Read about the making of scotch whiskey. Learn about the different stages of Scotch whisky making today.
The production of Scotch whisky begins with water. It is for this reason that many of the distilleries still found today are located adjacent to pure water sources such as a river or even a borehole. While transportation is far more effective today, when the vast majority of Scottish distilleries were erected, having to transport large quantities of fresh water proved to be difficult, thereby requiring the distilleries to be built near a plentiful source.
One of the things that separates Scotch whisky from other whiskies is that the water in Scotland tends to be much softer with significantly lower mineral and calcium contents. For the distilleries located on the west coast of Scotland, particularly on the islands, the water has a much higher peat content due the water running through peat bogs, which cause it to have a slightly brown tinge. While there is no direct evidence to suggest this natural peat effects the flavor of the whisky, many distilleries believe it to be special, and for that reason they are very protective of their water supply.
While there is no legal obligation to use Scottish barley to produce Scotch whisky, the vast majority of barley used to make whisky around the world is from Scotland, therefore making it cost effective to utilize local barley.
Once the water is collected it’s used in a variety of ways, the first of which is often to malt the barley. In order to successfully malt barley, the grains are soaked in the water which causes the starch to convert into a type of sugar called maltosewhich feeds a process known as Germination.
Over the next six days little shoots begin to grow all over the grains which lets the producer know the barley is ready to be dried. To do this, the distillery will elect to use hot air or peat smoke to dry out the grains which stops further growth of the shoots and prevents it from rotting. While the majority of distilleries now purchase their barley pre-malted, there are still a small handful of producers that choose to malt the barley from scratch. Despite the process being painstaking and lengthy, distilleries such as The Balvenie and Highland Park view it as a tradition and pride themselves on their malting floors.
Highland park malting floor
Now that the barley is properly malted, it gets ground until it resembles something like flour. The water source is again introduced and the mixture is poured into a vessel called the Mash Tun. As the barley mixture steeps in the hot water, the mashing tun separates the solids from the sugars and the process is repeated at least twice more. By the time this part of the production process is completed, the hot sugary liquid, called the Wort is ready to continue being turned into whisky.
The next step in whisky making is called the Fermentation Process. The wort is pumped into a wooden or stainless steel receptacle called the Washback and dried or creamed yeast is added to the mix. Once the yeast is added to liquid, it begins to rapidly multiply using up the oxygen in the washback and creating carbon dioxide. As blades mix the yeast into the wort, over the next 48 hours, the yeast begins to devour the sugars turning the wort into alcohol. The distiller now chooses whether or not to remove the liquid or let it sit for up to another 70 hours which produces a fruitier flavor.
The next step is the actual distillation of the whisky. This is when the alcohol is poured into a copper pot still to undergo a series of two distillations, or in some cases, three. The first distillation, called the Wash Still is where the alcohol is heated until it boils and its vapor is condensed into liquid and carried through the coiled pipes. The new liquid is then dumped into cooling vats and is now typically around 28% alcohol. Then, the process is repeated and the spirit is re-distilled until it reaches approximately 70% alcohol. As it distills, the vapor is pumped into a rectifying column, making its way through a water-cooled condenser to the spirit safe. The spirit safe then captures the purest cuts that will eventually mature into Scotch whisky.
What’s interesting to note is that the stills used are often a variety of shapes and sizes. What this does is changes the style of the whisky based on the type of flavor profiles the producer wants in its stock.
Next, the best cuts of the spirit are slightly diluted with more water and poured into wooden oak casks (usually from bourbon whiskey or spanish sherry) where the whisky will sit and mature for at least three years, developing a complex range of flavors and aromas as it soaks up the hidden spirits still buried deep in the wooden casks.
After it’s sat for the minimum required length of three years, it is now ready to be bottled or stored longer, increasing its age and complexity.
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