Whiskey
Whiskey is a spirit produced from the distillation of grain. Debate still rages about whether the Irish Celts or Scots were the first to produce the “water of life,” but the first written recording of whiskey’s creation dates to 15th century Scotland. Origin isn’t the only debate concerning whiskey. Spelling is contentious, too. When distilled in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, it is spelled whisky without the e, while whiskey distilled in Ireland and the United States is most often, but not always, spelled with the e. Technically, whiskey is a distilled spirit produced from a fermented grain mash, distilled to no more than 190 proof, and bottled at no less than 80 proof. All whiskey, with the exception of corn whiskey and “white” whiskey, must be aged for some period of time in oak containers. Whiskey is classified by country of origin (i.e. Canadian whisky) and may be further defined by the type of grain used (i.e. rye whiskey) or the way it is produced (i.e. single malt).
Top Whiskey Posts:
The Top 10 Whiskeys of 2018
The Top 10 Whiskeys of 2017
All About Dusties: 1970s vs. 2018 Bourbon Tasted Side by Side
Top 10 Bourbons Under $20
What Grains are Used to Make Whiskey (And Why?)
From Barrel To Bottle: How Wood Aging Impacts Whiskey
The bad news: Many of the world’s “great whiskeys” are ones you will likely never see in the real world. Pinwhinnie Royale? Dallas Dhu? Braunstein Danish Whiskey? The good news: If Great Whiskeys is right, ...
If you can’t love a whisky with a name like Hankey Bannister, you can’t love anything. Well, maybe a great name can’t buy you love after all. This Scotch blend is fairly typical — Highland ...
Shop carefully and you can get a single malt whisky for 20 bucks: Though I’ve rarely seen it in bars, Speyburn is a staple of grocery stores around these parts, where it’s cheaper even than ...
We’ve been writing about Buffalo Trace’s awe-inspiring Antique Collection for longer than I can remember, and each year it seems like these five Bourbons are better than the last time out. This year that streak ...
Johnnie Walker, like the rest of the whisky industry, is betting on black. Twice. Formerly available only as a duty-free product, the company is (today) releasing as a limited edition a new blended Scotch called ...
Henry McKenna is a value-priced Bourbon from Heaven Hill with serious street cred: Single barrel and bottled in bond (100 proof), it’s aged 10 years and sold to retailers, who pick out their own barrels ...
Distilled in Indiana and bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky, Redemption is part of a growing cadre of craft distillers who go guerrilla on getting their stuff produced (a la Angel’s Envy), releasing amazingly high-quality product at ...
This year, the “small” batch gets bigger than ever: Four Roses is batching four of its 10 Bourbon recipes into the 2011 Limited Edition Small Batch release. This year, the annual Limited Edition Small Batch ...
Earlier this year our friends at Buffalo Trace released the first in a line of new whiskeys named for pioneering Bourbon-man E.H. Taylor. A second spirit is now ready to join that line: Colonel E.H. ...
100% rye: an oddity. 100% rye from Canada, blended with Colorado-sourced water, and bottled in Sonoma, California — a real oddity. Technically a Canadian whisky, this big rye is named after Old West lawman William ...
