Whisky for Everyone

The world of whisky can be confusing and full of technical and industry terms or jargon. Here, we try to break down some of these barriers by having included an alphabetical A to Z listing of some important whisky and whiskey terms, in the form of a glossary. Simply select a letter for the explanation that you require or scroll down the glossary.

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P Q
• R
• S
• T
• U V
• W X Y Z

A

• ABV
  Abbreviation for Alcohol by volume – the term used to describe the percentage alcohol level in spirits.

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B

• Blended whisky
  A whisky made by blending together any number of single malt whiskies and grain whiskies to create the required flavour and characteristics. These can be from different distilleries and be of different ages.

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• Cask strength
  
• The strength of whisky as it comes from the cask. It is not diluted further before bottling and the strength can be anything between 40% and 65% ABV, depending on age. The younger a whisky is, the higher its ABV will be.
• Chill filtration
  The process by which natural substances that make whisky go cloudy when cold or diluted with water are removed before bottling. The whisky is chilled, the natural substances coagulate and are then removed by being passed through a series of metal meshes.
• Column still
  A large industrial still that allows for continuous, mechanised distillation. Column stills are mostly used in the production of grain whisky and are modern and cost effective. May also be called a Coffey still, continuous still or a patent still.
• Condensation
  The process where the alcohol vapours turn into the liquid spirit, with the help of cooling apparatus that form part of the still.
• Cooper
  A highly skilled person who makes the casks for whisky maturation by perfectly locking staves of wood together to make a watertight container. This art is called coopering and it takes place in a building called a cooperage.

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D

• Distillation
  The process of turning the mildly alcoholic wash into highly alcoholic spirit. The wash is heated in a still and the alcohol vapours evaporate and rise up the neck of the still and travel along the lyne arm, where they are condensed to form a liquid again.
• Drum malting
  This modern method is used to produce malted barley in most malting facilities. The barley is put in to a large drum and soaked with water. It is then turned consistently for a number of days until the barley starts to germinate and becomes malt.

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E

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F

• Fermentation
  The process of turning sugar in to alcohol. In whisky production, a sugary liquid called wort is put into a container called a washback and yeast is added. This triggers the start of fermentation and after a couple of days, all the sugar has turned to alcohol and is called wash. The liquid has a strength of between 5-8% ABV.
• Floor malting
  A traditional method of producing malted barley that is only still practiced in very few distilleries. The barley is soaked in water and then laid out on a wooden floor for about a week until germination starts to take place. This is very labour intensive as the barley has to be regularly turned by hand so as to ensure even germination.

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G

• Graff
  The residue from the mashing process. It consists of barley husks and other bits of the grain that are then collected, dried and compressed in to pellets and sold as animal feed.
• Grist
  Malted barley that has been ground up into a powder, so that it can be added to water and the natural sugars present will dissolve.

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

• Lyne arm
  The part of the still where the spirit vapours are transported to be condensed back in to a liquid. This arm is normally horizontal or close to horizontal, although some distilleries have odd shapes or steeper angles for the arm and this allows some liquid spirit to travel back down into the still to be redistilled.

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M

• Malt
  Barley grains that have been through the malting process (see Malting below).
• Malting
  The process where the starch in barley is converted to sugar, which in turn can then be turned in to alcohol during fermentation. Malting is achieved by soaking the barley grains in warm water and then allowing them to germinate, which turns the starch present in to natural sugars. This takes place in a drum or on a malting floor. The malted barley is then dried and ground up, with the resulting substance being called grist.
• Mashing
  The procedure where grist is added to warm water and the natural sugars are dissolved to form a sugary solution. This takes place in a large tank called a mash tun. The solution is then called wort and is passed to a washback tank for fermentation to take place. Any grain husks and other residue are known as graff and are collected, dried and formed into animal feed.
• Mash tun
  A large tank or vessel that is made from cast iron, stainless steel or wood, where the mashing process takes place. The mash tun is filled with a mixture of grist and warm water and the soluble sugars in the grist dissolve to form a sugary solution. This is then passed through the perforated floor of the mash tun to go to the washback tank to under go fermentation.
• Master blender
  The person working for a company or distillery that scientifically selects and then mixes whiskies of different ages or origins together to form the required final flavour profile of the whisky.
• Maturation
  The time taken for the whisky to gain the optimum amount of character from the wooden cask in which it is being stored. The whisky spirit draws natural oils and substances from the wood over time and the cask also pulls in air from the surrounding environment, as wood is a porous material.

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N

• Neck
  The section of a still between the pot at the bottom and the lyne arm at the top. The width and height of the neck control the amount and type of alcohol vapours that are allowed to reach the top in order to be condensed back in to a liquid spirit.

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O

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P Q

• Pagoda
  The pyramid shaped roof that provides ventilation from the kiln where the malted barley is dried. Invented by architect Charles Doig, who drew inspiration from the same shapes used in Japanese architecture for centuries.
• Peat
  A layer of earth that lays below the topsoil and consists of grasses, plants, tree roots and mosses that have been compressed over hundreds of years. It is a very dense substance that when dried is used as a fuel. The peat burns with a very consistent, high temperature with a thick acrid blue smoke. Used in the whisky industry to dry malted barley, with the thick smoke being absorbed in to the grains and the flavour getting carried through the rest of the whisky making process.
• Pot still
  A style of still that is the most common to be used in the production of single malt whisky. They are made of copper due to its excellent conductive qualities and is formed of the pot at the base (where the alcoholic wash is heated), the neck (where the alcohol vapours rise up) and the lyne arm/ condenser (where the vapours begin returning to the liquid form).
• PPM
  The abbreviation of Parts Per Million – the scientific measurement for showing the amount of phenols present in a whisky, that have been absorbed from the burning of peat.
• Purifier
  A device connected to the lyne arm that condenses heavier alcohol vapours that are not useful in the whisky making process. It leads the liquids back down to the base, where they undergo further distillation,

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R

• Reflux
  The name given to the re-condensing of alcohol that then runs back in to the still and gets re-distilled. The amount of reflux is determined by the shape and size of the still and the angle to which the lyne arm is set.

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S

• Saladin box
  An old method of malting barley, named after its inventor Charles Saladin. The box is a large automated trough that has a perforated floor through which air is blown. The germination process of the barley is controlled in the Saladin box by regulating the airflow and temperature between the grains.
• Shell and tube condenser
  A copper tubing that surrounds the lyne arm on a still. Cold water is fed through the tubing and this process cools the alcohol vapours and condenses them in to liquid spirit. It is the most common type of condenser used in distilleries today.
• Single malt
  Whisky that is made of 100% malted barley and is from just one single distillery location. They generally contain slightly different ages of whisky from numerous different casks within the distillery’s warehouse. These are then married together in a larger container to establish the required consistent flavour profile. The age stated on the bottle is the youngest age of any whisky included.
• Spirit safe
  A brass framed box with glass walls that is attached to the spirit still. It is used to analyse the spirit when it leaves the still. By law, the operator cannot come in to contact with the spirit and as a result the spirit safe is padlocked with a Customs & Excise officer keeping the key.
• Spirit still
  The second and usually smallest in a pair of stills. The ‘low wines’ from the wash still are re-distilled in the spirit still – this raises the alcohol level to between 64-69% ABV and clears the alcohol of unwanted impurities. Only the middle section of this distillate is collected for maturation. This section is called the cut.

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T

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U V

• Vatted malt
  A whisky that consists two or more single malts that are blended together. Unlike a blended whisky, vatted malts contain no grain whisky and only single malts. These can be from the same or different distilleries and be of differing ages.

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W X Y Z

• Warehouse
  The area where whisky is stored during its maturation. There are two main types – the dunnage or traditional warehouse which have earth floors and stone walls where casks are stacked no more than three high and the racked warehouse which is a modern facility with temperature and humidity control and where casks are stacked on racks up to 12 high.
• Washback
  A large tub or vat in which the fermentation process takes place in a distillery. Traditionally made of wood, they are now commonly made of stainless steel.
• Wash still
  Stills normally operate in pairs and the wash still is the first and usually largest of the two. The wash is heated and the alcohol vapours evaporate and are then cooled and reformed in to a liquid by a condenser. The resulting liquid has an alcohol level of 20-22% ABV and are called the low wines.
• Worm tub
  An older form of apparatus used for cooling alcohol vapours back to a liquid spirit. The worm tub is connected to the lyne arm of a still and is formed of a long downward spiralling copper pipe that is submerged in a wooden tub full of cold water. The tub is usually positioned outside and was traditionally filled with rain water. Under 10 distilleries still have this system in operation. Most others use shell and tube condensers.
• Wort
  A warm and sugary solution that contains the soluble sugars from the malted barley dissolved in warm water. Wort is the liquid that goes forward to the fermentation process, where the sugars are changed to alcohol.

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