1953 The U K B G Guide to Drinks

U. K. B. G. GUIDE TO DRINKS

off-shoot from farming. The barley is converted into malt by a process of artificial and controlled growth,which makes the starch in the barley-corn convertible into sugar; and peat is used for drying it. The malt is crushed and mixed with hot water, and the resulting"wort" is fermented by the addition of a little yeast. Now the "wash"is pumped into the still, a giant pot sitting on a fire, and heated till it becomes vapour. The vapour is then condensed by passing it through a coiled pipe immersed in cold water. A crude and ill-tasting fluid issues from the "worm ", and is immediately re-distilled in another still from which, after strict testing, the whisky of commerce emerges; then into the cask and the darkened warehouse for maturing, a process that may take many years. Pot-still whisky, as described above, is blended with whisky made in a still of another pattern, the"Coffey" still, and is called "Grain" whisky. Grain whisky is distilled at a higher temparature than Malt, and is lighter in body than the latter. Experience hasshown that blended whisky—that is a mixture of malt and grain is the most acceptable form in which Scotch Whisky can be consumed, and the great variety of branded whiskies, suiting every taste, is mainly due to blending. In some of the better- known blends there may be as many as twenty or thirty separate whiskies, both malt and grain, whose ages are Hkely to average about seven years. The manner of combining these whiskies is a trade secret, which is closely guarded, and one of the problems of the blender is to reproduce his blend year after year. Although the whisldes of wliich it is composed come from the same distilleries and are of the same age, there are minute adjustments at every bottling for which a trained nose is indispensable. During a full distilling season anything up to 3 million gallons of whisky will evaporate through the casks into the atmosphere. Ten years storage may result in the loss of as much as one-quarter of the volume of whisky stored in the cask. Scotch Whisky is not only our premier dollar earner. It is for many the premier beverage produced in Scotland, 246