A glimpse into the magic and science that go into our barrels

The starch contained in barley needs to be turned into soluble sugars in order to make alcohol.

So, the process starts by soaking the barley for 2-3 days in warm water and spreading it across the floor in order to kickstart germination.

Once the barley starts to sprout germination it must be immediately halted by drying it in a kiln. Now the barley is at the optimum stage to have the sugars extracted.

The second step sees the barley, now called malt, ground down, husks removed, and mixed with warm water again. The water is of the utmost importance and every distillery in the world goes to great lengths to use water from reliable sources as this greatly influences the whisky’s final character.

Water and malt, now called mash, are moved to a mash tun and left for hours while the water extracts more sugars from the barley. The liquid is drawn out leaving all residue behind, and is now called wort.

The wort is cooled and moved to vessels called fermentation tanks where the yeast is added and begins turning the sugars into alcohol and CO2. As with the grains and water, the yeast strain used is very important.

Fermentation usually lasts approximately 48 hours. The resulting liquid is called wash and comes in at around 5-10% ABV. Upto this point, the production is very similar to beer, but the difference is that, to become whisky, the step of distillation is added.

Typically, single malt whisky is distilled twice, although there are exceptions. The stills used are usually made of copper as this is said to bring out the most wanted flavors in whisky, and have a wide bowl shape at the bottom with a long neck at the top. Shapes differ greatly, but the core pieces remain the same.

Stills come in pairs, known as a wash still and spirits still. The aforementioned wash enters the wash still and is heated. The liquid vaporizes and rises to reach the neck where it is condensed and moved into the second still where the same process is repeated.

The spirit is separated into three parts here, and only the middle part called the ‘heart’ is taken and entered into casks to mature and become whisky. The heads and tails are taken and redistilled.

The spirit is put into casks and left to mature. The cask types vary, but the most common types are ex-bourbon American barrels and ex-sherry butts. Each whisky-making country has its own regulations surrounding whisky maturation. In Scotland, for example, the spirit must mature for a minimum of three years in order to be called whisky.