A Glossary of the common Terms found on the website.....

ABV - Alcohol by Volume , is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in whisky , The Scotch Whisky Association Laws state that the minimum ABV of Scotch whisky must not be less than 40% . America uses a different system for measuring the strength of whisky , Degrees Proof , 57.1%ABV = 100 Degrees Proof .

Barrel - A Wooden Cask for maturing Whisky in , made from Oak , a barrel normally holds about 200 Litres of spirit and has previously been used to mature American Bourbon .

Bloodtub - A Wooden cask for maturing Whisky in , made from European Oak , Capacity is usually 32 Litres and has previously held Sherry .

Butt - A wooden Cask for maturing Whisky in , Made from Oak , it has usually previously matured Sherry and holds 500 Litres of Spirit .

Casks - Wooden Vessel for maturing Whisky in , see "Barrel" , "Bloodtub" , "Butt" , "Gorda" , "Hogshead" . There are other sizes (Octave , Quartercasks etc ) but thet are less used .

Cask Strength - Term for when a Whisky has been bottled straight from the cask and not been watered down to a lower strength . You can also get labels stating "Traditional Strength" which can be confusing as they can range from "Cask Strength" to somewhere in the 50%ABV range . "Full strength" can also indicated a Cask Strength whisky.....

Distillation - Process involving putting The Wash through Stills to make it into spirit , The Wash is first put through a "Wash Still" to get the ABV from Approx 8% to about 25% , the liquid (now called Low wines) is then put through a "Spirit Still" to raise the ABV to 70-75% and this is then filled into casks as "New Make" spirit . Some distilleries can also add a 3rd distillation to the process but they are very rare now in Scotch whisky.

Fermentation - The process of adding Yeast to The "Wort" to turn the sugars in to Alcohol , fermention times vary from Distillery to Distillery but on Average it can be about 2 days . Carbon Dioxide is a dangerous by product of this process .

Gorda - A wooden Cask for maturing Whisky in , Made from Oak , it is not as common in the whisky industry as other casks it has usually previously matured Sherry and holds 600 Litres of Spirit

Hogshead - A wooden Cask for maturing whisky in , Made from oak , it has usually been contructed from knocked down (broken up) Barrels by a Cooper , if they have been used by Bourbon Distillers . Hogsheads can also come from the Wine industry and could have contained Sherry , White wine and red wine . Capacity is 250 Litres .

Malt / Malted Barley - The main ingredient of Scotch whisky ! This is Barley which has been put through the malting process , usually at a specialist malting plant , the Barley has been steeped in water for 2 or 3 days , then it is allowed to germinate (traditionally on a stone floor but now usually in a specialist vessel) , usually taking 4-6 days , when the barley (now called Green Malt) reaches a certain point in development the growth is stopped by applying heat . This can be either clean heat or as with most Islay Barley it is dried with Peat Smoke to produce a peated malt . The amount time the Peat Smoke is used to dry the Barley also gives us our phenol level , measured in Parts per Million , Typically Ardbeg is 56ppm , Lagavulin 35ppm , and Bruichladdich 3ppm .

Mash Tun - The vessel used to do a mashing in , this is the first part of the process in the distillery , usually made of metal , the Milled Malted barley is mixed with hot water to produce a wort ( a Sweet, sugary liquid) , The amount of Malt used in a mashing varies from Distillery to Distillery as does the number of waters added to that batch of malt , typically there are 3 mashings from each batch of malt .

New Make - This is the common term for the spirit that comes off the second still and goes into the casks , clear in Colour , it is usually watered down to 63.5% before filling into casks , Although some New make is put into casks at the strength it comes off the stills . This cannot be called scotch whisky yet as it has to be matured in oak casks in Scotland for a minimum of 3 years to be legally called Scotch Whisky .

Mill - The device used to Ground up the Malted Barley into Flour for the mashing process . Normally either made by Boby or Porteus .

Peat - The wonderful stuff found all over Islay ! Decomposed Organic Matter it is cut from peat bogs , dried then added to the drying process of the malted barley to give it a smoky characteristic and gives us the phenol level of "Peated" malts .

Still - Some would say the most important part of the whisky making process as their shape determines what kind of spirit you get in the end . Made of copper , no two stills from different distilleries are the same , at one distillery you will have a Wash Still and a Spirit Still , The wash Still is the first one used , taking the wash at about 8% and making it into Low Wines at about 25% , this low wines is then put through the Spirit Still to get New Make at about 70% . Some distilleries , like Ardbeg , just have the one pair of stills but some have 2 , 3, or 4 pairs . It's not unusual to find an "Odd" still like the one at Laphroaig . Another unusual addition is the Purifier like what's fitted to the Spirit Still at Ardbeg , this takes the Heavier spirits back down into the still to be distilled again . It can be a complicated piece of machinery......

UCF / Unchillfiltered - This means that the Scotch whisky hasn't been put through the process of chillfiltering which removes the fatty acids , amongst other things, from the bottled product . The reason they Chill filter is to stop the whisky developing a haze at colder temperatures , the downside of this is that the chill filtering also removes a lot of flavours from the palate and doesn't give you the whole experience of the malt ! UCF whiskies are normally at 46% ABV and above and taste a hell of a lot better !

Wash - The liquid that is produced in a wash back when the wort is fermented with the yeast , it's basically a very strong beer (usually 8%) and tastes awful !

Wash Back - The large vessel in which the fermentation process occurs , traditionally made of either Larch or Oregon Pine but a few modern ones tend to be Stainless Steel , again sizes differ between distilleries but they are usually covered (due to the Carbon Dioxide produced ) and contain a ventilation system and a switcher system for reducing the froth produced in the process .

Water Source - Where the distillery gets it's water from ! Be it a River , Stream , Loch or Bore Hole , it usually has to be big to cope with the amounts used . Duing the summer some have been known to dry up......

Wort - Liquid produced in the mashing process when hot water is added to the ground up malted barley .

Yeast - The third vital and Natural ingredient of the whisky making process . A living Organism used to turn the sugars in the Wort into Alcohol . Distilleries use either Brewing yeast , distilling yeast or a mixture of both !