POTP_J747_US_Handbook_A5_Digital_AW-2

Ways of
THE MALT
A whisky is defined as a spirit made from grain that has been mixed with water,
then mashed and fermented to make what is called a distiller’s beer, after which it
is then distilled at less than 94.5 proof and aged in wood.
THERE ARE FOUR
RECOGNIZED STYLES
OF WHISKY
• Malt
• Grain
• Bourbon
• Irish Pot Still
The Short Story of Malt Whisky
The practice of distillation can be traced
as far back as ancient Egypt. It is an art
that fascinated great Persian alchemists,
who set down in various scholarly works
their hunts for the so-called water of life,
some of which were translated into Latin
during the 12th century.
With growing knowledge of how to
make a spirit from beer, the secrets of
distillation are thought to have been
brought to Ireland by well-traveled
Irish monks. The resultant distillate was
used as a medicine and a restorative,
drunk either straight from the still, or
flavored with botanicals during or
after distillation.
There is evidence of malt whisky
consumption in Ireland from the 1100s
onward, then a non-neutral white spirit,
essentially a kind of gin, also known
variously as aqua vitae, uisege breathayd
and uisge beatha. If Chaucer, the English
author, is to be believed, malt whisky
was being made in England during
the 13th century. Famously, however,
the earliest written evidence for the
making of whisky comes in 1494 from
Scotland, where the king’s exchequer
records a certain Friar John Cor as
having bought “eight bolls of malt to
make aqua vitae.”
The distillate was consumed unaged until
around the late 1700s, and the discovery
that its taste improves remarkably when
it is stored in oak casks introduced the
idea of maturation. This practice only
really took root with the Excise Act in
1823, which reduced the duty paid,
paving the way for exponential growth
of the number of legitimate distilleries in
Ireland and Scotland. Aging came first, a
prerequisite for the good stuff, and then
the law.
ANCIENT EGYPT 1100s 1494 1700s
Timeline of Distillation
The Rule Book
Today, for a whisky to be considered a
malt whisky, it must be made primarily
with malted grain. Traditionally and
usually, and certainly in Scotland,
where it is the law, that grain is barley,
especially valued for its enzymes that
convert starch to sugar (they are known
as amylase), which are activated
during malting.
Single malt whisky is produced in
batches using copper pot stills. This
method is mandatory in Scotland,
and followed as a matter of tradition
in Ireland and Japan, where it was
adopted at the turn of the 20th century.
In Scotland and Ireland, the law
stipulates that the distillate must be
aged for a minimum of three years
- specifically, in “oak” in Scotland
and in “wood” in Ireland. While
largely unregulated, Japan’s makers
traditionally mature their whisky in oak.
Copper stills at The Ardmore Distillery
While we tend to think of single malt as
the predominant type when speaking
of malt whiskies, the blended malt is
a designated whisky type, and malt
whiskies make up a significant portion
of Blended Scotch, by far Scotland’s
most common whisky type.
OFFICIALLY, IN SCOTLAND:
• A Single Malt is made from
a mash of 100% barley in a
single distillery
• A Blended Malt is a blend of
two or more malts sourced
from multiple distilleries
• A Blended Scotch is a blend
of one or more grain whiskies
with one or more malts
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