edukatorz.com

We’ve tried really hard over the last few weeks to familiarize you with the different whiskey types and regions where they’re produced. We think we’ve done a pretty good job covering all the major categories. Unfortunately, that means we’re almost at the end of our discussion of whiskeys. On the up side, there are lots of other types of alcohol to talk about… and we really like beer…

But back to the present! Here’s a review of the major whiskeys we’ve covered over the last couple of months, which we hope you’ve been drinking along with our posts:

Bourbon. An intrinsically American style of whiskey, bourbon is notable for being made mostly from corn and for the strict legal requirements governing its distillation.

Tennessee Whiskey. Another traditional American style of whiskey that uses corn, Tennessee whiskey is similar to bourbon, but has fewer legal standards.

Rye Whiskey. The third important American whiskey, rye whiskey’s popularity has been in decline but holds an important place in American history and is delicious.

Canadian Whiskey. A sad, flavorless blended style from our northern neighbors that the Edukatorz don’t drink, and neither should you.

Scotch (Whisky). The whole of Scotland is whiskey-mad, and they are definitely the power hitters in the game. Think of it like an SAT problem – Whisky:Scotland::Wine:France. We gave an overview of the history, discussed the types of Scotch, and went over the different regions.

Irish Whiskey. The other traditional stronghold of whiskey, Irish whiskey is generally triple-distilled. While different in style from Scotch, and smaller in scope, the few Irish whiskeys produced today should be taken seriously and drank often.

Of course, there are whiskeys from other places, too, just less of it. The Edukatorz don’t really care too much about other whiskeys, but feel like we should give them a nod. Here are some other notable producers of whiskey:

Japan jumped on the whisky bandwagon relatively early compared to the other non-traditional whiskey-producing countries, with the first commercial distillation starting in 1924.. They tend to follow the Scotch style and make single malts and blends. Try the Yamazaki, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Australia, being an ex-British penal colony, naturally produces some whiskeys. They are usually single-malt, and come mainly from Tasmania. We’re told some are quite good.*

Germany has deviated from their delicious beer and ice wine traditions to step into the wonderful world of whiskey distillation. A recent development, they haven’t really developed a unique style and tend to mimic single malts and bourbons. We have infinite trust in the German taste in alcohol, however, so this has to be going somewhere good.

Finland, Wales, France (Brittany), and the Netherlands all have a couple distilleries. England produced a lot of whiskey in the 19th century, and one distillery recently started selling whiskey from there again. Indian whiskey isn’t whiskey, it’s rum. Don’t get it twisted.

While we could probably go on talking about whiskey for a few more months, the posts would likely begin to descend into the realms of slavish propaganda (I mean more than they have already) or insanely boring technicalities. So, to spare you, we’re going to cut ourselves off and call a cab, because drunk driving is for losers.

These posts are just a rough introduction to the magical drink that is whiskey. Hopefully you learned something new, and possibly even gained a deeper appreciation for our favorite liquor. Here’s to your health!

*Beaker, as a rule of thumb, does not trust Australians (don’t ask), so wouldn’t know anything about their whiskeys.

Whiskey distilling in Ireland probably dates back longer than 800 years, and many believe that the art of distilling was spread through Europe by Irish missionary monks. The oldest surviving distillery is the Old Bushmills, which was granted its license in 1608 by King James I. Only four distilleries operate in Ireland today, but at the turn of the 19^th century, between 1200 and 2000 (legal and illegal) distilleries were in operation.

Triple Distillation

Most Irish whiskeys are distilled three times, as opposed to twice, like Scotches. The Irish whiskeys also use little or no peat, so you don’t get the harsh smokiness you find in a lot of scotches. Irish whiskey tends to be smoother, with a cleaner taste than Scotch. There are, of course, exceptions to these rules on both sides, but it’s a good rule of thumb.

Pure Pot Still

Pure pot still whiskey is a distillation style unique to Ireland. It is made from a mixture of malted and unmalted barley distilled in a pot still. It used to be widespread, but today the only examples are Redbreast and Green Spot. However, it is not a legally protected term, so some single malt whiskeys are labeled pot still, even though they do not use any unmalted barley.

The Distilleries

The New Midleton Distillery produces Jameson, Paddy, Powers, Midleton, Redbreast and Green Spot (the Green Spot is produced specifically for Mitchell & Son of Dublin and is not generally available outside that city). Old Bushmills Distillery produces all the Bushmills, Black Bush, and 1608. Cooley Distillery produces Connemara, some Knappogues, Michael Collins and Tyrconnell. In 2007, Kilbeggan Distillery was reopened by Cooley and began to produce “The Spirit of Kilbeggan.” Only these last two distilleries are Irish-owned; Pernod-Ricard owns New Midleton and Diageo owns Old Bushmills.

We’ve been talking about Scotch for the last couple weeks, and by now you should realize that Scottish people take their whiskey very seriously. Accordingly, Scotland’s whiskey production is split into regions like you would have for wine. The last thing you need to be prepared to buy a bottle of Scotch is an overview of these regions and their major distilleries, so let’s get into it.

The Lowlands

This region is in the southern part of Scotland, the border stretching from the Clyde estuary to the Tay estuary. Today, the Lowlands currently claims only three distilleries: Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, and Glenkinchie. These produce some of Scotland’s more delicate whiskeys, with grassy, malty characteristics.

The Highlands

The Highlands is pretty much the rest of Scotland, with the other regions representing much smaller geographic areas within the Highlands. That makes a general characterization of Highland whiskeys kind of difficult, and these whiskeys range from sweet to dry, some with fruity notes or even smoke and peat. Some distilleries to try include Glenmorangie, Oban, Glen Ord, Old Pulteney, and Ben Nevis. The latter is on the highest mountain in all the British Isles. If you have the money to blow, this author recommends the Glenmorangie 25 year.

Speyside

Speyside contains half the distilleries in all of Scotland. It also contains most of this author’s favorite Scotches (it’s a safe bet that if you see me at a bar with whiskey in hand, and it’s not bourbon, it’s Macallan 12). These whiskeys are very mellow, sweeter than most, and distinctly fruity. They are also delicious. Obviously try The Macallan, Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, The Glenrothes, and Balvenie.

Islay

Little island, lots of whiskey. Islay whiskeys are extremely smoky and peaty flavors. There are eight distilleries on the island. We recommend Laphroaig and Lagavulin, mostly because they’re the easiest to find. All eight are definitely worth a try, however, because they have such a distinct flavor.

Campbeltown

As far as the Edukatorz can tell, Campbeltown is considered a region more out of tradition than anything else. This one town used to have over 30 distilleries! Now, however, it has just three: Springbank, Glengyle, and Glen Scotia. These are slightly peaty and salty, with medium to full body.

The Islands

Sometimes considered a separate region, but more traditionally seen as part of the Highlands, is pretty self-explanatory: whiskeys produced on islands of the Scottish coast (except, of course, Islay). We recommend Arran and Talisker.

As you should remember from last week, scotch falls into two main categories – single and blended. The names are pretty self-explanatory – single Scotches are produced from one distillery and blended Scotches are produced from more than one distilleries. Five different types of whiskies fall under these two main categories: single malt whisky, single grain whisky, blended malt, blended grain whisky, and blended Scotch whisky.

Single Malt Whisky

This is really the “good stuff” when you think drinking scotch. Single malt whiskies are made from one type of malted grain in one distillery. Usually the grain is barley, but there are some rye whiskies out there. We are particularly fond of Bowomore and Glenfiddich, but we’ll go into recommendations in another post.

Single Grain Whisky

There are only eight distilleries which make single grain whisky so it’s not very common. Single grain whiskys are whiskies made from one grain distillery. They are usually made with wheat, corn or unmalted barley (the malt is the key difference here).

Blended Malt Whisky

The name is pretty self explanatory, these whiskies are a blend of single malt whiskies that can either come from the same distillery or from different distilleries. These types of whiskies, also called vatted malt whiskies, are pretty rare type of whisky. The are usually blends of differently aged malt whiskies that are precisely blended together to produce a “marriage” of taste. The blended malt whisky you may be most familiar with is Johnnie Walker Green.

Blended Grain Whisky

Blended grain whiskies are simply grain whiskies from more than one distillery that have been blended together. They are not very common since most grain whisky goes toward the production of blended Scotch whisky, but if you see some we recommend trying it.

Blended Scotch Whisky

This is probably what you’re most used to whenever you drink scotch since the majority of whisky produced in Scotland is blended Scotch whisky. The whisky is a blend of single malt and grain whisky that’s been distilled at more than one distillery. The usual malt to grain ratio is 60/40 but sometimes it varies. Brands you may be familiar with include Dewar’s, Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, J&B and Chivas Regal.

Scotch, or simply “whisky” in Scotland, is a hundreds-years-old tradition that is delicious. “To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt,” Exchequer Rolls 1494-95. Yeah, that’s right, in the year 1494 they were calling Scotch the water of life. How awesome is that?

Scotch is one of the most famous and venerated types of whiskey there is. Ordering a Scotch in America just oozes classy. From Anchorman to How I Met Your Mother, Scotch is the drink of choice for the hardened (and rich) bachelor.

That Exchequer note is the first concrete historical record of Scotch, but legend has it that St. Patrick taught the Irish how to make whiskey in about 500 AD and then the Scottish learned from them. So that’s a seriously long time. Until 1823, it was also a happily illegal tradition, since when England took over they tried to outlaw most of the whiskey producers in Scotland. The response was, obviously, to set up an extensive smuggling network until they finally legalized production with the 1823 Excise Act. Think of it like Prohibition that lasted for a couple hundred years.

So what’s the difference between Scotch and other whiskeys, anyway? Most importantly, Scotch comes from Scotland. Similar style whiskeys are produced all over the place, most notably Japan, but they aren’t Scotch unless they’re from Scotland.

Scotch gained its present position as the classy liquor of choice back in the 1880s due to an unfortunate plague, actually. A nasty little bug called the Phylloxera Beetle, which embeds itself into grapevines to lay eggs and thus kills the vines, was imported to France from the US and nearly destroyed French vineyards, including those that produced brandy. Luckily, winemakers were able to import American vines that were naturally resistant to the beetle and while French wine was nigh-dead for 30 years, it came back with a vengeance. And we can all enjoy a nice Armangnac, thanks to the intelligent response to that crisis.

But back to the issue at hand. During this crisis, Scotch became the drink of choice across Europe, and people got so used it that they kept drinking it to today.

Beyond coming from Scotland, Scotch has some other legal requirements (unlike the Canadians, who are far too loose with their regulations). It has to produced at a Scottish distillery from water and barley. You can add other whole grains to it if they’ve been fermented at that distillery and only by the addition of yeast. It must be distilled to less than ABV 94.8% in order to retain the flavor of the raw materials, be matured in Scotland in oak casks for no less than three years and one day, not contain anything added except water and caramel coloring, and not be bottled at less than ABV 40%.

Scotch comes in single or blended form, and there are five further categories it can fall into. However, since buying a bottle of Scotch is like buying a bottle of French wine, we feel that to properly attend to your very basic Scotch edukation we have to save all that for another post. I hope you were paying attention, there will be a test on this material next week before we delve into more of the intricacies of Scotch.

The Edukatorz tend to look askance at anything Canadian (excluding universal health care) and Canadian whisky is no exception. Canadian whisky is just a little too sweet for our palates, but we suppose there are people out there who enjoy it. The only positive things we can say about Canadian whisky is that due to bootleggers taking it over the border it kept America drunk during Prohibition.

Canadian whisky is just that – whisky made in Canada. Regulations require that the whisky must be aged in small wood for at least 3 years and be at least 80 proof. Most Canadian whiskies tend to be blended multi-grain whiskies meaning they’re a combination of whisky made from different types of grains like rye and wheat. The most dominant type of grain whisky found in Canadian whisky is rye which is why you’ll find a lot of Canadian whisky called rye whisky when up in the Great White North.

The most common types of Canadian whisky you can find the US are Canadian Club and Crown Royal. We don’t recommend buying either unless you really need a sweet purple pouch or are really desperate.

Rye whiskey is an important part of American distilling history, which we’ve been discussing in our ongoing series on whiskeys. Unfortunately, it is too often misunderstood as synonymous with Canadian whiskey, which is most emphatically not the case. In Canada, there are no legal requirements for naming your whiskey “rye” beyond to “posses the aroma, taste, and character generally attributed to Canadian whiskey,” which is clearly a crock of horse shit. I can only conclude we take our spirits more seriously here in the States.

In the USA, which is a well-ordered and properly regulated sort of country, we have some tougher demands before someone calls their whiskey “rye.” Most obviously, the mash it comes from has to be at least 51% rye. It has to be put into new, charred oak barrels at no more than 125 US proof, and distilled to no more than 160 US proof. Further, if it is aged at least 2 years, it can be labeled “straight rye.”

Before Prohibition, rye was the predominant form of American whiskey, with production concentrated in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It was rye whiskey producers who participated in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. It remained a common type of whiskey throughout the following century, but during Prohibition it all but died out.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of rye whiskeys from specialty distillers who age their batches for years, creating a small market for high-end ryes. However, they can be hard to find, and you’re more likely to come across those few brands that survived after Prohibition. While there aren’t too many of them, their names should be familiar: Wild Turkey, Old Overholt, Rittenhouse.

While it is delicious straight, rye whiskey is also what many classic cocktails were originally greated for, even if we see them more often with bourbon today: the Manhatten, the Sazerac, and the Ward 8, for example. Rye whiskey deserves its place among the traditional American whiskeys. Cheers!

Kentucky does not have the lock on American produced Whiskey, another type that’s probably familiar to everyone is Tennessee whiskey.

Tennessee whiskey as you may have guessed in made in Tennessee and has been recognized as an officially distinct whiskey by the U.S. government since 1941. Specifically, it is mainly made in Lincoln, Moore and Coffee counties in the southern part of Tennessee.* Making whiskey in Tennessee has been a long and proud tradition there since the state was settled in the late 18th Century. In fact, Jack Daniels distillery was the first distillery to be registered in the U.S. in 1866 when a whiskey tax was instituted. Due to Tennessee being a dry state from 1910-1938 (a dark time in TN history) and other archaic laws (see the note below) there are currently only two active Tennessee whiskey brands – Jack Daniels and George Dickel Whisky.

Though it is officially recognized, it doesn’t have legal restrictions regarding how it’s made like bourbon does. In fact since Tennessee whiskey uses corn much like bourbon does anyway, it is basically bourbon until it’s filtered. The filtration process known as the Lincoln County Process is what makes Tennessee whiskey unique. The process involves filtering the whiskey through maple charcoal thus removing many impurities found in regular bourbon.

While bourbon and Tennessee whiskey are very similar, they don’t taste the same due to the filtering the Tennessee whiskey goes through. While bourbon has a sweet, caramel taste to it, Tennessee whiskey tends to have a drier, almost smokey taste. Because it is drier than bourbon it’s better with sweet mixers like coke since the sweetness accentuates the taste of the whiskey, that’s why a Jack and Coke tastes better than a Maker’s and Coke.

We prefer to drink our Jack straight, on the rocks or in shot form, but if you want a cocktail we’d recommend making your whiskey sours with Tennessee whiskey or rye whiskey.

* Until last August Tennessee banned the production of liquor outside of those three counties. Now that it’s legal in 41 more counties to open up distilleries more small batch Tennessee whiskey producers are expected to pop up.

The Edukatorz (while of course promoting responsibility and disgusted by drunk driving) are fans of alcohol in general. As far as we are concerned, whiskey is the best of the liquors. However, it is often sadly misunderstood. Therefore, over the next few weeks, we are going to edukate the masses on the complexities of this glorious drink and discuss the different types of whiskey.

Bourbon is the quintessential American whiskey. The Edukatorz love bourbon, and can be relied on to have a bottle of Knob Creek or Bulleit on their shelves. At its most basic, bourbon is a whiskey distilled from corn and aged in charred oak casks.

Legally Speaking…
…bourbon was recognized by Congress in 1964 as a “distinctive product of the United States.” They outlined certain legal requirements to labeling a product “bourbon.” A bourbon must:

-Be made of a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
-Be distilled to no more than 80% alcohol by volume (US 160 proof)
-May not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume (US 80 proof)
-Contain no caramel coloring
-Be aged in new charred oak barrels
-May not be entered into the barrel at higher than 62.5% alcohol by volume (US 125 proof)

Further, if
-It meets the above requirements and is aged for a minimum of two years it may be labeled “straight bourbon”
-It is aged for less than four years, it must be labeled with the duration of its aging
-An age is stated on the bottle, it must be the age of the youngest whiskey in the bottle

Typical Production
The normal grain mixture (mash) for bourbon is 70% corn, with the rest being made up of barley, wheat, and/or rye. Usually the distiller will use a sour mash to begin fermentation. Now pay attention, there will be a test (or at the very least this will come up again as we discuss other types of whiskey): mash is whatever grain you’re fermenting to make your whiskey, and sour mash is when you use mash to start a fermentation that’s already been used in a previous batch. This helps to keep your whiskey consistent (in terms of pH levels, etc.) through different batches.

What you get after the mash is fermented is a clear spirit between 65% and 80% alcohol by volume. The distiller takes this mix and dumps it into the new charred oak barrels we mentioned earlier, and the bourbon picks up its color and a lot of its flavor from the oak. That’s why the older (aged longer) the bourbon, the darker the color.

After it’s taken from the barrels, bourbon is generally diluted with water to the appropriate alcohol by volume and shipped to the shelves at your corner store.

History
Bourbon is a uniquely American liquor. It derives its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky, and to this day most bourbon comes from Kentucky (although, paradoxically, not from Bourbon County itself).

There are conflicting stories and legends about the origins of bourbon. Some names attributed with the “invention” of bourbon are Rev. Elijah Craig (yeah, a Baptist minister… we like that one), George Thorpe, and Jacob Spears. The “inventor” of bourbon is kind of a moot point as far as the Edukatorz are concerned, however. It was a distillation style that took a couple hundred years to solidify, and it doesn’t really matter who called it bourbon first. The credit actually lies with Scottish, Scots-Irish, and others who settled in what would become Kentucky and started farming corn. There was way too much corn to be eaten, and corn wasn’t easy to ship in those days, so they (quite logically) made it into whiskey.

What You Should Be Drinking
There are a lot of good bourbons out there. As we mentioned previously, the Edukatorz generally keep Knob Creek and Bulleit as their table bourbon (yeah, we have table bourbon, what?). Woodford Reserve also makes some really good bourbon. Maker’s Mark, while popular, is overrated in our opinion. It’s perfectly acceptable if that’s the only one the bar has, though, which is too often the case. Jim Beam is appallingly bad and not to be drunk if you are over 21 years of age. Wild Turkey 101 proof is the drink of choice if you want to drink your problems away, because it is deceptively easy to drink and you will forget how many shots you had.

Perfect Manhattan
An Edukatorz’s cocktail of choice, the Manhattan is the old-school classy way to drink bourbon. While having your drinks “up” as opposed to on the rocks is (in the Edukatorz’s opinion) a waste of money and a risk to your clothing, the Manhattan is an exception because once stirred (or shaken, if you like weak drinks), it’s at a perfect dilution.

2 oz. bourbon (a Rob Roy is a Manhattan made with Scotch instead)
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
Dash of bitters

Stir, pour into chilled martini glass, enjoy.