This is true. I bought some stuff from HDTracks years ago and found that half of them they had absolutely nothing above 24 kHz.
There’s an audio publication in the UK (HiFi News?) run by Pete Miller that looks at the bit depth and bandwidth on recordings as a matter of course. When I looked a few years ago, many claimed ‘hi res’ or ‘hi def’ and were absolutely nothing of the sort. A lot are bog standard 16/44 and some were up-sampled. Ditto many SACD - just resampled original recordings.
At least with vinyl there’s a few less layers of bs to contend with and the expectations are more realistic.
At least with vinyl there’s a few less layers of bs to contend with and the expectations are more realistic.
If you want additional content above 24 KHz, you could try having the master MQA encoded: I published music on Tidal to test MQA - MQA Review - YouTube
A pretty decent test with interesting results. What a scam...for consumers.
Howie
Laphroiag is possibly the shortest lived anywhere near me! I did once make a bottle of bunnahabhain last 6 months, but that was an aberration!
Cadenhead’s are all aged single cask, original cask strength, single malt whiskies carefully selected from Scottish destilleries.
They are amongst the finest single malts, but most of them are exported to Japan.
Much of whisky taste comes from the casks that were originally used for sherry production and most of Cadenhead’s whiskies are heavily sherried, yum..
Cadenheads Authentic Collection, Exclusively Available in our Shops
Hans
They are amongst the finest single malts, but most of them are exported to Japan.
Much of whisky taste comes from the casks that were originally used for sherry production and most of Cadenhead’s whiskies are heavily sherried, yum..
Cadenheads Authentic Collection, Exclusively Available in our Shops
Hans
Interesting thing happened today. Wife was trawling around on the music server and found a recording of swan lake by Dorati and the Minneapolis symphony orchestra in mono from 1954 in one of my mercury box sets. After listening to it she pointed out that to her, it sounded more like a film score than a ballet. I put it on again and realised she had a point. But wondered why?
It's a very dry acoustic in the hall where this was recorded, and 1954 recording tech was still a little limited (single U47). So that might be it, but I also suspect it was a limitation of where we were listening (kitchen system) so will give this a spin in the living room and see if it gives that same 'flat' perception.
Of course the interesting part is that these early mercury recordings were (according to what I have read) recorded direct to tape with no gain riding at all. So in a way they are completely 'purist'.
It's a very dry acoustic in the hall where this was recorded, and 1954 recording tech was still a little limited (single U47). So that might be it, but I also suspect it was a limitation of where we were listening (kitchen system) so will give this a spin in the living room and see if it gives that same 'flat' perception.
Of course the interesting part is that these early mercury recordings were (according to what I have read) recorded direct to tape with no gain riding at all. So in a way they are completely 'purist'.
Many on their website listed bourbon or rum casks. We were in the Caribbean and went to a high end rum tasting and it seems using scotch casks is fashionable. It didn't work for me at all.
Whisky is practically destilled beer.
Like most destillates it looks like water and is almost tasteless apart from the water used in the fermentation process.
Without storing it in sherry casks for several years it would have no colour and little taste.
And because there are so many different types of sherry, each cask has its own history.
That’s why Cadenhead bottle the best tasting single cask whisky instead of mixing casks together as most distilleries do to get their own signature.
But my knowledge goes back some 15 years, so may be over the last years things have changed a bit.
One thing that has definitely changed is that Suntory from Japan has taken the lead in malt whisky making by winning the “best single malt whisky in the world” contest over the last succesive years.
Hans
Like most destillates it looks like water and is almost tasteless apart from the water used in the fermentation process.
Without storing it in sherry casks for several years it would have no colour and little taste.
And because there are so many different types of sherry, each cask has its own history.
That’s why Cadenhead bottle the best tasting single cask whisky instead of mixing casks together as most distilleries do to get their own signature.
But my knowledge goes back some 15 years, so may be over the last years things have changed a bit.
One thing that has definitely changed is that Suntory from Japan has taken the lead in malt whisky making by winning the “best single malt whisky in the world” contest over the last succesive years.
Hans
Have you tried white whisk(e)y? It certainly has a taste from the mash. Un-aged Bourbon has a strong taste and smell of corn.
I would not say most Scotch is aged in ex-sherry casks. Ex-bourbon is most common, then a blend, and then full sherry. The top volume sellers are not aged at all in sherry casks. Glendronach may be the only distillery that ages everything solely in sherry casks. Macallan 12 is probably the most popular single malt aged in 100% sherry casks. Standard expressions of Glenmorangie (10), Glenlivet (12), etc. are 100% bourbon casks.
Suntory certainly makes excellent whisky, but I don't think the awards are worth much. They are hot because they are supply constrained right now and prices are through the roof for anything beyond the no-age-statement offerings. People love what they can't get, or have to pay a lot of money for. I had bottles of Yamazaki 12 and Hakushu 12 that I paid around $50 for 7 years ago. If you can find it, it's now selling for around triple that in the US. Great stuff, but I don't think it's any better or worse than you can get from Scotland in the 12 yr age category.
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Chris,
Thanks very much for your update.
As I mentioned my knowledge goes back at least 15 years.
The use of so many Bourbon casks was certainly not the case on my several visits to Scotland at that time.
I suppose that may have to do with Sherry no longer being the fashionable drink it was many many years ago, making their casks scarce.
When I visited the north of Spain a few years ago for the first time it was almost impossible to get a Sherry in a pub. They didn’t understand the word Sherry or Sandeman, only Fino did trigger them to find some stowed away bottle showing more or less that sherry is not even populair in (the north) Spain.
And yes white wisky is almost as tasteless as our Jenever, not exactly my favourite drink.
But I never tried the Japanese Whisky, because as you mentioned prices are insane and I’m perfectly happy with Scottish single malt.
I don’t know wheter true or not, but Cadehead told me once that when you shake a bottle intensly, the amount of foam developping above the liquid is a sign how heavily the whisky is sherried.
So that’s how I select my whisky
Hans
Thanks very much for your update.
As I mentioned my knowledge goes back at least 15 years.
The use of so many Bourbon casks was certainly not the case on my several visits to Scotland at that time.
I suppose that may have to do with Sherry no longer being the fashionable drink it was many many years ago, making their casks scarce.
When I visited the north of Spain a few years ago for the first time it was almost impossible to get a Sherry in a pub. They didn’t understand the word Sherry or Sandeman, only Fino did trigger them to find some stowed away bottle showing more or less that sherry is not even populair in (the north) Spain.
And yes white wisky is almost as tasteless as our Jenever, not exactly my favourite drink.
But I never tried the Japanese Whisky, because as you mentioned prices are insane and I’m perfectly happy with Scottish single malt.
I don’t know wheter true or not, but Cadehead told me once that when you shake a bottle intensly, the amount of foam developping above the liquid is a sign how heavily the whisky is sherried.
So that’s how I select my whisky
Hans
What I’ve read seems to align with what Hans said. The demand for Sherry to drink itself was low, so it became harder or more expensive to get quality sherry casks for whiskymakers. One of my favorite whiskies is Aberlour A’bunadh. If someone likes sherried malts, then at cask strength it’s a winner. Bunnahabhain 12 a very good sherried malt as well.
There has been some experimentation going on also. Glenmorangie has the Quinta Ruban which is very nice and finished in Port casks. Balvenie has done the rum cask which I wasn’t overly impressed with, though.
There has been some experimentation going on also. Glenmorangie has the Quinta Ruban which is very nice and finished in Port casks. Balvenie has done the rum cask which I wasn’t overly impressed with, though.