What is whiskey?
(Source:"Enrich" By:Chris Champion)
(Source:"Enrich" By:Chris Champion)
Whiskey is aged grain alcohol. Fermented from malt or grain, it is distilled and aged in wooden barrels. It starts out clear, and gets its color from aging in wood. Sometimes, the spirit is filtered; sometimes other ingredients such as neutral spirit are added.
The first records of the distillation of barley are from the 13th century, when the resultant product was considered a cure-all medicine. It was used as an ointment as well as a drink.
The historian Raphael Holinshed wrote the following in the 1th century about the distillation of malted barley, "Being moderately taken, it slows the age, it cuts phlegm, it lightens the mind, it quickens the spirit, it cures the dropsy, it heals the strangulation, it pounces the stone, its repels gravel, it pulls away ventositie, it keeps and preserves the head from whirling, the eyes from dazzling, the tongue from lisping, the mouth from snuffling, the teeth from chattering, the throat from rattling, the heart from swelling, the bely from wencing, the guts from rumbling, the hands from shivering, the sinews from shrinking, the veins from crumpling, the bones from aching, the marrow from soaking, and truly it is a sovereign liquor if it be orderly taken"
So the world's most sophisticated drink started out as snake oil.
There are three main kinds of whiskey: malt, grain and blended. The rarest and most collectible is single cask malt, produced from 100 per cent malted barley, then matured is oak casks for at least three years. Water quality is seen crucial to the final flavor. Pure water that has flowed through heather and peat, then percolated through granite or limestone, is seen as crucial as the essence of a good whiskey.
The name comes from the Gaelic uisge beata, which means "water of life". The name evolved to usquebaugh, the and then finally whiskey.
The spelling can be confusing. It is whiskey if if comes from Scotland, Canada or Japan. It is whiskey if it comes from Ireland or the United States. Except for Kentucky, where it's whiskey. Scotch can only come from Scotland international law says so.
Those single malt whiskies, distilled and matured in the misty, mysterious valleys and mountains of Scotland and Ireland. imbued with the essences of the local limestones or peat or granite, and blended with the wands of grizzled whiskey wizards, are magical creations. And they can be worth a fortune.
The first records of the distillation of barley are from the 13th century, when the resultant product was considered a cure-all medicine. It was used as an ointment as well as a drink.
The historian Raphael Holinshed wrote the following in the 1th century about the distillation of malted barley, "Being moderately taken, it slows the age, it cuts phlegm, it lightens the mind, it quickens the spirit, it cures the dropsy, it heals the strangulation, it pounces the stone, its repels gravel, it pulls away ventositie, it keeps and preserves the head from whirling, the eyes from dazzling, the tongue from lisping, the mouth from snuffling, the teeth from chattering, the throat from rattling, the heart from swelling, the bely from wencing, the guts from rumbling, the hands from shivering, the sinews from shrinking, the veins from crumpling, the bones from aching, the marrow from soaking, and truly it is a sovereign liquor if it be orderly taken"
So the world's most sophisticated drink started out as snake oil.
There are three main kinds of whiskey: malt, grain and blended. The rarest and most collectible is single cask malt, produced from 100 per cent malted barley, then matured is oak casks for at least three years. Water quality is seen crucial to the final flavor. Pure water that has flowed through heather and peat, then percolated through granite or limestone, is seen as crucial as the essence of a good whiskey.
The name comes from the Gaelic uisge beata, which means "water of life". The name evolved to usquebaugh, the and then finally whiskey.
The spelling can be confusing. It is whiskey if if comes from Scotland, Canada or Japan. It is whiskey if it comes from Ireland or the United States. Except for Kentucky, where it's whiskey. Scotch can only come from Scotland international law says so.
Those single malt whiskies, distilled and matured in the misty, mysterious valleys and mountains of Scotland and Ireland. imbued with the essences of the local limestones or peat or granite, and blended with the wands of grizzled whiskey wizards, are magical creations. And they can be worth a fortune.
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