The Art of Whisky

Creating the “Water of Life”

The origin of whisky is hard to pinpoint. One theory suggests that the distillation process vital to producing whisky may have been invented in Mesopotamia some 4,000 years ago, and applied to alcohol production around 800 CE. The knowledge could have then been brought to Europe by travelling monks over the next few hundred years. But no one knows for sure.

Perhaps being short on good grapes to make wine, the inhabitants of the British Isles turned instead to barley, wheat, and rye. The result was whisky. The word 'whisky' itself has its Gaelic origin from the word 'Uisge', a shortened version of 'Uisge Beatha', which translates to 'water of life'. In Latin, this is rendered 'aqua vitae', which incidentally is what Norway also calls its most popular spirit too.

Ongoing Debate

Even with the history of whisky woven in mystery, it is generally safe to say that whisky as we know it originated somewhere in the British Isles. However, where exactly is another issue in itself. Is it the invention of the Scottish Highlands and the proudest export of Scotland? Or does it belong to the Irish who claim the 'water of life' as their trademark?

The two nations even spell it differently. The Irish spelling, 'whiskey', is also used in the US. The Scottish variation, 'whisky' is used in Canada and Japan. As we’re about to focus on Scottish whisky, we’ve gone for that spelling.

Whether from Scotland or Ireland, it didn’t take long for the settlers of the New World to make their own whisky. Bourbon is a popular type of American whiskey made from corn while Canada has a proud tradition of using rye. Successfully copying the Scottish style, Japanese whisky has arrived onto the scene in recent years, and continues to impress those new and old to the world of whisky.

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Photo: Scott Jessiman Photo/ Shutterstock, Shutterstock and Jeremy Sutton Hibbert

The Criteria for “Scotch”

For the traditional whisky lovers among you though, nothing probably quite beats an authentic Scottish whisky. For a Scottish whisky to be considered a proper 'scotch', it must be made of water and malted barley, and aged for at least three years in an oak barrel. There can be no additives, except for water and colouring, and it must be bottled with no less than 40% alcohol. Needless to say, an authentic scotch must also be made in Scotland.

Scottish whisky is divided into five different styles, each coming from a different region: Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, Campbelltown, and Islay. Each area has its own history of whisky production and distilleries, producing whiskey with their own distinct flavours, aromas, and textures.

Many say that the secret to great Scottish whisky is the local water. Scottish distilleries are invariably located near a high-quality source and benefit from a wet climate. The rain filters down through the pristine moorland peat, picking up the local character of the ground, and perhaps adding to the taste of whiskies produced here.

Blends and Single-Malts

While Scottish distilleries can make whisky out of any grain, a scotch must include malted barley as one of the key ingredients. Pure malt whisky, made only from malted barley, is often mixed with a grain whisky or even another malt whisky to produce blended whiskies. The result is often a deep and complex marriage of scents on the nose and tastes on the palate.

However, surely the pinnacle of the whisky maker’s art is the single malt. As the name implies, single malts contain just the one type of malt whisky, unadulterated with any other. This purist approach means the particular flavour profile of the single malt shines through. Single malts are expensive and their cost is directly related to how long they sit in oak casks. Some decades-old single malts command prices in the many thousands of pounds or dollars.

A Process in Patience

To make Scottish whisky, let’s start with the key ingredient: malted barley. Malting the barley involves wetting the dry grain, spreading it over a floor, and warming until it starts to sprout. The sprouts are then dried with hot air or sometimes held over a peat fire which imparts a smokiness or 'reek' to the malt. A lot of malt is produced in big malting houses and sold to individual distilleries but a few distilleries still make their own.

This malting process produces various enzymes in the grain needed to convert starches to sugars, which are then broken down by yeast over 48 hours. The resulting alcoholic liquid produced by fermentation is then distilled a few times, refined by heating it into a vapour and allowing it to condense into liquid again.

When the precious fluid that will become whisky drips out of the still and into the 'spirit safe', it is colourless and clear, carrying little flavour other than that imparted by the peat-smoke infused malted barley. From there, the whiskies are made with good quality water and transferred to oak barrels that may have had bourbon, sherry, madeira, wine or even beer in them before.

Then begins the slow process of extracting the rich flavours and colours from the oak barrel into the whisky. This takes a minimum of three years but can be much longer, often 10, 12, 18, 25 or more years. The longer the ageing, the rarer the bottle.

Come to Islay for a dram

The relatively small island of Islay on the western shore of Scotland is home to nine iconic distilleries, each producing a distinctive, smoky style of scotch with a touch of salt from the nearby sea. You’ll be able to visit one of them and enjoy a dram, or several, of whisky on an expedition cruise with Hurtigruten. Slàinte mhath!