ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER

Comingled bottlings bring together different spirits

WRITTEN BY MARGARETT WATERBURY

When people talk about “blending” in the context of spirits, they’re usually referring to one of two things: Mixing a light-flavored whiskey with a richer one to create a product that lives somewhere between the two, or mixing multiple barrels of an aged spirit to create a batch that’s similar to the one that came before. In both cases, the constituent components are made from, roughly, the same basic ingredients.

But a small number of producers are challenging the notion it has to be that way. Bartenders have mixed entirely different types of spirits for generations: the Vieux Carré, the Long Island iced tea, Tiki concoctions that need a Gantt chart to successfully construct. Why shouldn’t spirits bottlers partake in a little concocting of their own?

The result is more bottles that contain not just different styles of whiskey or rum, but two spirits that come from entirely different categories and are made from entirely different primary ingredients. The approach opens up an uncharted territory of flavor possibilities — and an entirely new challenge when it comes to marketing to consumers.

It’s mostly sold out by now, but you might be able to find a few bottles left on store shelves.

Which shelf ?

Funny you should ask...

One of the earliest movers in the comingled spirits category was Alabama-based Red Eye Louie’s. The brand traces its roots back to 2010, when father-daughter team Chander and Nina Arora hit on the idea of a product that mixed vodka and tequila. A former textile chemist, Chander used a “thermal blending technique” to unite the two spirits, creating their first product: Vodquila. Rumquila and Whisquila soon followed. A zaftig bottle emblazoned with a sombrero-wearing skull gives the Red Eye Louie’s lineup a light-hearted, party vibe — the kind of thing you’d reach for if the occasion called for a tray full of shots, or something to take along to the beach with your friends.

But not all spirit combinations scream “spring break.” Compass Box, the Londonbased whisky maker specializing in Scotch whisky blends, took a super-premium approach to comingled spirits with the launch of Affinity, a blend of Scotch whisky and Calvados. The combination was inspired by the home blending experiments of Compass Box founder John Glaser, who made it a habit to reach for one of two spirits every time his wife made tarte tatin: Calvados, a French apple brandy made in Normandy, one of the regions of France closest to England, or Compass Box’ Spice Tree, a spicy, warming blend of Scotch whiskies finished in French oak casks. One day, he decided to try mixing the two together and we can assume that dessert at the Glaser household was never quite the same.

“Calvados, a bit like Scotch whisky twelve years ago, has this fuddy duddy old person’s drink reputation among the French populace at large,” said James Saxon, assistant whisky maker at Compass Box. As a result, when Glaser approached Thierry Bénitah, the head of Maison du Whisky in Paris, about creating a commercial product that blended of Scotch and Calvados, Bénitah was skeptical. “Thierry was saying, ‘Do not do this; it is not a good idea’,” said Saxon.

Still, Glaser was undeterred. He partnered with Calvados producer Christian Drouin to sourcesome eight-year-old Calvados from the Pays d’Auge, one of the most prestigious AOCs (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) in the region. Then, he began a series of blending experiments to hone in on the right ratio of whisky to brandy. After several dozen iterations, the Compass Box blending team arrived at a ratio of about one-third Calvados and twothirds Scotch whisky, a proportion that lets Calvados’ distinctive fruity character shine through.

“We could have buried the Calvados in there as a subtle note, but the concept, for us, really demanded that both of these spirits played equal roles,” said Saxon. “Calvados is an even more boisterous, intensely flavorsome spirit than malt whisky, so even though it’s just under forty percent of the recipe, it feels like it’s a double act in every possible respect.”

The whisky used in the blend includes a number of components, including Highland malts aged in French oak casks at a range of toast levels, blended Scotch aged in refill sherry casks, and an undisclosed Speyside single malt aged in first-fill sherry casks. Saxon said that last ingredient was key to creating a harmonious marriage between the two spirits. “We realized that what was required here was two contrasting powerhouses, rather than using slightly subtler components,” said Saxon.

Saxon said Compass Box has explored other hybrid spirits in the past, but Affinity is the first one they’ve released. It’s mostly sold out by now, but you might be able to find a few bottles left on store shelves. Which shelf? Funny you should ask. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s been tricky for retailers to figure out where to shelve it — with the whisky or with the Calvados? “We don’t have a shelf halfway between Calvados and Scotch whisky,” said Saxon. “It does … capture the imagination in that regard.”

With its rich tradition of blending (in the traditional sense), Scotch whisky has provided fertile ground for other experimental cominglings. Another soon-to-be-released hybrid spirit is Baiskey, a blend of Scotch whisky and baijiu from Scottish-based company Kylin Spirits Group.

Marissa Jiang, the UK director of Kylin Spirits Group, says the concept grew from a desire to create a product that would appeal to both Chinese and Western drinkers. “Just like how Western drinkers find it hard

to drink baijiu, a lot of Chinese consumers cannot adapt to the taste of whisky,” said Jiang. “So we thought, OK, how do we create a product that can bridge this gap?” She said Kylin Spirits Group hopes that Baiskey will literally unite whisky and baijiu drinkers, helping to connect people across cultures. “We live in a globalized world, and Chinese drinkers, businessmen, or just local Chinese communities have friends in their circle who are not Chinese,” said Jiang. “It’s about bringing everyone together.”

To create Baiskey, the team partnered with two leading producers: whisky maker Max McFarlane, formerly of Edrington; and Shen Caihong, master distiller at Luzhou Laojiao, the oldest continually producing baijiu distillery in the world. It took two years and more than 300 recipes to create a harmonious blend of the two spirits. “It was not easy to find the perfect balance,” said Jiang. Baiskey is currently for sale in China and will be released in the UK in early 2022, followed by the rest of Europe and the United States.

According to McFarlane, the spirit has a “pleasantly balanced aroma, with evidence, but not strong fragrance of Chinese baijiu, accompanied by a fruity scent.” He describes flavor notes like licorice, sweet cream, star anise, and salted butterscotch in the final product.

As out-there as this mini-trend sounds, it’s possible to view it as the logical conclusion of the finishing-mania that has seized the whiskey industry. Depending on how they’re treated, used casks often contain a significant quantity of their previous contents. In his 1972 book Sherry: The Noble Wine, author Manuel M. González Gordon estimated a used solera butt could absorb up to 25 liters of wine or about five percent of the total volume. Even a smaller bourbon barrel could contain a couple of gallons of liquid soaked into the staves, ready to mingle with whatever goes into the cask next. That ratio could go up for casks that previously held non-distilled beverages such as beer, wine, or sherry, which are often treated with additional shipping liquid to ensure casks don’t dry out during transit.

Of course, producers treat used casks differently. Some shave, re-toast, and re-char the staves, practically eradicating the presence of the previous contents. Others pour new spirit straight into the soaking-wet casks, mingling a not-insignificant amount of whatever the previous contents were with the new spirit. It’s not “blending” in the sense of pouring one spirit into another, but it achieves a similar sort of goal in a somewhat more subtle fashion: Giving one spirit a hint (or more than a hint) of the flavor of another. It’s a funny crosscurrent for an industry that’s obsessed with categories — but for a certain kind of producer, boundaries exist to be transgressed.

Margarett Waterbury is a drinks writer who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her first book, Scotch: A Complete Introduction to Scotland’s Whiskies, released in fall 2020.

It’s a funny crosscurrent for an industry that’s obsessed with categories — but for a certain kind of producer, boundaries exist to be transgressed.