Whisk(e)y 101

[Linn]

What iswhisk(e)y and who in the hell invented the damn stuff?!!!

It is an over-simplification to say that whiskey is distilled beer, but yet that is exactly what it is. We'll come back to this later when we talk about mashbills.

OK, so somebody dumped a bunch of beer into a still; ran it through and called it whiskey. Who in the Sam Hell was that???

There is a pissing contest that rages to this very day between the Irish and the Scots as to who first invented whiskey. A bit over a thousand years ago one or the other of these two fine Celtic cultures made the first whiskey and there are no written records to tell just who did it first. I tend to side with the Irish on this issue as I can just see some Irishmen looking at an alembic (pot still) after unloading it from a Roman ship saying "What is it, Sean?" "I dunno, but lets fill it full of beer and see what happens!"

The Alembic was invented in ancient Egypt and used for distilling down colors for use in metalcraft along with tinctures for use in medicines of the day. The Egytians apparently never thought to run some wine or beer through the still, or at least we have no record of it if they did. The Alembic itself refers to the hand hammered sheet copper head of the still that was formed about the size of a persons head and a long beak or snout protruded out and this is where the distilate emerged. The Alembic was a snug press fit onto the top of the pot. The pot itself was a large earthenware piece that was heated indirectly while immersed in a wet sand bath contained in mudbrick structure not unlike say a brick barbeque pit that was heated by a fire from underneath. What we know today as the condensor coil or worm had not as yet been invented.

Eventually the Romans conquered the known world. Again the Alembic found continous employment in distilling colors for metals and stuff for medicine, and just like the Egyptians the Romans didn't toss any ardent potables through the thing to see what came out. Since the Romans were mastercraftsmen of wood; stone, and metal it is likely that they dispensed with the Egytpian earthenware pot in favor of a less fragile and much more robust all copper pot. Some Roman put an Alembic on a ship and sailed for either Ireland of Scotland, and this is where the aforementioned pissing begins.

Once man had passed from the stone age into the agricultural age civilizations arose and every civilization brews beer. They used the cereal grains at hand be it rice; wheat, oats, corn, or barley. In the case of the Celtic tribes barley is what grew in the chilly wet climates of both Scotland and Ireland. Since beer is a malted beverage some of this grain has to be malted. Malting is simply allowing the grain to germinate and then drying it out and then mill it. The grain was then cooked in water and the liquid drained off. This is called a wort. The wort needs to ferment and wild yeasts in the air did this job nicely. Instead of taking the fermented wort to the brew kettle for beer, off it goes to the still to become whiskey. If your going to make whiskey the fermented wort is now called 'distiller's beer'.

Eventually all sorts of advances were made in distilling apparatus with the condensing coil or worm being chief among them allowing for quicker and more efficient whiskey making. Then in the late 1830's Aneias Coffey patented the continuous or column still that is used so effiecently in the making of American whiskies today, as well as most lowland Scottish whiskies.

Now let's talk about the differences between whiskies. Both Scottish and Irish are all made with 100% barley just as they always have been. They could be all malted barely or some combination of unmalted and malted barley. Each distillery has it's own unique combination that they think makes their whisky better than the rest.

Here in America we have three basic whiskies; Bourbon; Rye, and Tennessee. Bourbon must be by law at least 51% corn and most are at the 70 to 75% mark the rest being some combination of rye or wheat and malted barley. Rye is of course at least 51% rye with the rest being some combination of corn and malted barley. Tennessee whiskey uses a bourbon mashbill, but after the distilation is done and before the whiskey goes into the barrel it is leached through white sugar maple charcoal. Bourbon and Tennessee whiskies must be barreled at no more than 125 proof in new charred white oak barrels. Rye and corn whiskey can be put into used cooperage.

So now you know! Quick and easy without the triva, but even taking huge historical liberties it is still accurate enough.

- Linn -