the addition of any whiskey alter the class of the beer made? Or is it just a adjunct like many others? One reason I ask is I have seen Dragon's Milk described on different sites as a Old Ale, Wee Heavy, and Imperial Stout. Why the disparity?

 

[dougdecinces]

I've never added scotch to a beer, but I know that a lot of distilleries use Marris Otter to make their scotch. If you wanted to up the scotchiness of the beer, you would be best served making that your base malt.

 

[thetragichero]

sounds like a waste of good scotch to me
decent bourbon (just like decent gin) is relatively cheap
i'd imagine any scotch worth added to good homebrew would be better served in a glass with a splash of club soda

 

[dinnerstick]

as a fan and regular user of smoky (islay) whiskys i have to say that the difference between the peatiest bourbon barrel islays and the mellowest sweet wine or sherry matured speysides is enormous, think the difference between a smoked porter and a leffe or something, so it's a tricky question to even consider. maybe try adding a splash of laphroaig or ardbeg to one glass of your beer and a splash of, say 25 year glenfarclas, to another, and compare. although i agree with the above, sounds like a waste of good whisky...

 

[Clanchief]

sounds like a waste of good scotch to me
decent bourbon (just like decent gin) is relatively cheap
i'd imagine any scotch worth added to good homebrew would be better served in a glass with a splash of club soda

Truth. I love scotch, and the scotch I drink runs around $70 a bottle. For bourbon, I usually drink Maker's Mark, which tops out around $25 a bottle. Considering that you're going to add something like 10-12 oz. to a 5-gallon batch (that's what I did with my bourbon porter at least) that's an awfully large expense to add to your beer.

 

[ktblunden]

sounds like a waste of good scotch to me
decent bourbon (just like decent gin) is relatively cheap
i'd imagine any scotch worth added to good homebrew would be better served in a glass with a splash of club soda

as a fan and regular user of smoky (islay) whiskys i have to say that the difference between the peatiest bourbon barrel islays and the mellowest sweet wine or sherry matured speysides is enormous, think the difference between a smoked porter and a leffe or something, so it's a tricky question to even consider. maybe try adding a splash of laphroaig or ardbeg to one glass of your beer and a splash of, say 25 year glenfarclas, to another, and compare. although i agree with the above, sounds like a waste of good whisky...

I agree with both of these posts. The price difference ("good" bourbon can be had under $30, "good" scotch is quite a bit more). Plus the flavor is just way different. Could work out really well, but it's going to up the price of that batch.

 

[aristurtle]

I really doubt that you'll be able to tell the difference between an expensive Laphroiag and your normal priced bottle of JW Black Label when you're adding ten ounces to a five-gallon batch.

 

[ao125]

BrewDog Paradox is typically aged in Scotch barrels. I know they've done Glenn Grant, Springbank, Jura, Macallan, and Isle of Arran to name a few.

I recently did a Scotch ale, and added a little Tomatin 18 Sherry Cask to some as a test.

 

[dinnerstick]

I really doubt that you'll be able to tell the difference between an expensive Laphroiag and your normal priced bottle of JW Black Label when you're adding ten ounces to a five-gallon batch.

if you were comparing two non-smokey whiskys and i'd agree, but anything from laphroaig is going to be among the most peaty, wet-charcoaly, medicinal, iodiney, sea-spray-ish-y things out there, you'd taste it for sure. i would wager (but am by no means going to back this up with a test) that even a small amount would "be detectable" (ie ruin) a beer. although, wait, how much is ten ounces?? i can't be bothered to google it. my grumpy 2cents!

 

[dinnerstick]

Tomatin 18 Sherry Cask

yum.
how was the beer?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I decent, economically-priced blended scotch like Dewars white probably wouldn't give you a lot of noticeable flavor in a beer, so you're probably looking at using a high quality scotch. Although, I guess if you're just soaking oak chips to get a hint of flavor a blended scotch would probably be fine. If you are adding 10-12oz to five gallons (really that much?) that's a good chunk of a bottle. A 750ml bottle is roughly 25oz so you're talking about dumping 40-50% of the bottle. At $50 or more for a bottle of single malt that makes for an expensive beer.

 

[ao125]

yum.
how was the beer?

I haven't cracked it yet, actually.
I did try some though with lagavulin 16 though, that was nice.

Though it did make me want to give it more time.

 

[Chris1272]

I had a bottle of Innis & Gunn highland Cask this weekend. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10272/52610 It claims to be aged in 18 year old single malt scotch barrels. It had a earthy smoky peat quality that was very good.

 

[solbes]

I would not waste good scotch in a beer. I soaked 1.5 oz of US medium oak cubes in JW Black (it was in my cupboard). I let it sit for a few days the first time in 2 oz, dumped the scotch. The dumped scotch was very tannic. Added another 2 oz and let it sit for a week and dumped again. The second scotch was still tannic, though drinkable. Added 3 oz for another week and dumped both the cubes and scotch into my RIS. The scotch blended pretty quickly, and the oak became pretty noticeable after only 2 weeks. Its been sitting on the oak for almost 2 months now. The oak is still just as noticeable (scotch is not), but with more vanilla flavoring. I plan on racking off the oak into another carboy to age for another 2-3 months prior to bottling. When I finally start drinking this next winter/spring I think I'll be happy with a minor flavor addition.

 

[Clanchief]

if you were comparing two non-smokey whiskys and i'd agree, but anything from laphroaig is going to be among the most peaty, wet-charcoaly, medicinal, iodiney, sea-spray-ish-y things out there, you'd taste it for sure. i would wager (but am by no means going to back this up with a test) that even a small amount would "be detectable" (ie ruin) a beer. although, wait, how much is ten ounces?? i can't be bothered to google it. my grumpy 2cents!

10 oz. would be almost 350 ml, so nearly half a bottle of scotch. Compared to 5 gallons it doesn't seem like a lot, but 10 oz. of bourbon in a 5 gallon batch is detectable, and it doesn't have nearly as strong a flavor as scotch.

 

[befus]

Wow, moral of this story is don't monkey around with a scotch drinker Firstly, it was just a thought. Secondly, I am not a scotch drinker and have no intention of wasting much money on any single malt to toss in some beer. I just thought it might be a nice touch in a Scottish ale. A half pint of Dewar's or the like was my thought. The stuff I read said two ounces of oak chips and four ounces of liquor. I'll just tuck my non scotch snob tail and go back under my rock and use some bourbon. Cheers.

 

[ao125]

Semi-related, I have a project going... I toasted a bunch of pecan wood in my oven to a medium toast, then added a bunch of rye whiskey to it.
Going to let it sit until Christmas, 2013 and then do a pecan barleywine and then age it on top of the pecan wood chunks.

I'm only two weeks into the experiment, but I had to crack it open to see how it was coming along. BIG vanilla & pecan smells. I can't wait to try this next year (and drink a bunch of the rye as well)

 

[Clanchief]

I had a bottle of Innis & Gunn highland Cask this weekend. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10272/52610 It claims to be aged in 18 year old single malt scotch barrels. It had a earthy smoky peat quality that was very good.

Now see, if I could get my hands on a scotch barrel, I'd love to age something like a Wee Heavy in it. I think you could get some really nice flavor imbued in the background of the drink, without it becoming overpowering or costing an arm and a leg to do it, not to mention wasting good scotch by mixing it with anything.

 

[thekage]

I just kegged a scotch ale that sat in secondary for a month. I had 4 chucks of white oak that I torched and soaked in 10 ounces of Dewars White label along with two whole vanilla beans for a week and added that to the secondary along with the soaking scotch. It is delicious. Caramel, maple syrupy, smokey, delicious! Its 8.5% - Vanilla Scotch Strong Ale

 

[befus]

I just kegged a scotch ale that sat in secondary for a month. I had 4 chucks of white oak that I torched and soaked in 10 ounces of Dewars White label along with two whole vanilla beans for a week and added that to the secondary along with the soaking scotch. It is delicious. Caramel, maple syrupy, smokey, delicious! Its 8.5% - Vanilla Scotch Strong Ale

Finally the voice of reason and experience. Thanks.

 

[befus]

After trying an Ola Dubh I am definitely going to try this. I figure the worst it can be is ok. I will not go too long on the Scotch chips, maybe two weeks, this first time and see just how wee a heavy can get. Someone gave me a Double Black Johnnie Walker and if you never had it, it is some kind of smokey.......perfect for what I want I'm thinking.

 

[kanta]

Did anyone go through with this? I am not a Scotch connoisseur, but I do appreciate the flavor and nose of it, and so I thought I would jump in on this experiment. In primary as of yesterday is a 5 gallon batch of the AHS Imperial Stout (mini mash). The recipe calls to soak the oak chips in 375 ml of whiskey, but since I prefer the overall experience of Scotch to other types of whisk(e)y, I went to Spec's and asked a rep there for a recommendation for a Speyside that would add a good flavor with some peatiness. I ended up getting a bottle of BenRiach 12 y.o. and started soaking the oak chips in it today. In a week or two, when my gravity stabilizes, I'll rack onto the Scotch and oak chips and let it go until around Thanksgiving, then bottle and wait for Christmas to try. I'll report back with results in 5 months

 

[befus]

Did anyone go through with this?

Waiting on cooler weather to brew here, but will join you soon with the same approx. time table. Cheers!

 

[osagedr]

Made 10g of a Scottish 70/- last weekend. 5 g will be straight-up; the other 5g will go 2.5 bourbon barrel Scotch ale and 2.5 with some kind of cask-aged Scotch ale (single-malt, maybe Laphroig but we'll see) just to try. It won't take much to get the flavour I am seeking.

 

[drinkslurm]

Since I cant find much on this topic in the forums, I'm resurrecting this thread in hopes it can help someone else.
I made a bit over 2-gal of a 1.10 og barleywine (maris otter base) and needed the 3-gal carboy, so I split it between two 1-gal jugs. Tasted on transfer and im pleased with how it tastes. But since its split, I of course need to experiment with one. I think the scotch with give this a nice smoky hint. Anyone ever make a "hot scotty" during the boil? (Thanks Northern Brewer TV). It delicious, and a great reason to brew in the cold!...anyway

One of the most common things that seem to prevent people from adding scotch to beer is the cost, but adding to one gallon really isn't a big deal.
0.5oz French med toast chips + just under 2oz Highland Park (International traveler edition from Duty free). 2oz isn't gonna hurt your stash too much...
Im gonna throw the whole tincture in for 3-5 days.
The problem with one gal batches is its difficult to taste it without loosing a significant portion of the final product so its all (educated) guesswork.
I will post results in the future.

 

[harrymanback92]

Just curious, and I'll be honest I read page 1 and 3 (skipped 2). Why not take some oak chips (I'm thinking French/Hungarian) soak it in some sherry for a couple of months (until it cools down to brew again. I have no ferm control) then add some decent irish whiskey (tullamore dew runs around $22 bucks here) and add some peated malt to your mash?

Maybe that sorta emulates the flavor profile of single malt scotch?

I'm a big whiskey drinker, love it, though not every night. I just can't imagine the subtleties of my Macallan 12 coming through in a beer.

 

[solbes]

Depends on the base beer I suppose, but I can't get myself to add part of a $30 or $40 bottle of scotch to beer. I used cheap scotch in my 12% RIS (only about 3 oz) and 1.5 oz of medium oak cubes. Total oak soak in secondary was 7 weeks. If you are using chips, I would go way less. To reduce some of the tannic flavors, I "washed" the cubes in scotch twice prior to pitching into secondary.

Brewed that beer back in April of '12 and bottled last fall. Was drinkable at Thanksgiving and got really good around Feb '13. Pretty woody and tannic early on, but this has blended beautifully as it aged. Really nice vanilla note. I can taste some scotch hints, but its well into the background where I wanted it. Entered in our State Fair and should get the score sheet tomorrow as judging was last weekend.

 

[befus]

After trying an Ola Dubh I am definitely going to try this. I figure the worst it can be is ok. I will not go too long on the Scotch chips, maybe two weeks, this first time and see just how wee a heavy can get. Someone gave me a Double Black Johnnie Walker and if you never had it, it is some kind of smokey.......perfect for what I want I'm thinking.

I did in fact do the above. Now it may not have the name of some single malts, but the Double Black is the smokiest Scotch I have tried. I soaked the chips (four ounces chips, seven ounces whisky) for two weeks (in the freezer for 12 hours, out for 12) and added it to a pretty middle of the road strength wee heavy. It sat in the secondary for about a month. I always fear that my old type ales will be too sweet, but we'll see. This has been in the bottle for approx. four months and I will not open the first until Christmas. I'm going to be pretty down if it is not good (whisky flavour or not), but have sworn not to 'peek'.

 

[drinkslurm]

Yea scotch gets pretty pricy but this brew is a gift for the birth of my bro in law first kid. I figured something he can open every year to celebrate and...he is a fan of the highland park so I felt its worth it for the gift...plus I can part with 2oz scotch.

The idea is to add scotch regardless...I could add sherry or smoked malts or whatever but that's not what I had in mind. I'm hoping scotch will give something that only scotch can give and hopefully something only good scotch can give . Obviously its pricey and I'm assuming cheaper scotch like dewars would be fine, but for a gift and such a small amount, good scotch is cool with me. I will deff post the results.

 

[cluckk]

I would use a smokey Scotch to boost flavor.

I make a couple really good Scotch Ales (Wee Heavy) every year. I never use peated malt and don't add anything to "boost flavor", yet I get plenty of good smoke from the yeast. I use WL1728 and ferment in the mid to upper fifties (it's range is down to 55F).

If you run the fermentation right that yeast will add plenty of smoke.