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In Glasgow, a wee dram of whisky is never out of place, while in Bourbon County, Kentucky, it would be unthinkable to commemorate a fine occasion with anything other than the finest whiskey available. Although the urge is the same, there are many more differences than merely the spelling of the name, and each style of spirit has its fans.

Scotch Whisky
In the opinion of noted spirits expert Paul Pacult, Scotland is the epicenter of distilling today. It represents the perfection of existing technique as well as a fertile ground for experimentation.

The fighting Irish monks landed in Argyle on the Campbeltown peninsula to civilize the Scots, bringing the skill of distillation with them, as documented by written records from 1494. In 1505, the Guild of Surgeon Barbers was granted a charter to sell whisky, and by the 1600s there were stills throughout Scotland producing Uisqe beatha, or “the water of life.” By 1700 there were 400 distilleries in Edinburgh, and the practice of distillation had been adopted by the culture at large in every economic strata. These were small, personal stills - there weren’t any large scale stills until late in the 17th century.

In 1707, the Act of Union joined Scotland to England, and taxation of whisky was used to finance war with France. Between 1720 – 1735, Parliament passed 19 different acts taxing whisky production. A collective decision was made not to pay the tax, and distillers moved to the most remote areas to avoid taxation, and thus began a century of bootlegging.

The 1823 licensing act allowed some to become legitimate, although this decision engendered some controversy within families. George Smith, a prominent Speyside citizen and distiller of The Glenlivet made the leap to legitimacy, a move that prompted many others to follow his example. Another influence in the 1820s was the introduction of column still distillation. By the 1850s, merchants in Glasgow and Edinburgh began to make vatted blends, particularly Andrew Usher, with his Old Vatted Glenlivet. It wasn’t until the 1860s and 1870s that grain whisky was created, and ultimately other wine merchants, such as Johnnie Walker, the Dewars, the Bells, the Chivas Brothers, and Ballentine also began to follow suit.

Production
Barley is the grain of choice for Scotch since it grows best in Scotland’s difficult climate. In the production of single malt whisky, the barley is malted (or caused to germinate) in order to release fermentable sugars. Before the leaves and roots begin to grow, the malt is dried in a peat-fired kiln to flavor the malt and arrest the germination.

Once the malt has dried, it is ground and soaked in four changed of increasingly hotter water to extract the fermentable sugars and form the wort which is fermented in a vessel called a washback to produce the wash.

The wash is usually distilled twice, first in the still known as the wash still. Following this, the result (“low wines”) is redistilled in the spirit still to produce what is called British Plain Spirits or “new make”, which is only 17 – 20% of the total distillate. “New make” can’t be described as Scotch whisky until the spirits have been aged for three years.

Today, most Scotch is aged in ex-Bourbon casks because they are inexpensive, although many types of cask are used, including Sherry butts, Port pipes, Madeira tuns and Burgundy barriques. After maturation, the spirit, now officially whisky, is stabilized, adjusted to selling strength, and bottled.

The essential distinctions to remember are that single malt whisky is made only from barley malt, yeast and water; it is distilled in a single distillery using a pot still; and is distilled in a single season. Blended Scotch is a blend of malt whisky and more neutral grain whisky distilled in a column still..

Regions
Within Scotland, whisky production occurs in many areas, each of which stamps the spirit with a particular character. The Highlands are geographically the largest region, but there are many different styles produced in this heterogeneous district. In general, however, these whiskies are balanced and elegant, with subtle notes of heather and honey. The Lowlands, by contrast, tend to produce smooth, mellow, and fairly neutral whiskies, many of which are triple distilled. Examples include Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie, although the majority of the whisky distilled here is used in blends.

Among the most exuberant whiskies are those produced in the islands, particularly in Islay. This small island is exposed to the sea on every side. Ardbeg, Lagavullin, Bowmore, Laphroaig are examples of the whisky produced here. In general, they are smoky, with a strong dose of sea salt or iodine on the nose. The most common styles also use a lot of peat while drying the malt to arrest germination of the barley, since the island has no coal, and distillers traditionally resorted to the local peat. The Cambletown region is located on a peninsula near Islay, and produces similar whisky, although the area is in decline, and today has only two working distilleries: Springbank and Glen Scotia. These whiskies are generally similar to Islay malts but with less smokiness.

American Whiskey
American whiskey is a general category that includes straight Bourbon, rye, Tennessee, and corn whiskey as well as blended whiskey. These are produced primarily from corn with the admixture of barley, wheat or rye.

Whiskey distillation has a long tradition in the United States. The founding fathers certainly considered it a tempting source of revenue: in 1789 the Continental Congress passed a law taxing whiskey. There was widespread opposition to this tax, resulting in the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion that let to the secession of Pittsburgh from the union.

Although the rebellion was put down, distillers fled the more settled regions of the colonies (where rye was often used for whiskey) and settled in Kentucky and Tennessee where corn was more common. Corn eventually came to dominate whiskey production since it is considerably less expensive than other grains. Today, even rye whiskey contains a fair amount of corn.

Maturation of the spirit in oak barrels also became common in the early 19th century, and the “white dog” style of unaged whiskey style gradually lost favor to sweeter, softer cask matured styles. Bourbon began to gain fans beginning in the 1940s, since Bourbon County, KY was seen as a quality-oriented place.

Producing American Whiskey
One thing that sets American whiskey apart from Scotch is the mixture of grains that are used for distillation, which varies from type to type. Bourbon is a minimum 51% corn (usually closer to 80%), along with rye, wheat and malted barley. Incidentally, Bourbon (“America’s Native Spirit” according to a 1964 congressional resolution) can be produced in any state in the union. Rye whiskey is a minimum 51% rye (usually 60 – 65%), along with corn and malted barley, while Tennessee whiskey is 51% - 79% corn with rye or wheat and malted barley. Corn whiskey is at least 80% corn.

The mash (wort to the Scots) is fermented along with the end of the last distillation to produce the wash, this addition of the “tails” is what qualifies a whiskey as “sour mash whiskey”. The wash produced by fermentation is then distilled, first in a column still, and then in a second still called the doubler. The raw spirit is cut with water and aged in brand new charred American oak casks (except for corn whiskey, which can be aged in used casks).

Bourbon, rye and Tennessee whiskey must be aged a minimum of 2 years in new charred barrels. If the aging period is less than four years, it must be stated on the label, and if the whiskey is more than four years old, the product of a single distillery, distilled during a single season and bottled at 100°, then it may be sold as Bonded Whiskey. Corn whiskey is aged in un-charred or used barrels for at least two years.

Jack Daniels and George Dickel are Tennessee sour mash whiskies, the only two produced, and not Bourbon. The reason for this is that they filter their whiskey through maple wood charcoal (a technique known as the Lincoln County Process), while Bourbon is filtered through cloth.

Rye is a bit spicier than Bourbon and not as sweet. Centers of rye production include Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The popularity of rye is on the rise - in 2000 there were six types of rye available, now there are more than twenty.

As with wine, there is a connoisseurship that comes with the knowledge of fine spirits. Whisky and whiskey both present the opportunity to exercise this connoisseurship. Whichever style you prefer, there is a world of whiskey that waits to be tasted.