Factopedia of your favourite Scotch

You might have observed the fact that the work "Whisky" is spelt without and 'e' whenever it is written with word Scotch, while you were browsing thru my blog. There are a bit of disputes as to why the Scot call it that way, but I would refrain from writing to a Scot "Whiskey". Did you know, Whisky was first found to be referred in Ireland, an not Scotland. It is believed monks in the region of Ireland started distilling Whisky around 5th century and in 1494 the first record was found in Scotland. It is derived from the Gaelic words uisage beatha, which in turn came from the Latin Acqua Vitae or “water of life.”

Usque baugh - The Water Of Life

At the most rudimentary step, Scotch Whisky is a distilled beer. Made using malted barley, but unlike beer as hops are not added and hence the wash is different. Scotch is distilled twice to get a strong and smooth spirit and then aged in oak barrels. A spirit to be termed as Whisky must be matured at least for 3 years and it can be called as Scotch, only if distilled and matured in Scotland. Some of the main classifications of Scotch Whisky are :

• Blended Whisky: This is a mix of grain whisky and malt whisky, and makes up the majority of Scotch that is consumed around the world.

• Single Grain Whisky: This is relatively rare and is made from non malted grains such as corn.

• Blended Malt Whisky: This is also sometimes known as “Vatted Malts” or “Pure Malts” and is some of my favourite whisky. It is made from blends of a number of single malt whiskies from across Scotland.

• Single Malt Whisky: This is made, as the name suggests, from malted barley grains from a single distillery. They’re often sold with age statements (10/12/18 years, etc.), which means that they are a blend of single malts from the same distillery where the youngest whisky used is the age stated on the bottle, unless it is a single cask bottle where the whisky must all be from the same making.

Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve Scotch Whisky

The Black Dog TGR is a blended Scotch Whisky, which is triple matured blended from single malt and grain whisky. The final maturation process takes place in Sherry casks. The TGR is accepeted a parallel to any 12 YO Scotch.