Single Malt Whisky
A Scotsman had been presented with a bottle of fine old single malt whisky, which he placed in his pocket. On his way home he fell, and as he got up he felt a damp patch on his trousers. “Please, Lord,” he prayed, “let that just be blood.”
A single malt is a whisky which has been distilled at one distillery and has been made from one type of malt. This does not mean that it comes from one cask, indeed to produce a consistent flavour profile the final whisky may be bottled from many casks.
It is also wrong to believe that single malt whisky only comes from Scotland (though many would argue that Scotland is the home of the worlds best single malts). Indeed, there are great single malts being produced all over the world.
Single malts are made from only three ingredients water, barley and yeast following the same production process wherever they are produced. This is as follows –
Malting
The malting process is the same as is used to make other drinks such as beer. Barley is soaked in water for around three days. This starts the germination of the barley which causes the starch held within the barley to be converted to sugar. These sugars are the food the yeast will use to multiply and produce alcohol.
Once the germination has started and the correct amount of sugar has been produced the it is stopped by heating the malt with hot air. The barley may also be peat smoked at this stage to produce a signature flavour profile.
Mashing
Mashing is another process, which is the same as used by beer breweries. The barley (now malted barley, or grist) is mixed with hot water and held at the correct temperature to dissolve the sugars and convert more of the remaining starch to fermentable sugar. Mashing can be carried out more than once on the same batch of grist. Once the process is complete the liquid wort is drained off.
Fermentation
The liquid wort is now drained into the fermentation vessel. Here the yeast is added and starts to work its magic and converts the sugars to carbon dioxide and the all-important alcohol.
Distillation
The result of the fermentation (now called wash) is transferred to a still constructed of copper, the wash still. The wash is heated inside the copper to remove the alcohol as a vapour. This vapour is collected in a condenser, which is surrounded by cold water. The cold temperature in the condenser converts the alcohol vapour back into a liquid now called low wine.
Next the low wine is transferred to a second still called the spirit still where the process is repeated. The liquid at this point (now called new make spirit) is at around 70% alcohol.
Maturation
The New Make Spirit is now transferred to oak casks. In Scotland it is law that the whisky must be aged for at least three years and one day in these oak casks. It is common that whisky is aged much longer than this though, so that the full flavour profile has time to develop.
It is during this time that some evaporation takes place, as much as 2% for each year in the cask. This evaporation is know as ‘the angels share’. So there you have it, if you make it to heaven then there could well be a drink waiting for you!
The oak casks used are very important to the final flavour and colour of the whisky. New casks are not used. The traditional source of casks are usually used Spanish sherry or American bourbon casks.
If you ever get the chance to visit a distillery then you will get to see the warehouses used to store the whisky as it ages. It is quite a sight.
Bottling
Now is the exciting time, not long now until we are able to buy and taste the result of all these years of maturation. Single malt whisky must be produced by a single distillery, but does not have to come from the same cask. However the age of the whisky must relate to the youngest cask in the mix.
Most whiskies are chill filtered prior to being bottled, this ensures a clear and consistent whisky.
So there you have it, and now you know why whisky costs a little more than some other drinks. Next time you have a dram, think about all of the years it took to make. I always like to think about what I might have been doing at the time the process started.
