Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, commonly of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum, or sherry may be employed during storage to impart a unique flavour and colour.
Whisky is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types. The typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wooden barrels.
Etymology
The word whisky is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word uisce meaning "water". This Gaelic word shares its ultimate origins with Germanic water and Slavic voda of the same meaning. Distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae. This was translated into Middle Irish as uisce betha, which became uisce beatha in Irish and uisge beatha in Scottish Gaelic. Early forms of the word in English included uskebeaghe, usquebaugh, usquebath, and usquebae.Names and spellings
Much is made of the word's two spellings: whisky and whiskey. There are two schools of thought on the issue. One is that the spelling difference is simply a matter of regional language convention for the spelling of a word, indicating that the spelling varies depending on the intended audience or the background or personal preferences of the writer, and the other is that the spelling should depend on the style or origin of the spirit being described. There is general agreement that when quoting the proper name printed on a label, one should not alter its spelling.The spelling whiskey is common in Ireland and the United States, while whisky is used in all other whisky-producing countries. In the US, the usage has not always been consistent. From the late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, US publications used both spellings interchangeably until the introduction of newspaper style guides. Since the 1960s, American writers have increasingly used whiskey as the accepted spelling for aged grain spirits made in the US and whisky for aged grain spirits made outside the US. However, some US brands, such as George Dickel, Maker's Mark, and Old Forester, use the whisky spelling on their labels, and the Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, the legal regulations for spirit in the US, also use the whisky spelling throughout.
Scotch
Whisky made in Scotland is simply called whisky within Scotland. Elsewhere and in the regulations of the Scotch Whisky Association that govern its production, it is commonly called Scotch whisky or simply Scotch. It is legally required that Scotch whisky be distilled and matured in oak casks in Scotland for a minimum of three years, under strict regulations that protect its designation and quality.History
Early distilling
It is possible that distillation was practised by the Babylonians in Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC, with perfumes and aromatics being distilled, but this is subject to uncertain and disputed interpretations of evidence.The earliest certain chemical distillations were by Greeks in Alexandria in the 1st century AD, but these were not distillations of alcohol. The medieval Arabs adopted the distillation technique of the Alexandrian Greeks, and written records in Arabic begin in the 9th century, but again these were not distillations of alcohol. Distilling technology passed from the medieval Arabs to the medieval Latins, with the earliest records in Latin in the early 12th century.
The earliest records of the distillation of alcohol are in Italy in the 13th century, where alcohol was distilled from wine. An early description of the technique was given by Ramon Llull. Its use spread through medieval monasteries, largely for medicinal purposes, such as the treatment of colic and smallpox.
Ireland and Scotland
The practice of distillation had spread to Ireland by the 12th century and Scotland by the 15th century, as did the common European practice of distilling aqua vitae, a spirit alcohol, primarily for medicinal purposes. The practice of medicinal distillation eventually passed from a monastic setting to the secular via professional medical practitioners of the time, the Guild of Barber-Surgeons. The earliest mention of whiskey in Ireland comes from the Annals of Clonmacnoise, which attributes the death of a chieftain in 1405 to "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas. In Scotland, the first evidence of whisky production comes from an entry in the Exchequer Rolls for 1495 where malt is sent "To Friar John Cor, by order of the king, to make aquavitae", enough to make about 500 bottles.James IV of Scotland reportedly had a great liking for Scotch whisky, and in 1506 the town of Dundee purchased a large amount of whisky from the Guild of Barber-Surgeons, which held the monopoly on production at the time.
File:Distillerie OldBushmills.jpg|thumb|Old Bushmills Distillery, County Antrim
At this time, the distillation process was still in its infancy; whisky was not aged in barrels, and as a result, it had a sharp, unrefined flavor and a high alcohol content. It was consumed without dilution and lacked the smoother, more balanced characteristics that aging would later introduce. Over time, both production methods and consumer tastes evolved, leading to the development of the more refined and palatable whisky.
18th century
In 1707, the Acts of Union merged England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and thereafter taxes on distilled spirits rose dramatically. Following parliament's divisive malt tax of 1725, most of Scotland's distillation was either shut down or forced underground. Scotch whisky was hidden under altars, in coffins, and in any available space to avoid the governmental excisemen or revenuers. Scottish distillers, operating out of homemade stills, took to distilling whisky at night when the darkness hid the smoke from the stills. At one point, it was estimated that over half of Scotland's whisky output was illegal.In America, whisky was used as currency during the American Revolution; George Washington operated a large distillery at Mount Vernon. Given the distances and primitive transportation network of colonial America, farmers often found it easier and more profitable to convert corn to whisky and transport it to market in that form. It also was a highly coveted trade good, and when an additional excise tax was levied against it in 1791, the Whiskey Rebellion erupted.
19th century
Scottish whisky was introduced to the British raj in India in the nineteenth century. The first distillery in India was founded by Edward Dyer at Kasauli in the late 1820s. The distillery was relocated to nearby Solan, as there was an abundant supply of fresh spring water there.In 1823, the UK passed the Excise Act, legalizing distillation, and this put a practical end to the large-scale production of home distilled whisky.
In 1831, Aeneas Coffey patented the Coffey still, allowing for a cheaper and more efficient distillation of whisky. In 1850, Andrew Usher began producing a blended whisky that mixed traditional pot still whisky with that from the new Coffey still. The new distillation method was scoffed at by some Irish distillers, who clung to their traditional pot stills. Many Irish contended that the new product was, in fact, not whisky at all.
in the 1830s and 1840s, the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota was formed around a illicit whiskey distillery run by Pierre Parrant inside a cave that served soldiers at Fort Snelling and indigenous fighters who had opposed them in the Dakota War of 1862.
By the 1880s, the French brandy industry was devastated by the phylloxera pest that devastated much of the grape crop; as a result, whisky became the primary spirit in many markets.