Scotch whisky

Ingredients

Raw materials

• Malted barley (peated or unpeated), for single malt
• Water from the distillery’s own source
• Distiller’s yeast
• Wheat or maize, for grain whisky in blends
• Oak casks, usually ex-bourbon American oak or ex-sherry European oak

To serve a dram

• 35–50 mlScotch whisky
• A few drops to 1 tsp of still, room-temperature water
• 1Glencairn glass or a tulip-shaped copita

Directions

1. Barley is steeped and germinated for several days, then kiln-dried to stop it. Where peat is burned in the kiln, as on Islay, the smoke phenols bind to the grain and carry all the way to the glass.
2. The dried malt is milled into grist and mashed with hot water at rising temperatures of about 64, 72 and 85°C (185°F) in a mash tun, converting starch to fermentable sugar and drawing off a sweet wort.
3. The cooled wort is fermented with yeast in washbacks for 48–72 hours to a beer-like wash of 7–9% abv. Long fermentations build fruity esters.
4. The wash is distilled twice in copper pot stills: the wash still takes it to about 21%, and the spirit still to about 70%. The stillman cuts the heart of the second run, sending the foreshots and feints back to be redistilled.
5. The new-make spirit is reduced to about 63.5% and filled into oak casks. By law it must mature in Scotland in oak of no more than 700 litres for a minimum of three years.
6. The cask does most of the work: vanilla, coconut and spice from ex-bourbon oak, dried fruit and nut from ex-sherry butts, plus the slow oxidation and the 2% a year lost to the angels’ share.
7. The whisky is then either bottled as a single malt from one distillery, or blended with grain whisky, and reduced to at least 40% abv. Only water and caramel colouring may be added.
8. To drink it, pour 35 ml into a tulip glass, nose it with your mouth slightly open, then add a few drops of water to break the surface tension and release the aroma. Never chill a good malt with ice.

Technique

• The age on the label is the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle, and the clock stops the moment it leaves the cask. A 12 year old bottled in 1990 is still a 12 year old.
• Peat is a regional style, not a mark of quality. Islay malts are heavily peated; Speyside malts are typically not peated at all.
• Home distilling is illegal in the UK without an HMRC licence and cannot be recommended; the only home stage is choosing, opening and serving the bottle well.

Substitutions

• Cannot find single malt? A good blended Scotch such as an aged blend behaves the same in a highball and costs far less.
• For a long drink, top 40 ml Scotch with 120 ml soda water over ice, the Japanese-style highball, which suits lighter Speyside malts.

Variations

• Single malt, from one distillery and malted barley only.
• Blended Scotch, malt married with lighter column-still grain whisky, which is 90% of what the world drinks.
• Cask strength and single cask bottlings, undiluted and often 55–60% abv.

History

The 1494 Exchequer Rolls record malt sent to Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae; 2009 regulations fix five protected regions.

Frequently asked questions

What is Scotch whisky?

Scotch whisky is a wine & spirit from United Kingdom: malt or grain whisky matured at least three years in oak casks. The 1494 Exchequer Rolls record malt sent to Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae; 2009 regulations fix five protected regions.

How long does Scotch whisky take to make?

Scotch whisky takes 5 min of preparation and Minimum 3 years cask maturation of cooking. The recipe makes describes a commercial spirit; serves 1 as a dram. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Scotch whisky?

Yes, within limits. Cannot find single malt? A good blended Scotch such as an aged blend behaves the same in a highball and costs far less. For a long drink, top 40 ml Scotch with 120 ml soda water over ice, the Japanese-style highball, which suits lighter Speyside malts.

What is the most important thing to get right in Scotch whisky?

The new-make spirit is reduced to about 63.5% and filled into oak casks. By law it must mature in Scotland in oak of no more than 700 litres for a minimum of three years.