Whisky is made by the distilling of grains that are aged as a result of alcohol being stored in oak casks. The complex world of whisky is made up of distillation processes, flavors and grains. There are four countries that produce very different whiskies: Ireland, America, Scotland and Canada, although it is made all over the world.

Whisky is made from grain, water and yeast. It is very similar to other grain alcohols in that it may use a variety of different grains to be made. Common grains include wheat, barley, corn and rye. It is sometimes called the ‘juice of the barley’, a reference associating the grain used with the type of whisky created. The water used to make whisky is thought to be the most important part in making good whisky. The water should be clear, clean and also free from any impurities that might make it taste bad. Water from Scotland is famous for being able to produce fine whisky and the reasons for this are still unknown.

The maturation process of whisky is not done in a bottle, only in a cask. The age of the whisky is the amount of time between the distillation and the bottling. This shows how much the whisky and cask have interacted, changing both its taste and chemical makeup. Whisky that has been stored in a bottle for a long time has a great value, but is not considered ‘older’ and will not necessarily be ‘better’ than whisky that has been made and matured in wood for the same amount of time.

A whisky maker always has a supply of yeast on hand that has been grown on barley malt and has also been kept away from bacterial contamination. Some makers use many kinds of yeast to regulate the fermentation process accurately. The particular type of grain used will depend on what kind of whisky is made, but all whiskey does have a small portion of malted barley in them. This is needed to begin the fermentation process.

The steps of distillation of whisky have adjusted some in the last 200 years. There are still the three ingredients: barley, water and yeast, but technology now helps in the production. There are traditionally five steps int the process: malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation and maturation.

Malting

The starch found in barley needs to be changed into sugars to make the alcohol. To start this, the barley has to be germinated, which is called ‘malting’. The barley is soaked for days and laid out on the floor and turned regularly to keep its temperature. Once the barley begins to shoot, it is dried in a kiln. This is now called malted and ground in a mill removing any debris.

Mashing

Hot water is now mixed into the malt. This mixture is called ‘grist’ and put into a mash tun and mixed for many hours. The sugar in the malt will dissolve and drain through the bottom of the tun; this liquid is called ‘wort’. These steps are done three times with the amount of water increased every time.

Fermentation

The wort is then cooled and put into big tanks called washbacks. This is when the yeast is added and the fermentation begins. The yeast takes the sugars present and turns it into alcohol. After two days, the fermentation is stopped. The liquid at this point is called ‘wash’ and is at a low strength like ale or beer.

Distillation

Here the wash is put into the wash still and heated. The liquid will vaporize and rise to the neck where it condenses. This liquid is called ‘low wines’ and passed on to the second still called the ‘spirit still’. From the spirit still, the alcohol that is produced is divided into three groups: that of high alcohol level, that of weak alcohol level and that in the middle. The alcohol that is in the middle group is the only one that is used. This is taken to be matured into whisky.

Maturation

The spirit is taken and placed into oak casks and then stored. It is kept here for a minimum of three years before it can be called whisky legally. During this time of maturation, the flavours mix with the compounds in the cask and creates a unique aroma and flavor. Each year that passed, around 2% of spirit is lost from natural evaporation.

The age of a given offering of whiskey is one that has a great deal of impact on the taste and character, as well as the value and the level of investment accompanying a given example of vintage whiskey. But how does one know for sure, the validity of a given age(as often proposed by the seller..)? The answer resides most often in verified radiocarbon dating. On occasion, a given vintage whiskey is had up for sale projecting an age of one hundred, one hundred and fifty years or more. Given the price premiums on something of this age, (which often can reach in to even the tens of thousands of dollars) The authenticity of these claims has to be insured, for obvious reasons.

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Found in the air in the form of Carbon Dioxide, Carbon 14 is a naturally occurring radioactive particle that plants will take in through the process of photosynthesis. Thus, the amount of these particles that could be found in a given plant would attest to the amounts found naturally in that plant’s environment over the course of it’s lifespan. Even given the decay of these particles over a period of time, the given ratio of these particles to actual “stable” carbon still present allow for a good indication as to the age of a given organic material. This would have been harder today without the impact of an unnatural carbon addition: nuclear testing.

Because of the impact of the nuclear bomb technology, and its demand for testing, carbon 14 particles can often be found in higher concentration levels in those organisms having a lifespan that coincides somewhere with the 1950s. The problem with this method lies most immediately in the fact that anything before about 1950 or so doesn’t have the same clear distinction as to its age boundaries. In this way, it becomes more of an “is it vintage or not” question before an “how old is it exactly” question. Despite this, most fakes found around at present are probably going to have been manufactured after 1950 or so.

Discerning for yourself how to tell a fake is slightly more difficult, as you probably don’t have access to being able to burn the whiskey before electrically charging the process give off for analyzation. For the laity though, the easiest way to check for validity, say, on ebay lies first in the label. Check for small incisions in the bottom of the label, (a process applied by the bottling plant), or any lackings in the luminosity on the label’s lettering will often expose a fake as well.

If you enjoy drinking whiskey, the only downside – if you can even call it that – is figuring out what to do with those empty bottles. You can always recycle them, but that often involves a trip to the recycling center and just isn’t very exciting. A quick look around reveals that many folks have come up with truly innovative things to do with empty bottles- here are some of the best!

Whiskey Bottle Computer

The biggest standout in terms of pure genius and innovation has to be the whiskey bottle computer. There’s little doubt that Janos Marton is the only person on the planet with a computer setup quite like this. Finding similarly innovative things to do with whiskey bottles is not as easy as it sounds – many sites simply suggest sticking a candle in the top – but with a bit of creativity, you can do something clever with one.

Cutting Beer Bottles In Half With A Piece Of String

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Science fans will definitely want to try out this little experiment. Although a beer bottle is used in this experiment, it can most likely be replicated using any other type of glass bottle as well; you just might need a thicker piece of string and a little bit more patience.

Make A Mini Terrarium

After you’ve finished a bottle  let it drain completely, then rinse it thoroughly with water. Remove the label with Goo Gone or another similar product, then prepare it to be a mini terrarium.

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You can choose to put only plants in it, or you can try some cool different experiments by adding ants or worms into the mix. Even if you have limited space, whiskey bottles are small enough that you could theoretically have many different “worlds” surrounding your home or apartment at any given time.

Light The Way With A Whiskey Bottle Oil Lamp

Give your home or apartment a sense of old world charm by lighting it by an oil lamp that you’ve crafted out of an empty bottle. Since different whiskey bottles have different looks, you could end up with a very eclectic collection of oil lamps that add a bit of flair to your surroundings.

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As far as fun little projects go, this is one that just about anyone can do – whether they have a lot of mechanical know-how or not.

The making of whiskey begins with the selection of ingredients. The primary ingredients in any whiskey are water, yeast, and barley. The main difference in whiskeys come from whether the barley is malted, unmalted, or a mix of the two, and in the case of malted barley, how the barley is malted. Malting is the process of soaking the grain in water to begin germination, then stopping the germination process by heating it. The selection of the barley is a very important step in the process as this, more than anything else, will determine the quality of the whiskey that will be made from it. One of the main criteria in selecting the barley is the sugar content.

Other variations in the production of whiskey also concern the production of the barley. Pure malt whiskey comes only from malted barley, whereas blended whiskey comes from pure malt whiskey that is blended with mixed grain whiskey. Single malt is a pure malt whiskey that is distilled in a pot still. The selection of the other two ingredients, water and yeast, also play an important role in the product. The final flavor of the whiskey can depend a lot on the quality and purity of the water used. The choice of yeast is one of the closely held secrets in the production of whiskey.

The next step is the malting process for malted whiskey. Whether malted or not, the barley is then ground in a mill to a course flour that is used in the brewing process. The ground barley, or grist, is then mixed with hot water and then brewed, usually three or four times, to produce the wort, that is used in fermentation.

The addition of yeast is begins the fermentation process. The yeast reacts with the sugars in the wort and makes alcohol. This process produces a beer, called the wash, which is then taken on to the distillation process. Distillation separates the alcohol from the rest of the wash. Heat causes the alcohol to evaporate, and this gas is then cooled to produce the spirits. The distillation process is then repeated with the results of the first process.

Finally, the spirit is aged in casks which finishes and gives the final flavor to the whiskey. The resulting whiskey is then bottled and put on the market. Each stage of these processes has many variations which can affect the final whiskey.

The Most Expensive

The current record holder for the most expensive whiskey is a single malt scotch from the Bowmore Distillery on the isle of Islay. Bottled around 1850 and presented to William Mutter when he left his share in the distillery, this scotch was recently auctioned to an anonymous Russian bidder for £29,400, about the price of a new luxury car.

1850 William Mutter- £29,400
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Still Up for Grabs

While the Bowmore scotch is the most expensive whiskey ever sold, the last surviving bottle of Nun’s Island Distillery, which closed in 1913, is currently on sale for £100,000-over three times the price of the Bowmore. The 25 Year Old Pure Pot Still Irish whiskey, bottled in the late 1800’s, is currently owned by a friend of the heir to the Persse family, owners of the distillery.

1800’s Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey- £100,000
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The Real World

Among whiskeys that an average Joe might hope to one day sample, the Macallan Fine and Rare 1926 is about as expensive as it gets. Originally selling for around $38,000, there are no bottles left on the market. A glimmer of hope remains though, as a dram can be had at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City- for a mere $3,300.

Macallan Fine and Rare- $38,000
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Old and Rare

The Glenfiddich Rare collection 1937, laid down in the same year that the Golden Gate Bridge opened, was tapped in 2001 to produce 61 bottles. Anyone looking to sample this whiskey’s smooth palate of treacle toffee, crème brulee and toasted almond flavors will have to befriend a collector, as all bottles have been sold. In 2006, one of the last remaining bottles was auctioned off for $20,000

1937 Glenfiddich Rare- $20,000
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Not Your Average Blue Label

The Johnnie Walker Distillery is paying homage to its namesake with the limited edition Blue Label 1805 Pack. Blended from several whiskeys, all at least 45 years old, it is valued at around $20,000 per bottle. However, the distillery is not selling any bottles, instead presenting them to individuals deemed to have contributed most to modern society.

1805 Blue Label – $20,000
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A Taste of the 50’s

Balvenie Cask 191 is the distillery’s last cask from the 1950’s and their smallest release ever. Matured in a sherry cask, the whiskey has flavors of clove, honey, butterscotch and licorice. A very few of the 83 bottles produced by this cask are still for sale, with price tags of around $13,000

Balvenie Cask 191- $13,000
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