Years before whiskey comes out of the bottle as that amber-hued, caramel-scented object of desire, it goes into a barrel as something called white dog. This unruly spirit is unknown to most drinkers in its legal form, and its name summons images of Mason jars, rusted-out Chevys and revenuers creeping through the pines.
While you can still venture to a backwoods holler - or a seedy urban nip joint - and find coarse, homemade white lightning, now hobbyist distillers and an increasing number of professionals are cozying up to the unaged, unadorned character of clear whiskey.
"White whiskey is very dependent on the flavors of that with which it was made, as opposed to that in which it was stored," says Max Watman, whose new book, "Chasing the White Dog" (Simon & Schuster, $25), is being released this week. It chronicles his experiences with moonshiners and home distilling, and with legal distillers who honed their skills on white whiskey.
"In a barrel-aged whiskey like Maker's Mark, you've got all that vanillin and good, oaky round flavors that have become very much a part of the character of the spirit. In white dog, you've got nothing but the distiller's craft and the agriculture behind it," Watman says.
Until recently, the only unaged whiskeys on the market were coarse-tasting novelty products such as Georgia Moon. Increasingly, small distillers are seeing white dog as a way to introduce bartenders and consumers to a forthcoming aged whiskey while it's still in its infancy and to showcase their distilling skills with a spirit untouched by the mitigating effects of an oak barrel.
The naked, rustic aspect of white dog is finding fans among spirits aficionados.
Sampling the years
"Having visited a number of distilleries around the world and tasted spirits fresh off the still, it always perplexed me that nobody sold white dog," says H. Joseph Ehrmann, owner of the Mission District bar Elixir.
"Whiskey is one of the oldest and most well-known spirits categories, but unlike tequila, you couldn't taste it at its different stages of age."
While many Snuffy Smith-style rural moonshiners are still in operation, Watman says the liquor they produce is often of a gut-wrenching quality, made from white sugar with a sprinkling of chicken feed, such as the jar of whiskey he obtained in Virginia from a gentleman known as Skillet.
"It was the most profoundly disgusting - and hazardous-tasting - liquor I've ever put to my lips," Watman says. "I felt as if I was taking years of happy drinking off my internal organs with every swallow."
In comparison, the white whiskeys being bottled by small distilleries are typically made with an artisan's touch.
These whiskeys have a grappa-like ranginess but a clean, bold grain flavor. San Francisco bars such as Nopa and Elixir carry several styles, including Hudson New York Corn Whiskey from Tuthilltown Spirits, made in part from an heirloom corn variety; and Death's Door White Whiskey, made primarily from Wisconsin-grown hard red winter wheat.
Elixir also carries one of the newest white whiskeys, Doubled & Twisted Light Whiskey from St. Helena-based Marko K Spirits. Distilled from a hoppy India Pale Ale in 2004 by Marko Karakasevic, master distiller at Charbay, the whiskey was rested in an oak barrel for one day, then diluted and placed in a stainless steel tank - which allowed the whiskey to mature without the coloring and flavoring effects of oak, which could obscure the raw spirit's spicy, floral character - until it was bottled late last year.
Other white whiskeys that have recently premiered include a malted-barley white dog from Portland, Ore.-based House Spirits, released in late 2009. Two additional batches - one an unaged peated-barley malt, the other a rye whiskey - were bottled earlier this month. Also, Copper Fox Distillery in Virginia has released cask-strength, unaged versions of its Wasmund's malted barley and rye whiskeys, which may be purchased along with a barrel for custom aging.
Getting in on the act
Larger distilleries have taken interest in white dog, too. Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky, maker of several whiskeys including Buffalo Trace Bourbon, began selling uncut, unaged samples of the bourbon for what is described as educational purposes at its gift shop in 2009 (due to demand, the distillery is considering a wider release).
"We have 45,000 visitors per year, and many have no idea that bourbon is clear when it goes into the barrel," says Angela Traver, a distillery spokeswoman. "It's interesting to give them a taste of the white dog, so it emphasizes the importance of the barrel and the aging process."
Ehrmann uses white whiskey to educate his customers as well. "I have a couple of whiskey barrels in the bar, and I say, 'When the whiskey goes into that barrel, this is what it is. When it comes out, it's what you know it to be,' " Ehrmann says. "That's all aging. When they taste that, they get it."
Watman says that even among whiskey fans, white dog is an acquired taste, although Nopa's White Manhattan, made with Death's Door White Whiskey, is one of its best-selling drinks. Not surprisingly, all of these unaged whiskeys are taken from larger batches, the remainder of which went into oak barrels to age.
But for Brian Ellison of Death's Door Spirits, what started as a onetime release for collectors has become a notable element in his business.
"Every time we make a batch, we ask if we have to barrel it for aging or sell it as white whiskey," Ellison says.
Paul Clarke is a contributing editor at Imbibe magazine, a trade publication, and publisher of the blog the Cocktail Chronicles.
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