Advanced Whisky Vocabulary Lesson

In February, we already took you on a 'vocabulary lesson' on the subject of Whisky. Don't worry, at Whisky.com no one has to sit in a classroom! But maybe you have browsed through our knowledge or distillery pages and wondered how small a small batch is or what a tub full of worms has to do with Whisky production? In this 'lesson' we would like to go into terms related to the production of Whisky. From the processing of the barley to the bottling of the Whisky, we keep coming across terms that, at first, raise big questions.

Let's start from the beginning: The raw material for Single Malt Whisky is, of course, barley. At first, this is malted, hence the name Single Malt. The barley is initially spread out on a large surface, the malting floor, and soaked in water for several days. After the grains begin to germinate, they are dried in order to interrupt germination and protect the grain from mold. This is done by spreading the damp grain on the perforated drying floor and firing it from below with heat from the kiln. Kilns were used as early as 6,000 BC, and at that time could reach temperatures of up to 900°C. Kilns are used, among other things, for drying ceramics, tobacco, or of course malted barley. Some distilleries use peat as a fuel, the smoke from which gives the malt and thus later the Whisky a special, smoky aroma. Have you ever wondered why so many distilleries have typical Asian-looking roofs? The so-called pagoda roofs serve as a cover for the chimney of a kiln, so that rain does not fall in, and yet the smoke can evaporate from under the pagoda.

After malting, two tanks with interesting names are used. First, the malt goes into the mash tun, a large tank for leaching out the mash with the help of hot water. In the mash tun, hot water is poured over the malt to wash out the malt sugar. This is needed for the subsequent fermentation, which takes place in the washbacks. In these fermentation tanks, the 'wort' from the mash tun is converted into 'wash', also called beer, by adding fermentation yeast. This beer contains no hops, so it is not the pint we know from the pub around the corner. After fermentation, the beer has about eight to nine per cent ABV, which is then increased during distillation in stills.

In Scotland, mostly pot stills are used, which are copper stills with a bulky, spherical foot and a neck that tapers upward. The alcohol vapour that finds its way through this thinning neck ends up in the condenser, where it is cooled and liquefied again. Some distilleries still work with the so-called worm tubs. These have nothing to do with small, long creatures wriggling through the earth. A worm tub is a large wooden vat filled with water and containing a copper snake as a condenser. As it passes through the snake, the distillate cools, and has an alcohol content of just under 70 per cent ABV after distillation. This so-called new make spirit, however, consists only of the middle cut. Now what is that again, you ask? Simply put, it's the 'usable middle part' when distilling in batches. The so-called 'cuts' are controlled in the spirit safe, a sealed brass box with glass panes for inspection. This is where you adjust when the foreshots end and where the faints begin, both of which do not flow into the centerpiece, i.e. the new make spirit. The residue that remains during distillation is called pot ale. This only has a residual alcohol content of about one percent, but it contains valuable proteins and minerals from the grain. Therefore, after draining, the pot ale is mixed together with the draff, the remains of the mashing process, and further used as high-quality animal feed.

How does the spirit become Whisky? Well, of course, by storing it in casks. Scotch Whisky matures for at least three years in oak casks, American Whiskey for at least two. Some Whiskies are bottled as single casks. Depending on the size of the cask, this results in only about 100 to 300 numbered bottles. Getting hold of such a bottle is, of course, something special, as there are very few on the market compared to standard bottlings, which are always available. A small batch bottling also includes a limited number of released bottles. They do not come from a single cask, but relatively few selected casks that are blended together and bottled. Not only are there different types of casks, but there are also different types of warehouses. A dunnage warehouse, for example, is a low warehouse with a tamped, moisture-permeable floor. The name 'dunnage' indicates the simple nature of these warehouses. The type of warehouse is logically less efficient for distilleries, as it offers space for only a few casks. Therefore, many distilleries have so-called racked warehouses or palletised warehouses, where casks can be better stacked in racks or on pallets.

So after all the complicated production steps, some of which take a lot of time and manpower, the Whisky ends up in the bottle or in your glass. Often, a poured Whisky is also called dram. But what does that actually mean and how much is it? The word 'dram' indicates that it's a very small amount. The typical amount of Whisky poured is between 28 and 35ml.

With this in mind, enjoy your dram and your weekend! And if you come across new terms, look up everything about Whisky in our Whisky Glossary!