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Clan MacDougall - Whisky glossary Category: Food and Drink > Whisky Date & country: 31/12/2010, UK Words: 96

ABV
See Alcohol by volume

Age
The age stated on a whiskey bottle is that of the youngest whiskey in the vatting.

Ageing
Whiskey ages in oak casks; once it is bottled no further ageing takes place.

Alcohol By Volume
(ABV) The alcohol content of a whiskey expressed as a proportion of the total volume of liquid.

Amylase
The enzyme that converts starch into maltose in the mash tun.

Angels' Share
A certain amount of whiskey stored in barrel evaporates through the wood: this is known as the angels' share. Roughly two per cent of each barrel is lost this way, most of which is alcohol.

Backset
In North American whiskies, alcohol-free liquid left at the bottom of the still after distillation (see Thin stillage) is added to the mash tub and fermenter to ward off bacterial contamination.

Ball of Malt
A glass of whiskey in Ireland.

Beading
A quick but imprecise way of judging alcoholic strength. If you shake a bottle of whiskey tiny bubbles appear. The greater the alcohol content the bigger and longer-lasting the bubbles will be.

Beer
Also known as wash. The alcoholic liquid that goes into the still.

Beer Still
Also known as wash still. The first still used in the distillation process.

Blending
Blended whiskies/whiskys are a mix of grain whisky with malt (or bourbon or rye according to the country of origin). In Canada 9.09 per cent of the blend may be whiskies/whiskys from other countries, or even distilled fruit juices.

Bond
Whiskey is held in bonded warehouses until excise duty has been paid.

Bothie
A building that housed an illicit still in the Scottish Highlands. Most had only a single room, or were even hidden underground.

Bottled in Bond
North American whiskey, usually bourbon, bottled after four years in cask, at 50 per cent abv or more. Bourbon: US whiskey made from at least 51 per cent corn, distilled to a maximum of 80 per cent abv (160 proof) and put into charred new oak barrels at a strength of no more than 62.5 per cent abv.

Brewing
The process of mashing grain in hot water and fermenting the result with yeast to produce wash or beer.

Cask Strength
Whisky bottled at the alcoholic strength at which it aged in cask, without being diluted with water to 40 per cent abv. In practice most is very slightly reduced in order that strength may be consistent.

Charcoal Mellowing
Used for Tennessee whiskey. The new spirit is filtered through charcoal before going into cask. Some may be filtered through charcoal again after cask ageing but before bottling.

Charring
The inside surfaces of new barrels are exposed to flames as part of the barrel-making process. This charring affects the flavour and colour of the spirit aged in the barrel. Old barrels are sometimes re-charred to prolong their useful life.

Chill Filtration
Whiskey is often chilled before bottling to remove congeners which would otherwise cause hazing if the whiskey were stored at low temperatures.

Congeners
Chemical compounds produced during fermentation and maturation. Congeners include esters, acids, aldehydes and higher alcohols. Strictly speaking they are impurities, but they give whiskey its flavour. Their presence in the final spirit must be carefully judged; too many would make it undrinkable.

Couch
After barley has been soaked in water in the steep to make it germinate it is put into a second tank, the couch, to dry. This stops further growth.

Cut
The middle portion of the spirit coming off the spirit still. The cut is the best part of the distillate, and is saved and put into barrel. The foreshots and feints are re-distilled.

Cytase
Enzyme in barley that breaks down the cell walls, thus making starch accessible. Demisting point: The point at which spirit coming off the spirit still no longer goes cloudy when water is added. It is the point at which the cut begins.

Distillation
The vaporization of an alcoholic liquid by heat, followed by the collection by condensation of its alcohol content.

Doubler
The pot still used for the second distillation, where batch distillation is used.

Draff
In Scotland, what is left of the grain after fermentation. It is used for animal food.

Dram
A glass of whiskey in Scotland.

Drum Maltings
Maltings where malting is carried out in large drums that turn the grain mechanically.

Enzymes
Compounds in grain produced during germination. See Amylase and Cytase.

Feints
Also known as tails, or after-shots. The final spirit from the spirit still at the end of distillation. The feints are low in alcohol, and are re-distilled.

Fermenter
The vessel in which the mash is distilled into alcoholic liquid, or wash.

Fillings
Newly distilled spirit in barrel. It is not whiskey until it has matured for the legal minimum of time.

Floor Maltings
Maltings where barley is malted by spreading it out on a large floor and turned by hand. Floor maltings have been largely replaced by drum maltings.

Foreshots
Also known as heads. The first spirit to come off the spirit still. The foreshots are high in alcohol (75 – 80 per cent abv), contain too many volatile compounds, and are re-distilled.

Furfurol
Flavour compound that gives a burnt taste. Undesirable in large quantities.

Fusel Oil
A congener produced during fermentation.

Gauger
Old name for an exciseman.

Grain Whisky
Whiskey distilled from wheat or maize in a continuous still.

Green Malt
Barley that has started to germinate and has not yet been dried.

Grist
The ground-up grain to which water is added to form the mash.

Heads
Also known as foreshots.

High Wines
The product of the first distillation in a batch or pot still process. The high wines are distilled for a second time in the spirit still, or doubler.

Jigger
US spirit measure of 1.5 fl. oz. Also an old name for an illicit distillery.

Kieve
In Ireland, an old name for the mash tun.

Kilning
In malting, the process of arresting the growth of the germinating barley before starch can be used up.

Leaching
Another name for charcoal mellowing.

Lincoln County Process
Another name for charcoal mellowing.

Liquor
Hot water used in mashing.

Lomond Still
An unusually squat pot still, first used at the Lomond Distillery. It produces oilier, heavier spirit.

Low Wines
The spirit to come off the wash still. Its strength is usually about 21 per cent abv.

Lyne Arm
In a pot still, the arm running from the head of the still to the condenser.

Malt
Any grain which has been made to germinate, and then been dried to arrest growth.

Malt Whiskey
Whiskey made purely from malted barley.

Malting
Controlled germination of grain.

Maltings
Building used for the production of malt.

Marrying
Process in which blended whiskey is left in large containers after blending but before bottling. Now rarely done.

Mash
Liquid composed of grist mixed with boiling water. This extracts soluble starch, which is converted into maltose by the enzyme amylase. The liquid that is drained from the mash tun and fermented is called the worts.

Mash Bill
In North America, the proportion of different grains used for mashing.

Mash Tun
Also known as mash tub. The vessel in which mashing takes place.

Mashing
The soaking of grist with boiling water to extract fermentable starch.

New-Make Spirit
Spirit just off the still, ready to be diluted to cask strength for ageing.

Nose
The smell of a whiskey.

Noser
Person who, in a whiskey company, checks whiskey by smelling it.

Organic Whiskey
That made from grain grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

Peat
Compressed, decayed vegetable matter cut from peat bogs and used as fuel. The pungent smoke it gives off when burnt is used in the malting of barley intended for certain Scottish malt whiskies, especially on Islay.

Peated Malt
Malt whiskey with the smokey smell that comes from treating barley with peat.

Pot Ale
Also known as burnt ale or spent wash. High-protein residue from a still, mixed with draff to make animal feed.

Pot Still
Stills used for batch distillation. In pot still distillation the liquid is distilled usually twice, occasionally three times, first in a wash still and then in a spirit still.

Premalt
In North America, the process in which malt is added to grist before cooking.

Quaich
Two-handled Celtic drinking vessel.

Reflux
Vapour high in alcohol that returns to the still for further distillation. In pot stills the shape of the Lyne arm can be the reason; in continuous stills it is a method of controlling the final spirit.

Rummager
In coal-fired pot stills, a mechanism that stirs up the liquid in the still to prevent solids sticking to the bottom.

Run
The spirit coming off a still.

Rye Whiskey
Whiskey made from at least 51 per cent rye. Production is similar to that of bourbon.

Saladin Box
Vessel in which barley germinates while being mechanically turned.

Single Barrel Whiskey
Whiskey bottled from a single cask, and made at a single distillery.

Single Malt Whiskey
Malt whiskey from a single distillery.

Small Grains
Cereal used in the making of rye, bourbon or Tennessee whiskey that has grains smaller than those of corn (maize).

Sour Mash Whiskey
Bourbon or Tennessee whiskey made using at least 25 per cent backset; soured yeast mash; a fermentation period of at least 72 hours.

Spent Beer
See stillage.

Spirit Safe
A glass fronted box through which spirit passes as it comes off the still. It is locked by Customs and Excise but enables the stillman to control the distillation.

Spirit Still
In pot still distillation, the second (occasionally third) still of the process.

Steep
Vessel in which barley is steeped in cold water to begin germination.

Stillage
In North America, the residue at the bottom of a still after fermentation, containing solids but no alcohol.

Sweet Mash
In North America, mash containing no backset.

Tails
See feints.

Thin Stillage
Stillage with the solids removed.

Uisge Beatha
Gaelic for 'water of life', in time abbreviated and corrupted to 'whiskey'.

Vatted Malt
Malt whiskey blended from several distilleries. Vatted malts contain no grain whiskey.

Vatting
The blending of malt or grain whiskies from different distilleries.

Wash
The alcoholic liquid that is distilled to make whiskey.

Wash Back
In Scotland, the vessel in which the worts are fermented.

Wash Still
In pot still distillation, the first still. The products of this still go to the spirit still.

Worm
The coiled copper tube along which vapours condense in a still.

Worts
The liquid, high in fermentable starches, that is drained off the mash tun and enters the wash back for fermentation.