It is no secret that my favorite cocktail classic is the Old Fashioned. Made with Rye Whiskey as originally designed. 

Copyrighted. Photo used with permission. cocktailvultures.com

But what makes Rye Rye? Is it different from just plain old whiskey? And what makes Scotch Scotch? And what about Bourbon? What about blended whiskeys? 

If you are new to the wonderful world of whiskey, this guide from refinedguy.com will surely get you on track. I will add some links at the end to some great sites to learn more.

Let’s start with the most basic fact you need to know: whisky, scotch, bourbon, and rye are all just whiskey.

This is not to say those are all just different names for the same thing; rather, it’s simply to say that they’re all members of the same family of spirits. Whiskey is any type of liquor made from a fermented grain mash, and three things determine what variety of whiskey it is:

1. where it’s made

2. the proportions of grains used in the mash

So if someone sees you drinking Dewars on the rocks or Jameson neat, asks what it is, and you say “whiskey,” that’s correct. But if someone asks if you’d like some bourbon, then pours you some Bushmills, then that person never read this article. Because Bushmills is Irish whiskey, not bourbon.

By Scotish law, for whiskey to be called scotch, it has to be distilled in Scotland (duh) and then aged for a minimum of three years in oak casks. Anything that meets these standards can be called scotch, whether it’sblended scotch or single-malt scotch—but don’t worry about what those are for now. We’ll come back to it.

Typically, scotch is mostly malt whisky rather than agrain whisky*, which means malted barley is the main ingredient and not corn, wheat, or rye. Also typically, the malted barley used to make scotch is dried over peat fires, which gives scotch a distinct, smokey flavor you don’t find in other whiskies. However, the law does not require “scotch” to be made from peat-dried malt. That’s just the convention.

*FYI, I’m not just going back and forth between the two acceptable spellings of whiskey all willy nilly. In the U.K. and Canada they spell it without the e—whisky. But in the U.S. and Ireland they spell it with the e—whiskey. So throughout this article I’ll be switching back and forth depending on whether I’m talking about Scotch whisky, Tennessee Whiskey, or whatever.

By U.S. law, for whiskey to be called bourbon it must be made in the United States from a mash that is made up of at least 51% corn and aged a minimum of two years in new oak casks. Though it was invented and perfected in Bourbon Country, Kentucky, it does not have to be from Kentucky as long as it meets these specifications.

Like Scotch, there is blended bourbon and single-malt bourbon, only it’s not called single-malt; it’s calledsingle-barrel. But once again, don’t worry about blended versus single-malt/barrel for now. We’ll get to that.

Guess where Irish whiskey has to be made?

Anyway, like scotch, Irish whiskey is actually less regulated than bourbon. Basically, is has to be made in Ireland and distilled for a minimum of three years in wooden casks. Like scotch, Irish whiskey is almost always malt whiskey (i.e. made from barley), but unlike scotch, Irish whiskey isn’t roasted over peat. Instead it’s roasted over charcoal or in gas kilns, which leaves a cleaner, sweet malt taste.

Oh, and Irish whiskey is generally triple distilled while Scotch is double distilled, which also yields a cleaner taste.

No secret here: Canadian whiskies, by law, are made in Canada. They must be aged for at least three years in wood barrels, but there is no rule regarding the type of grain, and also labeling restrictions are actually rather lax. For this reason, a lot of Canadian whisky is called “rye whisky” when in fact they are blends of multiple grains. Seagrams, for example, blends over 50 batches to make their whisky. However, most Canadian whiskies are blends of 15 to 20 different batches, including Canadian Club and Crown Royal. In any case, it’s the blending that makes Canadian whiskies relatively lighter than other whiskies.

By U.S. law, rye whiskey must be made within the United States but, instead of a mash made from 51% corn like bourbon, it must be made from 51% rye, which is a kind of grass in the wheat family. The result is that these whiskies are heavier, spicier, and more bittersweet than bourbon.

Every kind of whisk(e)y, whether it’s scotch, bourbon, rye, or whatever, can either be blended or single malt/barrel. So what the heck do these classifications mean?

Well, single-malt and single-barrel whiskies come from the same batch at one single distillery. Thus, scotch is single-malt scotch when it is made from a single batch of 100% malted barley, and the same goes for Irish whiskey.

With bourbon it’s slightly different. Like scotch, they call it single-barrel bourbon when it’s from the same batch; however, since bourbon by definitely only has to be just 51% corn (the rest of the mash can be any mix of other grains), single-barrel does not mean it’s 100% corn.

Nevertheless, single-barrel bourbon and single-malt scotch are advanced whiskies. Because they come from a single batch from a single distillery, single-malt/barrel whiskies are very unique and distinctive. The type of water used, the character of the soil in which the grains are grown, the flavors imparted by the wood used for the casks—all of these come through in unblended whiskies. And this is even more the case for single-malt whiskies than for single-barrel bourbons, since they also use only one grain.

Straight whiskey is an American classification that lies somewhere between single-malt/barrel and blended. According to U.S. law, for a whiskey to be “straight whiskey” the majority of the mash must be made up of a single grain. In other words, it has to be made from either 51% barley, 51% corn, 51% rye, and so on.

On top of that, a straight whiskey can only be combined with other batches of whiskey from the same distillery that were made at the same time.

By definition, then, all single-malt or single-barrel whiskies are straight whiskies; however, not all straight whiskies are single-malt/barrel whiskies.

In the case of bourbon and rye, they all meet the 51% qualification. However, they don’t all meet the blending qualification.

Blended whiskies are the most popular in the world. All the brands you are most familiar with are blended: Jameson, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, etc.

Basically, these are whiskies that are made by combining multiple single-malt or single-barrel whiskies. The reason for blending? To create a well-rounded, balanced whiskey that is both lighter and smoother—and thus easier to sip.

Blended whiskies can be either a blend of whiskies made from the same grain but from multiple distilleries from different parts of the world, or they can be made from whiskies made from a variety of grains. Johnnie Walker, for example, is a blend of mostly wheat and corn, while, as previously mentioned, Seagrams is like the cornucopia of whiskies—a little bit of everything.

The important thing to remember is this: although the term single-malt scotch has come to be considered the epitome of whiskey in recent years, there aint nothing wrong with blended whiskey—so long as it’s the good stuff, like Johnnie Walker Black. Like I said, they blend whiskies to make them balanced and cover all the whisky flavor bases. So if it’s done well, then blended whiskies will give you everything the spirit has to offer.

Look, everyone wants to be cool like dudes in the movies and drink the whiskey “neat”—which means there’re nothing in you glass but whiskey. But like single-malt scotch, you need to work your way up to that. If you’re just stepping foot into the world of whiskey, feel free to “cut” it with either a bit of water or ice (“on the rocks”) so that you can taste it without making a scrunchy face.

Sure, adding water to your whiskey may feel less macho, but it’s not as bad as looking like a kid taking a sip of his dad’s beer for the first time. Besides, it’s all a matter of personal preference. When you add water to whiskey, this changes the chemical make-up. The surface tension decreases, which allows “lighter” alcohols with more citrusy, fruity flavor to come to the forefront—flavors you might never have tasted otherwise. That’s why they sometimes say water “opens up” a whiskey. Ice, too, has a distinct effect. Cooling the complex concoction ends up allowing sweeter notes to come through.

So, in short, if someone gives you sh*t about ordering a scotch with water or ice, tell them to go learn some f-ing chemistry already.

Also, don’t be afraid to start off drinking whiskey in cocktails. Just make sure they’re manly cocktails, and don’t use premium whiskies. If a cocktail calls for scotch, go with Johnnie Walker Red, not Black. Why? Because (A) the subtleties of the good stuff are lost when you add other liquids, and besides, (B) you want the most characteristic flavors of that liquor to come through, and that’s what cheaper whiskies have going for them.

Once you have dabbled in whiskies for a bit, then you can start taking them more seriously and get to know the characteristics of scotch, bourbon, Irish whiskey, and the like. And if you want to take whiskey-tasting more seriously, here are four simple steps:

1. Get a tulip shaped glass, sometimes called a Glencairn glass or a whiskey glass. Like wine glasses or brandy snifters, they help keep the bouquet in so you can really get a good whiff of the aroma as you sip.

2. Before drinking, do like wine and give your whiskey a good sniff first. If you don’t, you’ll miss a lot of the flavor.

3. When you drink it, you don’t want to throw it back and swallow, but you also don’t want to swish the stuff around like mouthwash. Instead, make like your chewing it. You may feel stupid, but it works.

4. Note the flavors. In particular, look out for sweet, spicy, vanilla, wood, leather, dried fruit, smoke, and earth.

Visit these wonderful sites to learn more:

 

 

 

 

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