Scotch 101

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Intro: 

1. What are we drinking 
   1. Flavor/tasting notes
   2. Likes dislikes 
   3. Recommend to buy or leave on the shelf? 
2. Why are we drinking it?

What is scotch and isn’t it just whiskey? 

• Scotland is said to be where Whiskey got started
  • Apparently they are better than us and spell it the property without an ‘e’.
  • The first written history dates back to1405 
• Must be distilled in Scotland and aged in oak barrels for at least 3 years 
  • They do not need to be new barrels 
    • Most are ex-bourbon barrels since they have to be oak 
• Typically it is distilled twice and to make things more complex there are different types of scotch 

Types of Scotch: 

• Single 
  • Came from one distillery. Could be a blend of barrels from that one distillery, but there cannot be anything in that blend from another distillery 
• Blended 
  • A blend of barrels from other distilleries 
    • Some are “left overs”
• Even within these two types there are other categories 
  • Single Malt Scotch
  • Single Grain Scotch
  • Blended
  • Blended Malt
  • Blended Grain

Ingredients that form the mash bill:

Malted Barley – Is the main ingredient in Scotch and is made by soaking the barley in water.

Wheat or Corn – the other two grains used to make scotch that are not near as prominent, and only used in single grain or blends. 

Single Malt and Single Grain – This is confusing as it doesn’t mean one single ingredient but instead a scotch from one distillery (that could be from different barrels from within that distillery) as opposed to blends that are a combination of scotches from different distilleries. 

Blended Malt or Blended Grain – A blend of single grains from two or more distilleries. 

Blended Scotch – Makes up 90% of all scotch sales, can be a blend of malts and grains from several different distilleries. 

Peat - Used as fuel to dry out the grains in some of the distilleries. Scotland is the main place that uses this in their process, but not the only one. This process is also not used in every distillery. It is more prominent in single malt scotches than in blended ones. A smokier scotch will have used peat in their process. 

Ending; 

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