by Nate from Whiskywall

Not unlike many facets of life, the culture of liquor and its consumption is rife with myths and urban legends. Myths die hard, slow deaths – if they die at all. For example, some still believe that vodka is always made from potatoes. Or that the order ofconsumption between beer, wine, and spirits actually affects how you will feel in the morning; more so then how much you drink, how much you eat, if you get any sleep, and the nuances of your own constitution.

Whisky is no exception, as it too carries the burden of some misguided myths. One ofthe most common is the myth that older is better. Every whisky drinker can be impressedby the age of a particular bottling, and with good reason. The thought that decadesof a master distiller’s life can be dedicated to the crafting of and caring for a particular expression is impressive and sometimes leads to great results. The right combination of spirit, barrel, and age in the right hands can create a masterpiece. But just how much age?

Enough beating around the bush. I like young whiskies. It has led to some rather impolitic-sounding proclamations at tastings (think “I like ‘em young” or “8-to-9-yearolds are my favorite”) but it has to be said. Unlike a woman of the night, the older awhisky is the easier it is to market. Unfortunately, age is often mistaken for quality. Thanks to the growing popularity of cask strength whiskies and greater experimentationon the part of some distillers, younger whiskies are increasingly available and gaining therespect they deserve. A younger whisky cannot usually take refuge and rely as heavily on the barrel. Consequently, the flavors of the locale, the water, the air, the peat in some case, are heightened. In a sense, I think of the younger expressions giving one a chance to get a less adulterated taste of the true flavor profile of a given whisky and distillery.

A certain raw and fundamental quality can be found in the right young whisky. Bruichladdich’s Port Charlotte series pulls this off nicely. The PC6 (the sixth release ofthe Port Charlotte series), with a fermented fruit nose at odds with a peaty and charred body, subjects the palate to an unstable truce of rich and competing flavors. It would bea shame to dull those flavors, diluting their differences with another decade in a cask. Ardbeg’s Supernova is another unbridled, youthful expression of Islay flavors. While you might have a tasty spirit if you left it in the cask for another ten or twenty years, you would not be sipping the bombastic flavors of a Supernova but a more staid white dwarf.And excellent expressions of younger whiskies are not limited to peat-hounds and proof-seekers of the Islay crowd. Japan, a country with a laudable reputation for taking a good idea and improving upon it, is at the un-cut edge of superlative young whiskies. Not restricted by Scotland’s 3-year minimum rule, Chichibu’s Ichiro Akuto followed up his 4-month, Newborn Heavily Peated with a 14-month Newborn Double Matured. Yes, double matured in 14 months! The flavors are intense but cultured with a well-knit complexity. The water of life and fountain of youth all in one.

Of course I cannot deny that there are mind-blowing expressions and nuances that canonly be produced by a long term investment in a cask. But the arbitrary reliance on ageas a sign of better flavor must, and is, ending. This position that I am taking is not always supported by whisky drinkers, but I plan to raise a glass of Ichiro’s double matured infantas a symbolic battle cry to bring an end to this myth…as soon as I can land some more.