Myself and Scott (@ScotchB78) have decided to test Larkfires Wild Water for Whisky which they very kindly sent to us. With the hashtag #WaterScience we got to work!
Larkfires water is taken from the Isle of Lewis. Instead of me writing loads of stuff here, go to their website if you would like to learn more about it.
So, the test:
We have both selected a high abv whisky, mine is a seven year old Aultmore from The SMWS (73.113), matured in a 2nd fill butt with a sherry finish at 67.5% abv. Scotts is an eight year old Craigellachie from The SMWS (44.117) at 68.5%, matured in a 2nd fill butt and finished in px.
We will pour three drams.
1. The dram how we would normally drink it, with a touch of water (using what ever water we would normally use).
2. 10ml of whisky and 3ml of tap water.
3. 10ml of whisky and 3ml of Larkfire.
I think we are using quite a lot of water here to an exaggerate what the water might do to the whisky.
All science will be done at room temperature.
My normal water of choice is Asdas finest Highland Spring and Scott uses some sort of magic filter which takes out all the impurities. So for his first dram he will be using the filtered stuff.
Our test is slightly limited, as Larkfire point out we live up in the North where the water is quite soft (not many minerals) so this doesn't effect the whisky as badly as water in for example London would.
Tasting notes for dram 1:
Scott - Nose: Very meaty, bit of sulphur, thick dense sherry
Scott - Palate: Thick and oily, lots of brown sugar, raisins, dates, sultanas. Spicy. A bit dry and woody on the finish.
Paul - Nose: Nutty, almonds, caramel, crunchy bars. Brown sugar. A bit of dunnage-ness.
Paul - Palate: Sweet, marzipan, spicy, white grape, fruity. Caramel and dark chocolate on the finish.
Dram 2, differences with tap water:
Scott - Nose: Nothing discernible
Scott - Palate: Leaves a much more sour finish
Paul - Nose: Sweeter, raw alcohol seems more apparent
Paul - Palate: Spicier, raw alcohol
Dram 3, differences with Larkfire
Scott - Nose: A bit fresher, not as thick and meaty.
Scott - Palate: Clean, it has freshened up the meatyness and made it much lighter.
Paul - Nose: Cleaner and crisper flavours.
Paul - Palate: Crisper, freshens the flavours up and brings them out more.
Overall opinions.
I think we agreed on overall opinions, we both noticed the tap water dram had gone quite murky but the Larkfire still looked bright.
There was a definite difference between the Larkfire and the tap water although it was very close with the bottled/filtered water, I think the Larkfire just won it.
As Scott pointed out, I think it would be very interesting to re-do our science with some high mineral content water.
Larkfire did also add a few comments:
Highland Spring is lightly mineralised so the hard nature will affect the flavour. But at least its not Evian!
Soft tap water affects the nose more as it really is just the chemicals that affect things. We find the initial ethanol bloom with the nose is followed by a chemical tinge that halts out enjoyment.
My understanding is Larkfire are aiming this at the "bar" market. (The packaging certainly looks suited to it) If you order a dram at a bar and want to put a few drops in it this is a far better option that tap water. Having said that I wouldn't rule it out for home use, it is perfectly capable at calming down a dram.
Big thanks to Larkfire for the cans!
@WhiskyNStuff
@ScotchB78
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