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ENCYCLOPEDIA: WHISKEY,
liquor distilled from the fermented mash of cereal grains and containing about 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume. The term whiskey, also spelled whisky in Scotland, England, and Canada, is derived from Scottish Gaelic uisgebeatha and Irish usquebaugh, both meaning �water of life.�
Kinds of Whiskey.
Whiskeys are broadly divided into two categories, straight and blended, but the former term is somewhat misleading. By U.S. federal regulation, for example, a straight whiskey may be a mixture of whiskeys, so long as they were produced by the same distiller during the same period, or it may be made from any mixture of grains, provided that at least 51 percent of the total is accounted for by the grain with which the finished product is identified. Thus, corn must make up a majority of a whiskey�s constituent grains, whatever they may be, for the whiskey to be classed as straight bourbon, or rye for it to be classed as straight rye. Straight Scotch, which is pure malt whiskey, has been only sparingly produced since 1853, when it was discovered that a mixture of grain varying from 50 to 80 percent malt resulted in a more marketable product; pure malt whiskey, however, is still much esteemed by connoisseurs.
The principal whiskey types are Scotch, distilled primarily from barley; Irish, from a mixture of five different grains, including malted barley; American, primarily from rye or corn; Canadian, from a blend of cereal grains; and Japanese, from various blended grains, sometimes including small amounts of rice, but seldom wheat or rye. American whiskeys are further characterized, broadly, as rye or corn whiskey and, more narrowly, as bourbon (for Bourbon Co. in Kentucky) or Tennessee whiskey. In addition, some American products are produced by a fermentation process roughly analogous to the leavening of sourdough bread and are thus called sourmash whiskeys; others, characterized by their less intense flavor, are called light whiskeys.
Production.
All whiskeys are made from grain or malt (sprouted grain), or from both, and water. Certain other substances, such as sherry wine and caramel (burned sugar), may be added to blended whiskey in small amounts. Most whiskeys are light to dark amber in hue; their coloration is derived either from the introduction of caramel or from exposure to the effects of charred wood, or from a combination of both. The quality of the water used is considered crucial to the quality of the whiskey. Therefore, most distilleries have access to spring water that passes up through granite or limestone.
For Scotch the whiskey-making process begins when whole grain is steeped in water to promote germination. For American whiskeys, the process commences with milling and cooking the grain. In both cases the object is to release the starches stored in the endosperm of each seed of grain. These starches then are converted to fermentable sugar by malt: For Scotch, self-generated malt is produced by arresting germination of the barley; for most other whiskeys, malt is added to the basic grain mixture. (In the production of Scotch, the malted grain is dried at this juncture�traditionally, over peat fires from which the characteristic smoky flavor of finished whiskey is derived�and is then lightly milled.) Hot water is then added to the malted grains, and the resultant mash is stirred or otherwise agitated until the sugars present are dissolved. Wort, the liquid thus produced, is strained into fermenting vessels; FERMENTATION, (q.v.) is then activated by the introduction of yeast, which converts the sugars to alcohol and the mixture to a crude whiskey, called wash, with a low alcohol content by volume. The wash is then distilled: It passes successively through a heated vaporization still; the resultant vapor is liquefied in water-cooled coils; and both processes are repeated. After DISTILLATION, (q.v.), the still-colorless whiskey is deposited in charred wooden (usually oak) barrels and left to mature, mellow, develop color, and purge itself of impurities�a process that may take up to 20 years but most commonly is of 8 years� duration or less. The alcoholic strength of whiskey is measured by a figure known as the proof, representing twice the volume percentage of alcohol. The proof increases as the water content partly evaporates but is reduced before bottling by diluting the whiskey with distilled water. Most whiskey is sold at 80 to 86 percent proof.
History.
Although the principles of distillation were known in the ancient Orient, the distillation of liquor, a much younger art than the fermentation of beers and wines, is believed to date from the 11th century in Europe. Domestic stills existed in Ireland in the late 12th century, and some crude form of whiskey probably was produced in Scotland about the same time. The earliest explicit reference to whiskey, however, dates from 1494, when an order was recorded in Scotland for �eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aquavitae [water of life],� and true whiskey is a purely Celtic contribution. The English, notable producers of beer but not of wines or DISTILLED LIQUORS, (q.v.), were the first non-Gaelic connoisseurs of whiskey, and Scotch was much appreciated in early 17th-century England. The American colonists brought whiskey to the New World but did not themselves begin to distill it until the early 18th century. Rye and barley were the favored grains used to make whiskey along the eastern seaboard, but corn was used increasingly as the frontier moved westward. Traditionally, continental Europeans have favored wines, beers, brandies, or vodkas and have showed little interest in whiskey; but today the drinking of whiskey, particularly Scotch, has become a status symbol in many parts of Europe. This is even more the case in Japan, where whiskey was produced on an insignificant scale as early as the 1870s, but where today distillers are in serious competition for a major share of the world market. J.Ja., JAY JACOBS
For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 604. Liquor, wine, beer.