Chill-Filtration

If you've ever picked up a bottle of whisky that read non chill-filtered and didn’t know what it was, no worries my post today will hopefully help explain it. As I am far from a technical person, I wanted to provide a simple, quick, non-technical explanation everyone could understand, if they didn’t know already.

For starters the chill-filtering process is a subject for debate. There are those that are for it and those that are against it. Purists believe the process removes flavors from the whisky while the other side believes that process makes their whisky look good without taking away from it.

The reason why the process was initially introduced was because whiskies with an ABV of 46% or less when brought down to lower temperatures, to include adding ice, would commonly get a hazy look to it. Many people didn’t like this hazy/cloudy look and to satisfy those people, distilleries introduced this chill-filtering process.

The chill-filtering process removes all the residues that create this hazy look and is done before bottling. To put it in a very simple way, chill-filtering was only introduced to make a whisky look good. With is this process that haze no longer appeared. This satisfied those whisky drinkers that didn’t like the haze but others strongly believe that the process takes away from the final product. Whisky distilleries that are against the process clearly indicate this on there bottles by labeling it Non Chill-Filtered.You can see that pictures below on the Ardbeg bottle.

I honestly can’t tell you that I prefer one way or the other. If you’ve ever drunk Dalmore 12 and/or Glenfiddich 12 then you’ve had a chill-filtered whisky. From personal experience and from my last blog I can tell you that I personally loved Dalmore 12. I also love non chill-filtered whiskies, which include:

• Ardbeg - This is one of my favorites, which I have yet to write about

• Jura - I wrote about Jura Prophecy on my July 29th post and I very much enjoyed it

• Bruichladdich - Also another great whisky I enjoyed

In the end I truly just enjoy a good whisky! To me if it is a good whisky I don't care whether it underwent a chill-filter process or not.  I will continue to try chill-filtered and non chill-filtered whiskies. You on the other hand can be your own judge and decide what you prefer.

If you need help searching for a chill-filtered or non chill-filtered whisky, I found this site while rummaging through the internet. It's something that can possibly help you tell which whiskies are chill-filtered and which are not if you want to look that information up:

http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/advancedsearch.asp

No go out there and enjoy your weekend!

Cheers!

The Dalmore 12

Ah Monday’s! If you had to drag yourself out of bed this morning and are now drinking a giant cup of coffee then we are in the same boat. Monday’s are extremely difficult to get into especially after a nice weekend. To cheer you up and put a smile on your face I have these sweet words to say to you, The Dalmore 12.

First and foremost I am a sucker for good whisky but if you ask me what makes for an even better whisky I would tell you a well packaged whisky. This whisky has a good taste and extremely good looks.

The front of the bottle is adorned with beautiful royal stag antlers. As the saying goes, “never judge a book by its cover,” however if this whisky were to be a book you would not go wrong by grabbing it for its cover because the product has a perfectly balanced start, middle and end.

The Dalmore 12 is a Highland whisky with an ABV of 40%. It is matured in both American white oak casks and oloroso sherry casks. A bottle, depending on where you go, will cost you around $40-$50+. For the taste and the bottle, this is a very good price point.

The Experience

Color: Dark honey (the color makes the bottle look even better)

Smell: Sweet and Raisins

Taste: I first tasted this on the rocks as it was my boyfriend who ordered it and I took a sip from his dram. To me it tasted like liquid raisins. I enjoyed it so much that I had to get my own neat glass. The neat dram was sweet, mild and still had that nice raisin taste. It really doesn’t disappoint!

Now I am not a fan of really sweet drinks, so much so, that I can’t even handle sugar in my coffee. I wanted to clarify that because although this whisky is sweet, the sweetness is not overwhelming. In other whiskies I’ve been able to taste the sherry from the sherry casks, but in this whisky all the notes are very well balanced that they all marry harmoniously.

If you wanted something different to try and are looking for it to be well priced then I would highly recommend this very good looking bottle. Whether it be to give to someone as a gift or for yourself, it is well worth the price and you will enjoy the taste.

The Dalmore 12 would also be a good whisky to taste for all those non whisky drinkers as it is mild and not too strong. I will be adding this to my collection not just to have it and enjoy myself but to also finally convert my sister-in-law into a whisky drinker. Now go out there and try it. If you do, feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Cheers!