Types of whisky

Malt whisky must contain no grain other than malted barley and is traditionally distilled in pot stills. Grain whisky may contain unmalted barley or other malted or unmalted grains such as wheat and maize (corn) and is typically distilled in a continuous column still, known as a Patent or Coffey still, the latter after Aeneas Coffey who refined the column still in 1831. While there are scores of malt whisky distilleries, only seven grain distilleries currently exist[citation needed], most located in the Scottish Lowlands.

Malting

Malt whisky production begins when the barley is malted—by steeping the barley in water, and then allowing it to get to the point of germination. Malting releases enzymes that break down starches in the grain and help convert them into sugars. When the desired state of germination is reached the malted barley is dried using smoke. Many (but not all) distillers add peat to the fire to give an earthy, peaty flavour to the spirit.

Today only a handful of distilleries have their own maltings; these include Balvenie, Kilchoman, Highland Park, Glenfiddich, Glen Ord, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Springbank, Tamdhu, and Edradour. Even those distilleries that malt their own barley produce only a small percentage of the malt required for production. All distilleries order malt from specialised maltsters.
Mash tun at Glengoyne Distillery.

Mashing and fermentation

The dried malt (and in the case of grain whisky, other grains) is ground into a coarse flour called “grist”. This is mixed with hot water in a large vessel called a mash tun. The grist is allowed to steep. This process is referred to as “mashing,” and the mixture as “mash”. In mashing, enzymes that were developed during the malting process are allowed to convert the barley starch into sugar, producing a sugary liquid known as “wort”. The wort is then transferred to another large vessel called a “wash back” where it is cooled. The yeast is added, and the wort is allowed to ferment. The resulting liquid, now at about 5–7% alcohol by volume, is called “wash” and is very similar to a rudimentary beer.

Distillation

The next step is to use a still to distill the wash. Distillation is used to increase the alcohol content and to remove undesired impurities such as methanol. There are two types of stills in use for the distillation: the pot still (for single malts) and the Coffey still (for grain whisky). All Scotch malt whisky distilleries distill their product twice except for the Auchentoshan distillery, which retains the Lowlands tradition of triple distillation. Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown is unique in that it distills two and a half times.[citation needed] This is achieved by distilling half the low wine (1st distillation) for a second time, adding the two halves together and then distilling the complete volume a final time. For malt whisky the wash is transferred into a wash still. The liquid is heated to the boiling point of alcohol, which is lower than the boiling point of water. The alcohol evaporates and travels to the top of the still, through the “lyne arm” and into a condenser—where it is cooled and reverts to liquid. This liquid has an alcohol content of about 20% and is called “low wine”.

Independent bottlers

Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. Blended Scotch whiskies contain both malt whisky and grain whisky. They were initially created as an alternative to single malt whiskies which were considered by some to be too harsh. Master blenders combine the various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent “brand style”. Notable blended Scotch whisky brands include Dewar’s, Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, J&B, The Famous Grouse, and Chivas Regal.

Most malt distilleries sell a significant amount of whisky by the cask for blending, and sometimes to private buyers as well. Whisky from such casks is sometimes bottled as a single malt by independent firms such as Duncan Taylor, Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead, Murray McDavid, Signatory, and others. These are usually labelled with the distillery’s name, but not using the distillery’s trademarked logos or typefaces. An “official bottling” (or “proprietary bottling”), by comparison, is one from the distillery (or its owner). Many independent bottlings are from single casks, and they may sometimes be very different from an official bottling. There have been occasional efforts by distillers to curtail independent bottling; Allied Domecq, a former owner of the Laphroaig distillery, initiated legal action against Murray McDavid in an effort to prevent them from using “Distilled at Laphroaig Distillery” in their independent bottlings of said whisky.[6] Murray McDavid subsequently used the name “Leapfrog” for a time, before Allied backed off.

William Grant & Sons, which owns three malt distilleries, adds a measure of one of its other distilleries’ whisky to each cask of malt it sells to independent bottlers.[citation needed] This prevents independent bottlers from bottling the contents of the cask as a single malt. To avoid potentially sticky legal issues, some independent bottlings do not reveal the distillery of the whisky, using a manufactured brand name or a geographical name instead such as Old St Andrews.

History
Greybeard Heather Dew scotch whisky jug

“To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.” — Exchequer Rolls 1494–95, vol x, p. 487. Whisky has been produced in Scotland for hundreds of years. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, no one knows exactly when the art of distilling was first practised in Scotland; it is known that the Ancient Celts practised distilling, and that the liquid they produced—uisge beatha (“water of life”)—evolved into Scotch Whisky. The first taxes on whisky production were imposed in 1644, causing a rise in illicit whisky distilling in the country. Around 1780, there were about 8 legal distilleries and 400 illegal ones. In 1823, Parliament eased restrictions on licensed distilleries with the “Excise Act”, while at the same time making it harder for the illegal stills to operate, thereby ushering in the modern era of Scotch production. Two events helped the increase of whisky’s popularity: first, a new production process was introduced in 1831 called Coffey or Patent Still (see in section below); the whisky produced with this process was less intense and smoother. Second, the Phylloxera bug destroyed wine and cognac production in France in 1880.