![]() The general rule of thumb is this: the longer you age the alcohol, the smoother it tastes. The aging process is what makes whiskey drinkable. The maturation process: What makes whiskey so smooth Here’s the process New York Distilling Company uses to make their rye whiskey. Here the alcohol can swirl and condense until it reaches the desired strength. The first column allows for the steam and wash descend, and the second column carries the alcohol from the wash. When it comes to American grain whiskies like bourbon, the most popular type of still is the column still. It features two columns that allow the mash to flow continuously through the columns. ![]() This is a variation of the column still (or “continuous still”) is used by most distillers in Europe and America. (Well, depending on the brand of whiskey you’re drinking.) The stills are typically made from copper, since copper properties remove sulfur from the alcohol, making it taste less like rotten eggs. Nowadays distilleries use modern equipment to eliminate bacteria and to help standardize the process. It was incredibly potent and brutal, mainly because they hadn’t yet figured out the secret to whiskey. It wasn’t until the 15th century in Scotland and Ireland that things started to get interesting, with the Europeans making a distilled alcohol for medicinal purposes.īut this was still nowhere near what we would call modern whiskey. Once the Babylonians figured this out, the process hopped around Europe and Asia until the 13th century, when Italians finally figured out how to utilize this process for distilling wine. Distillation is essentially heating liquid to evaporation, then collecting the condensed, cooled liquid that’s left. In 2,000 BC the Babylonians were needing to make better perfumes, they figured out a rudimentary version of what we know as distillation. Whether the whisky is blend or from a single cask (or single pot)Īll of these factor in to how the particular whisky you’re drinking tastes the way it does.Here are some of the variables that affect the taste of whisky: This is largely in part because of the large number of variations in the whisky production process. That’s what makes the malted alcohol so interesting: no two whiskies taste the same. Canadian whisky tastes completely different than bourbon whisky. It’s confusing, but then again, so is the English language. There are a couple of exceptions to the rule when brands like Maker’s Mark use the old-style “whisky” to describe their alcohol. Since 1960, though, Americans have generally used “whiskey” when talking about American whiskies, and “whisky” when referring to spirits made outside of the US. This wasn’t always the case in the US, when up until 1960 both terms were used interchangeably. In the US and Ireland you’ll generally see “whiskey”, and “whisky” is generally used most everywhere else. You’ll sometimes see two different spellings: “whiskey” and “whisky”. These different aspects of the creation of whiskey provide infinite possibilities for different types of whiskies that you can see stocked on the shelves of your local liquor store. The variation in tastes and characteristics between different types of whiskies can be broken down into these variables: Whiskey is incredibly important to most of the world, and its history dates back to 2,000 BC. During the American Revolution the alcohol was used as currency, and George Washington had a sizable distillery at his home. Nearly every country has their own variation of whiskey, and it has even been the cause of violent uprisings. The term “whiskey” is incredibly broad, and can mean many things to many different people. Whisky is often aged in wooden casks, and must be distilled to a minimum of 40% alcohol by volume (ABV). Whisky (commonly spelled “whiskey”) is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from a fermented grain mash. The word “whiskey” comes from the Gaelic uisce beatha, which means “water of life”. Corn whiskey (also White Lightning or Moonshine).The maturation process: What makes whiskey so smooth.
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