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Scotch Whisky

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Interesting Facts about Scotch

There are three types of Scotch whisky: Malt whisky, Grain whisky and Blended whisky. 1) Malt whisky is produced only from 100% malted barley. 2) Grain whisky is produced from a variety of cereals which may, or may not include a proportion of malted barley. 3) Blended whisky is a combination of Malt whisky and Grain whisky, mixed together in the same bottle.

Single Malts

Single Malt whiskies are the products of individual malt whisky distilleries. For example Laphroaig or Macallan. However, the actual distillery name does not have to be identified on the label for a whisky to be called a single malt. Single malt may come from different casks of various ages, but they must all be from the same distillery. Not all distillery owners bottle their single malts under the name of the distillery. For example, the single malt from Macduff distillery is bottled as Glen Deveron by its owners.

Scotch Whisky

All Scotch whisky is produced by first grinding the particular cereal grains to a coarse flour and then sweeping this in hot water in a mash tun. The resultant liquid, called wort is then cooled to between 22 and 24 degrees centigrade and run back into a wash back. Yeast is then added. Once the yeast has been fermented out, strong ale called pot ale remains, which is about 9% alcohol by volume. This pot ale is then distilled by heating it in copper stills, either in a continuous still called a Coffey still, for Grain whisky or twice in the case of Malt whisky using a pair or Pot stills. Three stills are used for Irish whiskey and the many Scottish malts are triple distilled. Pot stills are usually onion-shaped, with tall, tapering swan necks designed to help the alcohols condense, after which they are collected, cooled and put into casks.

A whisky, no matter how it is produced, may only be legally described as Scotch whisky if it has matured in oak cask in Scotland for a minimum of three years. It must also have been bottled at a minimum strength of 40% alcohol by volume. There is no legal requirement for Scotch whisky to be bottled in Scotland. The same legal restrictions also apply to Irish whiskey in Ireland..