As you know, the flavors of “living water” greatly depend on the place of production, but the general technology of whiskey production remains approximately the same in all countries. In this article we will understand what and how whiskey is made from, consider all the stages in detail and touch a little on the characteristic features of individual regions.

Whiskey composition. The basic ingredients are always the same: malt (sprouted grain), yeast and water. Sometimes a little sugar or caramel is added to the finished drink, but this applies more to cheap varieties. There cannot be any flavors, dyes or other chemical additives in real whiskey.

Step-by-step manufacturing technology

Malting

Whiskey is made from pure barley or a mixture of grains, for example, bourbon (American whiskey) consists of at least 51% corn, and the rest comes from other grains (barley, rye, etc.), pure rye or wheat varieties are also possible . Rarely, there are whiskeys made from rice, buckwheat, and other grains.

Malt is the main component of whiskey

The grains, dried in a sunny, well-ventilated room, are poured with water and left to germinate, changing the water periodically - this is how enzymes in cereals are activated that break down starch into simple sugars. Sprouted grain is called malt. The entire process takes up to two weeks. The main thing is to stop the malting of the grains in time so that the sprouts do not “eat” all the starch that will be needed in the next stages.

Whiskey made from unmalted (unsprouted) raw materials is called “grain”. In fact, it is an ordinary alcohol aged in barrels with a rough taste and almost complete absence of an aromatic bouquet. Grain whiskey is not sold as a separate drink, but is only mixed into blends with “noble” distillates.

Drying malt

The finished malt is removed from the water and dried in a special chamber. In Scotland, on the Isle of Islay and in Japan, the smoke of bog peat is additionally used to give the drink a characteristic “smoked” taste and smoky aroma.

Wort preparation

Wooden fermentation tank with wort

The grinding is poured into a wort boiler, filled with water and gradually heated, not forgetting to stir. The future wort sequentially goes through several temperature regimes with sustained temperature pauses:

• 38-40°C – flour and water turn into a homogeneous mass;
• 52-55°C – protein is broken down;
• 61-72°C – starch is saccharified (turned into sugar suitable for yeast);
• 76-78°C – final sugary substances are formed.

Fermentation

The wort is poured into wooden or steel vats and mixed with special alcoholic yeast (each reputable enterprise tries to have its own unique strain). In many distilleries, yeast is taken from a previous batch of mash; as a result, the process becomes cyclical and lasts for tens and sometimes hundreds of years.

Fermentation takes 2-3 days at a temperature of about 37 degrees. Yeast actively reproduces, feeding on oxygen, and when the oxygen in the mash runs out, the breakdown of sugar obtained from starch in the grain begins.

At the end of this phase, the time comes for malolactic fermentation - fermentation of the wort using lactic acid bacteria rather than yeast. The mash, ready for distillation, with a strength of 5%, tastes like beer, but without hops.

Distillation

The spent mash is subjected to double or triple distillation (depending on the manufacturer) in copper distillation cubes - alambics. The material of the equipment is very important: copper eliminates the “sulphurous” taste of alcohol and provokes chemical reactions, as a result of which vanilla, chocolate and nut tones appear in the bouquet of whiskey. However, new production facilities sometimes install stainless steel equipment.

Copper whiskey alambic

After the first distillation, the mash turns into “weak wine” with a strength of ~30 degrees. To obtain 70 proof whiskey, a second distillation is necessary.

For further whiskey production, only the middle portion (“heart”) is used; the first and last fractions (“heads” and “tails”) are drained or sent to a distillation column to obtain pure alcohol. The division into fractions is due to the fact that at the beginning and end of the distillation process many harmful substances enter the finished drink.

Even the shape of the alambik matters: every notch on the copper side affects the taste of the distillate. Therefore, when equipment is changed at old distilleries, the new one is cast exactly according to the patterns of the old one, preserving all the defects, “bends” and dents.

For the production of grain whiskey and bourbon, a Coffey continuous distillation apparatus is often used instead of a traditional two-chamber alambic. This device distills mash not in batches, but constantly. This production method saves time and distillation costs, but degrades the quality of the whiskey.

The finished distillate is diluted with soft spring water to 50-60 degrees. Some distilleries prefer hard water with a high content of trace elements; this whiskey acquires a characteristic mineral flavor.

Excerpt

Traditionally, whiskey is aged in oak sherry barrels, but for cheap varieties, sometimes bourbon containers are used (American whiskey “ages” in new barrels, charred from the inside) or even completely new, previously unused barrels.

Most whiskey barrels are purchased from Spain, a producer of sherry (fortified wine).

At this stage, the bouquet of the drink is finally formed, a noble caramel shade and aroma appear. At the same time, 6 main processes take place:

1. Extraction (“pulling” aroma and tannins from wood).
2. Evaporation (the barrels are not sealed tightly, the alcohol gradually evaporates).
3. Oxidation (of aldehydes when interacting with barrel material).
4. Concentration (the smaller the volume of liquid, the richer the aroma).
5. Filtration (through membrane filters, immediately before blending or bottling).
6. Colorization (using caramel to make the drink look “noble”).

The average aging period is 3-5 years, but there are varieties that spend 30 years or more in barrels. The longer the whiskey is aged, the greater the “angels' share” - the volume of alcohol evaporated - and the higher the price. Over time, oak wood absorbs most fusel oils from alcohol, saturates the drink with lactones, coumarin and tannin, but if you overdo it, the whiskey will acquire a “woody” taste.

Blending

It is a process of mixing distillates (sometimes grain alcohols are also added to the composition) of different aging periods and (or) from different distilleries. There is no single recipe: each brand has its own secrets. The number of mixed varieties can reach up to 50, and they will all differ in taste and aging. The proportions are selected by an experienced production master - a blender. Typically, such a person works at the enterprise for decades and, long before retirement, prepares a replacement for himself from among other employees, gradually passing on secrets and best practices.

The workplace of a master blender is very similar to a chemical laboratory

The point of blending is to guarantee the buyer the same taste of his favorite brand from year to year, regardless of the characteristics of the harvest or technology. Mixing also allows you to create new whiskeys with a unique taste (they will expand the range of products) from the distillates available to the enterprise, changing only the proportions.

Blending is not a necessary step: many connoisseurs prefer to drink pure single malt whiskey produced by one distillery, this category is called “single malt”, and blended whiskey is labeled “blended”. Disputes about the superiority of one category over another make no sense; it is more a matter of taste and philosophy than the real impact of production technology on quality.

Blended whiskey is kept in oak barrels for several more months so that the mixed varieties “get married” - turn into one harmonious drink, and not a cocktail of flavors.

Bottling

After the final aging, the whiskey undergoes filtration (mechanical to separate the liquid from particles of wood and other solid fractions); sometimes the drink is diluted again with water until the required strength is obtained. Only after this the finished product is bottled and sent to stores.

After cold filtration, the whiskey does not become cloudy when mixed with water, but some of the unique taste is lost

Cheap distilleries sometimes use the dubious method of cold filtration, where whiskey is cooled to approximately -2°C. As a result, fatty acids float to the surface and are easily removed mechanically. After cold filtration, whiskey loses some of its organoleptic properties (aroma and taste), but looks more presentable - it does not become cloudy in the glass when ice is added, it appears amber and transparent.

It's no secret that the best container for aging whiskey is an oak barrel. It is here that one of the most mysterious processes occurs - the maturation of an alcoholic drink, hidden from human eyes. As you know, for aging malt spirits, distillery masters choose either “fresh” oak barrels or barrels that were previously used to age other drinks. The most common barrels in this case are oak bourbon or sherry containers.
Bourbon barrels should be given special attention, since this type of container is considered the most common and accessible for the aging process of malt alcohols.
What is so special about this “foreign” barrel? First of all, it is worth clarifying that bourbon is an American type of whiskey created from corn alcohols and is considered the national drink of the United States. Accordingly, corn spirits in the USA are stored in special barrels made using specific technology from American oak wood. After the bourbon has been in barrels, these containers are sent to Scotland, where they earn, so to speak, a second life. The fundamental difference between American bourbon barrels and European ones is their structure. Thus, American oak has a higher concentration of so-called oak lactones than European oak. Lactones formed from lipids in oak wood are responsible for the formation of intense woody, charcoal, and sometimes coconut tones in the bouquet of the alcoholic beverage, which is stored in such a barrel.
The process of creating a Bourbon barrel is an incredibly complex task that only experienced coopers can do. It is only at first glance that it seems that the profession of a cooper is very simple. In fact, specialists have been studying this craft for at least five years, and alcohol companies take the selection of candidates for the position of cooper extremely seriously.
Before making a barrel, craftsmen thoroughly dry the oak wood. The wood is dried in specially equipped dryers for at least two weeks. The material is then heated to give it the desired shape and plasticity. The shape of the barrel is secured with six steel hoops of varying sizes, and at the final stage the barrel is fired, causing the wood sugar in the oak to crystallize. Before pouring bourbon into a barrel, the drink's producers fire the container one more time, but this time from the inside. As a result, a black layer of soot forms inside the barrel, and the structure of the inner surface of the wood changes noticeably. This carbon deposit, of course, is removed from the drink at the final stage of production using special sulfur compounds. The thickness of the soot, of course, has a great influence on the elements contained in the wood, and therefore on the taste of the finished alcoholic drink. As a rule, coopers fire a barrel for 40-60 seconds, but there have been cases when the firing time was increased to four minutes as a daring experiment.

It is worth noting that the use of bourbon barrels in the creation of Scotch whiskey is a relatively young phenomenon, given the centuries-old history of scotch. It is known that the first Scotch whiskey was poured into bourbon barrels around the 30s of the last century. Until this moment, the whiskey had matured safely in sherry tanks brought from Spain. The main reason why whiskey producers suddenly switched to Bourbon barrels was the interruption in the supply of European oak containers associated with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Of course, the number of European barrels in stock at factories has noticeably decreased. Until now, about 20 thousand sherry barrels and more than one and a half million bourbon containers are used in the production of whiskey.
So, after the barrel has served its first term as a home for American whiskey, it is ready to start a new life and become a “cradle” for scotch. The barrels are disassembled into planks and sent across the ocean to Scotland, where coopers reassemble them and re-fire them from the inside.
It is important to understand that American Spirits casks, unlike sherry casks, are capable of producing whiskey with only minor, subtle, but undoubtedly wonderful flavor notes, including pleasant notes of charcoal, coconut, smoke and oak. Most producers in Scotland store their spirits in both bourbon and sherry casks and then blend them in varying proportions. The result is an amazing drink with a rich flavor and complex character.
Most often, barrels from the USA are used in Scotland to age one or two batches of distillates. These are barrels of the first and second fills. That is, after two fillings, the barrels are sent to “retirement”. However, there are cases when one barrel is used to age whiskey up to 3-4 times. After the first filling, the barrels are “refreshed”: the surface is treated in a special way and fired again. Such a barrel is quite ready to “work” further.

When it comes to the volume of the oak container, Bourbon barrels are classified as Hogshead barrels. A Hogshead cask can hold approximately 245 liters of malt spirits.

In conclusion, it is worth adding that whiskey is a unique drink, the maturation process of which is influenced by several important factors. The quality and structure of the bourbon barrel is one of the main factors. In this case, all the smallest details are important, starting from the method of firing the barrel and ending with the growth rate of the “donor” tree that gave “life” to the oak container. That is, Scotch whiskeys from different barrels that arrived from America in one batch are completely unique alcoholic drinks, distinguished by their specific taste and aroma.

There is no such thing as bad whiskey. Some whiskeys are just better than others.
William Faulkner

Whiskey is the star of duty free shops, men's gatherings and any self-respecting bar. It is difficult to find a person who has not heard about whiskey at least once, even in a movie. It is drunk by cowboys in westerns and oil tycoons, presidents and beggars; whiskey is mixed in cocktails or simply drunk with ice. Whiskey and soda has long been not just a drink, but a cinematic brand, although experts say that it is soda that allows the taste and aroma of whiskey to reveal itself.

In scientific terms, whiskey (whisky, whiskey) is a strong alcoholic drink of a pleasant straw color, with a smoky aroma and a strong fragrant taste. Whiskey is prepared by distillation. Barley, corn, wheat and rye are used as raw materials.

The history of this drink can be traced back to the end of the 15th century, when documents first there are references to the purchase and sale of barley malt, as well as references to uisge beatha, which is translated from Celtic as “living water” and directly alludes to the Latin name for the alcohol aqua vitae. The Celtic name has changed many times over the long 5 centuries from uisge on uisce, fuisce, uiskie and finally turned into a familiar word whiskey.

It is believed that distillation technology was brought to Europe by the Crusaders, who borrowed the secret from the Arabs. Monasteries have been making alcohol for medicinal purposes from various products since the 12th century, but alcohol is still far from whiskey. Chance, as often happens, played a decisive role in the history of whiskey. In the British Isles, drinks from Spain and Portugal were extremely popular - sherry, Madeira and port, which were transported in strong, heavy oak barrels. The barrels were emptied and remained in the “household”. Someone was the first to pour alcohol obtained by distilling barley malt into an empty sherry cask, and after a few years discovered that the alcohol acquired an amazing aroma and taste. Aging in old oak wine barrels has become the main secret of Scottish distillers.

The new drink quickly gained popularity, and distillers in Ireland and Scotland constantly modernized technology and improved the quality of whiskey. The decisive step along this path was the idea of ​​mixing old aged whiskey with young whiskey in various proportions. Moreover, they mixed whiskeys from different raw materials. A blend or mixture of different whiskeys has opened up endless possibilities for creating unique varieties. By the mid-19th century, technology had become established, and in 1860 a law was passed in Britain regulating the quality of whiskey. The 1890s saw an unprecedented increase in whiskey production, the birth of many modern brands and brands, the overall quality of whiskey improved, and elite and collectible varieties appeared.

Currently, the main exporter of whiskey is Great Britain, Canada is in second place, the USA is in third, followed by Ireland and, oddly enough, Japan. Each country of origin has its own distinctive features, for example, in Scotland they still use barley malt as the main raw material, practice aging in oak barrels near the sea and use real peat to dry the malt. In the USA, they mainly use corn for whiskey and call their drink bourbon or whiskey. Ireland produces the best light whiskey with an exquisite taste and aroma without haze. Japanese whiskey is less smoky and peaty than Scotch whiskey and has a more subtle taste, although it is made according to Scottish traditions.

Types of whiskey

According to the international classification, whiskey is divided into several categories.

By raw materials:
. Malt whiskey is a drink made only from barley malt.
. Grain whiskey is made from corn, wheat and rye.
. Blended whiskey is made by mixing malt whiskey with grain whiskey.

There are several separate subcategories of malt whiskey:
. Vatted malt is a mixture of whiskey from different distilleries. Marked on the label as pure malt or blended malt.
. Single malt - whiskey from one distillery. If the label also indicates single cask, then this means that the whiskey is from one barrel. Otherwise, it may be a blend of several barrels.
. Single cask - whiskey from a separate barrel. It can be undiluted (50-60%) or already prepared up to 40% strength.
. Cask strength - cask strength whiskey, otherwise - undiluted whiskey, with a strength of up to 65% alcohol.

The American classification stands out:
. bourbon. Contains at least 51% corn in raw materials.
. rye whiskey. Contains at least 51% rye in raw materials (wort).
. Corn whiskey. Contains 80% or more corn in the raw material. Must be aged in new, uncharred barrels.
. wheat whiskey. At least 51% wheat.
. Blended whiskey, which must contain at least 20% straight whiskey.
. light whiskey. Differs in very light shades. Aged in old barrels.
. Sour mash whiskey. The leaven left over from the previous wort is added to the new wort to activate fermentation. Most American whiskey is made using this technology.
. Sweet mash whiskey indicates that no leavening process has been used and fermentation is caused by yeast.
. Tennessee whiskey. Cleaned with a charcoal filter made from maple wood.
. Bottled-in-bond whiskey. Aged for 4 to 8 years in special warehouses controlled by the US government.

Whiskey from Scotland, Ireland, USA, Canada and Japan

Scotland is considered the birthplace of whiskey and ranks first in the export of this drink. About 90% of unblended single malt whiskey is produced in Scotland. Whiskey from this region has a smoky aroma, rich color and the richest flavors. For some, the taste of Scotch whiskey is even too strong. Most luxury whiskey brands are based in Scotland.

Although Ireland ranks fourth in terms of the amount of whiskey exported, it is one of the contenders for the “birthright”. Some believe that whiskey was first made in Ireland, and controversy about this still rages. The first difference between Irish whiskey can be considered the spelling of the name of the drink itself. The Irish add an extra letter and write whiskey. The same word is used to describe whiskey in the USA and Canada - in places where immigrants from Ireland founded distilleries. The second difference is considered the fact that malt in Ireland is not dried using peat, or rather they have long abandoned this and use special ovens instead of peat. This makes the malt less fragrant, but overall the aroma and taste of the drink is noticeably subtler and more elegant. However, this is a matter of taste. The third difference is that most Irish whiskey is aged in sherry casks. Another difference: in Ireland, the blend is aged in oak barrels for only a few weeks or even days before bottling. Well, the main difference is the absence of peat taste and smell, which is an undeniable plus for some and a minus for others.

Whiskey in the USA, as in Canada, has only relatively recently become an expensive, good quality drink. Even in the 20th century, American whiskey was, first of all, “just a strong drink,” an analogue of Russian moonshine. But competition from European brands and the opportunity to make money quickly changed everything for the better. The main production of American whiskey is concentrated on grain raw materials. Malt is practically not used. The main difference is considered to be technology: American whiskey is prepared without the use of malt, dried with peat, and the taste and color are given to it by oak barrels charred from the inside, in which grain alcohol is aged.

Whiskey from Japan sounds exotic. But for many years now, Japan has been the fifth largest whiskey producer in the world and produces a very high-quality drink, similar in properties to Scotch and Irish whiskey, but with its own characteristics. The production technology of Japanese whiskey is almost identical to that of Scotland, but it is even more precise and technologically advanced, brought to perfection with the diligence characteristic of the Japanese. In Japan, blends of grain and malt whiskeys, sherry and Madeira oak casks, and new Japanese oak casks are used. It is whiskey from new barrels that is of interest to whiskey connoisseurs. New tastes and aromas are always very interesting to collectors and are available to ordinary fans due to their low price ($5-30 per bottle of Japanese whiskey). 90% of whiskey in Japan is blends. As a rule, this is 40% malt varieties in premium brands and up to 10% in economy brands.

Japanese whiskey is divided into three categories:
. Special (the word is on the label) - 30% malt whiskey.
. The first category is at least 20% malt whiskey.
. The second category is at least 10% malt whiskey.
The best examples of Japanese whiskey add up to 15% Scotch malt whiskey. Prices for Japanese whiskey are very affordable. A 700 ml bottle of 12-year-old Suntory Pure Malt will cost about $15.

How to drink whiskey

There is a Russian translation of the famous Scottish “Rule of Five S”: Sight, Smell, Swish, Swallow, Splash, which in Russian will sound like “Rule of Five P”: Look, Smell, Taste, Swallow and Splash water. First, you should pour the whiskey into a glass and enjoy the color of the drink, which darkens the longer it is aged in an oak barrel.

Then you need to inhale the aroma. The best glass for whiskey, as for cognac and similar drinks, is considered a tulip glass. The drink is swirled in a glass and brought to the nose, but not inhaled too much. You can drink from thick-walled glasses, especially if it is a simple blended unaged whiskey, but you should always pour the glass “at the bottom.” The aroma of real aged whiskey lasts in the glass for several days.

After “getting acquainted” with the color and aroma, take the first sip. Evaluate the aftertaste, it should be pleasant and long. Typically, whiskey is served with an additional glass of water, lemon juice or cola for mixing (straight) or with ice cubes (on the rocks). Some types of whiskey, for example cask straight (barrel strength), reach a strength of 60% alcohol; they are usually diluted, since in their pure form such a strength can cause numbness of the taste buds. Whiskey of regular strength (up to 43%) is diluted to taste or drunk neat. Single malt, unblended whiskey is usually drunk exclusively undiluted and preferably in an environment appropriate to the drink and its price (up to $7,000 for some varieties). There are fans of different options and mixing styles. The simplest is considered whiskey and soda(sparkling water).

What to drink whiskey with

It is believed that it is better not to mix whiskey with anything, such as cognac, armagnac, grappa or calvados. However, alcohol almost always causes a strong appetite, and over time, stable combinations of this drink with foods have developed. Three-year-old whiskeys and simple blends go very well with apple juice. In Ireland, it is customary to combine whiskey with seafood and hard cheeses (like Calvados in Normandy). Professional tasters prefer not to add anything to whiskey other than a few drops of clean, cold spring water. This reveals the taste and aroma of the drink, and the whiskey becomes more fragrant. In Portugal, whiskey is not diluted, but a portion of good whiskey is always washed down with freshly prepared espresso with cream. Bourbons and simple inexpensive whiskeys are diluted or washed down with apple, cherry or grapefruit juice. In the USA, a mixture of bourbon, water and sugar is very popular.

Whiskey is made from different types of grain. Scotch whiskey is characterized by the use of barley malt; in Ireland, rye is added, and in Japan, rice and millet are added.

North American whiskey contains corn and wheat alcohols. At the same time, one of the main processes affecting the quality of the final product is aging. It is in this process that ordinary alcohol becomes an elite drink, acquires its characteristic taste qualities and receives varietal differences. Aging periods for different types of whiskey are determined by law, but they should not be less than 2 years. So, there are the following rules:

Scotch whiskey can be aged the least - at least 3 years

It takes a little longer to prepare Irish - 5 years

Canadian whiskey spends at least 6 years in barrels

whiskeys marked “original” are aged for 10 to 12 years

In order to have collector's status, whiskey must be aged for up to 21 years.

especially valuable brands can be aged for up to 60 years

The different aging times depending on the country of origin are explained by the peculiarities of the climate. In Scotland, the cool climate makes it possible to prepare good whiskey within three years, but if the weather is generally warm, the maturation of the drink occurs more slowly.

Preparation of alcohols for aging

Before whiskey spirits are poured into barrels and sent for aging, a number of production processes are carried out. First, the raw materials for the alcohol are malted. To obtain malt, the grain is washed, impurities are removed and dried. Afterwards it is moistened, poured in a small layer and left to germinate. After the sprouts appear, the grain is dried; if this process is skipped, the resulting product is called grain, or grain. This whiskey is practically never consumed in its pure form; it is used mainly for mixing.

The taste of the final product will largely depend on how the grain is dried. Scotch whiskey is given its characteristic flavor by smoking the malt with peat, coal or beech smoke. That is why this drink has an iodine-peaty aroma. In other countries, malt smoking is not practiced. After drying, the malt is ground into flour, brewed with hot water, and kept for up to 12 hours. The resulting liquid is mixed with yeast and fermented for 2 days. The result is malt beer with an alcohol content of 5%. Next, distillation and distillation occur, and they occur in devices individual for each brand. Their shape is believed to have a significant influence on the signature taste of whiskey.

Whiskey aging and its features

Aging is the final stage of whiskey making. In its process, colorless alcohol darkens and gains its basic taste. The first whiskey was aged in barrels left over from Spanish sherry. It turned out that such containers give a richer and more intense taste to the drink. The practice has survived to this day, but due to the limited number of sherry casks, they are used only for elite varieties, and producers always mention this on the label. Bourbon barrels are also good for aging. Some manufacturers buy cheap varieties of sherry and carefully treat the surface of the barrels with it. It is also popular to char white oak containers to impart a slightly smoky flavor to the drink.

During the aging process, the product is saturated with tannins and aromatic components from the barrel. The longer the aging, the lower the strength of the final product. This is explained by the fact that alcohol evaporates over time through the micropores of the wood. Upon completion of the aging process, blending occurs (mixing different varieties) and bottling into glass containers. The aging period is printed on the label in large font immediately below the name of the brand or manufacturer. If the drink consists of different types of whiskey, the number on the label indicates the youngest alcohol in its composition.

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You can often see people in the liquor department of a large liquor store looking at a bottle of whiskey. They twirl the bottle, wanting to find out what is in their hands. About all this can...

Making whiskey barrels is a special art. Photo: e-fototapety.com

The art of making whiskey barrels is a knowledge-intensive, traditional practice called cooperage. Today, modern equipment helps the cooper. However, it will require many years of preparation and training to meet industry standards. Interestingly, oak trees are cut down to make barrels only when they have reached sufficient maturity. Their height should not be less than 7.5 meters, and their diameter should not be 1 meter. After felling, the trunks are delivered to the sawmill. Here they are turned into boards, from which barrel boards are subsequently cut. Barrel boards are small planks with a complex curved surface that together create a round barrel.

Typically, barrels consist of 32 boards, with another 15 used to join the ends. To bend the boards to the desired shape, they are heated over a fire. Interestingly, it is common practice in most American bourbon distilleries to intentionally char the inside of the barrels. This is done in order to prevent alcohol from being absorbed into the wood. The cooper cuts the boards so that they fit tightly together. This will help avoid leaks in the future. Interestingly, this is done without the use of nails or glue. The boards fit tightly to each other thanks to metal hoops. Wood is a porous material, which is beneficial for distillers because they need the whiskey to interact with the air. That is why neither paints nor varnish are used to process barrels. This allows the wood to “breathe”. Finally, a hole is drilled into the side to help monitor the aging process of the whiskey.

This is how bourbon is aged in the cellar of one of the American distilleries. Photo: leonhowlett.com

When buying a bottle of whiskey, we see that its label indicates the type of barrel used for aging. It is most likely that such information will appear on the label of an independent company. But what does the type and size of the barrels really say? The main thing that the common consumer needs to remember is that the smaller the barrel, the more whiskey comes into contact with the wood.

Types of whiskey barrels

Specialized terms can confuse the average person, so here is a small guide that outlines the main features of the ten main types of barrels used in whiskey production.

Let's start with the largest format: Gorda (holds 700 liters). This is a huge barrel that began to be used in American whiskey production. It is made from American oak. Traditionally, such barrels are used to age whiskey, but most often they are used to mix different types of whiskey in the production of blended whiskey.

The next format is called Madeira Drum. It holds 650 liters of liquid. It is a squat and thick barrel with a wide diameter. Made from very thick French oak boards. As the name suggests, such barrels are used in the production of Madeira. Sometimes they are used for the final stage of whiskey maturation.

It is followed by Port Pipe, a 760 liter keg. It differs from the previous version in height and slenderness. These barrels are made from thick planks of European oak. Port Pipe resembles a regular barrel, stretched on both sides. Port wine is aged in such barrels. After this, they are used for the final stage of whiskey maturation.

One of the 500 liter kegs was named Butt. This is a tall and narrow barrel that is made from thick European oak. Such casks are widely used in Spain for the production of sherry. This is the most common type of sherry cask used in the whiskey industry.

There is another type of keg with a capacity of 500 liters. This is Puncheon, which in turn is divided into two styles. The most common Puncheon is a squat, thick American oak barrel. The second type is a more elongated barrel made from thin planks of Spanish oak. Both variants are used in the production of rum and sherry respectively. Most often, whiskey matures in them.

A 300 liter barrel is also known - Barrique. It is widely used in the wine industry and is different from any other barrels. It is held together with wooden bands instead of traditional metal hoops. This type of barrel is used to give whiskey the aftertaste of a wine barrel.

225 liters of whiskey fits into a Hogshead keg. Its name is derived from the English term "hogges hede", widely used in the 15th century. This was the name for a unit of measurement equal to 63 gallons. Today these barrels are made from white oak. They are used to age bourbon and then sent to Scotland and Ireland. This is the most common type of barrel used to age whiskey.

An ASB keg (American standard keg) holds 200 liters. This species is descended from the barrel hogshead. Its volume has been rounded to 200 liters to simplify its use in the modern world. ASB is made from American white oak. It is widely used in the production of bourbon, and more recently also for aging Scotch and Irish whiskey.

Quarter Cask - 50 liter barrel. This type of barrel was made to be a quarter of the volume of the ASB while still remaining proportional. It actively reacts with alcohol due to the constant contact of alcohol with wood. Used to quickly add flavor to whiskey.

And finally, the Blood tub, which holds 40 liters. This is a small barrel that is most often used for brewing. But sometimes distilleries use it to mature special batches of whiskey. These barrels have an elongated oval shape, which is designed to make them easier to transport on the back of a horse.

How does wood affect whiskey?

Whiskey gets its many aromas and characteristics from the wooden barrels in which it was aged. Historically, any type of wood could be used to make barrels. But today, according to US law, they must be made of oak. Oak was chosen for its hardiness and ease of working with it. It has dense fibers that avoid leaks. And its porosity helps oxygen penetrate.

Whiskey owes its aroma to various factors. Photo: wordpress.com

The tree is rich in natural oils known as vanillins. It is these oils that are drawn out of the barrel by alcohol, and during the maturation of the drink they give the whiskey its own unique aromatic notes. But if all whiskeys are aged in oak barrels, how can they taste different?

The answer is simple. The taste of whiskey is also determined by the nature of the distillery, the ingredients used, the size and shape of the stills, and the geographical location. These are as important factors in whiskey production as the type of oak barrel.