Ingredients and their characteristics
The ingredients used to make whisky include malt, grain, corn, rye, and wheat. Below is an explanation of each ingredient’s characteristics.
First is malt. Malt is generally barley that has gone through the malting process. Malting consists of germination and drying. Barley grains are soaked in water to encourage germination, during which enzymes are activated and the starch in the barley is converted into fermentable sugars. Once germination has progressed sufficiently, the malted barley is dried to stop further germination. That is how the malt we know is produced. To make whisky, this malt is crushed to extract fermentable sugars; the resulting wort is then fermented and distilled. Whisky made from malt retains more of the spirit’s inherent character, and as it interacts with the oak cask it develops even richer flavors.
Next is grain. “Grain” refers to cereals other than barley, such as corn, wheat, or rye. Grain whisky is also made through saccharification and fermentation like malt whisky, but unlike malt whisky, the spirit’s influence is weaker, resulting in a gentler flavor profile.
Corn is the main ingredient used in bourbon whisky. When corn is used to make a distilled spirit, it tends to be smooth, sweet, and rich in flavor.
Rye is also used as a whisky ingredient. Rye is characterized by a clean peppery note and its distinctive, stimulating spiciness. In addition, you can also perceive a lighter body and floral aromas.
Finally, wheat. Wheat is not as representative as the ingredients described above, but it is used from time to time. Its taste and aroma tend to be on the softer side.
Production process
The whisky production process follows this order: “Malting” → “Milling” → “Mashing” → “Fermentation” → “Distillation” → “Maturation” → “Blending” → “Bottling.”
Malting is the process of making malt. As mentioned earlier, it involves soaking barley in water and allowing it to germinate so that it sprouts. During this process, the grain’s starch is converted into water-soluble sugars, making the subsequent fermentation process easier.
Milling means grinding: the dried malt is crushed into a fine grist.
Mashing refers to saccharification. The crushed grain is put into a mash tun and mixed with hot water to maximize sweetness. Through this, the malt’s starch is converted into malt sugar, producing wort. The wort, which contains sugars suitable for fermentation, is then transferred to a fermentation vessel called a washback and fermented.
Fermentation is the process of adding yeast to the wort in the washback and fermenting it. This varies greatly by distillery, but it typically takes about 48 hours. The fermented result is called wash, and its alcohol content is only about 8%.
Next comes the long-awaited distillation. Whisky goes through a first and second distillation: the first uses a wash still, and the second uses a spirit still. In the first distillation, alcohol vapors rise inside the wash still and are condensed. The first distillation produces low wine, and the second distillation separates the output into three parts: foreshots, the middle, and the tails. Among these, the middle—called the middle cut—is collected separately and used as the spirit. The reason only the middle is used is that the foreshots contain acetone and methanol and cannot be consumed, while the tails contain many impurities and are largely unusable.
After that, the whisky goes through maturation. To be given a specific whisky designation, there is usually a minimum aging requirement in oak casks; for Scotch whisky, a representative standard is three years. However, it is typically aged longer than that. Through maturation, the spirit takes on the oak cask’s aroma, taste, and color. The sharp alcoholic taste and aroma present in the raw spirit diminish and merge with the cask’s characteristics, becoming smoother. The longer it is aged, the weaker the influence of the spirit becomes and the stronger the influence of the oak cask becomes. In addition, the longer it is aged, the alcohol strength of the liquid in the cask gradually decreases, and depending on the environment, evaporation reduces the volume by a certain percentage each year.
Blending is the process of mixing matured casks. In whisky, except for special limited releases or vintages, most products are made by blending multiple casks. This is an essential process for ensuring that a distillery’s product lineup maintains a consistent taste year after year. Even if you fill the same type of oak cask with the same spirit on the same day and age them side by side for the same period, after long maturation the two will not necessarily taste the same. Therefore, to preserve the distillery’s identity and consistent flavor and aroma, hundreds of casks—each with its own character—must be harmonized to create the desired profile. Because this work is extremely demanding and difficult, distilleries employ specialists with exceptional noses, palates, and memory, often called a “malt master” or “master distiller.”
The final step is bottling. Bottling is, as the name suggests, the process of putting the finished whisky into bottles as a commercial product. Once whisky is filled into properly sterilized bottles, the distillery label is applied, and the bottle is sealed with a cork, it is complete.
Sales
Whisky produced in this way generally has two sales channels.
Most whisky is sold directly by the distillery that produces it. In this case, each distillery creates a product lineup, categorizes it, and sells it as a commercial product—for example, XXX (distillery) 12-year, 15-year, and so on. Each year, the master distiller blends to meet the standards of that lineup. New whisky casks are used every year, and consumers expect the taste to be the same as before, so even an outstanding master distiller cannot use every cask. If a cask has matured in a direction too different from the existing lineup or the distillery’s overall direction, it will be difficult to use it. That does not mean the whisky in that cask tastes bad—it is simply different in direction. Therefore, a valuable whisky aged for years or even decades is not discarded just because its direction differs. So how is this whisky handled?
When a distillery ends up with whisky that has a different direction, it typically sells it to an independent bottler. Independent bottling means a company does not distill itself, but instead buys whisky from other distilleries, then blends and brands it for sale. In this case, the independent bottler usually puts its own brand name on the label and notes below which distillery it came from. From the consumer’s perspective, it is appealing because they can try a whisky with different flavors and aromas from a distillery they already like. From the supplier’s perspective, it is beneficial because valuable whisky can be sold without waste.