The basis of every single malt whisky is BARLEY.
During the MALTING
process, barley is soaked in water for
2 or 3 days, then spread out to germinate for a week or so.
During GERMINATION, enzymes turn the starch within the barley
into soluble sugars - which is nice.
When the green malt begins to sprout, it is dried in a KILN to halt the germination process. The peat that is traditionally used to fire the drying process gives the malted barley its characteristic taste. Malts from the island of Islay, for example, derive a very distinct peaty character from the REEK (= peat smoke). Just the way I like it!
It is said that the shape and size of the pot still have a great influence on the whisky. The shape of the pot stills is sometimes the most characteristic part of a distillery. |
mAlmanac Chapter 4 - Distillation |
Distillation |
The liquid that's drained off as a result of this process
is called the WORT
. This will later grow into whisky.
During the FERMENTATION the sugars in the wort are
converted into alcohol by the addition of special
yeast strains in a fermentation vessel, the
WASH BACK.
After 2 to 4 days, the yeast has converted the wort into
a fermented liquid called
WASH (7-10% alcohol).
Within every distillation, the liquor is divided into three CUTS of which only the second cut, the HEART OF THE RUN, will be used. The first fraction (HEADS ) and last fraction (TAILS ) will be re-distilled together with the next batch of low wines.
At the MASHING stage hot water is added to the milled malt
(a.k.a. the GRIST) in a large vessel called a MASH TUN.
Here, the starch in the barley is converted further into
fermentable sugars.
During the distillation stage of producing a single malt, the wash is boiled in a copper WASH STILL and distilled two (or even three) times. Alcohol boils more rapidly than water, so the vapors from the still can be collected as they condense back to alcohol. This first distillation produces
LOW WINES at 10-20% alcohol.
The second distillation often occurs in a special, smaller
SPIRIT STILL.
The heart of the run is a clear liquid of up to 70% alcohol.
It used to be 'casked' at that strength as well but these days the
fresh spirit is often submitted to oak casks at around 63%. There they will have the opportunity to mature for three years or more, which is the topic of the next chapter. (Please note that grain whiskies are distilled in a completely different way, but I'll not go into that now.)