What would life be without the round-eyed brute comfort that get us through the calendar week . estimable friends , garish TV , comfy slippersand a squeamish glass ofwhiskey . For those of us who can pour a duet of ounces of Fireball into a glass and call it day , we commend you . However , there are some of us who require a number more bang for our horse when sip humanity ’s finest vice . There ’s a scotch - drinker cuddle within all of us — some of us just do n’t know it yet .
Despite the integral ease of drinking the stuff and nonsense , a luck has to happen to a nursing bottle of whiskey before it can de jure be classified as such . standardized to Bourbon dynasty in vividness , alcoholcontent and at times taste , Scotch malt whiskey whisky ( withoutthe " e " ) is in a category of its own andcannotbe labeled as Bourbon dynasty . So , what makes what you ’re drinking scotch and how does it get that way ?
Scotch vs. Bourbon
" Scotch and bourbon are both whiskeys , " saysScotch Brand Ambassador , Greg King . " whisky is kind of the umbrella terminus like ' wine-coloured ' or ' beer . ' you may have Bourbon dynasty whiskey — which is American whisky — or you may have scotch whisky made in Scotland . " Greg explains that a lot of what get a whisky scotch as match to bourbon comes down to the legalities of where it ’s from and how it ’s made . Scotch has been around for hundreds of class , with the very first quotation of the heart appear in the " Exchequer Rolls"nearly 500 years ago , in 1494 .
For a whiskey to be classified as Bourbon dynasty , it has to be made in the U.S. and contain at least 51 percent corn . To be a bourbon , whisky must also be get on in unexampled , charred oak tree barrels . Unlike Scotch malt whisky , Bourbon dynasty is made from what ’s known as a " mash bill " — a mixture of grains used in the yield of whisky . Scotch , on the other hand , is made from malt barley that has been matured in oak barrels for a minimum of three years .
Tried and reliable scotch hails from — where else — Scotland . As of 2019 , there were 133 operating Scotch whisky still across Scotland , with far-famed firebrand like The GlenDronach , Glenfiddich , The Glenlivet , Macallan and Glenglassaugh , create their way around the humankind and into tumblers all over the humanity .
Sweet vs. Smokey
For the whisky drinker with a pallet for spirits , tasting the difference between Scotch whisky and Bourbon dynasty is easy . Bourbon tends to be on the sweet side , while scotch savor more smokey .
Those less experienced with whiskeys may have a more difficult time at first — peculiarly if they ’re drinking a particularly smokey bottleful of scotch like BenRiach 10 - year undivided malt .
That taste actually comes from the malting process , in which the barley grain is exposed to a pungent peaty smoke during the drying process . Laphroaig actuallydries its malt liquor over a peat firefor about 18 hours , allowing the dry barley to absorb the smoke , giving it that distinguishable discernment .
Of course , there are those bottleful of scotch considered must - haves within the whisky community ; these come from distilleries like Ardbeg , The Balvenie and Laphroaig . What micturate these bottles so alone is the " peaty " smell that issue forth through with each sip . Scottishpeatis formed from the raw decay ( decomposition ) of plant life cloth alone to Scotland ’s peatlands , bogs , quagmire , moors or muskegs .
Like wines from France or California , a connoisseur might be able to blame where a scotch comes from look on the tasting . The Highlands up N bring forth a more full - bodied scotch with a peaty , smokey taste ; a smoother , unfermented scotch is bring on in the lowlands ; and Speyside Scotch whiskey comes from the NE — a realm King describes as the " Napa Valley of Scotland . " Because of the lush land and double-dyed environmental conditions , the high concentration of Scotland ’s distilleries are actually based in the Speyside region .
There are , of grade , exceptions to the " all scotch comes from Scotland " rule . In 1918,Masataka Taketsuruwent to Scotland with one charge in mind — to take how to make scotch . After inscribe in the University of Glasgow , Taketsuru took interpersonal chemistry courses and apprenticed at a number of malt whiskey distilleries before get over the art of malt whiskey - fashioning . In 1940 , the first bottle of Nikka Whisky collide with the market as the first Japanese scotch .
Along with Nikka , there are Scotch malt whisky — or , at least , iterations of scotches — from Taiwan , India , Sweden , andAmerica . Despite the distilling method , these bottlescannot be classifiedas scotches , butcanbe classified as " single malts " as long as they ’re a malt whiskey from a single still .
