502-320-6419 - The American Distilling Institute

The Malt Guild
tHE MALt guILD is loosely based
on Phillip Hills’ Scotch Malt Whisky
Society. Where Hills’ goal was to get
scotch whisky into the hands of Scots, our goal
is to provide “Information.” For all intents and
purposes, the Malt guild is a whiskey club.
We gather privately outside of the bustling
confines of a bar or club at a private room at
a golf course. When the guild meets we have
an agenda and it is whiskey. typically we have
three to study and each person at the study
table is given worksheets and nosing glasses
with watch glass covers, each containing one
ounce of the whiskeys we are to study.
New members are often disappointed, for
we are not a drinking club. We don’t order a
round and pretend we know what we are doing,
talking jovially with one another, socializing,
while trying to discern the nuances of the
whiskey in our glass. No, this is a study table.
We take notes, progressively working through
the prepared worksheet. There are three stages
to this progression.
Stage One: We begin by creating a profile
for the whiskey with name, place of distillation,
age and mash bill. We document alcohol
content of the still if known, otherwise at
bottle strength along with whatever other
information we can glean. This begins the
understanding process. We then begin discussing
color, legs and beads—why some scotch
whiskys are pale, why some bourbons are dark,
how a two year-old whiskey can somehow be
darker than six year-old. Open discussion and
fact finding is what this stage is all about.
Stage Two: We nose the whiskey. Nothing
is more critical to developing one’s pallet than
nosing. Without proper nosing it is so easy
to miss an entire spectrum of whiskey. This is
what kills me while I am at work in the liquor
store that I have occupied for the last twelve
years. When I talk to twenty somethings as
they look for a whiskey, I like to ask them about
what they like about the whiskey they’re looking
at, what about the flavors in that whiskey. Nosing,
I ask, have you ever nosed your whiskey
before you sip it. Nosing? They reply, what is
that? And then quickly retort that they’re not
sipping; they’re taking shots. The only thing I
can do at this point is just walk away.
28 w w w . d i s t i l l i n g . c o m
By Robert Pate
T H E . M A LT . G U I L D
Stage Three: Now, after fifteen to twenty
minutes of looking, studying, and nosing
we finally get to tasting. During the whole
process we are working through the worksheets
that have been created to focus our attention
to the details of the whiskey we are exploring.
The whole process is to get personal with the
whiskey to build a taxonomy of taste for the
whiskey to match each individual palate. This
is not something that can be accomplished
during a three-hour meeting. This is done
with practice. A lot of practice. Call it a lifetime
of malt adventure.
NOW, AFtER tHREE YEARS, the
Malt guild has now begun inviting
distillers and brand representative to the
meetings. Through video conferencing we have
invited such people as troy Karnes from High
West Distilling and Lynn Bauer from Clear Creek
Distilling to be a part of our meetings. troy
spoke to us from his home is Washington D.C.
and Lynn from the distillery in Portland, Oregon.
Discovering whiskey
It is heartbreaking and deeply
frustrating to me that we are losing
so many young people to the notion
that whiskey is for drinking and not for
discovering. Drinking something just to
get drunk, I abhor this thought. This is
not what the Malt guild is about and
first time attendees when realizing this
usually make a choice. Many times we
do not see these folks back to a second
meeting. I am on an evangelistic mission
to convince people especially the young
twenty something’s, before they get to
lost in the haze of liquor choices, that discovering
is a better approach to drinking.
Discovering means you take your time
with the whiskey, you try to understand
it. Explaining to whiskey drinkers that
what they have is special, it is something
that is very complex, it is something that
has taken years to produce. Just down a
shot which takes a mere second is doing
the whiskey a grave disservice
Developing the live link to the distilleries
is a way to provide the distilleries a direct
marketing tool for their product without
having to put in the time and travel expenses.
We can now go through the worksheet side by
side with the distiller or brand manager for the
product we are sampling. Since our Malt guild
members are avowed whiskey enthusiasts, they
are also thought leaders who become miniambassadors
for the whiskeys they understand
and love. It’s a win-win for everyone.
It is a win for the distillery because the
brand promotion has no inherent costs beyond
the laptop computer already owned, plus, we
have purchased the whiskey as well, so there is
a sale involved which is another bonus. Being
able to purchase the whiskey locally is essential.
It’s a win for us as consumers because we are
able to try something with you, the distiller,
and learn all the fascinating ideas, processes,
and thoughts that went into developing that
whiskey. Instant promotion for forty-five
minutes of time.
The Malt guild is expanding. We have four
groups in Indiana (Bloomington, Indianapolis,
Columbus, and New Albany), plus one in
Washington, D.C. and another starting up in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now, should Lynn or
troy wish to talk about a new whiskey they have
coming out they have the access to linked sessions
with people in various parts of the country
who are interested in what they have to say.
The Malt guild is set up to be a conduit
of information. It is a place to share ideas,
thoughts, and enthusiasm for something this is
very unique: whiskey.
It has taken some time to develop the model.
It is set to take off. I joke with my whiskey
friends that we are the “Red Hatters” of
whiskey. We each have our own little clubs of
people independent but yet all together sharing
information and experiences. Our five-year
goal is to set up a series of guild Halls. These
would be places where guild members could
assemble and be unimpeded in their quest to
find really good whiskies at a reasonable cost.
If you are a malt distiller who would like to
participate in a Malt guild meeting, or are interested
in establishing an affiliate Malt guild,
please contact the author by e-mail: Robert
Pate, scotch@bluemarble.net.