Scotch whisky

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Scotch whisky is a whisky made in Scotland. In North America, the term is often abbreviated to "Scotch". In Great Britain, the term whisky almost always refers to Scotch whisky, and the term "Scotch" is rarely used by itself.

Scotch whisky is divided into at least three distinct categories: single malt, vatted malt, and blended.

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Contents

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Legal definition

To legally be called Scotch whisky, the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 which clarified the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988, 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, and
  4. Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colour.

It may not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.

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

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History

“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.<ref>See also Lord High Treasurer’s Accounts: “Et per liberacionem factam fratri Johanni Cor per perceptum compotorum rotulatoris, ut asserit, de mandato domini regis ad faciendum aquavite infra hoc compotum viij bolle brasii” vol 1, p. 176.</ref>

Whisky has been produced in Scotland for hundreds of years. It is generally agreed that Dalriadan Scottish monks brought distillation with them when they came to Caledonia to convert the Picts to Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries. Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky June 1, 1494. The first taxes on whisky production were imposed in 1644, causing a rise in illicit whisky distilling in the country. In 1823, Parliament eased the restrictions on licensed distilleries, while at the same time making it harder for the illegal stills to operate, thereby ushering in the modern era of Scotch production.

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Methods of production

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Types of whisky

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

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Malting

Malt whisky production begins when the barley is malted, or allowed to begin germination by adding some water. Malting releases enzymes that break down starches into sugars. Today only a handful of distilleries have their own maltings; these include Balvenie, Kilchoman, Highland Park, Glenfiddich, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Springbank and Tamdhu. The rest take their malt from specialised malters. When the desired rate of germination is reached, the malted barley is then dried. If the fire used to dry the barley contains peat, this determines much of the flavour to the final product.

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Fermenting

The dried malt (and in the case of grain whisky other grains) is ground and soaked in water, dissolving the sugar and producing wort, the sugary liquid. Yeast is then added, and the wort is allowed to ferment. The liquid, now at about five per cent alcohol, is called wash or low beer.

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Distilling

The wash is then distilled to a higher percentage alcohol. There are two types of stills in use for the distillation, the pot still and the Coffey still. For the highest quality whisky the pot still is used. The Coffey still, in which the product can be distilled in a continuous process is used for cost efficient and fast distilling.

For malt whisky, the wash is transferred into a wash still, a large pot still. The liquid that comes out has an alcohol content of about 21% and is called the low wine.

The low wine is then distilled a second time, in the spirit still, a slightly smaller pot still. The first liquid to come out of the still is impure and is called foreshots. They are redirected back into the still for further distillation, set aside or thrown out. After that the 'new make' is collected. Its alcohol content starts at about 75% and decreases to about 60%. The afterflow, or "feints" contain many lower alcohols and usually are also set aside for a next distillation.

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Aging

Once distilled, the product must be left to mature in specialized barrels called "casks". 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. (Irish whiskeys are also aged in used sherry barrels, but without the charring characteristic of aging Scotch whisky.) 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 aging process results in evaporation, so each year in the cask causes more loss of volume, making older whisky more expensive to produce. The 0.5–2.0% lost each year is poetically known as the angel's share. Many whiskies along the west coast and on the Hebrides Islands are stored in open storehouses at the coast, allowing the salty sea air to pass on its flavour to the spirit. 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 flavor development changes drastically from distillery to distillery, or even cask to cask. Older whiskies are inherently scarcer, however, so they usually command significantly higher prices.

Colour can give a clue to the provenance and type of whisky, although the addition of spirit caramel, legal in most markets, can be used to darken an otherwise lightly coloured whisky. Old, sherried whisky is usually darker in colour. Old, un-sherried whisky is usually a golden-yellow/honey colour. Some whiskies can be almost colourless, even after 10 years and more in wood.

The late 1990s saw a trend towards fancy "wood finishes"—reracking whisky from one barrel into another of a different type to add the "finish" from the second to the maturation effects of the first. 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 an homage to the legendary "Green Springbank", also aged in rum casks.

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Bottling

The now ripened spirit is blended with spirits from different ages, and water from the same water source used to make the mash, to a bottling strength, usually 40% or 45%. Occasionally some distillers will release a cask strength edition, which does not have any added water and will usually have an alcohol content of over 50%, or even single barrel editions, which have not been blended with any other barrels. These bottles usually bear a bottle number and cask number.

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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.

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Types of Scotch whisky

Under the new Scotch Whisky Association rules of 2005, it is much easier to sort out the meanings on the labels of Scotch whisky. There are two major categories, single and blended. Single means that all of the product is from a single distillery, while blended means that the product is composed of whiskies from two or more distilleries. A single malt whisky is thus a malt whisky from one distillery, and a single grain is a grain whisky from one distillery. A blended malt whisky is malt whisky from more than one distillery, a blended grain whisky is grain whisky from more than one distillery, and a blended Scotch whisky is a mixture of malt and grain whisky.

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Single malt

Single Malt Scotch whisky is malt whisky that is distilled entirely at a single distillery, and is not blended with grain whisky. Glenfiddich is the best selling single malt Scotch whisky in the world, accounting for 20% of single malt whisky sales, while Glenmorangie is the best selling single malt in Scotland. Others include Balvenie, Glenlivet, Highland Park, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Scapa and Talisker.

If the whisky comes from one cask only, it is frequently referred to as single cask whisky. Whisky in the cask, depending on the age and the initial filling strength, can exceed 60 per cent alcohol by volume.

Most whiskies are bottled at between 40% alcohol by volume (ABV)—the minimum legal limit—and 43% ABV; if the whisky is not watered down, or is slightly watered down but still at a relatively high strength (usually around 60% ABV), it is frequently labeled Cask Strength. Note that Cask Strength Scotch does not have to be from a single cask, i.e. a Single Cask Scotch, nor vice versa, although this is often the case.

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Regional variants

Scotland was traditionally divided into 4 sections: The Highlands, Lowland, Islay & Campbeltown. Speyside is a modern subdivision of the Highlands thus you can get a Speyside Scotch from the Highlands, e.g. The Macallan. Today Scotland is divided, depending on who you are talking with, into 6 to 9 regions. The differences & similarities, like all things with Scotch, make for endless discussions. The regions are:

See also Classic Malts of Scotland

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Vatted malt

Vatted malt whisky—also called pure malt—is one of the less common types of Scotch: a blend of single malts from more than one distillery and with differing ages. Vatted malts contain only malt whiskies—no grain whiskies—and are usually distinguished from other types of whisky by the absence of the word ‘single’ before ‘malt’ on the bottle, and the absence of a distillery name. The age of the youngest whisky in the bottle is that used to describe the age on the label, so a vatted malt marked “8 years old” may easily include whiskies over 30 years old. Some examples include Pride of Islay, Compass Box Eleuthera, and Johnnie Walker Green Label.

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Blended

Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland.<ref>Scotch Whiskey: A Liquid History by Charles MacLean. © 2003 Charles MacLean & Cassell Illustrated. ISBN 1-84403-078-4</ref> Blended Scotch whiskies generally contain 10–50% malt whisky, blended with grain whisky, with the higher quality brands having the highest percent malt. They were initially created for the English market, where pure malt whiskies were considered too harshly flavoured (the main two spirits consumed in England at the time being brandy in the upper classes, and gin in the lower ones). Master blenders combine the various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent "brand style". Blended whiskies frequently use the same name for a range of whiskies at wildly varying prices and (presumably) quality. Notable blended Scotch whisky ranges include Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, and Chivas Regal.

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Single grain whisky

Not actually Scotch whisky at all. Grain whisky produced in Scotland normally goes into the Scotch whisky blends to make up the volume. But some grain whisky of higher quality is bottled by itself as single grain whisky. As of 2006 there are only seven grain whisky distilleries in Scotland, including Loch Lomond’s

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Independent bottlers

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 Cadenhead, Murray McDavid, Signatory, and others. These are usually labeled 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). Most 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, 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. 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. 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 source of the whisky, using an alias or a geographical name instead. This is also called a 'Bastard Bottling'. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society uses numbers to identify distillers; the distiller list is made available to members only in the form of indirect clues (which are nevertheless usually unambiguous given some research).

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Understanding a Scotch whisky label

Like many products, the contents of a Scotch whisky label are a combination of tradition, marketing, national law and whim. It can therefore be challenging to understand what it is that one holds in a bottle. Because of variations in language and national law, the following can only be considered a rough guide.

The first thing to look for is the words Scotch whisky, spelled exactly in that way (perhaps Whisky is capitalized). If the word Scotch is missing, the whisky is probably made elsewhere. If it says Scotch Whiskey or Scottish Whiskey, it is possibly counterfeit.

Now, look for the words single malt. These may be split by other words e.g. single highland malt. If this is present, you have a single malt Scotch whisky.

If you have vatted malt, pure malt or "blended malt", you have a mixture of single malt whiskies.

Very rarely, you might find a single grain whisky. In all other cases, you have a blended whisky.

The label might identify a distillery name, either as the main brand, or as part of the product description. This is not guaranteed for any type of Scotch, but is most likely to be seen for single malt. Some single malt whisky is sold anonymously or with a made up brand name. This is no guide to quality, but may mean that successive bottles are completely different whiskies. The only way to identify a real distillery name is to look it up in a reference.

In most countries you will see the alcoholic strength. Note the difference between percentage (percentage alcohol by volume) and proof, a measure that varies by country. Typically whisky is around 40% abv; lower values may be required in some countries, or might indicate an "economy" whisky. If the bottle is over about 50 per cent alcohol it is probably cask strength and many drinkers would add a little water.

The other information that might be present is an age. If an age like 12 years is present, that indicates that all the whisky in the bottle was matured in cask at least that long before bottling. You might also see a year. Years are more tricky, because whisky stops maturing once it is bottled; examine the labels for the year of bottling. Basic whisky would not include an age, but it often used to differentiate brands, since more mature whisky may be better and is almost invariably more expensive.

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Notes

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See also

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External links

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