North America Whiskey

Whiskey is an alcoholic drink made from fermented grain mash. The grains that are used include barley, rye, malted barley, malted rye, wheat and corn. Typically whiskey is aged in wooden white oak barrels. In the United States corn whiskey does not need to be aged. Whiskey is prodeuced in most areas that grow grain but can differ in content and quality.

There are many types of whiskey including malt whiskey, which is made from malted barley, and grain whiskey, which can be made from any type of grains. The malts and grains can be combined many ways. A vatted malt is blended from malt whiskies from different distilleries. A pure malt or malt whiskey means it is a vatted whiskey.

Single malt whiskey is a malt whiskey from one distillery. It must be labeled single-cask to truly have the taste of that particular distillery. Blended whiskies are made from a mix of malt and grain whiskies and are often combined with neutral spirits, flavoring and caramel. Cask strength is also called barrel proof. These whiskies are quite rare and are considered the best. Most often cask strength whiskey is un-diluted. Single cask or single barrel whiskies are bottled by specialists and is labeled and numbered.

The age of whiskey is determined by the time between distillation and bottling. Whiskey does not mature in the bottle.

There are many popular drinks made with whiskey such as, Irish coffee, Rob Roy, Nixon, Black tooth grin, Jack and Coke, Mint Julip, Widow’s Cork, Irish Flag, Whiskey Sour, Rusty Nail, Old Fashioned, Northern Comfort and many more.