Whisky is produced in many countries around the world today. However, the origin lies in Scotland! Or is it in Ireland? The two countries argue about this.

Malt whisky is one of the outstanding whiskies and is mainly produced in Scotland. It may only be distilled from malted barley in pot stills. The process of malting is complex and used to be very time-consuming and physically demanding without modern technology. Today, the process is industrially optimised.

The whisky is distilled twice and very rarely three times on pot stills. Since 2009, continuous production on column stills is no longer permitted. The whisky is then matured for at least 3 years in mostly used oak casks. Due to the high demand, more and more single malt whiskies are coming onto the market without an age statement. Whether the whisky was bottled after the minimum maturation period or later is not recognisable on the bottles without an age statement. For the experienced connoisseur, however, a single malt must mature for much longer.

A whisky is labelled single if all the casks used for bottling come from a single distillery and have not been mixed with whiskies from other distilleries.

The distillate in the bottle must contain at least 40% alcohol!

The definition of single malt Scotch whisky has become increasingly complex over the years. What is allowed and what is not is precisely regulated. In the video, after a short introduction, the details from the 78-page rulebook of the Scotch Whisky Association are broken down - briefly and concisely.

Hereyou canlearn exactly how malt whisky is made.

Attention! Please do not be fooled by the usual term 'blended'. Here the word 'malt' is also included and together they make a separate variety. A blended malt is a mixture of single malts from different distilleries.

This term groups together whiskies mainly from Scotland and Ireland that are not made from malted barley. They can contain any type of grain, including blends. Most grain whiskies today contain wheat, as it offers a higher yield than maize, which used to be used for cost reasons. On column stills, grain whisky can be distilled higher than malt whisky. However, it contains less aromas.

Grain whisky is mainly produced for the blended whisky industry. These whiskies are distilled almost exclusively with the cheaper column still distillation method. The maturation period is also rather short. Since 2014, there have been increased efforts to place the mild grain whisky with connoisseurs, also as a single grain bottling.

Blend is any mixture of different whiskies (malt, grain). They differ in the variety, but above all in the origin, i.e. the distilleries.

Blended whisky gets its character from the ratio of whiskies from different distilleries, as each distillery produces a different flavour through its method of production. For the well-known varieties, the ratio is always the same so that the taste does not change. To produce the mass of blends, there are malt whisky distilleries that distil exclusively for the blended whisky industry and do not bottle single malts.

The majority of the whisky contained is usually grain whisky. The better the blend, the higher the proportion of malt whisky. Blended whisky is not only known in Scotland, many blends are also produced in Ireland.

Read more about it here .