Learn How the Flavours of Blended Malt Whisky Were Created

Whisky - The wise old spirit

"Whisky and ice and everything nice." said someone wise. Derived from the Gaelic word ‘’Uisce’’ meaning water, Whiskey or Whisky is a kind of distilled alcoholic beverage. Although, the art of distillation began as early as 43 A.D, the production of Whisky could only be traced back to the 15th century A.D.

Blended Scotch and Blended Malt Whisky comprises of 90 percent of production in whiskies today, is primarily obtained from grain and malt mash that is fermented for many years. Blended Scotch whisky is a product that contains a mix of malt and grain whiskies aged in oak barrels. Said to improve with its age (years of fermentation, whisky is often referred to as "Aqua Vitae" which means Water of Life in Latin.

Scotch, Blends and kinds

The word ‘Scotch’ is the internationally identified terminology for "Scotch Whisky". Scotch whisky is further classified into five types: Single Malt, Single Grain, Blended Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Whisky and Blended Grain.

Single Malt Whisky

Single malt Whisky is distilled in pot stills at a single distillery. Rightly called as Single Malt, it is produced with no addition of other cereals and grains. It is fermented solely from water and malted barley.

Single Grain Whisky

Similar to Single Malt, Single Grain is also distilled at a single distillery. It may have other whole malted or unmalted cereals or grains.

Blended Scotch Whisky

Blended Scotch is a blend between one or more single grain whiskies. It could also be a blend between one or more single malt scotch whiskies.

Blended Malt Whisky

Blended malt Whisky is produced from Blended malt which was previously referred to as vatted or pure malt. This type contains more than one single malt Scotch whisky from different distilleries blended together, thus giving it its name.

Blended Grain Whisky

Spirits in this category are made from more than one single grain Scotch whisky, fermented at different distilleries.

An interesting fact to note is that, up until the 1960s, majority of single malts were used only to produce blended scotch. As a matter of fact, commercialization of single malt whiskies has only been introduced recently. Composition of the average blended scotch ranges between 60%–85% of single grain or single malt whisky. Even today, out of the total production of single malt whisky, maximum amount goes to produce the blended Scotch whisky.

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