DiscoverScotland WHISKY PRODUCTION wash, moves stage–fermentation. onto thenext is lowered to 20ºCanditisnow safe to addtheyeast. From here thisliquid, now called add theyeast. The Worts istherefore passedthrough acoolerwhere thetemperature Mash Tun have they atemperature ofaround 63ºC. This temperature istoo highto Onleaving the liquidcalled Theworts. firstandsecondwaters are now ahotsugary Worts Cooler asdraff.passed through, isknown This isnotwasted butused by localfarmers. day. lyingatthebottomThe oftheMash substanceleft Tun, onceallthree waters have and itreturns to thewater tankswhere itis usedasthefirsthotwater the following a third hotwater isadded. This lastwater, ithasbeendrainedoff, after iscalledsparge passed through, asecondisaddedataneven highertemperature thanthefirst. Finally, will gointo thetunandbemixed withafirsthotwater. Oncethefirsthotwater has vessel (mashtun)below thegrist hopperandwhenready, amountofgrist acertain isstoredasthe The Grist inacontainerknown ‘grist hopper’. There isalarge metal Mashing ‘grist’, are placeinthemashhouse. moved stagewhichtakes onto thenext ormalt.Oncethishasbeendonethecrushed grains,grind themaltbarley now called of water itsown gives uniqueflavour. eachwhisky is to The first process atthedistillery itsslightflavouring.barley own supply andeachdistillery’s The amountofpeatburnt upthrough itgives rises thetiny andasthesmoke themalting perforations barley asthe known Floor’.‘Malt below thegerminating peat isburnt thisperiod During offiveperiod isspreadto seven dayseven outonan andthenthebarley floor, whichis reasons. What isdoneatthesecentralisedmaltings, inwater istofor soakthebarley a dueto economic The initialprocess doesnotnowadaysplaceatthedistillery take there are theproductionofwhisky three basicingredientsIn –water, yeast andbarley. Mill distilleries. ofIslay dramsandthefullbodiedflavours of smokiness Campbeltown’speaty Highlands,flavours thedistinctive ofthe of Lowland whiskies malts to thefruity, dry producing ofthefour regions.characteristics mainwhisky From thelight,mellow Discover Scotland’s world-renowned uisgebeathaor oflife’,‘water andtheunique in fact mixedin fact together andthen sprayed onto thefieldsas fertiliser. this processstills after iscalled ‘spent wash’ and ‘spent lees’. The are two notwasted but the alcoholcontent isat 70-80%. The residue atthebottom ofthe two whichis left now called wines’,‘low goes through asecondcopperpotstill, andattheendof this yeast, fermentation. whichisstillinsuspensionafter After thisfirstdistillation theliquid, the secondinlow winesstill. rid ofthe ofthefirstdistillationis Theto get purpose productioninvolvesScotch whisky distillations–thefirstonein washstilland two Distillation isthentimefor distillation. 20-24%. It about 50hoursto complete andby theendliquidwillhave analcoholcontent of similarto thatofbrewing. theprocess upuntilnowIndeed isvery Fermentation takes the process, hasanalcoholcontent ofabout7%,whichisroughly thesameasbeer. The word word tunisanoldScots that meanscontainer. The wash,atthispointin Tun Room WHISKY PRODUCTION DiscoverScotland Spirit Safe not necessarily better thantheother–itsimplydependsonaperson’snot necessarily own taste. inorder to smoothouttheflavour. whiskies hence theadditionsofMalt is Onewhisky gone through themaltingprocess. The taste istherefore ratherrough to thepalate and ofgrain andthatithasalsonot whichisusedbutanothertype barley not necessarily itmeansthatis grain whisky By and30%maltwhiskies. is70%grain whisky whisky andistheproductofonedistillery. Ablended containsonlymalted barley whisky to befoundThere –maltandblended. ofwhisky inScotland are Amalt types two andBlended Single Malt isready itwillbediluted toOnce thewhisky 40%alcoholcontent andthenbottled. canbeanythingtime for from aminimum ofeightyears singlemaltwhiskies upwards. for thosethree years before inScotland itcanbecalled ‘Scotch Whisky’. The maturation cask for aminimumofthree years before anditmustbekept itcanbecalledwhisky insideonceithasbeenemptiedofsherry. the stainleft inthe mustbekept The spirit casksandthereforewhich may beusedare oldSpanishsherry the colourcomesfrom knownSome casks asabungandhessian. Casks are filledandthensealedwithwhatis Filling Store filling store. product withoutpaying taxes for it!From thenmoves thestillhousespirit onto the safes are sealedby thegovernment to refrain the Scotsmen’‘thirsty from samplingthe thealcoholicstrengthdetermine ofthespirit. visuallyasthe isonlychecked The spirit the stillman,whomeasures temperature anddensity, from whichheisableto receiver’ whereuntilthecasksare itiskept ready to befilled. by ischecked The spirit matured. hasreached Oncethistruespirit 63.4%itisthentransferred to the ‘spirit tradition goldenbrown. has comesfromThe colouring thecaskinwhichwhisky clearcolourandnotthe content drops to isacrystal 63.4%.At thispointthespirit asitisnow called,After theseconddistillationspirit, ismonitored untilthealcohol VisitScotland canacceptnoresponsibility for anyerrorsoromissionscontained inthepublication. www.visitscotland.com The information containedinthispublicationiscorrectat thetimeofgoingtoprint. The information

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