MODULE: DISTILLING UNIT 7: BLENDING AND BOTTLING ...

MODULE: DISTILLING 

UNIT 7: BLENDING AND BOTTLING 

ABSTRACT: The unit covers the origins of blending and the role of the 

blender. Chill filtration and colour adjustment are dealt with together with 

a general description of whisky packaging. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: On completion of this unit you will be able to: 

1. Describe the origin and development of blending. 

2. Appreciate the role of the blender. 

3. Understand the differences between blending in Scotland, Ireland 

and America. 

4. Understand the importance of chill filtration. 

5. Describe how whisky colour is adjusted for consistency. 

6. Describe the stages in the packaging of whisky. 

7. Identify the quality checks carried out in a bottling hall. 

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE: Basic scientific knowledge 

terminology. Beer Packaging Module. 

and

Unit 7: Blending and Bottling 

UNIT 7 BLENDING AND BOTTLING 

CONTENT 

7.1 

7.2 

7.3 

7.4 

7.5 

7.5.1 

7.5.2 

7.6 

7.6.1 

7.6.2 

7.6.3 

7.6.4 

7.6.5 

7.6.6 

7.6.7 

7.7 

7.8 

7.9 

Origins of Blending 

Categories of Whisky 

The Blender 

Blending in Scotland, Ireland, and the USA 

Blending and Processing 

Filtration 

Colour 

Bottling 

General 

Bottle De-palletising and Cleaning 

Filling 

Capping 

Labelling 

Carton Filling and Palletising 

Quality Checks 

Summary of Key Points 

Self Assessment Questions 

Self Assessment Answers 

Page 

3 

4 

5 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

11 

11 

11 

12 

13 

13 

13 

15 

16 

17 

© 2001 The International Centre for Brewing and Distilling 2


7 Blending and Bottling 

7.1 Origins of Blending 

Andrew Usher of Edinburgh is the man who is credited with being the 

first blender of malt and grain whisky. Although the date is disputed, 

1860 is the year usually associated with this development. 

It is interesting to know something of the background, which led up to 

this event. Grain whisky had arrived with the Coffey Still in 1830, but 

initially it was either sold as an alternative to malt whisky, or it was 

exported for rectification and gin production in England. In the 1850’s 

Andrew Usher had pioneered the craft of “vatting”, that is mixing malt 

whiskies from different aged distillations at the same distillery and as the 

agent for Glenlivet, he had been selling vatted malt for a number of 

years. He was, therefore, well placed to take advantage of a new law in 

1860 which permitted the blending, storage and racking of spirits from 

different distilleries in bonded warehouses without payment of duty. 

The blending of malt and grain whiskies was seen as a route to reducing 

the cost of a well flavoured whisky and achieving a consistency of its 

quality. But it also created a smoother and less aggressive drink and this 

enabled the product to rapidly capture markets outside Scotland. 

Usher was quickly followed by a number of other blenders with names, 

which remain familiar through brands, such as Walker, Dewar, 

Buchanan, and Bell. Blended whisky in the hands of these 

entrepreneurs spread in popularity around the globe. 

For a period the malt distillers were very hostile towards the blenders 

and the grain distillers, for they saw considerable threats to their 

livelihood. The malt distillers maintained that only their product merited 

the name “whisky”. In 1905 a successful prosecution was brought in the 

London Borough of Islington against two wine and spirits merchants for 

selling goods “not of the nature, substance, and quality demanded”; one 

of these products was a blended whisky produced from 90% grain and 

10% malt (a ratio which was not uncommon). This sounded alarm bells 

amongst the major blenders who lobbied the government to set up a 

Royal Commission to answer the question “what is whisky?” In 1908 the 

Commission, which ducked the contentious issue of the minimum 

proportion of malt in a blend, reported that whisky was “a spirit distilled 

from a wash saccharified by the diastase of malt”. This was seen as a 

victory for the blender and the grain whisky distiller. 



The success of the industry has been, and still is, based on the global 

marketing of blends. Even today with an interest in single malts, which 

has been growing dramatically over the last fifteen years or so, blended 

whisky accounts for more than 90% of the sales of Scotch whisky. 

7.2 Categories of Whisky 

There are a number of categories of whisky which require explanation 

before we look at blending and bottling in detail. 

Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky is whisky which is bottled at the 

alcoholic strength with which the whisky emerges from the cask. The 

strength will vary with age and maturation conditions, but will usually be 

in the range 55 – 61% abv. A number of casks from the same distillery 

and vintage are mixed to produce a batch for bottling. Alternatively 

single casks may be bottled; each one will be slightly different and will 

be marketed as a limited edition. Many of these cask strength whiskies 

are not chill filtered and will develop a haze on the addition of water. 

Single Malt Whisky is simply the product of one malt distillery. It may, or 

may not, have an age statement on the bottle and this may well be 

determined by the age profile of the distillery stocks. Building up a 

market, for say a 16 year old, may not be money well spent if at some 

point in the future the age may have to be reduced because of shortage 

of stocks. 

Vatted Malt Whisky is a mixture of malts from a number of different 

distilleries. The bottles usually feature the term “pure malt” or “all malt” 

on the label. 

Blended Whisky is produced from grain and malt whiskies. Any number 

from 15 to 50 malts may be used with 2 to 4 grain whiskies. The 

formulas of blends are carefully guarded secrets known only to a few 

members of each company. However one can make some 

generalisations and divide the sector into three categories. At the bottom 

of the range are cheap supermarket own brands, which may be little 

more than 3 – 4 years old and contain only 10% of malt whisky. 

Standard blends would have older whiskies, perhaps in the range 5 – 8 

years old, and a malt whisky content in the range 30 – 45%. Deluxe 

blends will not only have a higher malt content, perhaps 60%, but will 

probably carry an age statement (12 year old is an age associated with 

some of the popular brands). 



7.3 The Blender 

Although the early development of the blended whisky market was in the 

hands of entrepreneurs, who did not produce whisky, it was not long 

before the more successful ones secured some of their supplies by 

moving into distillery ownership. Today totally independent blenders are 

the exception with most of the major brands in the hands of spirits 

groups, which own distilleries. 

When considering blends it is obvious that even the largest groups do 

not own the range of distilleries they would need to produce their own 

blended brands. There has to be a considerable trade between the 

industry players, particularly in malt whiskies. The whisky producers will 

usually set up reciprocal deals where their malt, or grain, whisky is 

exchanged for the produce of another distiller – these deals are not 

necessarily on a one for one basis eg. two casks of Islay malt may be 

exchanged for three casks of Highland malt. Failing this they will buy the 

whiskies they need. The independent blenders have to buy all their 

requirements and, of course, they will be buying from their competitors 

in the retail markets. The deals will usually be for new make spirit but 

some stock gaps will inevitably have to be filled by the acquisition of 

matured spirit. 

KEY POINT: Most blends will contain a considerable number of malts 

(many contain 30 – 40) and therefore there has to be trading within 

the industry. Both malt and grain whiskies are exchanged with, or sold 

to, other distillers, although the blends they produce will compete 

with those of the initial producer. 

At the heart of this activity is the Master Blender. His, or her, 

responsibility is to ensure consistency of quality from batch to batch and 

to ensure that whisky of the right quality and age is available to achieve 

this. 

The blender will know the general requirements for each blend from past 

experience (precise recipes are rarely used). The first task is to ensure 

that whiskies of the right type and age will be available to meet future 

demands. This would be relatively straight forward if the time scale was 

about six months; but of course it is more likely to be six years and with 

that span there is a high likelihood of error so stock adjustments will 

have to be made as time passes. The blender is therefore involved in 

the process of converting the imprecise long term sales forecasts into 

production and/or purchasing plans and maturation programmes. 



The art of blending is to take the light, sweet and blander grain whiskies 

and add flavour character to that background by the addition of malts. 

This is the general approach in all whisky blending around the world – a 

bland base spirit has flavouring spirits added to it. The real trick is to 

create a product, which in flavour terms is somehow more than the sum 

of its constituents. This synergy makes it difficult for even expert tasters 

to pick out individual malt components in a blend. 

KEY POINT: Blending to create all whisky types follows the pattern of 

adding spirits with distinct flavours to a blander base spirit. In the 

case of Scotch the malts provide the flavour and the grain whisky 

provides the lighter, blander base. 

Recipes are not the answer to blending, for whiskies will vary in 

availablity and they will change in character depending upon maturation 

conditions. Clearly with 30 – 40 malts in a blend, the impact of the 

absence of one is more easily overcome than it would be in a blend 

using only 15 - 20 malts. To help him in his task the blender will place 

distilleries into flavour groups based on similar blending attributes and 

into classes of varying quality (for example Highland malts, including 

Speyside, are often split into three classes with the top class 

commanding the highest value). 

Much of the blender’s time will be spent assessing samples by nosing. 

He must have a good nose and a good flavour memory. For nosing the 

sample is poured into a tulip shaped snifter and water is added to bring 

the alcohol content to a defined level (23% abv is commonly used). The 

glass is swirled and then the aroma is assessed. It is the volatile 

components which are examined and tasting is rarely a feature. Unless 

something really unusual has happened nosing will give an accurate 

assessment of quality – this is just as well for a blender may be required 

to assess 250 samples in one day! 

Alcohol strength influences congener distribution and thresholds. Below 

20% abv ethanol molecules are mono-dispersed in water; between 20 

and 57% abv the ethanol molecules aggregate. Dilution of a whisky to 

23% abv maximises volatiles release from the distillates, optimising 

sensory assessment. 

For each batch of a blend, the blender will select the casks he wants 

from the warehouses, and nose samples from each cask for approval. 

When the spirit has been blended, prior to bottling, samples will be 

nosed again and further additions of casks may be needed. 



In some organisations the all embracing role of the Master Blender has 

become a team activity and indeed nosing responsibilities are usually 

shared among trained panellists. 

7.4 Blending in Scotland, Ireland and the USA 

Blends of Scotch whisky are derived from an industry with a huge 

portfolio of different whiskies (90 malt distilleries and 8 grain distilleries) 

and as has been said the more successful blends bring together 

whiskies from say 30 – 40 distilleries. 

Clearly this approach is not possible in Ireland or the USA, where the 

number of distilleries is quite small (Irish and American whiskies are 

described in Unit 11). 

In Ireland the blender not only has a small number of whiskey types 

available, but most of them will have been made in one distillery. The 

principle however is the same; light grain whiskey is blended with pot 

still and/or malt whiskies to give different flavour characteristics (pot still 

whiskey character is varied according to the mash bill, which may 

contain different ratios of malt to unmalted cereal). These variants plus 

those created by cask type and age are used to produce a surprising 

number of blends. 

In America blended whiskies will bring together grain whiskey, neutral 

grain spirit or light whiskey (light whiskey is collected between 80 and 

95% abv and matured for at least two years) as the blander ingredient 

and one, or both, of the more flavourful whiskey categories. These latter 

categories are, firstly, the whiskies produced from mash bills containing 

not less than 51% maize, rye or wheat (this includes bourbon) and, 

secondly, corn whiskey, which is made from a mash bill containing not 

less than 80% maize and matured in new or used uncharred oak casks. 

These flavourful whiskies serve the same purpose as the malts in 

Scotch blends; they are known as “straights” if matured for more than 

two years. 

American blends will often contain up to 35% straights and 65% light 

whiskies or spirits. As in Ireland the flavouring whiskies will usually have 

come from one distillery and be distinguished because of the mash bill 

and maturation variations. 



7.5 Blending and Processing 

The casks selected for blending are disgorged over a stainless steel 

trough from which the whisky is pumped to a vat. The trough outlet is 

fitted with a mesh to retain any charcoal pieces or solids leaving the 

cask with the spirit. 

The spirit is thoroughly mixed in the blending vat, either with stirrers, or 

with air rousing, and samples are taken for nosing. 

The spirit strength is then reduced to the level required for bottling. 

Demineralised water is used to avoid any effect on flavour and the 

process is usually done in two stages, with sampling after the first 

addition of perhaps threequarters of the water volume, to ensure 

accuracy. 

There is one variation to this process, which is referred to as “marrying”. 

Marrying allows a period of rest in oak casks so that the blended 

components can adapt to each other. The practice has diminished but a 

number of distillers still emphasise its importance. The process was 

developed by A.J. Cameron, the Master Blender at Dewars in the early 

twentieth century. He would mix malts by region and then allow them a 

period of storage in oak casks before they went forward to be 

incorporated in a blend. 

KEY POINT: The process of marrying allows a period of rest in 

oak casks so that blended components can adapt to one another. 

While some distillers have been unable to detect any effect and 

have abandoned the practice, others continue to complicate their 

process in this way. 

Marrying is not limited to blends today. For example the Macallan single 

malt whisky is prepared by mixing the contents of 50 casks in a tank and 

then marrying this whisky by storing it in butts for a minimum of four 

weeks before bottling. 

7.5.1 Filtration 

The objective in filtering is to remove particulate material and eliminate 

the potential for haze formation. Almost all whiskies are subjected to 

chill filtration, the exceptions mainly coming in the specialist cask 

strength malt whisky bottlings. 

Cloudiness appears in two distinct forms, known as haze and floc. 

Whisky haze manifests itself when whisky is reduced in strength and 



high molecular weight fatty acid esters, which are soluble in cask 

strength spirit, come out of solution. Storing the bottle at low 

temperature can bring about a similar effect. The whisky becomes 

opaque but its taste and nose are unaffected. Haze became an 

increasing problem to the industry in the 1950’s and filtration was found 

to be an acceptable alternative to educating a worldwide market that this 

was an expected occurrence and not an indication of a fault. 

Flocs are attributed to the precipitation of metallic salts of some of the 

organic acids present. The metallic ions, mainly calcium, come either 

from the water used for reducing or from filter sheets. 

To remove the haze forming material the whisky is chilled to between 0 

and 10°C (4.5°C is commonly used) and passed through cellulose filter 

pads impregnated with kieselguhr. The operation is carried out in a 

conventional plate and frame press. After filtration the whisky needs to 

be warmed to reach the filling temperature (about 20°C) and a second 

heat exchanger is used. 

KEY POINT: Chill filtration is carried out to remove hazes 

produced by fatty acid esters on dilution and/or chilling the 

bottle strength whisky. The filtration takes place between 0 – 

10°C and cellulose filter sheets impregnated with kieselguhr are 

used. 

The filter will usually have two sections, the first with roughing cellulose 

sheets to remove charcoal and other particulate matter, and the second 

with polishing sheets containing cellulose and kieselguhr. These 

polishing sheets do contain calcium and magnesium, which can cause 

formation of irreversible flocs, the metallic ions being precipitated out by 

oxalic acid. Although manufactures have reduced the levels of calcium 

and magnesium by acid washing, it is wise to subject new sheets to a 

recirculation cycle to ensure that any extraction of calcium and 

magnesium is diluted by the whole batch of whisky, rather than allow a 

high concentration in the first runnings to the bottling machine. 

Filtration is clearly a delicate step but it has been shown that the 

congener flavour balance is not affected. However there is a body of 

opinion which maintains that the removal of the fatty acid esters 

diminishes the mouthfeel sensation of a whisky. 



7.5.2 Colour 

The casks used for maturation influence the colour of the mature spirit. 

Each batch prepared for bottling does therefore exhibit minor variations 

in colour, although these are reduced with batch size and similar mixes 

of cask. 

Springbank, a small distillery in Cambeltown, acknowledges that each 

batch of its much sought after single malt may vary in colour and states 

this on its label. 

Macallan, which is a sherry cask matured malt whisky, employs no 

colour correction. Here the distiller is required to match both flavour and 

colour solely by the selection of casks for each batch. 

KEY POINT: Food grade caramel is used to maintain a consistent 

level of colour in each whisky, though there are a few exceptions 

among the single malts. 

However these two distilleries are the exceptions rather than the rule 

and most distillers adjust colours so that all brand batches are identical. 

This is achieved by the addition of small amounts of food grade caramel. 

The caramel is supplied as a concentrated syrup which is diluted before 

addition. The colour of the blend is checked and the amount of caramel 

needed is calculated from reference tables. Usually about threequarters 

of the addition will be made, the blend roused, and then sampled again 

for colour, before the final addition is made. This is normally carried out 

as the spirit strength is being reduced. It is difficult to obtain meaningful 

figures for caramel addition, but the addition of one litre of diluted 

caramel to three thousand litres of whisky would approximate to a high 

level of addition. 

Whisky caramel is organoleptically inert at the levels used and does not 

impart any detectable aroma or taste. 

7.6 Bottling 

7.6.1 General 

The packaging of whisky follows similar stages to those involved in the 

bottling of beers. Clearly the absence of carbon dioxide simplifies the 

liquid handling side and the alcohol level in the product means that 

infection in the plant is not a problem. However extremely high 



standards of labelling are demanded on what is a very expensive 

product, so filling speeds are much slower than would be found in a beer 

bottling hall. 

The process in a spirits packaging hall can be divided into the following 

steps; 

De-palletisation of bottles 

Bottle cleaning 

Bottle orientation 

Filling 

Capping 

Labelling 

Carton filling 

Carton palletising 

Pallet wraparound 

7.6.2 Bottle De-palletising and Cleaning 

Bottles are delivered in palletised loads with cardboard sheets 

separating the bottle layers. Automatic actions remove the packing 

sheets and feed the bottles onto a marshalling conveyor. The bottle flow 

is reduced to a single stream and the bottles enter a dry cleaning unit. 

The bottles are inverted on a rotary air jetting machine where they are 

given a blast of air through the neck. This removes any particulate 

material. The bottles are then restored to an upright position and moved 

on by a slat conveyor. 

7.6.3 Filling 

Before filling it may be necessary to put the bottles through an 

orientation unit. This is needed if the bottles are not round and there is a 

specific side for the label. Bottles are fed round a star wheel, which can 

check orientation by a physical characteristic of the bottle. The 

information collected passes to the rotary orientation unit, which will turn 

any bottle the star wheel instructs it to. All bottles then feed to the filler in 

the correct orientation. 

Filling is by gravity from a spirit holding tank in the top of the rotary filling 

unit. The filling level is controlled by the height of the filling tube. After 

filling a vacuum is applied so that any liquid above the bottom of the 

filling tube is sucked out of the bottle. 

Filling speeds vary with size of bottle. Speeds of 500 bottles/minute are 

available at the top of the range for miniatures and up to one litre 



bottles, though 300 bottles/minute would be a more general speed of 

operation. These fillers would have about 45 filling heads. Large size 

bottles such as 4.5 litres might only be filled at a rate of 30 

bottles/minute. 

Overall line efficiency is of course affected by any slow down in the 

various stages. Thus although a filling unit may be rated at say 300 

bottles/minute the efficiency of the line is likely to be in the range of 65 – 

70% or 195 – 210 bottles/minute. 

Product temperature control is important as the bottle filler is operated 

volumetrically. Therefore the spirit needs accurate attemperation and 

this is achieved by passage through a plate heat exchanger after the 

filtration step (20°C is often specified). 

KEY POINT: Bottle filling is controlled volumetrically so it is 

important to control the temperature of the whisky going to 

filler. 

7.6.4 Capping 

Pilfer proof caps (the type where the consumer breaks a seal on 

opening the bottle for the first time) are generally used for whiskies and 

are usually made of aluminium. They must be fed to the capping 

machine the correct way up and this is achieved by means of an 

ingeniously simple device. Caps are fed into a hopper with a rotating 

base and at the circumference there are holes, which will take individual 

caps. As the caps revolve towards a collection point, they are subjected 

to a carefully controlled air jet; if the cap is upright it is blown out of the 

hole, so only inverted caps are collected and as they are fed to the 

capper they are turned to the desired orientation. 

When the cap is in place it is rolled to tighten the bottom section on to 

the bottle. 

For some markets devices to prevent refill are fitted into the bottle neck. 

These plastic units contain a ball, which acts like a non-return valve 

allowing liquid to flow out of the bottle when it is inverted but preventing 

liquid entering the bottle when it is the right way up. The units are fitted 

into the bottle cap when it is manufactured and when the cap is on the 

bottle it is given a sharp blow which pushes the plastic unit securely into 

the bottle neck. 



Many of the malt whiskies are sold in cork stoppered bottles. Although 

these used to be inserted manually, this form of capping has now been 

automated. 

7.6.5 Labelling 

The adhesives used for labelling employ wet glue; the label is positioned 

on the bottle and brushed down as it passes round the labeller. It is 

quite common for spirits to have neck and back labels as well as the 

main product label, and all of these are applied on the rotary labeller. 

The main variant is self adhesive labels, which are used for special 

applications, such as foil and see through labels. 

7.6.6 Carton Filling and Palletising 

Cartons are delivered flat and are assembled and glued automatically 

using a hot melt glue. Divisions may be placed in the carton. The bottles 

are marshalled in the appropriate group (usually 12) and then lifted by 

suction heads and lowered into the carton. The carton lid is folded down 

and glued as it moves along the conveyor. 

The cartons are elevated and assembled automatically into the 

orientation required on a layer in a pallet. Pallets will normally be five 

layers high and contain about 70 cases. Sometimes spots of light glue 

are used to provide adhesion between layers. 

For extra stability the pallet load is stretchwrapped with a plastic film. 

7.6.7 Quality Checks 

Checks are carried out at various stages of the packaging operation. A 

typical selection is listed below. 

On – line checks 

the presence of label, cap and height of fill are detected by scanning 

the weight of filled cartons is checked by load cell conveyor 

Off – line checks are carried out on bottles withdraw from the line at 15 

minute intervals 

label positioning 

tightness of cap (torque measurement) 

product alcohol strength 

product pH 



product turbidity 

bottle contents 

nosing for off flavours 

In terms of contents the requirement is that the batch average must be 

greater than the nominal contents and that each bottle must be within a 

specified tolerance (this differs from country to country). 

KEY POINT: The average contents of a batch must exceed the 

nominal contents and in addition the contents of each bottle 

must lie within defined tolerances. 

Traceability is an important aspect of packaging, and is covered in a 

number of ways. The back of each main label is printed with an 

individual number and these are recorded manually every 15 minutes. 

Each carton is ink jetted with a batch number, a case number and a 

product code. This makes it possible to trace any product bottle or 

carton to operations carried out within a 15 minute time span during the 

filling of a batch. 



7.7 SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS 

1. Most blends will contain a considerable number of malts (many 

contain 30 – 40) and therefore there has to be trading within the 

industry. Both malt and grain whiskies are exchanged with, or sold 

to, other distillers although the blends they go into may well be in 

competition with those of the initial producer. 

2. Blending for all whisky types follows the pattern of adding spirits with 

distinct flavours to a blander base spirit. In the case of Scotch the 

malts provide the flavour and the grain whisky is the lighter, blander 

base. 

3. The process of marrying allows a period of rest in oak casks so that 

blended components can adapt to one another. While some distillers 

have been unable to detect any effect, others continue to complicate 

their process in this way. 

4. Chill filtration is carried out to remove hazes produced by fatty acid 

esters on dilution and/or chilling of bottle strength whisky. The 

filtration takes place between 0 – 10°C and cellulose filter sheets 

impregnated with kieselguhr are used. 

5. Food grade caramel is used to maintain a consistent level of colour 

in each whisky, though there are a few exceptions among the single 

malts. 

6. Bottle filling is operated volumetrically so it is important to control the 

temperature of the whisky going to the filler. 

7. The average contents of a batch must exceed the nominal 

contents and in addition the contents of each bottle must lie within 

defined tolerances. 



7.8 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 

Blending and bottling was a straight forward unit - so these questions 

you should not find too difficult. A good score is predicted! 

1. What is vatted malt whisky? 

2. Why would a deluxe blend cost more than a supermarket own label 

blend? 

3. Why is it difficult for production, purchasing and maturation 

programmes to anticipate sales? 

4. What are the equivalent of the malt and grain components of a 

Scotch whisky blend in blended whiskies from Ireland and USA? 

5. What is meant by “marrying” whiskies? 

6. Which compounds cause haze on dilution of whisky? 

7. From a marketing standpoint what are the alternatives to adding 

caramel to achieve colour consistency? 

8. After chill filtration why is it necessary to warm the whisky before 

bottling? 

9. Describe how product traceability may be achieved. 

7.9 SELF ASSESSMENT ANSWERS 



Now to see whether you scored that expected 100%! 

1. What is vatted malt whisky? 

It is a mixture of malts from a number of different malt distilleries. 

2. Why would a deluxe blend cost more than a supermarket own label 

blend? 

The whiskies used in the supermarket own label blend would be much 

younger and the blend would contain a much lower proportion of the 

more expensive malt whiskies. 

3. Why is it difficult for production, purchasing and maturation 

programmes to anticipate sales? 

Production, purchasing (of new make whisky), and maturation decisions 

have to be made years before the year of sale. Sales forecasts made 5 

– 10 years ahead will have only one common feature – they will be 

wrong. 

4. What are the equivalent of the malt and grain components of a 

Scotch whisky blend in blended whiskies from Ireland and USA? 

Irish blends use grain whisky with the flavourful products of pot still 

and/or malt whisky. 

American blends use grain whisky, neutral spirit, or light whisky as the 

blander components and rye, wheat or corn whiskies as the flavourful 

components. 

5. What is meant by “marrying” whiskies? 

The marrying process allows a period of rest in oak casks between the 

blending and the bottling. 

6. Which compounds cause haze on dilution of whisky? 

Fatty acid esters. 



7. From a marketing standpoint what are the alternatives to adding 

caramel to achieve colour consistency? 

Either accept that there may be slight colour differences between 

batches (and tell consumers why), or adjust colour solely by means of 

cask selection. 

8. After chill filtration why is it necessary to warm the whisky before 

bottling? 

Because bottle filling is governed by volumetric measures the 

temperature of the whisky will affect the quantity in the bottle. Whisky is 

heated to a controlled temperature, usually close to 20°C. 

9. Describe how product traceability may be achieved. 

Each label has an individual number on its back and these numbers are 

recorded at regular time intervals. Each carton has an individual number 

and a batch number and these too are recorded. It is therefore possible 

to detect the time period when a particular bottle was filled.

MODULE: DISTILLING UNIT 7: BLENDING AND BOTTLING ...

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