Scotch whisky - Legal definition, Methods of production, Types of Scotch whisky, Independent bottlers, Understanding a Scotch whisky label

A spirit distilled from malted barley, either single malt, the product of one distillery (c.40 varieties of Island, Highland, Lowland, and Speyside malts), or blended whiskies. Grain whisky, distilled from barley and maize (corn) in continuous stills, is now used as the base for much of the blended whisky. About 85% of the whisky made in Scotland is exported.

Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.

Scotch whisky is divided into four distinct categories: single malt, vatted malt (also called "pure malt"), blended, and single grain.

Legal definition

To be called Scotch whisky, the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 (UK), which clarified the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988, and mandates that the spirit:

Must be distilled at a Scottish distillery from water and malted barley, to which only other whole grains may be added, have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems, and fermented only by the addition of yeast, Must be distilled to an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume so that it retains the flavour of the raw materials used in its production, Must be matured in Scotland in oak casks for not less than three years and a day, and Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colour.

No whisky other than Scotch whisky may be made in Scotland.

Methods of production

Types of whisky

Malt whisky must contain no grain other than malted barley and is traditionally distilled in pot stills. Grain whisky may contain unmalted barley or other malted or unmalted grains such as wheat and maize (corn) and is typically distilled in a continuous column still, known as a Patent or Coffey still, the latter after Aeneas Coffey who refined the column still in 1831. While there are scores of malt whisky distilleries, only seven grain distilleries currently exist, most located in the Lowlands (central Scotland).

Malting

Malt whisky production begins when the barley is malted - by steeping the barley in water, and then allowing it to get to the point of germination. Many (but not all) distillers add peat to the fire to give an earthy peaty flavour to the whisky. Even those distilleries that malt their own barley produce only a small percentage of the malt required for production. All distilleries order malt from specialised malters. Fermentation

The dried malt (and in the case of grain whisky, other grains) is ground into a coarse flour called "grist."

This process dissolves the sugars which were produced during malting, producing a sugary liquid known as "wort."

There are two types of stills in use for the distillation, the pot still (for single malts) and the Coffey still (for grain whisky). All Scotch Whisky distilleries distill their product twice except for the Auchentoshan distillery, which retains the Lowlands tradition of triple distillation.

For malt whisky, the wash is transferred into a wash still. The distillate must age for at least three years to be called Scotch whisky, although most single malts are offered at a minimum of eight years of age. Some believe that older whiskies are inherently better, but others find that the age for optimum flavour development changes drastically from distillery to distillery, or even cask to cask.

Colour can give a clue to the type of cask (sherry or bourbon) used to age the whisky, although the addition of legal "spirit caramel", is sometimes used to darken an otherwise lightly coloured whisky. Sherried whisky is usually darker/ more amber in colour, while whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks is usually a golden-yellow/honey colour.

The late 1990s saw a trend towards "wood finishes" where fully matured whisky is moved from one barrel into one that had previously aged a different type of alcohol (e.g., port, madeira, rum, wine, etc) to add the "finish"

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling number 1.81, for instance, is known by some as "the green Glenfarclas".

Bottling

With single malts, the now properly aged spirit may be "vatted", or "married", with other single malts (sometimes of different ages) from the same distillery. The whisky is generally diluted to a bottling strength of 40% - 46%.

Many distilleries are releasing "Single Cask" editions, which are the product of a single cask which has not been vatted with whisky from any other casks. These bottles will usually have a label which details the date the whisky was distilled, the date it was bottled, the number of bottles produced, the number of the particular bottle, and the number of the cask which produced the bottles.

Chill filtration

Many whiskies are bottled after being chill-filtered. This removes some of the compounds produced during distillation or extracted from the wood of the cask, and prevents the whisky from becoming hazy when chilled, or when water or ice is added.

However, chill filtration also removes some of the flavour and body from the whisky, which is why some consider chill-filtered whiskies to be inferior.

Types of Scotch whisky

In 2005, the Scotch Whisky Association released new guidelines for nomenclature. Single means that all of the product is from a single distillery, while Blended means that the product is composed of whiskies from two or more distilleries.

Single malt whisky is a 100% malted barley whisky from one distillery. Single grain whisky is a grain whisky from one distillery (it does NOT have to be made from a single type of grain). Vatted or Blended malt whisky is a malt whisky created by mixing single malt whiskies from more than one distillery. Blended grain whisky is a whisky created by mixing grain whiskies from more than one distillery. Blended Scotch whisky is a mixture of single malt whisky and grain whisky, usually from multiple distilleries. The Islands is not a recognized region under SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) proposed rules. A new small distillery Kilchoman, has recently begun production, but is not yet selling whisky.

Single grain

The majority of grain whisky produced in Scotland goes to make blended Scotch whisky. The average blended whisky is 60%-85% grain whisky. Some higher quality grain whisky from a single distillery is bottled as single grain whisky. As of 2006, there are only seven grain whisky distilleries in Scotland, including Loch Lomond.

Vatted / Blended malt

Vatted malt whisky—also called pure malt—is one of the less common types of Scotch: a blend of single malts from more than one distillery and with differing ages. Vatted malts contain only malt whiskies—no grain whiskies—and are usually distinguished from other types of whisky by the absence of the word ‘single’ before ‘malt’ on the bottle, and the absence of a distillery name. The age of the youngest whisky in the bottle is that used to describe the age on the label, so a vatted malt marked “8 years old” may include older whiskies.

Blended

Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. Blended Scotch whiskies generally contain 10–50% malt whisky, blended with grain whisky, with the higher quality brands having the highest percent malt. They were initially created for the English market, where pure malt whiskies were considered too harshly flavoured (the main two spirits consumed in England at the time being brandy in the upper classes, and gin in the lower ones). Master blenders combine the various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent "brand style". Blended whiskies frequently use the same name for a range of whiskies at wildly varying prices and (presumably) quality. Notable blended Scotch whisky brands include Dewar's, Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, and Chivas Regal.

Independent bottlers

Most malt distilleries sell a significant amount of whisky by the cask for blending, and sometimes to private buyers as well. Whisky from such casks is sometimes bottled as a single malt by independent firms such as Gordon & Allied Domecq, owner of the Laphroaig distillery, initiated legal action against Murray McDavid in an effort to prevent them from using "Distilled at Laphroaig Distillery" in their independent bottlings of said whisky. Sons, which owns three malt distilleries, adds a measure of one of its other distilleries' whisky to each cask of malt it sells to independent bottlers.

To avoid potentially sticky legal issues, some independent bottlings do not reveal the distillery of the whisky, using a manufactured brand name or a geographical name instead.

Understanding a Scotch whisky label

Like most other labels, the Scotch whisky label combines law, tradition, marketing, and whim, and may therefore be difficult to understand.

Scotch whisky labels contain the exact words "Scotch whisky"; If the word "Scotch" is missing, the whisky is probably made elsewhere. If it says Scotch whiskey or Scottish whisky, it may be counterfeit.

If a label contains the words single malt (sometimes split by other words e.g., single highland malt), the bottle contains single malt Scotch whisky.

Vatted malt, pure malt or blended malt indicates a mixture of single malt whiskies. In older bottlings, pure malt is often used to describe a single malt (e.g., Glenfiddich Pure Malt). Some single malt whisky is sold anonymously or with a fictitious brand name. A lower alcohol content may indicate an "economy" whisky or local law. If a bottle is, say, 12 years old, then all the whisky in the bottle was matured in cask for at least 12 years before bottling.

A year on a bottle normally indicates the year of distillation and one cask bottling, so the year the whisky was bottled may be listed as well. Whisky does not mature once bottled, so the age is the difference between these two dates;