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Scotch whisky is a whisky made in Scotland. In the English-speaking parts of the world, the term is often abbreviated to "Scotch". In Scotland itself, however, the term whisky almost always refers to Scotch whisky, and the term "Scotch" is rarely used by itself.

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

The Scotch Whisky Association recently introduced new terminology, whereby a "Vatted Malt" is to be referred to as a "Blended Malt". This has met with much resistance from the industry.

Legal definition

To legally be called Scotch whisky, the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 (UK) 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 ScotlandScotch Whisky Act 1988 (c. 22).

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.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.
Whisky has been produced in Scotland for hundreds of years. It is generally agreed that monks brought distillation with them when they came to Scotland to introduce Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries. 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.

Methods of production

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 Lowlands (central Scotland).

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 helps convert them into sugars. When the desired rate of germination is reached, the malted barley is then dried using smoke. Many, but not all distillers, add peat to the fire to give an earthy peaty flavor to the whisky.

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 which malt their own barley only produce a small percentage of the malt required for production. All distilleries order malt from specialised malters.

Mashing & Fermentation

The dried malt (and in the case of grain whisky, other grains) is ground into a coarse flour called "grist." It is then mixed with hot water, in a large vessel called a mash tun. The grist is allowed to steep. This product is referred to as "mash."

This process dissolves the sugars which were produced during malting, producing a sugary liquid known as "wort."

The wort is then transferred to another large vessel called a "wash back" where yeast is added, and the wort is allowed to ferment. The resulting liquid, now at about 5-7% alcohol by volume (abv), is called wash and is very similar to a rudimentary beer.

Distillation

The next step is to use a still to distill 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).

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 then distilled a second time, in a spirit still. 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 is anywhere from 60%-75%.

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

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 aging 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 Islands are stored in open storehouses at 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. 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 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/ 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" where fully matured whisky is moved from one barrel into 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 an homage to the legendary "Green Springbank", also aged in rum casks.

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 40% - 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.

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.

Types of Scotch whisky

In 2005, the Scotch Whisky Association released new guidelines for nomenclature. Many in the industry feel that the new guidelines do little to clarify confusion among consumers, and some believe they create new confusion.

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.

  • Single malt whisky is a 100% malted barley whisky from one distillery.
  • Single grain whisky is a grain whisky from one distillery (it does NOT have to be made from a single type of grain).
  • Vatted or Blended malt whisky is a malt whisky created by mixing single malt whiskies from more than one distillery.
  • Blended grain whisky is a whisky created by mixing grain whiskies from more than one distillery.
  • Blended Scotch whisky is a mixture of single malt whisky and grain whisky, usually from multiple distilleries.

=Regional variants
= Scotland was traditionally divided into four regions: The Highlands, Lowland, Islay & Campbeltown. Speyside, encompassing the Spey river valley, in north-east Scotland, is traditionally part of the Highlands. However, Speyside has almost half of the total number of distilleries in Scotland within its geographic boundaries, and subsequently, has long been accepted as a region unto itself.

Single grain

The majority of grain whisky produced in Scotland goes to make blended Scotch whisky. The average blended whisky is 60%-85% grain whisky. Some higher quality grain whisky from a single distillery is bottled as single grain whisky. As of 2006, there are only seven grain whisky distilleries in Scotland, including Loch Lomond.

Vatted / Blended 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.

Blended

Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. 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 brands include Dewar's, Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, and Chivas Regal.

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 Gordon & MacPhail, 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). 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, 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 eg. bottle 1.135 will be a bottle from the 135th cask bottled by the Society from the Glenfarclas distillery. A clue to the distiller is given in the bottling list descriptions. These clues are nevertheless usually unambiguous given some research. However the Society will tell members which distillery a bottle is from and also provide a list of which number is which distillery in the members handbook. They are also available from this website.

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 a bottle contains. Because of variations in language and national law, the following can only be considered a rough guide.

Scotch whisky labels contain the words Scotch whisky, spelled exactly in that way (Whisky is sometimes capitalised). If the word Scotch is missing, the whisky is probably made elsewhere. If it says Scotch whiskey or Scottish whisky, it may be counterfeit.

If a label contains the words single malt (sometimes split by other words e.g. single highland malt), the bottle contains single malt Scotch whisky.

Vatted malt, pure malt and "blended malt" indicates a mixture of single malt whiskies except in older bottlings where pure malt is often used to describe a single malt (Glenfiddich Pure Malt for example).

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 alcoholic strength is indicated. Typically whisky is between 40-46% abv; though a lower alcohol content may be required in some countries, or might indicate an "economy" whisky. If the bottle is over 50% abv it is likely cask strength.

The other information that might be present is an age. If the label states that the whisky is 12 years old, that indicates that all the whisky in the bottle was matured in cask at least that long before bottling. A year on a bottle is normally the year of distillation. This indicates a single cask bottling, and the label normally also includes the year the whisky was bottled. Since whisky does not mature once bottled, the age is the difference between these two years.

References

  • Broom, Dave (1998). Whiskey - A Connoisseur's Guide. London. Carleton Books Limited. ISBN 1858687063
  • Broom, Dave (2000). Handbook of Whisky. London. Hamlyn. ISBN 0600598462
  • Erskine, Kevin (2006). The Instant Expert's Guide to Single Malt Scotch - Second Edition. Richmond, VA. Doceon Press. ISBN 0-977-1991-1-8
  • MacLean, Charles (2003) Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History Cassell Illustrated. ISBN 1-84403-078-4
  • Wishart, David (2006). Whisky Classified - Second Edition. London. Pavillion Books. ISBN 1862057168

Notes

See also

External links

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Scotch whisky".

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