Navigating The World of Whiskey A Four-Part Blog With Advice For The New Whisk(e)y Enthusiast

Part III

4 May 24

What is ‘malt’?  We hear people talk about a single malt whisky.  What is that?  Is malted whisky anything like a malted milk ball?  

Believe it or not, Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation:

Malt is a cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as “malting“. Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, flavored drinks such as Horlicks and Ovaltine.

The hot air drying that scotch makers use can include using peat to produce smoke that will kill the growing grain.  That’s how some scotches get their smoky flavor – from the peat used to dry the grain.

So the ‘MALT’ in ‘single malt’ tells us that the grain that was used was only barley germinated to start the process of making the whisky. And the ‘SINGLE’ in ‘single malt’ tells us that by the scotch-making rules of Scotland, it was malted, fermented, distilled, and bottled at one distillery and aged for at least 3 years.  An American ‘single malt’ obviously is not required to follow the laws of Scottish single malts, but they often try to follow a similar set of rules.  

Wikipedia also provided a succinct explanation of a grain whisky

Grain whisky normally refers to any whisky made, at least in part, from grains other than malted barley. Frequently used grains include maize, wheat, and rye. Grain whiskies usually contain some malted barley to provide enzymes needed for mashing and are required to include it if they are produced in Ireland or Scotland.  Whisky made only from malted barley is generally called “malt whisky” rather than grain whisky. Most American and Canadian whiskies are grain whiskies.

So.  A single malt whisky is as described above and a blended whisky will be a blend of one or more single malts whiskies with a grain whisky of some sort.  The whisky blender’s goal is to make a consistent whisky across time – you’ll never be surprised by the blender’s whisky.  Single malts might vary more through the years and that can make for an enjoyable conversation starter.  The Whiskey Watch has a better, more-detailed explanation of blends and single malts here.  It’s also and excellent resource for all things whisky and whiskey.

Single malts vs blends.  There’s often much confusion about single malts and blends.  When people refer to those two, they’re usually talking about scotches, although blends and single malts are becoming popular with American whiskey (more on that in a later blog).  Enter your office expert:  “Oh, I only drink single malts.”  He probably doesn’t know the difference and if he does, he’s really missing out.  Although there’s some crazy expensive blends, they tend to be less expensive than the single malts but just as delicious.  Don’t be fooled.  Blends are a good place to start with scotch.  We had an office group split some bottles as described in an earlier post.  The theme was single malts.  Three of us brought some good singles, one guy brought a blend (Johnny Walker Green Label).  We teased him then forgave him.  He didn’t know the difference.  I had my wife set me up with a blind tasting of the four.  I liked the blend the best!  Don’t turn down a chance to enjoy a good blend.  And now you know more about scotch than the office expert.

Blends.  Single malts.  Which is your favorite of each?