Scotch whiskey, or Scotch, is a favorite after-dinner drink or bar lounge offering which is a grain or malt whiskey that is often aged for a period of time. The production of Scotch must follow stringent requirement specified by law. When creating scotch whiskey, the final product will fall into one of five distinct categories.
Creating Malt Whiskey involves a four-step process of malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation. After the four primary processes are completed the Scotch can be but through additional maturation and blending to achieve full flavors.
The malting process involves cleaning the barley by soaking it in a tank of water called a steep for two to three days. After soaking, the seeds are then spread out on a concrete malting floor to allow for successful germination. While germinating, the barley releases enzymes that make the starch in the barley soluble, thus preparing it to turn into sugar.
The more volatile compounds which distil off first - the foreshots, and the final runnings called feints where more oily compounds are vaporised, are both channelled off to be redistilled when mixed with the low wines in the next batch. The stillman uses all his years of experience to test and judge the various distillates without being able to come into physical contact with the spirit. The starch in the non-malted cereals is released by pre-cooking and converted into fermentable sugars.
The mashing and fermentation processes are similar to those used for malt whisky. The wash is distilled in a continuous or Coffey still, named after its inventor Aeneas Coffey.
It has two tall columns - a rectifier and an analyser. Cold wash is pumped in at the top of the rectifier and meets steam. The columns in fact act like a heat exchanger. The distilled grain spirit is lighter in character and aroma than most malt whiskies and therefore requires rather less time to mature. The bulk of matured grain whisky is used for blending. A proportion of the higher alcohols turn into esters and other complex compounds which subtly enhance each whisky's distinctive characteristics.
By law all Scotch whisky must be matured for at least 3 years, but most single malts lie in the wood for 8, 10, 12, 15 years or longer. Unlike wine, whisky does not mature further once it is in the bottle. By nosing samples in tulip-shaped glasses the blender selects from a wide palate - from the numerous Highland and Speyside malts to the strongly flavoured and peaty Island malts, and the softer and lighter Lowland malts.
A blend of a range of malt whiskies, with no grain whisky included, is known as a blended malt. The way we make Scotch whisky has evolved over several centuries, but the history of Scotch whisky embraces a much wider heritage; that of Scotland and its people. What are the main kinds of Scotch Whisky? The Malt Whiskies are divided into four groups according to the geographical location of the distilleries in which they are made, as follows: 1 Lowland Malt Whiskies , made south of an imaginary line drawn from Dundee in the east to Greenock in the west.
Although these whiskies come from within the area designated as Highland Malt Whiskies, the concentration of distilleries and the specific climatic conditions produce a whisky of an identifiable character and require a separate classification.
The barley grain contains primarily starch. In chemical terms, starch is a multiple sugar single sugar molecules forming chains. In order to release the sugar , the starch must be split into smaller sugars maltose — malt sugar. Traditionally, the barley is steeped in water and left for germination on malting floors.
Now the germination process is interrupted by spreading the still wet barley on grids in the kiln and drying it with hot air from below. This stage contributes significantly to the character of the Whisky. If you add peat to the fire, the malt gets a smoky peat note. The steam is discharged through the pagoda roofs of the distilleries. In the picture of the Glen Garioch Distillery , you can see the classic pagoda roofs very well.
These can be seen on the buildings of many Scottish Whisky distilleries. But what are these pointed, Asia-looking roofs doing on a Whisky distillery? A pagoda is actually a multi-storey tower, whose individual floors are usually separated from each other by cornices or eaves.
This way of building is especially widespread in Asia. At the end of the 19th century, this style was also modern in Europe and so Charles Chree Doig built Scotland's first pagoda in at the Dailuaine Distillery. The pagoda roofs can be found on the distillery buildings, which contain the kiln , i.
Here, the germinating barley was spread out and dried over a fire. Good ventilation is essential in this drying process, as the temperature in the kiln must not exceed 55 degrees Celsius in order not to destroy the enzymes in the grain. Today, kilns with their typical pagoda roofs have mainly decorative purposes: only a few distilleries still malt their barley in-house.
How does the malted barley produce alcohol? Through the alcoholic fermentation in the washbacks. To get the wanted beer , also called wash , the malt has to take some steps. The finished malt is milled to flour. This coarse flour is called grist and is mixed with hot water in the mash tun. If the grist is too fine it sticks together, and the sugar can also not be extracted completely. The malt is mashed three times before the sugar solution is cooled in a cooler.
During this third run, only so little sugar is extracted that this weak sugar solution is cooled down and used for the first run of the next batch. The remaining mash is brought to specialised plants where it is dehydrated and the residue is processed into animal feed. The exhaust air of these plants can be smelled for miles.
The resulting liquid is called wort. It is stored for two to four days in the wash backs until fermentation is finished. During alcoholic fermentation , the yeast strains convert the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide CO2 , an odourless and colourless gas.
Beer breweries and large grain distilleries collect the CO2 for industrial use. Malt Whisky distilleries are usually too small to do that, except for Tomatin, who used to collect the CO2 from their more than 20 pot stills. In addition, the wash backs have a horizontally rotating blade that continually cuts the foam. The wash backs are usually made from Oregon pine or cypress wood, which is especially resistant to fungi.
Fermentation is finished after approximately 48 to 96 hours. After the mash has been fermented and alcohol was created, the mash is filled into pot stills for distillation. In this process, the alcohol in the mash is further extracted. The wash is filled into the first copper pot still , called wash still , and is heated from below and from the inside respectively.
Today mainly hot steam is used for heating. Using an external gas flame has become rare. In the first case, hot steam is lead through specially shaped heating tubes inside the pot still , thereby heating the wash. The alcohol steam rises in the tapered tube. Over the neck and the lyne arm the steam is led into a condenser where the alcohol steam is liquefied again. The water mostly remains in the pot still. All Single Malt Whisky distilleries work with at least two series-connected pot stills.
In the Scottish Lowlands, a lot of distilleries used to use a third still. Today there are only a few distilleries left in the Lowlands Ailsa Bay, Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, Daftmill and Glenkinchie , and only Auchentoshan still has three pot stills.
Keep in mind that pure alcohol tastes only like alcohol. A Single Malt Whisky gets its taste from the heavier oils and fats and the lighter esters and other flavour carriers from the wash. The further you distil a Whisky , the more it will lose its individual character.
During distillation , the unique shape of the pot stills is the main contributing factor to the taste of a Whisky. A long and slim shape produces soft, pure alcohol e. Glenmorangie , while a short, squat shape produces strong, intense flavours e. The intensity of the heating is also important for the taste.
If you heat too strongly, many accompanying substances and fusel oils will get into the Whisky , which will surely not be as smooth as if it had been distilled slowly. Typically the distillation process in the spirit still takes up between 4 and 8 hours. The wash stills usually have a capacity of 20, to 30, litres, while the spirit stills can only contain 10, to 20, litres of the higher concentrated low wines. The pot stills must be replaced after 15 to 25 years when the wall thickness of the copper has decreased to 4 to 5 mm.
The stillman makes sure that the shape of the still is not changed because this would lead to a change in taste , too. The outlets of the stills are sealed by the government so no thirsty Scot can get his hands on untaxed spirit. In order to assess the quality of the low wines and the spirit anyway, the pipes are run through a case usually made from glass and polished brass, the spirit and sample safe.
The stillman checks the quality and runs the spirit back into the still or into the spirit receiver using valves and levers. All this is done only by visual inspection and with measuring instruments. A stillman cannot taste the spirit! In the sample compartment of the safe he can measure the temperature and take samples in order to measure the density of the spirit and its alcohol content with hydrometers.
With a history stretching back as far as the 11th century, Scottish whisky — also known as 'Scotch' — is an important part of our identity in Scotland. Like the drink itself, the story of whisky-making in Scotland is fascinating and complex. It's believed whisky-making began in Scotland as winemaking methods spread from monasteries in Europe; with no access to grapes, monks used grain mash instead to produce an early form of the popular spirit.
The name itself derives from the Gaelic name, uisge beatha , which translates loosely to 'water of life'. The first recorded instance comes much later, in — local records show Friar John Cor of Lindores Abbey in Fife was granted the king's commission to make Acqua Vitae , Latin for 'water of life'. Today, Scotland's distilleries guard the secrets and ancient traditions that have made Scotch Whisky famous around the world.
To be officially classed as Scotch Whisky it must be produced in Scotland and matured in Oak Casks for a minimum of three years. The entire process is nothing short of an artform; four ingredients — water, malt, peat and yeast — are refined through fermentation and distillation and then maturation.
Each step has a subtle but tangible impact on the overall taste, and though the process is always the same, Scotland's five regions produce Scotch whiskies with key differences.
0コメント