How to choose Whisky?

The earliest mention of whisky dates back to the late Middle Ages. The Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer's accounts of 1494 contain an entry - eight bolls (an old Scottish unit of weight) of malt for the monk John Cora to make aqua vitae. By the early 16th century, whisky had become a royal drink and received generous support. The home of whisky is the Scottish Highlands. It is a relatively remote and sparsely populated area.

Whisky is an alcoholic beverage distilled from cereals - barley, rye, wheat, corn. The grain from the cereal is first soaked in water to start the germination process and the starch in the cereal is converted into sugar. Barley germination is also called malting (hence the term malt). A quality water source is a significant requirement for the location of a distillery and top distilleries have also purchased land far from the water source to prevent pollution. The places where the water flows can even affect the taste of the whisky.

The grain is then dried and then milled - the finer the grain is milled, the more alcohol you can get out of it. It is then macerated (leached in hot water) and later fermented in large wooden casks. The added yeast breaks down the sugar in the fermentation process and extracts the alcohol.

Here comes the process of multiple distillation, where the alcohol is evaporated from the water (it has a lower boiling point than water) and condensed by cooling in copper pipes into a distillate with the necessary alcohol content.

Now comes the most important part, which largely influences the price of the final product - barrel ageing. The longer you go, the better quality whisky you typically get, up to a certain age, which is the maximum age for the whisky.

The types of casks used to age whisky are most commonly made of oak. They are made from two types of oak: American white oak - which must grow for at least 70 years, or European oak - which must grow for over 100 years.

According to the Irish, the art of whiskey making originated in Ireland and from there it was passed on to Scotland. According to legend, St Patrick came to Ireland, became a national saint, drove the devil out of Ireland and taught the Irish how to distil the life-giving drink from barley. Which was back in the 12th century. There are many other stories and tales circulating. These are meant to confirm the fact that it was the Irish, not the Scots, who invented whisk(e)y. However, all these stories are just legend, there is no evidence to prove the truth of any of them. The first written mention of barley distillation in Ireland does not appear until 1556, in an Act passed by Parliament.

We've divided the whisky/whiskey according to where it comes from:

• Scotch whisky (single malt, blended malt, grain)
• American whiskey (bourbon, corn, rye, single barrel, small batch)
• Irish whiskey (blended, single malt, single pot still, grain)
• Japanese whisky (single malt, blended malt, grain)
• Canadian whisky
• Other whiskies(various countries)

Explanation of terms:

- single malt whisky - single malt (made from a single malt)
- blended whisky - blended whisky (several types of whisky already matured blended together)
- bourbon whisky - whisky containing at least 51 % corn, must be matured for at least two years and must be produced exclusively in the USA
- single pot still whisky - single distilled whisky