whisky

Distilled spirit made from cereals: Scotch whisky from malted barley, Irish whiskey usually from barley, and North American whiskey and bourbon from maize and rye. Scotch is usually blended; pure malt whisky is more expensive. Whisky is generally aged in wooden casks for 4–12 years.

The spelling ‘whisky’ usually refers to Scotch or Canadian drink and ‘whiskey’ to Irish or American. The earliest written record of whisky comes from Scotland in 1494 but the art of distillation is thought to have been known before this time.

Types of whisky
Scotch whisky is made primarily from barley, malted, then heated over a peat fire. The flavoured malt is combined with water to make a mash, fermented to beer, then distilled twice to make whisky at 70% alcohol; this is reduced with water to 43% of volume.

Irish whiskey is made as Scotch, except that the malt is not exposed to the peat fire and thus does not have a smoky quality, and it is distilled three times. Irish whiskey is usually blended.

Canadian whisky was introduced early in the 19th century and is a blend of flavoured and neutral whiskies made from mashes of maize, rye, wheat, and barley malt. It is usually aged for six years.

American whiskey was introduced in the 18th century and is made from barley malt with maize and rye, made into a beer, then distilled to 80% alcohol and reduced to 50–52% with water, and is aged in unused, charred white-oak barrels. Bourbon is characterized by the flavour of maize.

Japanese whisky is made by the Scotch process and blended.

Straight whisky is unmixed or mixed with whisky from the same distillery or period; blended whisky is a mixture of neutral products with straight whiskies or may contain small quantities of sherry, fruit juice, and other flavours.

Grain whisky is made from unmalted grain mixed with malt.