Why should one continue a scotland whisky trail

When you think about Scotland whisky is the very first thing that comes to mind. Apart from the spectacular scenery, rolling hills as well as beautiful winding highways, whisky is actually what makes Scotland so well-known. The famous Scotch whisky originates from Scotland. Actually so synonymous has good whisky become with Scotch that in England if you ask for a whisky you will be inevitably handed a Scotch if you don’t specify otherwise.

You will find five main categories of Scotch. These categories tend to be single malts, single grain Scotch, blended grain whisky, blended malt Scotch whisky which was previously called a vatted malt or pure malt, and blended Scotch. There are several specifics that need to be adopted for a whisky to be known as a Scotch. The very first condition being that this whisky needs to be made specifically in Scotland. No matter what specifications tend to be followed, if a whisky isn�t made in Scotland it can’t be known as a Scotch. The following point to bear in mind is actually that after distillation a whisky needs to be matured or aged in fine oak barrels for a period of at least 3 years. In fact it has been made compulsory to write the age statement on the bottle.

According to the Scotch Whisky regulations for any whisky to be called a Scotch it’s to clear some rules. The very first regulation is that such a whisky needs to be produced in a Scottish distillery and should be produced with drinking water and malted barley. Additional whole grains could be put into this particular barley. Secondly, this particular concoction needs to be processed into mash in a distillery and then fermented only with the addition of yeast. The actual distilled spirit should have an alcohol power of less than 94. 8% through volume. This spirit now has to be left to mature in oak casks in warehouses in Scotland. The capacity of the oak casks is also regulated and cannot exceed seven hundred liters. The whisky also needs to mature for at least 3 years. A whisky is declared a Scotch only after it follows these processes and then goes through the colour and aroma check.

In order to become a Scotch, the whisky must manage to retain the aroma, color and flavor of the raw materials that go into its creating. Apart from water and basic regulated caramel color no exterior ingredients can be added to enhance taste or appearance. Finally, after following each one of these protocols, a whisky can be declared a Scotch only after it has been through an alcohol strength test. A Scotch should have the minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40%.

If you’re visiting Scotland, whisky distillery tours have to be on your mind. Just about all distilleries have tours that take the visitor and introduce him to the fine art of whisky creating. There can be numerous kind of whisky tours of Scotland. Some tours take you around the distillery and teach you the technicalities of whisky making. A few are much more comprehensive and take you down to the cellars and let you experience fine whisky in some tasting sessions. You can even go on a whisky trail to collect the full experience of the well-known whiskies of Scotland. Both ways you will emerge a whisky connoisseur.