Whiskey



Background

Whiskey (usually spelled whisky in Canada and Scotland) is a spirit produced from fermented grain and aged in wood. A spirit is any alcoholic beverage in which the alcohol content has been increased by distillation. Other spirits include brandy (distilled from wine), rum (distilled from sugarcane juice or molasses), vodka (distilled from grain but not aged), and gin (also distilled from grain and unaged but flavored with juniper berries and other ingredients.)

Undistilled alcoholic beverages such as mead, wine, and beer have been produced since at least 7000 B.C. The process of distillation (heating an alcoholic beverage in order to boil off, collect, and concentrate the alcohol) was first used in China no later than 800 B.C. to produce rice spirits. About the same time in other parts of Asia, distillation was used to produce arrack, a beverage similar to rum, made from rice and sugarcane juice or palm juice. The ancient Arabs, Greeks, and Romans all distilled wine to produce beverages similar to modern brandy. The practice of distillation spread to westetn Europe with the Arabs in the eighth century, particularly in Spain and France.

No one knows where or when the first grain spirits were produced, but they certainly existed in Europe no later than 500 years ago. Some claim that whiskey was invented in Ireland as long as 1,000 years ago and carried to Scotland by monks. In any case, the first written records of Scottish whiskey-making date as far back as 1494. (The word whiskey comes from the Irish Gaelic uisge beatha or the Scottish Gaelic uisge baugh, both meaning "water of life.")

Spirits were carried to the New World with the earliest European settlers. Rum was distilled in New England in the early 17th century, and distillation also took place in New York as early as 1640. During the early 18th century whiskeymaking became an important industry in the western part of the American colonies, particularly in western Pennsylvania. Farmers found it difficult to store their perishable grains and to transport them to distant eastern cities. It was much simpler to use them to make whiskey, which could be stored for years and more easily transported.

Whiskey played an important part in the early history of the United States, especially during the so-called Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Farmers in western Pennsylvania refused to pay an unpopular tax on whiskey and attacked federal officers who tried to collect it. After the home of the local tax inspector was burned by a group of 500 armed rebels, President George Washington sent in 13,000 troops to stop the uprising. The rebellion ended without bloodshed, and the power of the federal government was firmly established. Many whiskeymakers moved farther west, into what was then Indian territory, to escape federal authority. They settled in southern Indiana and Kentucky, areas that are still famous for whiskey.

American whiskeymaking reached a peak in 1911, when about 400 million liters were produced, a figure not exceeded until after Prohibition. On November 16, 1920, the Volstead Act became the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and no American whiskey was legally made until the amendment was

Whiskey
repealed on December 5, 1933. Production reached another peak in 1951, when about 800 million liters were made. Today about 400 million liters are produced each year.

The earliest devices for distillation consisted of a closed, heated container, a long tube (known as a condenser) through which the alcohol vapor could cool and turn back into a liquid, and a receptacle to catch the alcohol. These were later refined into pot stills, in which alcohol vapor from a heated copper pot was condensed in a helical, water-cooled copper tube called a worm. Pot stills are still often used to make whiskey in Scotland and Ireland and brandy in France. In Scotland in 1826 Robert Stein invented continuous distillation, in which alcohol could be distilled continually rather than batch by batch. This process was improved by the Irishman Aeneas Coffey in 1831 and is still used to make most mass-produced whiskey today.

Whiskey is popular around the world and is made almost everywhere. The United States makes and consumes more whiskey than any other nation, but the most celebrated whiskey is still Scotch whiskey, often just called Scotch.

Raw Materials

Whiskey is made from water, yeast, and grain. The water used is often considered the most important factor in making good whiskey. It should be clean, clear, and free

Whiskey
from bad-tasting impurities such as iron. Water that contains carbonates, found in areas that are rich in limestone, is often used in the United States, particularly in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky. Scottish water is famous for being suited to making fine whiskey, for reasons that are still somewhat mysterious.

Every whiskeymaker keeps a supply of yeast available, grown on barley malt and kept free from bacterial contamination. Some whiskeymakers use several kinds of yeast to control the fermentation process precisely.

The type of grain used varies with the kind of whiskey being made, but all whiskeys contain at least a small amount of malted barley, which is needed to start the fermentation process. Scotch malt whiskey contains only barley. Other whiskeys contain barley in combination with corn, wheat, oats, and/or rye. Corn whiskey must contain at least 80% corn, while Bourbon whiskey and Tennessee whiskey must contain at least 51% corn. Rye whiskey must contain at least 51% rye, and wheat whiskey must contain at least 51% wheat.

Straight whiskeys contain no other ingredients, but blended whiskeys may contain a small amount of additives such as caramel color and sherry.

The Manufacturing
Process

Preparing the grain

Mashing

Fermenting

Distilling

Aging

Blending

Bottling

Quality Control

Although the making of good whiskey is still more of an art than an exact science, there are certain basic precautions that all whiskeymakers take to ensure quality. The water used must be taken from an appropriate natural source. It must be filtered so that it is free from organic matter. The grain used must be very clean. It is also passed through screens to eliminate grains that are too small. The yeast is carefully grown to avoid contamination by other microorganisms. The temperature of distillation is monitored with thermometers in the boiling liquid, which are visible through glass windows in the still. During aging, samples of whiskey are evaluated by experienced tasters to determine if it is mature. The blending process is supervised by master blenders to produce a final product with the proper taste.

Byproducts/Waste

Very little of the ingredients used in whiskeymaking are wasted.

The portion of the fermented mash which remains after the distillation can be used for animal feed. The charred white oak barrels used only once in the United States are often sold overseas to age foreign whiskeys. The charcoal used to filter Tennessee whiskey can be pressed into charcoal briquets for barbecues.

Where To Learn More

Books

Jackson, Michael. The World Guide to Whisky. Darling Kindersley, 1987.

Grossman, Harold J. and Harriet Lembeck. Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers, and Spirits. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977.

Lichine, Alexis. Alexis Lachine's New Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits. Knopf, 1976.

Periodicals

Asher, Gerald. "Single Malt Scotch Whiskey." Gourmet, December 1989, pp. 94-99.

DeMarco, Dan and Frank Bechard. "New Weigh Scales Smooth Distillery's Production, Improve Inventory Control." Food Engineering, October 1986, pp. 95-96.

Johnson, Julie. "Mysteries of the Malt." New Scientist, January 26, 1991, pp. 56-59.

Letwin, William. "More Than a Drink." National Review, April 18, 1994, p. 14+.

Rose Secrest



User Contributions:

1
Raj Vansh
Just perfect information I wanted to start from somewhere to use my "Natural mineral spring water" at Lonavala, India.
Thank you
2
Manba Baraste, A. M.
Wondeful article. It has given me the insight I need to help design the management systems required in our plant here in Nairobi, Kenya.
Congratulations!
3
Beualah
Good Day

Can you please tell me which Whiskey is the one that only contains Rye.I can not have any thing with wheat in and would not want to give up drinking a good Whiskey.

Regards

beualah
4
amit
yeap a fine article but for those who have some knowledge about different kinds of spirits but a very tough language to understand who have no idea about spirits n wines n just wanted to know about manufacture for personal information not professional.
5
Helen Weeks
Does the pectin in jelly dilute whiskey when you drink it.

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