Scotch Whisky is a spirit distilled from either malted barley or another grain such as wheat or rye. All scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley in small batches by the farmers who kept some of the barley aside at harvesting.
The origins of scotch whisky can be traced back to the 15th Century at the Lindores Abbey in Fife, Scotland, where the monks used to distill the spirit (indeed the distillery has been rebuilt and is producing spirit for the first time this year - it will be three more years before this can be called scotch whisky). It wasn't until the late 18th Century that scotch whisky was distilled on a commercial scale.
The previous regulations were encapsulated in the Scotch Malt Whisky Regulations 2009, which provided that the following must be in place for a spirit to be called scotch whisky;
- Produced at a distillery on the Scottish Mainland of islands from water and malted barley
- Fermented by only adding yeast
- Distilled at an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% (190 proof in USA)
- Matured in oak casks for no less than three years in an excise warehouse in Scotland
- Capacity of the barrels not exceeding 700 litres (185 US Gallons)
- Nothing added other than water (to take down from cask strength 50-65%, down to 40-46%) and E150 caramel colouring
- Minimum alcohol strength of 40%
A malt whisky (single malt whisky) comes from one distillery, a single cask comes from one cask from a single distillery and a blended whisky comes from a number of distilleries with the addition of one or more grain whiskies (other than barley).
More to follow on the impact of wood, barley, terroir, location, water on the end product.
Lindores Distillery:
