Drop that “e”

Today, we had the exquisite pleasure of listening to a lecture about the production of fine Scotch. Well, more like Shannon played barmaid and served a million little communion cups of whisky to 25 eager participants while I sat with friends soaking up knowledge into my brain and alcohol into my blood stream. Like all great teachers, our voyage’s famous resident Scotsman Iain Campbell followed his presentation up with a hands-on “practical application” session during which we sampled 7 different kinds of Scotch. Until this point, my only experience with Scotch was a Rusty Nail that I had at a great little seedy bar in Alexandria, Indiana, (a.k.a. “Alec” to native Hoosiers) with my buddy, Adam. Let me tell you, a rusty nail is every bit as bad as it sounds (and yes, it’s totally worth experiencing).

Now, however, I fancy myself a real whisky expert (at least if I’m around friends who are none the wiser). I will be a veritable fount of Scottish whisky facts and lore at the next social gathering I attend. For example, did you know that both “whiskey” and “whisky” are correct spellings, but it is only legal to drop the “e” on the label if the spirit was produced in Scotland? Similarly, a whisky can only legally be labeled “Scotch” if it was produced in Scotland…anywhere else and it’s just plain whiskey. Below are a few more facts to amaze your friends. Iain swears that just tossing around a few of these around the next time you’re at the pub is a surefire way to earn yourself many a free round of the good drink.

• Malt spirit means the liquor was derived exclusively from malted (germinated) barley
• Grain spirit is derived from about 40% malted barley and 60% some other cheaper starchy cereal like maize, rice, etc.
• Single whisky means the entire batch came from one single distillery whereas blended whisky is a mix of between 10 and 50 or more spirits from multiple distilleries and a whole bunch of cheap grain spirit.
• Single single whisky means what’s in the bottle came entirely from one single barrel in one single distillery — whee, we’re getting pricey, now!

That should be enough to get you going. I’ll show’n’tell you more of what I learned about the differences between highland, lowland, and island Scotch…if you’ll buy me a drink sometime.

Slainte mhar!!