Production

The basis of every single malt scotch whisky is barley. During the malting process, barley is soaked in water for two or three days, then spread out to germinate for a week or so. During germination, enzymes turn the starch in 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!

Did I say that a malt is bottled straight after it's diluted? Well, that's not completely true.
Very often, it is "chill filtered" first.
The only reason for this bump in the production process is that a single malt becomes a little hazy when it's refrigerated. Unfortunately, this filtering also means that the original taste and texture of the malt is damaged to some extent.

And that's how air, water, earth and fire transform into the "water of life" you can find at a liquorist near you. So now you probably think you know what's so special about "single malts", eh? You don't know half of it, mate!

Finally, at the maturation stage, the heart of the run (a clear liquid of up to 70 Alc. %) chosen by the 'stillman' is stored in oak casks for a minimum of three years. This minimum is set by law, but usually the malt gets a chance to develop much longer.

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', around 10 - 20 Alc. %.

At the mashing stage hot water is added to the 'grist' (= milled malt) in a large vessel called a mash tun. Here, the starch in the barley is converted further into fermentable sugars. The liquid that is drained off as a result of this process is called the 'wort', which later will 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 result is the fermented 'wash' (7 to 10 Alc.%).

It is said that the shape and size of the copper pot still have a great influence on the whisky. The shape of the pot stills is sometimes the most characteristic part of a distillery.

The distillery; this is where it all happens.

Different malt whiskies reach their best quality at different ages.
When the distillery or private bottler decides the malt has matured to the appropriate age, it is diluted to the correct strength (40% minimal) and then bottled. Unlike wine, malt whisky does not age or change once in the bottle. A lot of single malts leave their distillery of birth at the age of 10 or 12 years, but some are stored for 40 years or more.

Wood is a major factor in the development of a single malt. Not only the type of wood (American or European oak, etc.) is important; the history of the wood plays an even bigger part in the process. Has the cask contained sherry, bourbon, port or even wine before? Is it a first-fill, second-fill or refill? What's the size of the barrel, and (how often) has it been charred? These details all play a part in the casked maturation of a single malt.

The second distillation often occurs in a special, smaller 'spirit still'. Within every distillation, the liquor is divided into three 'cuts' of which only the second, '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. Please note that grain whiskies are distilled in a completely different way, but I'll not go into that now.

A barrel of malt whisky usually contains some 500 litres of spirit. As a result of evaporation, the rough spirit will annually lose up to 2 percent alcohol while it matures. This means that after 12 years there are only about 400 litres left. The "street value" of a barrel of a good standard single malt is around 20,000.- Euro's / U$ Dollars.

Just like a fine wine, a single malt whisky is formed by a lot of different influences, like the kind of water at the distillery, the shape of the pot stills, the type of wood that is used for maturation and the time that the spirit stays in the barrel. One of the factors that defines some of the basic characteristics of a wine as well as a single malt is the area in which it is produced. This aspect is the subject of the

Next Chapter: Geography