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Scotch Whisky

The most distinctive Scotch whiskies are the single malts. In addition to being distilled and matured in Scotland for a minimum of three years in oak barrels (a requirement for all Scotch whisky), single malt scotch is produced at one distillery ('single'), using only malted barley as the grain ('malt'), and distilled in copper pot stills. It is an expensive process but produces a richly flavored whisky and, because it's not blended with whiskies from other distilleries, very individualistic. This is why single malt scotch is generally more expensive than blended scotch and coveted by aficionados. It's also the reason why single malts are so much fun to drink and explore.

 

Blended scotches, like Johnnie Walker, Dewar's Chivas, and Cutty Sark, are marriages of several, if not dozens of different single malts. The advantage of blending is that it smoothes out the rough edges and fills in the missing gaps of a whisky's flavors profile.