A Girls Guide to Whiskey: Scotch

Growing up, both my parents were amateur whiskey connoisseurs and during the pandemic they turned from amateurs to professional. My mom got a job working for Ironroot Republic, a distillery in Denison, Texas, and my dad joined several whiskey communities in the DFW area. With this background you’d think I know everything about whiskey, but I never really paid attention until I went off to college. Recently, I also started working for Ironroot, and I had to learn everything I could about whiskey. Here’s my guide to all things whiskey: Scotch Edition.

What’s in a name?

The name whiskey comes from the Gaelic phrase “uisge beatha” meaning water of life. It’s not so surprising to here with the context that the first whiskey was probably distilled in either Ireland or Scotland, and Gaelic is spoken in both countries. Whiskey itself is an alcoholic beverage made from a grain mash. The grain mash is simply crushed up grains mixed with water to form the mash. The actual types of grain used in the mash is referred to as the mash bill. Typically, the mash bill for whiskey has some mix of barley, rye, wheat, or corn. The percentage of each, along with the location, usually determines what kind of whiskey the beverage is. Additionally the location changes the name. America and Ireland use the term whiskey, but Scotland, Australia, and Japan use the term whisky. A slight difference but a difference nonetheless. 

Scotch

There are two main criteria to make a scotch: it must be made of malted barley, water, and yeast, and distilled in Scotland. Malted barley has begun to sprout, but the process is halted by heating the barley, making it far easier to ferment. Additionally the spirit must be aged in an oak barrel forat lease three years. Usually scotches are distilled in copper potstills, which essentially look like massive cylinder attached to a dome with a pipe coming out of the top. 

The various types

There are five different types of scotch; single malt, single grain, blended, blended malt, and blended grain. Single malt is made at a single distillery from only malted barley. Additionally, it can only be distilled in batches instead of distilling the whole product all at once because of the nature of a potstill. It also must be bottled in Scotland. Single-grain whisky is still made with water, yeast, and malted barley, but the distiller is allowed to add other types of grains, malted or not. Blended scotch is just a mixed of two or more types scotches. They don’t have to be the same type, same proof, same mash bill, or even same quality. In fact blended whisky usually has one or two high quality with lower quality products. Blended malted just mixes single malt scotches. And blended grain mixes just single grain scotches. 

A Test Case

Now that you have some knowledge of the product, I suggest you go pick up a scotch yourself to follow along with the rest of this article. For the purposes of explanation I will be using Glenmorangie 10 Year. It’s a relatively cheap, decently tasting starter scotch sitting at $35.99 at Total Wine at time of writing. It has 750 milliliters of whisky, has an ABV content of 43%, and is finished in American Bourbon barrels.

To the Glass

Drinking any whiskey has a lot more to it than just the first taste. It all starts with the pour. Generally speaking, when you read the term whiskey glass you think of the standard cylinder glass with a heavy bottom and thin walls. While that’s a great option if you enjoy you whiskey on ice, or on the rocks, it won’t capture all the elements of the drink. The best glass to drink any whiskey out of is a glencairen. The name comes from the glass company that developed the shape, which is actually based in Kilbride, Scotland. The glass looks sort of like a tiny wine glass without a stem and the opening tapered. The other thing it reminds me of is an old school oil lamp but only the glass part. A glen is the perfect glass for enjoying whiskey because the wide bowl lets the sipper swirl their beverage, kinda like wine, to release the aromas. The bowl is just wide enough that it does cause oxidation, which is when the whiskey is exposed to too much oxygen and making it taste sour and smell like vinegar. Additionally the tapered opening funnels the aromas in a way that targets them. Again similar to a wine, you can visibly see the alcohol content when you swirl a whiskey. The liquid will coat the glass and begin dripping down in “legs”. The higher the ABV, the more legs and the slower they drip. The Glenmorangie has less legs than high-proof whiskys, but the legs still move rather slowly. 

Nose Goes

Good whisky of any kind will have a complex smell and complex taste. The best way to sniff your whisky is actually by opening your mouth just a bit when you smell. The sense of smell and taste are intrinsically linked due to our evolutionary biology. Generally speaking, things that smell good usually taste good. When I smell the Glenmorangie, notes of cinnamon, pears, cloves, and maple syrup hit immediately. After a bit of time, I also caught some grape and honey in the glass. 

Mmm, Tasty

The first sip is generally considered to be the worst. It’s kinda like the first time you go to the gym and everything is weird and hard to do, but the more you go, or in this case drink, the more comfortable you become. For tasting all whisky you should not take a normal mouthful, but rather small sips, just enough to coat the tongue. Scotches are generally a sweeter whisky, but will still have the sting of high proof alcohol. Glenmorangie 10 year has the same taste as it does smell. I also tasted some vanilla on the back end of the second sip I took. One part of this scotch, and many others, is the finish in an American Bourbon barrel. The notes of bourbon are usually darker with things like tobacco and leather, and those notes can transfer, to some extent, to the scotch.

A Smooth Finish

The finish on a whiskey can mean one or two things. Usually its referring to the last bit of flavor lingering in your mouth after swallowing, but it could mean what kind of barrel the whiskey is left in at the end of the aging process. When whisky is finished in a wine barrel, say a port and cognac, it picks up the notes of the wine. Some people love finished whisky, I am one of those people, but others find that whisky should just be whisky. This is another aspect of why whisky is so fun to drink, everyone can be drinking the same glass and get different smells and flavors off it. Glenmorangie 10 year has a short teetering on the edge of medium finish, meaning the flavors the whisky leaves behind stay in your mouth for a short fleeting moment before fading away. Most people get notes of oats, vanilla, and honey off the end of the scotch. I got more honey and a bit of lemon from my sips. 

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