THE SCOTCH WHISKY DIRECTORY

CHAPTER 1: SCOTCH WHISKIES

This chapter gives you some background about Scotch whiskies. Most of it you probably know already, though there are a few novel slants on the subject. The main thing which this chapter does is to provide succinct definitions of the different kinds of Scotch whisky.

Malt Whisky

Malt whiskies are whiskies made from a mash which consists of nothing but malted barley and water, fermented with yeast and distilled in a copper pot-still.

Single Malt Whisky

Single malt whisky is whisky from a single distillery.

Single Cask Single Malt whisky

This is the whisky from an individual cask.

Vatted Malt Whisky

'Vatted malt' is malt whisky from more than one distillery.

Cask Finishes

Things of this sort are explained and defined in Chapter 3.

Grain Whisky

Grain whisky is whisky distilled from a wash in which a small proportion of the starch comes from barley,and it is distilled in a patent still, which is an industrial process more akin to the plant of an oil refinery than it is to the copper still in the heather of popular imagination.

Blended Whisky

Blended Whisky is a mixture of malt and grain whiskies.

Chapter 2