Very few make it to blue - Makro

Nowadays there has been a great change over to wheat
because of the European Union subsidies which made
wheat available at a lower price. There are many types or
strains of wheat with bakers and pasta makers preferring
hard grains. Distillers prefer slightly softer grain as it
contains more starch so giving a better alcoholic yield.
Annual grain crops are effected by the weather resulting
in variable starch levels which obviously will mean fine
tuning to the overall production. Maize tends to be more
uniform year by year and less affected by weather than
wheat and so some distillers still prefer maize. However,
it is considered that whatever the source of the grain it
has little impact on the overall result. What has a greater
impact is how the distillation is carried out. The distiller
can determine whether to produce a spirit that is richer
with greater character or lighter which is more mild.
Then of course the aging in oak has a great influence on
the end product.
In the continuous distillation process the end spirit
is collected at about 94 % alcohol with the British law
stating it must be collected at below 94,8 %. Whereas
38 WHISKY EDITION November 2011
from a pot still the spirit is around
about 70 % with the lower strength
collecting a far broader aromatic and
flavour profile.
Continuous distilleries have lent
themselves to be highly aided by
computerization although the ever
faithful stillman is still required (no
pun intended).
There might not be many grain
distilleries but each produces it’s own
identifiable character..
When it comes to Scotch Grain
Whiskies look out for bottlings from
the great distilleries under the private
bottlings of Duncan Taylor and the
specific combinations of Compass Box
under the name Hedonism. A couple
of distilleries bottle “Single Grains”
such as Cameron Bridge who use the
name “Cameron Brig”.