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by OPUS Hotels

How They Make Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Whisky to the untrained nose can smell a lot like medicine. But to the refined palate, a fine single malt scotch whisky is one of the sweetest smells in the world. A lot goes into making a quality single malt scotch whisky – here’s how it’s done.

1. The Barley: It all starts with this grain. If it doesn’t come from barley, it isn’t single malt. Blended whiskeys use a variety of malts, including rye, corn, and buckwheat. Usually the barley is grown elsewhere and imported to Scotland, and these days it doesn’t even have to be peated (which is what they call it when they dry the malt over mossy fires). Most peaty single malt scotches are made on the isle of Islay.

2. Malting: Here the barley is soaked for a few days until it begins to sprout. Its germination period lasts about a week, and the beginning of the alcoholization process begins. Enzymes turn the starches within the barley into soluble sugars. These sugars eventually turn into alcohol. A kiln then stops the germination dead in its tracks. This is where the peat may or may not come in.

3. Mashing: Here the malt is ground into grist by a malt mill. Hot water is added and the mixture soaks in a mash tun. The liquid that is drained from the tun is called wort, a baby single malt scotch whisky. Special yeasts are then added in order to ferment the product.

4. Washing: Once fermentation begins, the wort becomes wash, which is 7-10% ABV. But in order to get the Alcohol by Volume above 15%, the wash must be distilled.

5. Distillation: This occurs in huge stills – copper vats that hold the wash and boil it. At the top of the vat is a swan neck, which collects the heated vapor. This vapor is called the heads. The meat of the distillation is the heart of the run, which is what will evolve into whisky. It is about 70% ABV. The dregs of the distillation are called the tails and have an ever decreasing proof.

6. Maturation: A single malt scotch whisky must be aged for at least three years in order to be called whisky. It also must be bottled and matured in an oak cask that has usually been used to bottle bourbon or sherry. Over the time it matures, the spirit loses about 2.5% of its alcohol content annually, which is what makes most single malt scotches hover in the 45% range, since they are matured for about 10 years. This evaporated alcohol is called the angel’s share. Since some whiskies are thirstier than others, those that don’t give to the angels are often watered down. No single malt scotch whisky can have an ABV of less than 40%.

There you have it friends. That is how they make single malt scotch whisky. Now go sip some Glenmorangie and refine that palate.

Related Scotch Whisky Articles

by Christian Stipkovits

The Best Way to Get the Taste of Scotch Whisky

Scotch whisky is the whisky made in Scotland. The drink, which is termed, as whisky in Britain is known as Scotch in the United States. Scotch whisky is divided into four distinct categories: single malt, blended malt, vatted malt and single grain. A Single Malt Scotch Whisky is the product of one specific distillery and has not been blended with whisky from any other distilleries. Pure Malt is the name used for single malt whiskies. Pure Malt whiskeys do not contain any grain whisky unlike that in blended whisky .The Speyside region of northeast Scotland has the greatest concentration of malt whisky distilleries. Highland, Lowland and Islay are the other main malt whisky producing zones. Each of these regions has its own distinctive style of malt whisky and it is never possible for two malts to be identical. It is quite possible to distinguish from the taste, the origin of a particular whisky.

It is be noted that there can not be any “right” or “wrong” way to drink Scotch whisky – it is simply the question of personal taste. People who prefer to drink Scotch whisky neat say that they do not want to spoil the taste of the drink, by adding water. Some people of course have a different opinion. They think that by adding a dash of water, the distinctive flavor and aroma of a whisky gets enhanced. But it is always advisable to add pure spring water while drinking whisky, because tap water may contain chlorine.

Some people prefer adding ice to the whisky, to get the zing, but it should be noted that ice might ruin the fine taste and aroma of the drink and so should never be contemplated when conducting a “whisky nosing and tasting.” Same can be said about carbonated water. It is never an ideal accompaniment for whisky. The addition of mixers such as ginger ale, soda or a coke, ruin the original taste of pure whisky.

by Black Country Museums

Preparation of Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Single Malt Scotch is a type of single malt whisky, distilled by a single distillery, using malted barley as the only grain ingredient in Scotland. As with any Scotch whisky, a Single Malt Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured in oak casks in Scotland for at least three years.

Water is needed in all stages of the production of whisky. It is mixed with the barley to promote germination, it is added to ground barley grist to create a mash and it is required for diluting most whisky before maturation and once again before bottling.

Barley, water and yeast are the exclusive ingredients required in the production of single malt Scotch.

The barley used to make the whisky is “malted” by soaking the grain in water for 2-3 days and then allowing it to germinate to produce the necessary enzymes required.

The malt is milled into coarse flour, and mixed with hot water to activate the enzymes, which leads to conversion of starches to fermentable sugars. Long starch chains are broken into glucose, maltriose, and maltose, which can be fermented by yeast.

The extraction is carried out in a large kettle called a mash tun. At first, the hot water activates the enzymes by providing an optimal temperature for activity in the grist. The enzymes act on the starch to convert it into sugar, and in the process it produces a sugary liquid, known as wort.

Yeast is then added to the wort for fermentation, in a large vessel called a washback. Washbacks are commonly made of Oregon Pine or stainless steel. The yeast feeds on the sugars and as a by-product produces both carbon dioxide and alcohol; this process is called fermentation and can take up to three days to complete. When the process is complete, the liquid contains an alcohol percentage of 5% to 7% by volume, and is now known as wash.

To be called a single malt Scotch, a bottle may only contain whisky distilled from malted barley produced at a single distillery. If the bottle is the product of single malt whiskies produced at more than one distillery, the whisky is called a vatted malt, or a blended malt. If the single malt is mixed with grain whisky, the result is a blended Scotch whisky.

The age mentioned on a bottle of single malt Scotch is the age of the youngest malt in the mix, as commonly the whiskies of several years are mixed together in a vat to create a more consistent drink.

by OPUS Hotel

Finest Scotch Whisky

Which is the correct spelling whiskey (plural whiskeys) or whisky (plural whiskies) and what is the origin of the word(s). History tells us that the word whiskey – with the ‘e’ – was derived from the Irish Gaelic. The Irish Gaelic word “uisce beatha” was a translation from the Latin words “aqua vitae” meaning “Water of Life”. Subsequently the ‘e’ was dropped from almost everywhere in the world where the ‘water of life’ was distilled. In the late 1800’s the Irish and the Americans chose to include the ‘e’ again to differentiate themselves from the products from Scotland. Today Scotland, Wales, Japan and Canada maintain the use of the word Whisky. Finally – Scotch is generally used to mean a whisky from Scotland and the Scots would say there is no other correct use of the word Scotch.

The whisky ‘map’ divides Scotland into a number of regions where the general characteristics of each of the distilled whiskies is similar. Fine Scotch whiskies are distilled in each of these regions:-
· Highland
· Speyside
· Islay
· Campbeltown
· Lowland
Some of these areas have now been divided into sub categories or regions due to the size of the areas.

In very general terms the areas to the west of Scotland have more areas of peat and as such many of the whiskies distilled in the areas have the ‘taste of peat’. This particularly true of Islay (a region in itself) where in excess of 20% of the island is peat. The greater Speyside, in the North East of Scotland, houses more than half of all the distilleries in Scotland and two of the most famous and well know single malt whiskies are from Speyside distilleries – they are Glenfiddich and Glenlivet.

Whisky is created by distilling a ‘mash’ based on either grain or malt (malted barley). Hence we have the single malt – being for many people the true ’water of life’ and the regarded as the superior whisky. Grain (malted and un-malted barley along with other grains) based whiskies can be blended in such a way to generate further distinctive brands. However, “Blend” may occasionally have a different interpretation. A mixture of malts (with no grain) from different distilleries (usually called a vatted malt) can be referred to as a “Blended Malt”, and mixtures of grain whiskies with no malts will sometimes called a “Blended Grain”.

For a whisky to be called a whisky it must have been as a minimum matured in oak casks for at least 3 years and one day. Although the casks should be oak the history of the casks can be varied. I understand that American Whiskeys are stored in ‘new’ oak casks – hence there is an obvious market for re-cycled casks. Other casks may have originated or been used for the storage of Sherry in Spain. Hence the history of the cask will be a defining part of the whisky’s characteristic. Another feature of Scotch whiskies is that they are almost always distilled twice (some three times). For any whisky to be called ‘Scotch’ it must conform to these criteria – and – perhaps more obviously – be distilled in Scotland.

By all means take the time to understand the history and how our fine Scotch whiskies originate but above all take the time to find your favourite tipple.

Learn everything there is to know about Scotch whisky with LX.com’s George Oliphant at the Brandy Library in New York City.
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