Interview with Artur Brzychcy - a professional coupageist
Artur Brzychcy began his whisky adventure in 2002, when he conducted a series of events for the Johnnie Walker brand as an announcer. Fascinated with the subject, a year later he became the third ambassador of Johnnie Walker Black Label brand in Poland. In 2004 he learned the sec
Artur Brzychcy began his whisky adventure in 2002,
when he conducted a series of events for the Johnnie Walker brand as an announcer. Fascinated with the subject, a year later he became the third ambassador of Johnnie Walker Black Label brand in Poland. In 2004 he learned the secrets of whisky ageing under the watchful eye of Ian Williams, master blender of Johnnie Walker. In 2009 he founded the Gentleman's Lodge, a brand that was initially only to organise tastings for companies. Over time, he also started to deal with single malt whisky selection and selling his selections on the Polish market. Since 2019, he has been helping to select and create new whisky brands for the wider market.
1) What is your profession? And can you say what are you doing during your workday?
It's funny but basically, my profession has no name. I'm a selector because I select barrels for bottling, I'm a coupageist because I compose aromas and flavours in whisky by blending alcohol from several whisky barrels together to achieve a better range of aromas and flavours. But these are not official names, it's just the way the industry name it, there are no official titles. Even now as I write this answer the dictionary on my computer highlights the word coupageist as an error. :D
2) Love, passion or just a job? What is a whisky to you?
I don't think I will surprise anyone. It started as a job and also an adventure with Johnie Walker Black Label. After all, I was the ambassador of this brand for 7 years. Month by month it started to turn into passion. More and more visits to Scotland, talks with people from the whisky world and now it's love for good and bad and a full-time job.
3) The first whisky you remember and did you like it?
The first whisky I drank was Scotch from an Italian bottler. Of course, it didn't taste good, and we drank it from vodka glasses. A friend brought it to a party at university.
4) Do you prefer Scotch or Irish?
I was born in a time of Scotch whisky dominance and it is the whisky I love the most. This dominance is not just due to marketing but to the history of both nations. Today Scotch whisky is more interesting, deeper, fuller, but it wasn't always like that. Ireland was simply unlucky, but now it seems that on the wave of global demand for whisky, Irish whiskey is making a comeback. Keeping my fingers very much crossed for the new Irish distilleries. The more diversity in the whiskey world the better.
5) What matters most in the production of whisky? The sunshine and temperature in a particular area? Perhaps the wood used to produce the barrels for storing the liquor?
It all matters. The climatic conditions of where the warehouses are located is one of the most important factors, but also how the warehouses are built, whether they are stone warehouses or modern warehouses made of corrugated iron or brick. The barrels are 99% oak, but the type of oak is also extremely important whether it is European or white American oak. If it's European, it comes from Spain, France or southern Germany. What is the barrel made of, what alcohol was in it before? What is the size of the barrel, which affects both evaporation and the time needed for ageing. But that is not all. It is very important what kind of water was used. Today, more and more research indicates that it is also important where the barley used to create the whisky was grown.
Really, everything is important and that is what is so beautiful about whisky :)
6) Since when and why did you want to create a game where players would make whisky?
Because it's a great adventure. Think about that for a moment. Let's start with a bottler, which is not yet a producer. You go around the auctions, hunting for unique whiskies. Many distilleries don't allow their whiskies to go on the open market, but sometimes it happens that one or two barrels from the old days turn up. These are rarities. Everyone wants these barrels. Maybe this will be the day you hunt them down? On the other hand, you go to the warehouse and after tasting it you know that the barrel is sensational right now or it needs another year in a sherry barrel, for example, and now it is in a bourbon barrel. You buy, pour, supervise the ageing process and after a year or two you release a whisky that scores 92 points in competitions. This is already a cult whisky. Very few items exceed the 90-point threshold. You are a hunter, a seeker of flavours and aromas, and an alchemist - all in one. It's a great job and a great adventure. If the game captures that vibe, it will be really great fun, not to mention that it will show the secrets of this unusual profession.
And producing whisky from scratch? What could be more wonderful than the production of the perfect composition, a combination of aromas and flavours ranging from fresh fruit, through vanilla, toffee, chocolate, coffee, colonial fruit to the heavy aromas of cigar box, leather or oily smoke from the smokehouse? Whisky offers a very wide range of aromas. And we get it from a small grain that grew somewhere in a windy field near the Ocean. Isn't it magic?
Second part of the interview - soon!
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