Whiskey

The world's largest producer and consumer of whiskey is in India.

Whiskey was first made in Ireland by missionary monks (who make the best booze and beer because the secrets were given to them by God) as early as the sixth century. Along with spreading The Word of The Lord, they also began distilling whiskey, or as it's called in Gaelic, uisce beatha, meaning "water of life." Occupying British soldiers in the 12th century bastardized the pronunciation, and it eventually came out "whisky".

Whiskey is a general term describing many spirits. Every region/country that makes whiskey has its own rules & regulations for the liquor to be considered official,so they can set themselves apart. Whiskey in the simplest of terms is comprised of water, a grain and yeast (if you add hops to those three, you get beer), and is aged in oak casks. The way you manipulate these ingredients accounts for all of the different varieties.

Whisky or whisky-like products are produced in most grain-growing areas. They differ in base product, alcoholic content, and quality.
Malt whisky is made primarily from malted barley.
Grain whisky is made from any type of grains.

Malts and grains are combined in various ways:

Single malt whisky is whisky from a single distillery made from a mash that uses only one particular malted grain. Unless the whisky is described as "single-cask", though, it will contain whisky from many casks, and different years, so the blender can achieve a taste recognisable as typical of the distillery. In most cases, the name of a single malt will be that of the distillery (The Glenlivet, Bushmills, Nikka), with an age statement and perhaps some indication of some special treatments such as maturation in a port wine cask.

Blended malt whisky is a mixture of single malt whiskies from different distilleries. If a whisky is labelled "pure malt" or just "malt" it is almost certain to be a blended malt whisky. This was formerly called a "vatted malt" whisky. Blended whiskies are typically made from a mixture of malt and grain whiskies,often along with neutral spirits, caramel, and flavouring. A whisky simply described as a Scotch, Irish, or Canadian whisky is most likely to be a blend. A blend typically contains whisky from many distilleries so that the blender can produce a flavour consistent with the brand, and the brand name (e.g., Chivas Regal, Canadian Club) will usually not therefore contain the name of a distillery. Jameson Irish Whiskey is an example of an exception, as it comes from only one distillery.

Cask strength (also known as barrel-proof) whiskies are rare, and usually only the very best whiskies are bottled in this way. They are bottled from the cask undiluted or only lightly diluted.

Single cask (also known as single-barrel) whiskies are usually bottled by specialist independent bottlers, such as Duncan Taylor, Gordon & MacPhail, and Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, amongst others. Each bottle of a single-barrel whisky is from an individual cask, and often the bottles are labelled with specific barrel and bottle numbers. The taste of these whiskies may vary substantially from cask to cask within a brand.

The break down of the major types of Whiskey is as below:

American Whiskey
Made from a mash (mixture) of cereal grain. Aged at least two years in charred, unused oak.

Australian Whiskey
Australia produces a number of single malt whiskies. The whiskies being produced on the island State of Tasmania in particular are receiving global attention.

Canadian Whiskey
Canadian whiskies are usually lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. By Canadian law, Canadian whiskies must be produced and aged in Canada, be distilled from a fermented mash of cereal grain, be aged in wood barrels (of a capacity not larger than 700 L) for not less than three years, and "possess the aroma, taste and character generally attributed to Canadian whisky". The terms "Canadian Whisky" and "Canadian Rye Whisky" are legally indistinguishable in Canada and do not require any use of rye or other specific grain in their production. In fact, the predominant grain used in making "Canadian Rye Whisky" is corn. Canadian whiskies may contain caramel and flavouring in addition to the distilled mash spirits, and there is no maximum limit on the alcohol level of the distillation, so the bulk of the distilled content may be neutral spirits rather than straight whiskies.

Danish Whiskey
Denmark began producing whisky early in the 21st century. The first Danish single malt to go on sale was Lille Gadegård from Bornholm, in 2005. Lille Gadegård is a winery as well, and uses its own winecasks to mature whisky. The second Danish distilled single malt whisky for sale was Edition No.1 from the Braunstein microbrewery and distillery. It was distilled in 2007, using water from the Greenlandic ice sheet, and entered the market in March 2010. The distillery has since released several whiskies. Other Danish distilleries include Stauning Whisky, which began distillation in 2006, and Fary Lochan, which began production in December 2009.

English Whiskey
There are currently three distilleries producing English whisky. Though England is not very well known for making whisky there were distillers previously operating in London, Liverpool and Bristol until the late 19th century, after which production of English single malt whisky ceased until 2003.

Finnish Whiskey
There are two working distilleries in Finland and a third one is under construction. Whisky retail sales in Finland are controlled solely by the state alcohol monopoly Alko and advertisement of strong alcoholic beverages is banned.

German whiskies
The distillation of German-made whisky is a relatively recent phenomenon having only started in the last 30 years. The styles produced resemble those made in Ireland, Scotland and the United States: single malts, blends, and bourbon styles. There is no standard spelling of German whiskies with distilleries using both "whisky" and "whiskey" and one even using "Whesskey", a play on the word whisky and Hesse, the state in which it is produced.

Indian Whiskey
The majority of Indian whiskies are blends with a small amount of grain whisky blended with neutral spirits distilled from fermented molasses, and as such could be considered a sort of rum, although pure grain whiskies are also available.

Irish Whiskey
Distilled three times. Uses pure-malted barley as the grain. Aged at least three years in oak casks. Most Irish whiskeys are normally distilled three times, Cooley Distillery being the exception as they also double distill. Though traditionally distilled using pot stills, column still are now used to produce grain whiskey for blends. By law, Irish whiskey must be produced in Ireland and aged in wooden casks for a period of no less than three years, although in practice it is usually three or four times that period. Unpeated malt is almost always used, the main exception being Connemara Peated Malt whiskey. There are several types of whiskey common to Ireland: single malt, single grain, blended whiskey and pure pot still whiskey.

Japanese Whiskey
The model for Japanese whiskies is the single malt Scotch, although there are also examples of Japanese blended whiskies. The base is a mash of malted barley, dried in kilns fired with a little peat (although considerably less than in Scotland), and distilled using the pot still method. For some time exports of Japanese whisky suffered from the belief in the West that whisky made in the Scotch style, but not produced in Scotland, was inferior, and until fairly recently, the market for Japanese whiskies was almost entirely domestic. In recent years, Japanese whiskies have won prestigious international awards and now enjoy a reputation as a high quality product.

New Zealand Whiskey
With a pristine environment, crystal clean water and a cool climate for maturation - New Zealand is an ideal location for whisky production. The New Zealand whisky industry arguably started with the establishment of the Willowbank Distillery in the late 1960s. Although whisky distillation had taken place well before this time, it was largely illicit distilling. There are currently two active distilleries and two companies that are maturing and bottling stocks from the now mothballed Willowbank Distillery.

Scotch or Scottish Whisky
Distilled twice. Also uses barley, which is dried over peat fire, giving scotch it's characteristic smoky flavor. Aged at least two years in oak. Scotch whiskies are generally distilled twice, although some are distilled a third time and others even up to twenty times. Scotch Whisky Regulations require anything bearing the label "Scotch" to be distilled in Scotland and matured for a minimum of three years in oak casks, among other, more specific criteria. An age statement on the bottle, in the form of a number, must reflect the age of the youngest Scotch whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed age whisky. Scotch whisky without an age statement may, by law, be as young as three years old. The basic types of Scotch are malt and grain, which are combined to create blends. Many, though not all, Scotch whiskies use peat smoke to treat their malt, giving Scotch its distinctive smoky flavour. Scotch malt whiskies are divided into five main regions: Highland, Lowland, Islay, Speyside and Campbeltown.

Swedish Whiskey
Sweden has a young, but growing, whisky industry. The Mackmyra distillery started selling its products in 2006. Spirit of Hven started distilling in 2008 with products expected to go on the market circa 2012. The Smögen distillery in Hunnebostrand on the Swedish west coast started distilling in August 2010, and the Grythyttan Whisky distillery near Örebro in middle Sweden started distilling in October 2010. Additionally, another half dozen or so distilleries are in different stages of preparation. Production of whisky has however somewhat older roots in Sweden. Starting in the 1950s a whisky called Skeppets whisky was made. Production was halted in 1966.

Welsh Whiskey
In 2000, Penderyn Distillery started production of Penderyn single malt whisky, the first Welsh whisky since all production ended in 1894. (Though a distillery operated near Brecon in the 1990s, making and selling "Prince of Wales" malt whisky.) The first bottles went on sale on 1 March 2004, Saint David's Day, and the whisky is now sold throughout the world. Penderyn Distillery is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park and is considered to be the smallest distillery in the world.

Other whiskies
Manx Spirit from the Isle of Man is distilled elsewhere and re-distilled in the country of its nominal "origin". The Manx distillery takes a previously matured Scotch malt whisky and re-distills it.

In 2010 a Czech whisky was released, the 21 year old "Hammer Head".

Recently at least two distilleries in the traditionally brandy-producing Caucasus region announced their plans to enter the Russian domestic market with whiskies. The Stavropol-based Praskoveysky distillery bases its product on Irish technology, while in Kizlyar, Dagestan's "Russian Whisky" announced a Scotch-inspired drink in single malt, blended and wheat varieties.

A whiskey stops maturing after it's bottled, so it won't get "better" over time.

A closed bottle can be kept for more than 100 years and you'll still be good to go.
An opened bottle is all right for five years. This is good to know for nicer bottles.

The oak barrels give the whiskey its caramel color. Whiskey gains as much as 60 percent of its flavor from the type of cask used in the aging process.

Bourbon is an American Whiskey made from at least 51 percent corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky (which, in turn, was named after the French House of Bourbon royal family). It has been produced since the 18th century. While it may be made anywhere in the United States, it is strongly associated with the American South in general, and Kentucky in particular.

The reason Jack Daniel's is not considered bourbon is because they filter it through sugar-maple charcoal ("mellowing") prior to aging.

While most people think that adding ice or water to whiskey is sacrilegious, it is all about taste. One person might prefer his whiskey neat (straight up), but a small amount of water or ice will bring out more subtle, nuanced flavors.