Whisky Knowledge

Single malt Scotch whisky is regarded by many as being superior to blended whisky. This is largely due to two notions:

While recapitulating the recent debate about bottle aging of whisky, something struck me. I have known it for years, but only know I saw the relation to that topic.

Why Old Kirschwasser is Crystal Clear

After having looked at the specifics of nosing and tasting whisky in the second part of this series, let’s now move on to the actual rating process which means applying a score to a whisky.

To make it short: Rating a whisky means giving it a score that indicates how well you like it. You can use 1 to 5 stars or a certain range of points or whatever. In the whisky world, a 100 point system is predominant which was adopted from wine rating by Michael Jackson.

How do we react, when whe drink a malt that we don’t know what distillery it is from?

With the cheap supermarket malts this is not much of a a problem. You get a whisky that is just about drinkable, and it’s not really important to know if it’s from Glen X or Glen Y.

When you plan to invite some friends to a whisky tasting there are quite a few things that should be considered. And there are some pitfalls you should avoid.

Many people do not realize that whisky and vodka are actually two different sides of the same coin. In a way they are completely different, but both are made from grain – if you don’t take into account some weird vodka varieties made from potatoes or even molasses.

1. How whisky is stored

After distillation, whisky is filled into wooden barrels and left there to mature for several years. Some countries have specific legislation about whisky storage, especially the traditional whisky producers like Scotland or the USA.

Scotland has by a large margin the highest amount of active distilleries in the world, so it is globally the most important whisky region. In terms of whisky, it is historically divided into several distinct regions.