Thanks for the comments on the show! Now “swylie” had emailed me earlier about the same question, so I think I’ll just copy in here my response to the question of Whisky…

With regards to your question, I’ll just pluck my answer from what I
remember (or think I remember) about the topic. Firstly, very broadly
speaking, Whisk(e)y is a distilled spirit made from one or more grain
of some description. Whisk(e)y will generally be made with a majority
of one type of grain, and a mix of other types of alcohol, sometimes
even just a neutral spirit (highly purified to remove as much flavour
- neutral spirits are made of pretty much anything that contains
sugar) Common grains used in making these spirits are things like
malted barley, corn, rye and so forth. Lets run down some of the most
common types of Whisk(e)y.

Bourbon - Made in America only. Originally made in Kentucky, but
styles of this whisky are also made in other states, sometimes
referred to as Sour Mash (there’s a lot more to this, but I’ll try to
keep it simple). Bourbon is strictly controlled and should be made of
a minimum of 51% corn distillate. Bourbon is also unique, because it
is aged for a period (usually a couple of years… can’t remember what
the legal minimum is) in new oak barrels that have been charred inside
with a hot flame. This gives the inside of the barrel a coating of
charcoal through which the alcohol passes while it ages. The alcohol,
being highly absorbent of flavours, picks up characteristics and
colours from the charcoal, the predominant flavour being a rich
caramel from the oak wood. The charcoal also acts to purify the
spirit, and we end up with a nice sweetish bourbon.

Scotch is made in Scotland and is also closely controlled. I didn’t
talk much about scotch, mainly because there’s only a few scotch
cocktails of note, and none of them are huuuuuugely significant in the
scheme of cocktails around the world. I will DEFINITELY be talking
about one of my favourite scotch cocktails at one stage in the future
- the blood and sand. There are a whole host of different styles of
Scotch, all made with some measure of malted barley as the primary
distillate. When you hear “single malt” it means that the Scotch was
made from a blend of spirits from a single distillery. The age stamp
will refer to the youngest Spirit in the bottle. The Distiller’s
craft is in making a consistent blend through the years from all of
the different aged barrels available to them. It’s fascinating stuff.
Spirits like Islay Single Malts (Laphroig, etc) have a very distinct
smoky flavour to them, which comes when the malted barley is roasted
over peat moss from the bogs of Scotland. It’s a difficult flavour to
get used to, and you’ll often find a distinct smokey flavour in a lot
of blended scotches - maybe not so much in some single malts, like
some of the lowland malts.

Rye whiskey is an american spirit - like bourbon it’s legally a
majority of Rye based distillate. It’s not very common outside of the
US due to prohibition decimating the US distilling industry. It’s
still very hard to find even in the States, but there are some old
brands still kicking around. Rye was common in Cocktails before
prohibition, and many old books call for this spirit. A lot of these
drinks have had to be adapted to use Bourbon since the fall of Rye, so
thankfully they survive. Examples would be the Manhattan and the Old
Fashioned.

Then there’s Irish Whiskey. Haven’t really spoken about Irish on the
podcast, but quickly, it’s another grain spirit, mostly barley again,
but without the smokiness. I love a good Irish… not so much for
cocktails, but GREAT on it’s own. Get a Jameson 12 with still water
on the side, and taste it with varying levels of dilution. Beautiful.

Thanks for the offer, but I have a suspicion that the cost of postage of a few bottles of nice American Rye would be prohibitavely expensive at this stage.

I’ll keep you in mind though!

I hope you have been enjoying the show.

Can you explain the difference between scotch and bourbon, and why you mentioned bourbon vs. rye but not scotch at all? I have my whiskey’s confused…

cheers

Anyway - all that being said - if you’d like me to post you a few bottles of Wild Turkey or Jack D, I’d be happy to, just if you’ll pay for the purchase and shipping.

It’s not a worry.

Mel