In the latest in our series looking at whisky terminology,Dominic Roskrow considers the letters k and l
and in particular The Lincoln County Process
When is a bourbon not a bourbon?
When it’s a Tennessee whiskey.
And depending who you’re talking to and where you’re doing the talking, the likes of Jack Daniel and George Dickel are either barred from the bourbon club because they’ve messed with the rules, or they have added a quality process tha...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 66 published on 25/09/2007
In the latest in the series on whisky terms,Dominic Roskrow looks at the letters H,I and J
If you can’t make heads nor tails of the distillation then it’s not really surprising – there are so many terms floating about for the various stages of spirit that it’s a nightmare to put it into logical order. Two of the key terms used begin with H – heads and high spirits. Let’s go through it in ...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 65 published on 20/07/2007
In the latest in his series looking at the whisky glossary, Dominic Roskrow turns to the letter ‘G’ and to grain whisky
Pity poor grain whisky. While malted barley is the golden boy in the shiny new uniform, grain whisky is forced to stand in the corner, resentfully tolerated and rarely loved.
More than that, grain whisky has continued to receive a limited or bad press. In one feature in Whisky Magazine some 10 year...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 64 published on 01/06/2007
In the latest in our series looking at the language of whisky, Dominic Roskrow looks at the letters E and F
When it comes to whisky-making you really can’t help but use the F words. Some of the key distillery processes for making new make spirit require use of F words.
The first is fermentation – the process by which the solution containing water and the ground up malted barley (grist) known as ‘mash’ is...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 63 published on 20/04/2007
In the latest in the series Dominic Roskrow looks at the letter ‘D’
That’s the spirit. Distilling is, of course, the core part of the whisky-making process. We can – and I’m sure we do – sink many a glass of whisky and while away plenty of happy hours debating how important the barley, yeast and water are to the overall flavour of whisky, how much a long fermentatio...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 62 published on 01/03/2007
In the latest in his series defining whisky terms Dominic Roskrow looks at the letter C
Barley, yeast and water may be whisky’s raw ingredients and the skill of the whisky maker and distiller may be crucial in placing the foundations of a great single malt. But it is two c words which steer the new make spirit towards its final taste destination – casks and charring.
Whisky of all typ...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 61 published on 19/01/2007
In the second of our ‘back to basics’guides Dominic Roskrow looks at the letter B and in particular blends
If there is one word purpose-built to confuse newcomers to whisky, it’s the word ‘blend.’ This has always been the case but it has become even more so now that the whisky industry has adopted a new descriptor which uses the word.
The trouble with the word ‘blend’ is that it is used as a technical d...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 60 published on 10/11/2006
New to whisky? Then this new series goes back to basics. Dominic Roskrow explains
So there we were, having a heated debate about what did and didn’t constitute pot still whiskey, when someone suggested we look it up in a glossary.
Which we did, only to discover that the definition given included references to two other technical pieces of information which just clouded the debat...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 59 published on 11/10/2006
