The principals for the distillation of whisky have changed little over the last 200 years. Just three natural ingredients are needed – water, cereal grains, and yeast. Some will say that you also need time, passion, and skill, but it is these three raw ingredients that make all the whisky in the world. Technology now aids production, but traditionally there are six stages to the process – malting, milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, and maturation.
The cereal grains will differ – the most common grains are barley, rye, corn, wheat, and maize – but are the basis of every whisky. Water is often from a source local to each distillery and will undergo levels of filtration. Yeast can be in liquid or powdered form with different strains of yeast creating different characteristics.
Production for all styles of whisky follows the same scientific process wherever it is made – sugar is extracted from the cereal, yeast is added, fermentation takes place to create alcohol, the alcohol is heated in a still, vapours from the heated liquid are condensed back to a liquid spirit and then put into a wooden barrel to mature. Each step of this process will change depending on the style of whisky and where it is made, but the process remains the same throughout the whisky world.
How Malt Whisky is Made
Characteristically made using malted grains which produce a liquid that is double or triple distilled in pot stills. Malted grains, most commonly barley, are ground then mashed to release sugars. Yeast is added to the solution to create alcohol, which is then batch distilled to a high alcohol strength ready for maturation.
This process is used to make single malt whiskies, blended whiskies, blended malts, and Irish pot still whiskeys.
How Grain Whisky is Made
Distilled in column, or Coffey, stills, grain whiskies can be made from any cereal grain – barley, wheat, corn, maize, or rye – that can be malted or unmalted. The production process sees grains milled, mashed, fermented, then continuously distilled to create a high alcohol strength spirit.
This process is used to make American whiskies such as Bourbon, single grain whiskies, and blended whiskies.
