Whiskey

Copper whiskey vats at Maker’s Mark

Or is it Whisky? Seems like something that confuses a lot of folks, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg regarding the various levels of confusion regarding Whisk(e)y. To help dispel some of this confusion, I’m unfortunately going to have to embark upon a slightly longer post then I normally attempt, so please bear with me, I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.To E or not to E… let’s just get that out of the way quickly… the rule of thumb is that Irish and American whiskey is spelt “whiskey”, and Scotch and Canadian whisky is spelt “whisky”. Nobody is quite sure exactly where or why the difference, and in fact there aren’t even any real regulations that enforce this at all. Which is why both Maker’s Mark, and George Dickle, refer to themselves as “whisky” even though they are both American.

As we discussed when we covered Brandy, if you ferment fruit and then distill it, the results will be Brandy. Thus distilled wine, is brandy. Likewise, if you ferment grains and then distill it, the results will be whiskey. So wine is to brandy, as beer is to whiskey. The difference of course is that beer includes hops, which (traditionally) are not in whiskey (Bierschnapps however is a distilled spirit, technically a whisky, made from beer, and so will include a very distinctive hoppy flavor).

The confusion crops up when you start to iterate through the various major types of whiskey, and try to understand their differences. There are technically four different major whiskey categories, Irish, Scotch, American, and Canadian. Each of these has very distinctive flavors unto themselves, and even within these categories there are some distinctions and similarities.

Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky are both made from malted barley. For the most part, the process for both of these is the same, with one special difference. After the barley has been “malted” (soaked in water until the grain germinates), the germination (which activates enzymes which initiate the process of converting starches to sugars) needs to be stopped by drying the grain out. In Ireland, the grain is dried in a closed environment, where the heat source is just applying heat, and no flavor (like an oven). In Scotland the drying is done in an open environment, where the smoke from the heat source can flavor the grains (like a barbeque). Add to this the fact that in Scotland they burn peat to dry out the grain, and you end up with a very distinctive smoky flavor being brought into the process which will be part of the final product.

You’ve probably also heard the term “Single Malt” as being an important aspect of Scotch Whisky. Many folks are confused as to exactly what this means, some thinking that a Single Malt is a whisky made from a single vintage, type, or batch of malted barley. In fact the term is really two different, and for the most part unrelated, designations. It should more precisely be “Single Distillery, Malted Barley”. And just means that all of the whisky in the bottle has come from a single distillery, and that it is all made from malted grain/barley (no fillers). A “Blended” whisky on the other hand is created by a company that doesn’t actually distill any whisky themselves, but instead purchases whisky from various independent or contract distillers and then blends them together (often with non-malted grain alcohol) to create their product.

American whiskey got its start from Irish and Scottish immigrants continuing their distillation practices when they got to the new world. They made due with the grains and methods on hand, and so instead of using mostly barley for their whisky, they would use various other grains, usually mostly rye. This whiskey would often be referred to as “rye whiskey”, which was soon shortened to just “rye”. Then the Whiskey Rebellion occurred in the 1790’s, which was essentially the government insisting on collecting taxes from whiskey distillers, and those distillers feeling unduly put upon. The results of this was that many distillers picked up and headed west, setting up shop again once they reached the far less regulated territories around what is now Kentucky. The grains produced there were of a slightly different ratio then the rye-heavy recipe along the east coast, with corn now playing the primary role. One of the ways this new “corn liquor” would make its way out of the area, would be to be stored in barrels, sent to a port in Bourbon county, and then shipped down the Mississippi to its final destination. Soon, since these barrels would often have “Bourbon County” (or just Bourbon) stamped on them, their contents would be referred to as “that whisky/liquor from Bourbon”, or just plain Bourbon for short. This then gives us two distinct whiskey styles in America, rye whiskey, which needs to be made from at least 51% rye, and bourbon whisky which needs to be made from at least 51% corn.

In Canada, things were a little bit different. While folks in America set about with specific intentions of distilling whisky, Canadians undertook this task more out of storage necessity than anything else. If you were a farmer growing grain, you would usually need this grain to be milled down to flour for it to be used to make bread and such. Few farmers had their own grain mills, instead relying on Millers in the area who had built large gristmills which would usually use the power of a nearby stream to power their large stone milling wheels. This service of course came at a fee, which many farmers would simply pay the miller by giving them some of the grain they were having milled. This meant that the miller would often end up with a large hodge-podge of grain that they would need to store. Grain couldn’t be kept forever, and so the millers ran into a storage problem that they needed to solve. Turning this grain into whisky became one common way to solve this problem. Which is why there aren’t any specific rules in Canada which denote what the grain makeup of their whiskies need to be.

This hopefully provides a very quick primer on the main differences between Irish, Scottish, American, and Canadian whiskies. However, before I walk away from this topic, I feel it is necessary to deal with an issue that I see confuses far too many people. I often see many people, including bartenders; referring to Canadian whisky as “rye”. There are in fact very few whiskies coming out of Canada which contain more than a slight amount of rye in their recipe, so what gives? In a word, “Prohibition”. The original whiskey of America was rye whiskey. It was manufactured primarily on the east coast, where the majority of the population was, and was so common that the term “rye” became virtually synonymous with whiskey. When Prohibition hit, all distilleries in American were required to shut down, thus stopping all (legal) production of whiskey, rye or otherwise. Canada however had no such problem, and so most of the illicit whiskey that was available in America during that time was Canadian whiskey. Thus, if a customer asked for a “rye”, what they got was Canadian. If a cocktail recipe referred to “Whiskey” or “Rye” as an ingredient, it would get Canadian. Fortunately, Prohibition didn’t last too long, and eventually it was once again legal to distill whiskey in America. Unfortunately the majority of rye distilleries were on the well-populated east coast, and with space at a premium, had often already been converted to other purposes by the time Prohibition ended. The Kentucky distilleries, which were mostly making corn-predominate bourbon, had just been shuttered up, and many were able to unlock their doors and start back in production. This meant that no true “rye” whiskey was being produced to fill the void, which left Canadian whisky to continue playing that role.

To this day, there are only a handful of true rye whiskies being made, the majority being either bourbon, or blended American whiskey. But Canadian whisky is not rye, and should never be confused for it.

The long time classic cocktails to make with American Whiskey are of course the Old Fashioned, and the Manhattan, but I also love to recommend folks try a properly made Sazerac, and you can refer to our growing collection of other articles regarding whiskey for more drink ideas and information.