Welcome to a Brief Tour to Scotch Whisky Skye Gears January 23, 2008
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Welcome to a Brief Tour to
Scotch Whisky
Skye Gears
January 23, 2008
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Welcome to the Scotch Whisky
shop. In this brief tutorial, we would
like to take you to a short journey onthe history of Whisky and its
production process.
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Whisky (from the Gaelic word uisge
beatha, "water of life") has been
produced for hundreds of year in
Scotland since at least the fifteenth
century.
Whisky is deeply rooted in Scottish
history and an icon product of
Scotland.
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It is not only a culture icon, but also an
important part of Scotland¶s economy.
Today, more than one billion bottles of
Scotch Whisky are sold worldwide per year.
Compared with Irish whiskey of about5% of that number - American,
about 8%, Japanese about 3%.Source [1,16, 18]
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It is Scotland¶s 3rd largest and UK¶s 5th
largest manufactured export.
Its overseas sales amount to a staggering
£2.5 billion per year.
In total, whisky and other spirits is worth
of £3.3 billion per year to the Scottisheconomy and provides 41,000 jobs in
Scotland.
Source [14, 15, 16]
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Scotch Whisky Sales Distribution
TOP EXPORT MARKETS BY SALES
US: £400m
France: £275m
Spain: £195m
South Korea: £136m
Venezuela: £106m
Source: Scotch Whisky Association: 2006
Source [17]
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You may have visited one of the
Whisky shops.
You may have been to one of the
Whisky tasting events.
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Image Source [1]
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Or, you may have been one of thoselucky persons who have the chance
to taste the finest Whisky straight
out of a barrel.
But do you know
where Scotch Whiskycomes from?
Image Source [1]
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In this tutorial, I would like to
briefly introduce you to the regions
where Scotch Whiskies come fromand the making process of Scotch
Whisky.
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Whisky is fascinating and important
to Scottish economy, but do youknow that it is made from three
ingredients only. They are:
1. Barley
2. Spring water
3. Yeast
Sometimes peat is also fired to enhancethe flavour, but this is optional.
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Next is a Whisky map that shows the
distribution of distilleries inScotland.
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Image Source [6]
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Scotland is divided intofive
whisky- producing regions. Each has its own style and
its share of devotees.
These are the Lowlands, Highlands,Campbeltown, island of Islay and Speyside.
Interesting enough, more than half of thedistilleries are in Speyside.
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Image Source [6]
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Whisky Distilleries are oftenresided in scenic countryside
and with interesting architectures.
We give you some examples
here.
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Image Source [7.2]
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In our next selected pictures, the
distilleries sport a twin pagoda roof.
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Strathisla Scotch Whisky Distillery
Image Source [7.1]
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The process of
Whisky Making
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To Make Whisky«
The single most important ingredient
is: Barley.
There are 7
Stages in
making
Whisky.
Image Source [8]
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Stage 1: Malting
Barley are soaked in water to allow
germination, so enzymes turn the starch
into sugar.
Grains of barley start to sprout to
becomeso-called
³green malts´.
Image Source [9]Image Source [10]
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Stage 2: Kilning
To smoke dry the green malts to stopgermination and prevent sugar being
used for growing.
Sometimes, peat is fired to create
smoke to add flavour to the malt.
Traditionally, malts are spread thinlyon the floor; modern systems make
use of rotary drums to air and heat
the malt.
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Floor Kilning
Image Source [4]
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Stage 3: Milling
In this stage,
barley malts aregrinded to
produce ³grist´
(65% husk, 25%middle, and 10%
flour).The Mill
Image Source [3]
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Stage 4: Mashing
Mix hot water with grist in a large
vessel called ³Mash Tun´ to extract
sugars.
The output is hot,
sweet water,
called ³wort´
Image Source [3]
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Stage 5: Fermenting
Transfer cooled ³wort´ to ³Wash-
Backs´. Yeast is added to turn
wort into weak alcohol,
called
³wash´.
Image Source [12]
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Stage 6: Distilling
The ³wash´ is transferred to a washstill that is typically heated to 80
degrees. Its vapour is collected to
become ³low wines´.
This is repeated at a second(low wines) still to produce
70%-79% spirit.
Image Source [5.2]
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Image Source [5.1]Scotch Whisky Stills
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It may be worth mentioning that
the shape of the still, the height,shape and length of its neck, and the
fact that the still is copper rather than
other metals all contribute to thecharacteristics of the whisky.
Modern stainless steel stills do not
remove impurities from whiskies.
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Stage 7: Maturing
Scotch spirit is stored and matured in oak
casks. The minimum legal requirement is
3 years. The type of wood used and what
was stored in the
barrel previously
give additionalflavour to
the Whisky.
Image Source [12]
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R eferences
1. Ian Bankier, the Whisky Shop, http://www.whiskyshop.com/
2. R oyal Mile Whiskies.com: http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/viewindex.asp?article_id=wb_making
3. BruichLaddich: http://www.bruichladdich.com/making_whisky.htm
4. Floor malting: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usfeatures/maltwhisky/maltings.html
5. Scotch Whisky Stills:
1. https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0518/5afef20542c0e/5afef21911675.jpg
2. https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0518/5afef20542c0e/5afef21b21aba.jpg
6. Whisky map: http://www.scotchwhisky.net/distilleries/
7. Distillery:
1. http://www.entirescotland.co.uk/scottish_whisky_distilleries.html
2. http://www.entirescotland.co.uk/scottish_whisky_distillery_tours.html
8. Barley: http://www.freefoto.com/preview/9907-06-31?ffid=9907-06-31
9. Green Malt: http://www.schmohz.com/images/beer-malt2.jpeg
10. Barley grains: http://www.lethamshank.co.uk/crops.htm
11. Whisky WashBacks: http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Bowmore2_E N.shtml
12. Whisky Barrels: http://www.harbour-inn.com/gallery/whisky_barrels.jpg
13. Strathisla Distillery: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/keith/keith/
14. BBC News, DEC 18, 2007: (3.3bn) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7150219.stm
15. BBC News, Dec 29, 2007 (2.5bn): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7163649.stm16. UK Parliament (41K jobs):
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmscotaf/324/1103108.htm
17. BBC News, April 4, 2007 (sales distribution): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6525279.stm
18. Scotland the official online Gateway Dec 2002 (1bn bottles) http://www.scotland.org/about/innovation-and-creativity/features/business/whisky.html