Whisky basics

During the dark days of World War II Dave Hughes can recall his parents longing for utterly unobtainable Scotch whisky and "making do" with American whiskey. A trained distiller, he has travelled the world - from Russia to Kentucky - in pursuit of good malts.

In the past decade or two Scotch malt whiskies have made a massive flavour statement to become a seriously trendy drink. A dozen or more years ago you'd have been hard pressed to find a "Single Malt Whisky" in any bar. About the only exception would have been Glenfiddich.

Nowadays bars are like an Aladdin's Cave for whisky drinkers - filled to the brim with unimaginable riches. Almost every bar will boast at least one malt whisky, while others, such as the Cape Grace Hotel's Bascule Bar or The Cat and Moose at Stellenbosch's Devon Valley Hotel, offer an array from different countries and made in different styles. Highlands, lowlands, islands… it can be quite confusing.

This revival of interest in Scottish malts has broadened the whisky palate and helped develop an interest in whiskies of the world as the younger, more adventurous and well-heeled consumers experiment with other whiskies - Irish, Canadian, American, Japanese and even South African. I've found that good old Three Ships is regularly among the most preferred whiskies when people taste it blind and aren't dazzled by pricy labels!

Scotch obtains its alcoholic content from barley. "But hang on," you might say, "alcohol of the potable kind can only be obtained from fermenting a sugar solution - and barley is a starch." Quite right - but the starch can be converted into sugar by an enzyme. This process is known as malting: hence the term "malt whisky".

Distillation is the process common to all spirits: brandy, whisky, rum, gin and grappa - with the different flavours obtained from the various base products being distilled. Wine for brandy, sugar cane for rum and grain for whisky. Vodka, aquavit, sake and fruit spirits are all distilled in stills from all manner of "raw materials".

Distillation involves separating liquids with different boiling points - and this is done using apparatus called a still. There are basically two types of stills: the traditional pot still - with its copper top or goose-neck shape that's a kind of enclosed kettle where the vapours given off by the boiling content are collected, led away from the kettle and condensed back into a liquid - and a column still. Pot stills are batch operated and not all that efficient in separating liquids with similar boiling points. As a result their product will always contain a fair amount of whatever was being distilled and have more flavour than the pure spirit from a column still.

A column still is a much more modern invention and, as the name suggests, is operated on a continuous basis rather than batch by batch. As long as the product to be distilled is fed into one end, the distilled product can be removed at the other end. It is actually a series of hundreds of mini distillations taking place simultaneously.

A fairly exact separation can be programmed, with the result that the end product can be almost "pure" alcohol - or tuned to carry only some of the flavouring portions into the final product. This is an extremely versatile still and can produce large quantities of high strength spirit on a very economic basis.

A column still was first patented by a Scot called Robert Stein but some years later in 1831 an Irishman of French descent, Aneas Coffey, produced a continuous still that was a refinement of Stein's and subsequently revolutionised whisky, and all spirit, distilling.

The basic production of all whiskies is pretty much the same. The difference in character is due mainly to the kind of grain used. Scotch malt is made from barley - as is Irish whiskey - while Bourbon (and most American whiskey) is made from maize. The only exception would be the use of rye, and that information is stated on the label. In Japan, China and Korea certain distillates are produced from barley, sorghum, rice and other grains.

In all instances the grain has to be germinated to produce the malt. With Scotch, only selected barley is used. Once the germination has begun the growing grain has its growth stopped by heating. In days of yore this was done by spreading the growing grain over a perforated floor where smoke and warmth from a fire below could pass upwards - but the perforations were such that grain could not seep through. The fire in Scotland was made from the cheapest heating material available - peat. Simply stated, peat is vegetable matter that has been decomposed by water and partly carbonised over time. If pressure were applied over aeons it would form coal. This peat is traditionally cut out of the bogs, in brick-like oblongs and then dried before being used as a fuel. The pungent smoke from these peaty fires imparted a particular flavour to the drying grain, which eventually found its way into the end product. Hence the peaty character of some whiskies.

The dried grain - now called malt - is then milled into a coarse powder and mixed with water to form a very thin porridge called the mash. During germination an enzyme developed in the sprouting barley: this is still present in the milled grain and it has the power to convert starch into fermentable sugar. So by the time the mash is made there is a liquid sugar solution. To this, yeast is added and fermentation takes place - converting the sugar into alcohol while the carbon dioxide leaves the mix in the form of gas bubbles.

The mash is now termed wash and with its alcoholic content is placed into a pot still where the alcohol is removed by boiling. As mentioned above, a pot still is not that efficient in separating different fractions, so lots of flavours contained in the wash are carried over into the distillate. The products of various distillations are collected together and re-distilled in another pot still to remove only those flavours wanted to make good malt whisky. It is this condensate that is colourless but contains the components needed to flavour the whisky that is put into an oak cask for a minimum maturation of three years. During this period the flavours we recognise as whisky develop. Naturally, there are many variations on the above process, but that's the basic idea.

Malt whisky spends a minimum of three years in cask, although this is sometimes extended to 10 years or more. Most pundits agree the best flavours occur at 12 to 15 years. While many will appreciate those from 20, 30 or more years, only the most experienced palates really understand such well-aged whisky. Naturally the kind of oak cask used is important and nowadays various oak "finishes" are marketed. Many labels now proclaim time spent (usually a year) in Sherry, Port or even red or white wine casks. And would you believe that even rum casks are being used nowadays?

Most modern Scotch whiskies are now aged in used Bourbon barrels. When all the wine in Britain was imported in barrel, there was a plentiful supply of used barrels sent to Scotland for whisky maturation. Modern methods of wine shipping meant barrels gave way to stainless steel tankers and the source of barrels dried up. Some distillers still buy new casks and have them used in sherry production before returning them to Scotland.

Thanks to the American government passing a law after World War II that casks for bourbon could only be used once, a plentiful supply of good oak was guaranteed. As the bourbon barrels were emptied, they were disassembled and shipped to Scotland. There the canny skirt-wearing lads added a few extra staves to bump up capacity, added new ends and had themselves good quality used barrels, at a relatively low cost.

Research done in the USA in the '80s showed that most Bourbon drinkers hadn't a clue what their favourite tipple was made from, while not many even knew that Scotch was made from barley. In fact, very few American Bourbon drinkers had a clue that Bourbon originated only from the county of Bourbon in the state of Kentucky and was made from maize… yet all seemed to know that "corn liquor" was the product of corn or maize! Perhaps a hangover from the Prohibition era which lasted from 1920 to 1933: 13 years of death and mayhem caused by organised crime syndicates and dangerous, poorly concocted liquors in illicit stills.

Prior to Prohibition, Irish whiskey was by far the most preferred of all whiskies imported into the USA. But all the attempts to make crude fakes of the previously much loved Irish put the Americans off the original drop and they moved to blended Scotch. Blended Scotch is what most people have come to know and drink - with the world-wide brands such as Johnnie Walker, White Horse, Haig, Bells, Black and White, Famous Grouse, J&B Rare, Scottish Leader present on any liquor store shelf. These are the product of blending the more pungent pot still with the lesser heavily flavoured grain spirit which is usually produced by a continuous still.

Incidentally, Bourbon county was named after the French Royal family in appreciation of French assistance during the American War of Independence.

Most whiskies are brought to a more or less common strength before bottling at about 40 to 43% alcohol by volume. The strength is usually determined by the duty payable in whatever country the whisky is to be sold. The UK standard is 40% while South Africans are allowed 43%. But some malt whiskies are sold at the strength at which they exit the maturation cask - and are labelled "cask strength". You'll pay more for these whiskies because duty is levied on the alcoholic content.

My favourite part is in the drinking… yet when it comes to drinking, you need to dilute the whisky to the strength you most appreciate. For some it's a splash, for others a more healthy dose of water. Those foolish souls who believe whisky should not be diluted in any way miss some of the pleasure of appreciation - because as the water is added a chemical reaction takes place. Without watering the whisky these flavour nuances will never be unleashed. But there's a caveat… you must add neutral water - not chlorinated water, which simply ruins good whisky, as does ice from chlorinated water.

Plenty of hype surrounds water and Scotch whisky making. Legend would have you believe that water is the all important ingredient. While good water is essential, most distillers suggest it rates about 10% in the importance of flavour character. On a very general scale they continue: 10% to the shape of the stills, 25% to the character and quality of the barley and 10% to the micro-climate of the maturation stores, while the maturation cask is all important at 40 to 50%. Remember, the big chunk of water added before bottling is normally not done anywhere close to where the whisky is produced.

When new whisky goes into the cask it is a colourless spirit. Over three or four years it picks up little colour and the depth of its hues can vary from cask to cask. So when the big popular blends are made, the colour is adjusted and standardised by the addition of small amounts of caramel. Most single malts are not coloured but are bottled with their natural colour. Over time this could be fairly dark.

The most popular Scotch whiskies are the blends. These vary from your regular prop price to magnificent products blended together from well aged malts and just a minimum of grain spirit - or none of the latter. Some of the more snobby malt drinkers tend to look down on blends with disdain. This is ridiculous as good blends often have top components - and a palate can become awfully jaded if it experiences only single malts.

All in all, the whisky drinker of today has never before had the range of choice of type and style of whisky that is now available. WHISKY FESTIVAL TIME
The first ever Whisky Festival kicks off at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront in October.

The Clocktower Precinct will be home to the Cape Times/V&A Waterfront Whisky Festival and will run from 8 to 10 October from 5 to 10 pm.

This is a great opportunity to taste American and Irish whiskey, alongside Scotland's finest blends and single malts.

Whiskies such as The Balvenie, Jack Daniels, Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bell's, White Horse, Jameson's, Chivas Regal, Glenfiddich, Grant's, Scottish Leader and Three Ships will all be available for tasting.

In addition to specialist masterclasses, enthusiasts will be able to meet the makers - such as the master distiller of Jack Daniel's Old No 7 Tennessee Whiskey, Jimmy Bedford,and global ambassador for the Best of Scotland, Christopher Martin.