What is whisky?

When I sat down to write this post, I bounced around the Internet and referred to some of my books to find an easy to digest explanation about what a whisky is.  The problem I found was that the answer was too mechanical (i.e. whisky (ˈwɪskɪ) n. 1: a spirit made by distilling fermented cereals, which is matured and often blended) or assumed the reader already had certain knowledge.  So, let me make this long, but simple.

Whisky is a distilled spirit.  Which means that you have to take something that has alcohol in it and refine or “distill” it.  There is a long list of spirits you can distill. Other spirits include brandy (distilled from wine), rum (distilled from sugarcane or molasses), vodka (distilled from potatoes or grain but not aged), and gin (also distilled from grain and flavored with juniper berries and other ingredients but not aged.)

Whisky is distilled from one, or a combination, of the following four grains: Barley, Rye, Corn, and Wheat.  Simply put, you take water, one of these four grains, add yeast (which converts the sugars in the grain into alcohol), heat it in a copper still, collect the condensation and repeat.

While gin and vodka are also generally distilled from grain, they are not aged in wood barrels.  Whisky is further defined in that the process includes aging in oak barrels.  The oak is air permeable which helps oxidize the raw spirit and release flavor compounds which gives whisky its signature taste.

Remember that the word whisky is a broad term covering categories like Scotch, Irish Whiskey, and Bourbon.  Each of those categories has its own set of rules and regulations that define it.  So, when the bartender asks, "What'll you be having?", don't just say "Whisky", or you'll get a dirty look.  Trust me.

Sláinte