Whisky Knowledge

One of the lesser known pleasures of a whisky blogger who takes his thing seriously is diving into the legalese of whisky laws and regulations.

For centuries it has ben regarded as something like an iron law that Scotch whisky had to be distilled in stills of a minimum capacity of 400 gallons or later 1800 litres. Not!

In 2008 there was a slightly disturbing news about Diageo trying to use cling film wrapped around whisky casks to stop evaporation. Time to tackle this.

Many whisky lovers complain that the prices for their favourite tipple are often too high, and I myself have joined this choir on various occasions. But to know if a price is too high we must first know what price is fair.

One of the first things any aspiring maltheads learn is that whisky is drunk by the dram, the act of doing this being aptly named dramming. They will soon find out that the dram is an immensely flexible unit of measure.

Here is the basic knowledge you need to find your way around in the world of Scotch whisky, divided into ten categories.

This debunking is a bit unusual, I have to admit. It is not about whisky itself at all but rather about the perception of the Scotch whisky industry in relation to other spirit producing nations.

In many articles about whisky you can find statements like “The difference between Scotch an bourbon is that Scotch tastes smoky”. This is a generalization that is simply not correct.

For many afficionados, the ultimate way of enjoying their whisky is from single cask bottlings. But we have to keep in mind that no two casks are alike, even if they are from the same source and are stored next to each other in the same warehouse.