Whisky

What is whiskey?

Whiskey is grain alcohol that’s popular the world over. It manages to simultaneously be synonymous with the classy and the relaxed. Whiskey can be very affordable or it can be ludicrously expensive. It’s a wide class of drink with unlimited possibilities.  

Whiskey is made from a variety of different grains, including rye, corn, barley, wheat, and sorghum. When these grains are fermented, they break down into sugars, the beginning of whiskey.

Whiskeys are much less standardized than other types of alcoholic drinks. No two are alike, even from the same distillery, and there is a finite amount of each whiskey “run.” Once a distillery has bottled all the whiskey from a certain run, that exact drink will never be truly replicated again.

Whiskeys are some of the most diverse drinks in terms of taste. Many people may try their first whiskey, dislike it, and mistakenly think they are simply not a whiskey person. But with the sheer multitude of flavours out there, there is bound to be something for most people. Finding the whiskeys that cater to your particular palette is a lot of work, but it’s some of the most fun work you’ll ever sign up for.

Whiskeys taste different depending on a lot of factors ranging from the ingredients to the length of time spent ageing, and even the type of barrel used in the distillation process. This multitude of factors is part of what makes each batch of whiskey so unlike any other.

What are the different types of whisky?

There are five basic whiskey types: Single malt, blended malt, blended whiskey, barrel proof, or single cask. Most countries produce some or all of these whiskeys, though some are more common in certain areas than others.

Single malt whisky

Single malt whisky uses only one type of grain and comes from a single distillery. You may be surprised to know that whiskey often moves around a bit while it distils. If it is transferred from one distillery to another before it’s finished, then it technically can’t be called single malt whiskey (not that there aren’t a few brands that slip through on technicalities in that area).

Single malt whiskey is often hailed as the preferred whiskey type for some whiskey fans because the limitations on movement make the drink very regional. Every distillery will have a distinct taste, and keeping things single malt makes those regional flavours come out strong.

Blended malt whisky

This whiskey is actually a combination of several single malt whiskeys made in separate distilleries. Sometimes the mixing of two delicious malts yields even more amazing results. Explore our range of blended malt whiskies. 

Blended whisky

Here is truly the wild card of whiskeys. Almost any whiskeys can be mixed together during the creation of a blended whiskey, very little is off the table. To some people, blended whiskey is synonymous with cheap, but it’s here that you’ll get some truly unique flavour combinations impossible to achieve with a single malt.

Single barrel

Sometimes also called single cask, this whiskey is bottled from one specific distillery cask. Limiting the whiskey to a single cask helps preserve the casks unique flavour, as taste can differ even within the same distillery.

Cask strength

Cask strength (or barrel proof ) is a whiskey that skips the dilution process and is instead bottled straight from the cask. Talk about packing a punch!