Scotch

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Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland. In the English-speaking world it is often referred to as "Scotch", including in the United Kingdom. In the UK, the term whisky is usually taken to mean Scotch unless otherwise specified.

Scotch whisky is divided into four distinct categories: single malt, vatted malt (also called "pure malt"), blended and single grain.


Legal definition

To be called Scotch whisky the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 (UK),[1] which clarified the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988,[2] and mandates that the spirit:

1. Must be distilled at a Scottish distillery from water and malted barley, to which only other whole grains may be added, have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems, and fermented only by the addition of yeast,
2. Must be distilled to an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume so that it retains the flavour of the raw materials used in its production,
3. Must be matured in Scotland in oak casks for not less than three years,
4. Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colouring, and
5. May not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.

No whisky other than Scotch whisky may be made in Scotland.

[edit] Methods of production

[edit] 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, most located in the Scottish Lowlands.

[edit] 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, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Springbank and Tamdhu. 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 malters.

[edit] Mashing & 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.

[edit] Distillation

The next step is to use a still to distil the wash - which will result in a purer form of alcohol.

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 whisky distilleries distil their product twice except for the Auchentoshan distillery, which retains the Lowlands tradition of triple distillation.

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".

The low wine is distilled a second time, in a spirit still, and the distillation is divided into three "cuts". The first liquid or cut of the distillation is called "foreshots" and is generally quite toxic. These are generally saved for further distillation.

It is the "middle cut" that the stillman is looking for - it is the middle cut which will be placed in casks for maturation. At this stage it is called "new make". Its alcohol content can be anywhere from 60%-75%.

The third cut is called the "feints" and is generally quite weak. These are also saved for further distillation.

[edit] Maturation

Once distilled the "new make spirit" is placed into oak casks for the maturation process. Historically, casks previously used for sherry were used (as barrels are expensive, and there was a ready market for used sherry butts). Nowadays these casks previously contained sherry or bourbon, but more exotic casks such as port, cognac, calvados, beer, and Bordeaux wine are sometimes used. Bourbon production is a nearly inexhaustible generator of used barrels, due to a regulation requiring the use of new, North American white oak barrels.

The ageing process results in evaporation, so each year in the cask causes a loss of volume as well as a reduction in alcohol. The 0.5–2.0% lost each year is known as the angel's share. Many whiskies along the west coast and on the Hebrides are stored in open storehouses on the coast, allowing the salty sea air to pass on its flavour to the spirit. It is a little-known fact, however, that most so-called "coastal" whiskies are matured in large central warehouses in the Scottish interior far from any influence of the sea.[citation needed] The distillate must age for at least three years to be called Scotch whisky, although most single malts are offered at a minimum of eight years of age. Some believe that older whiskies are inherently better, but others find that the age for optimum flavour development changes drastically from distillery to distillery, or even from cask to cask. Older whiskies are inherently scarcer, however, so they usually command significantly higher prices.

Colour can give a clue to the type of cask (sherry or bourbon) used to age the whisky, although the addition of legal "spirit caramel" is sometimes used to darken an otherwise lightly coloured whisky. Sherried whisky is usually darker or more amber in colour, while whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks is usually a golden-yellow/honey colour.

The late 1990s saw a trend towards "wood finishes" in which fully matured whisky is moved from one barrel into another one that had previously aged a different type of alcohol (e.g., port, madeira, rum, wine, etc) to add the "finish".

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling number 1.81, for instance, is known by some as "the green Glenfarclas". It was finished in a rum cask after 27 years in an oak (ex-bourbon) barrel and is the colour of extra-virgin olive oil. This is in homage to the legendary "Green Springbank", also aged in rum casks.

[edit] Bottling

With single malts, the now properly aged spirit may be "vatted", or "married", with other single malts (sometimes of different ages) from the same distillery. The whisky is generally diluted to a bottling strength of between 40% and 46%.

Occasionally distillers will release a "Cask Strength" edition, which is not diluted and will usually have an alcohol content of 50–60%.

Many distilleries are releasing "Single Cask" editions, which are the product of a single cask which has not been vatted with whisky from any other casks. These bottles will usually have a label which details the date the whisky was distilled, the date it was bottled, the number of bottles produced, the number of the particular bottle, and the number of the cask which produced the bottles.

[edit] Chill filtration

Many whiskies are bottled after being "chill-filtered". This is a process in which the whisky is chilled to near 0°C (32°F) and passed through a fine filter. This removes some of the compounds produced during distillation or extracted from the wood of the cask, and prevents the whisky from becoming hazy when chilled, or when water or ice is added.

However chill filtration also removes some of the flavour and body from the whisky, which is why some consider chill-filtered whiskies to be inferior.

Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health