wash According to the Scotch Whisky Association, 'The wort or mash technically becomes wash as soon as yeast is added to start fermentation. However, the term is usually used to refer to the liquid at the end of fermentation'. (SWQ&A) Daiches notes that, 'At the end of the [fermentation] process, which takes anything from thirty-six to forty hours, we have a clear liquid, known simply as the wash, which consists of water, yeast and a bit over five percent by volume of alcohol (i.e. about 10° proof) Thus the wash, like beer, is a liquid that has been brewed but not distilled'. (SW1)
Among older distillery workers it has something of a reputation as a ⇒hangover cure. The product of the first ⇒distillation is ⇒low wines, and as Cooper explains, 'the crude alcohol has been separated from the wash and the residue (pot ale, burnt ale or spent wash) as it is variously known is removed for processing into animal feedstuffs'. (CCtW)
Wash is wæsc in Old English, and is first attested in its current sense prior to 1700 as, 'Wash - After-wort'.
washback The process of ⇒fermentation takes place in the washback, fermenting vat, or 'liquor back' as it is known in the United States, and as Cooper explains, 'When fermentation has ceased, the fermented wort, known as wash, is pumped to a wash receiver ... The wash is now ready for the first distillation which occurs in pear-shaped wash stills'. (CCtW)
The washback (the word being first attested in 1839) - or washback as Daiches styles it - is a vat fixed into the floor of the ⇒tun room, as the brewer needs to be able to reach the top of the washbacks. They were traditionally made of wood, with pine, oak or larch being the most favoured types of timber, and Oregon pine was considered to be particularly suitable as it grows tall and therefore has few knot holes. A wooden washback has a lifespan of some 40 years, but is harder to clean than cast iron or stainless steel, and the latter material has largely replaced wood in recently constructed backs. Easily cleaned steel would presumably have been an asset at Highland Park Distillery in Orkney, where Morton notes a highly unorthodox use for washbacks, 'The huge larch washbacks have recovered from their role in the Second World War as baths for Canadian troops stationed at Scapa Flow ... '. (SoA) Another unusual adaptation of washbacks is found at the Findhorn Foundation's centre in Morayshire, where disused backs from Speyside were converted into accommodation.
Wash Act This Act of 1784 was an attempt to 'simplify the administration of distilling duties and regulations', as Moss and Hume explain. (MoSW) The Act acquired its name from the fact that 'Under this new legislation, instead of taxing low wines and spirits separately, the fermented wash was subject to excise in Scotland at 5d per gallon'. (See also Excise.)
water In Old English water, first attested in c.897 as weettre. Of all the various factors which influence the location of distilleries and the ultimate character of their make, water is perhaps the most crucial. Lamond and Tucek consider the sources of distillery water to be so important as to merit a line entry for each whisky they discuss in their Malt File, though Jackson is of the opinion that, 'The importance of water can be over-stressed and romanticised'. (WGtW)
Writing of location-related factors which influenced the siting of illicit distilling operations, Cooper notes that 'what was absolutely essential was a supply of clear water not only for soaking the barley and making the mash but for condensing the spirit. So every distillery is either on the banks of a river or burn or on the site of a well or spring. Some distilleries bring their water by pipe from a high-lying loch but wherever the source it must be cold, unpolluted and as constantly flowing as possible'. (CCtW) Water is also needed to reduce the strength of the spirit prior to casking, and as well as guaranteed quantity and quality, 'The coolness of the water is also important, for this can affect the ultimate flavour of the whisky', according to Morrice (SGtS), a factor in the timing of the traditional silent season. Many distillers will insist that there is a noticeable difference between whisky made in summer and that made in winter, and that the difference is directly attributable to the temperature of the water used in production.
Water picks up influences from the ⇒peat over which it flows, as is evidenced most clearly in the case of ⇒Islay whiskies, where not only is the peat itself apparent in the end product, but the tang of the sea in the peat gives Islay malts their characteristic 'medicinal' nose and flavour. The Scotch Whisky Association consider that 'a source of good soft water is essential to a distillery'. (SWQ&A) but it is worth noting that some of the most highly regarded Scottish malts such as Highland Park from Orkney are made with very hard water. Glenmorangie's Tarlogie Spring produces water which is very hard and mineral-rich, the minerals having leached from the local red sandstone. The delicacy of Glenmorangie which commentators frequently note may well be attributable in part to these minerals. Soft water is usually thought to be most desirable for distilling because it is a better solvent than hard water. McDowall considers that soft and slightly peaty water 'can dissolve substances other than maltose from the malt mash and it is well recognised that it is these substances which are largely responsible for the valuable characteristics of malt whisky'. (WoS) He dismisses the relevance of water flowing over granite, since 'granite is a very insoluble substance and certainly the water does not stay long enough on it for this to be of any importance', though to most observers the real relevance of granite is precisely that it does not pass undesirable minerals to the water. Moss offers the useful generalisation that 'Soft peat water, like that commonly used on Islay and in the once large Campbeltown whisky trade, makes for heavier whiskies, while the harder waters of Speyside make for lighter styles'. (CSDB)
Regarding the preponderance of distilleries in and close to the ⇒golden triangle of ⇒Speyside, Cooper writes that, 'It's probably true that the peat- covered hills in the Cairngorm drained by the Findhorn, the Deveron and the Spey rivers provide abundant supplies of the finest water'. (CCtW) He is of the opinion that the water of the middle Spey basin which flows over granite 'influences the whisky more favourably' than that in the nearby coastal areas where Old Red Sandstone or fluvio-glacial sands are an influence.
In the United States the fact that most whiskey has traditionally been produced in a number of contiguous eastern states is said to owe much to a limestone shelf which runs through the region, containing many springs. They provided a vital water source for distillation, and as Jackson explains, 'American distillers say their limestone springs produce water free from iron or any other mineral that might discolour the whiskey; that it contributes to the classic texture and sweet taste; and that calcium aids the enzyme activity in fermentation'. (WGtW) The Jack Daniel company notes in its promotional literature that the Cave Spring which serves its distillery is 'almost sterile and iron free, which has been proven to make the best whiskey'.
Japan's water, like that of the Highlands, is particularly clean; it mostly rises in granite, but sometimes flows over peat.
If water is a vital element in the production of whisky, then its influence certainly continues to the actual consumption of the product. Much as shooting foxes is the most heinous crime imaginable to the foxhunter, so the addition of anything other than water to whisky is utterly unacceptable to many whisky connoisseurs. 'The only thing a man of taste adds to whisky is water', declares Neil Gunn unequivocally, and the expression 'whisky and water' is first attested in 1827. Even the most fanatical whisky-lover would probably conceded that it matters little what is added to a run-of-the-mill blend, especially if its fate is to be part of the intriguing 'Jelly Beans' ⇒cocktail as described by Derek Cooper. (CCtW) Apparently consumed by habitués of Stornoway's Crown Hotel, the 'Jelly Beans' consists of whisky, gin, vodka, Pernod, cherry brandy, Babycham and lemonade.
When it comes to malts, however, water really is the only acceptable additive, and any dilution at all is frowned on in some quarters; as the arthritic old Scots adage runs: 'There are only two things a Scotsman likes naked, and one of them is whisky.' In The Stornoway Way Kevin MacNeil writes, 'Dilution of the first whisky is only to line the stomach. Water's for drowning in, not drinking'.
When adding water, 'The correct proportion, according to Scottish whisky wags, is "half and half, with lots of water". The implication of that instruction is clearer before you have a few. Less water, but enough to release the aroma, is prescribed by more serious samplers'. (WGtW) One should never lose sight of Mark Twain's opinion that, 'Water taken in moderation cannot hurt anybody'. McDowall writes, 'It is well to note that to bring out the flavour of a whisky an equal amount of water is usually necessary, but the optimum depends on the individual whisky and its strength'. (WoS)
Inevitably, tastes vary around the world, with Japan being an interesting example of a country where whisky is often diluted to a considerable degree. While it does little for the palate of the whisky, Jackson reminds the reader that extreme dilution 'tames its potency'. (WGtW), an important factor if whisky is to be drunk throughout an entire evening, even accompanying a meal, as is often the case in Japan, where the ⇒mizuwari is popular.
If water is to be added to whisky, it should not be any common-or-garden water, unless one's garden happens to contain a natural spring of unimpeachable purity. Cooper stipulates 'as soft and pure a water as you can find'. (CCtW) Lamond and Tucek advise the avoidance of tap water because of the additives such as chlorine which it contains, suggesting instead the use of still 'clear, pure spring water which has been bottled at source', (MF) although others consider 'decent tap water' acceptable. The suggestion has been made that distilleries could make a useful subsidiary profit from bottling the same water that they use in production and selling it in branded form alongside their whiskies, something that would surely appeal to many drinkers who take their whisky seriously.
western malts Daiches observes when writing of ⇒Highland whiskies, 'I have in fact seen Highland malt whisky classified simply as Eastern Malts and Western Malts, the latter including Islays, Campbeltowns and Talisker'. (SW1) Robb classifies the Islays and Campbeltowns as West Highland whiskies, and the DoD notes under the entry West Highland Malt Whisky, 'The old name for Islay Malt Whisky'. Though it is neither a Campbeltown nor an Islay, Diageo continues to use the geographically permissible term West Highland in respect of their Oban malt.
Whiskey sour Jackson considers the sour to be the original of the 'several classic mixed-drink categories which comprise spirit, citrus and sugar'. (PBB) The drink derives its name from the effect of the lemon, which should indeed be sour. He specifies the use of ⇒Bourbon or ⇒rye, hence spelling it 'whiskey', though the Scottish variant also occurs, being used by Theodora Fitzgibbon. She does not specify any type of whisky, and also suggests the option of adding egg white and a dash of soda to the basic cocktail of a double measure of whisky or whiskey, the juice of half a lemon, crushed ice and half a teaspoon of sugar. McNulty recommends using the liqueur Southern Comfort instead of Bourbon or rye when making a whiskey sour.
whisky/whiskey According to the OED, 'In modern trade usage, Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey are thus distinguished in spelling', but as the Scotch Whisky Association points out, 'The most that can be said with any certainty is that it is a convention that grew up gradually as spellings, which were for a long time very variable, became stabilised'. (SWQ&A) Current British legislation specifies that:
the expression 'whisky' or 'whiskey' shall mean spirits which have been distilled from a mash of cereals which have been - (i) saccharified by the diastase of malt contained therein with or without other natural diastases approved for the purpose by the Commissioners; and (ii) fermented by the action of yeast; and (iii) distilled at an alcoholic strength (computed in accordance with section 2 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act (1979) less than 94.8% in such a way that the distillate has an aroma and flavour derived from the materials used, and which have been matured in wooden casks in warehouses for a period of at least three years.
The report of the Royal Commission on 'Whisky and other Potable Spirits' of 1908/9 produced the first legal definition of Scotch whisky. Its definition was that ' "whiskey" is a spirit obtained by distillation from a mash of cereal grain saccharified [i.e. turned into sugar] by the diastase of malt; that "Scotch whiskey" is whiskey, as above defined, distilled in Scotland; and that "Irish whiskey" is whiskey, as above defined, distilled in Ireland'. The respective definitions of Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey remain as they did in 1909, except that it is now specified that maturation takes place in the country of origin. An additional specification, introduced in 1989, is that 'the strength at which any whisky, whiskey, Scotch whisky or Irish whiskey shall be offered for sale shall not be less than 40% alcohol by volume'.
Daiches writes: 'Note that the Commission consistently spelt "whisky" with an "e" - "whiskey" - a spelling then regular in official Government publications on whisky but now confined to Irish and American whiskey". (SW1)
With either current spelling variant, the word derives from the Gaelic ⇒uisge beatha or usquebaugh, with progressive anglicisation occurring from the early 17th century, from uiskie (c.1618) to whiskie in 1715, 'Whiskie shall put our brains in rage'. The first attestation with the modern Scots spelling occurs in 1746, 'A double Portion of Oatmeal and Whisky', and seven years later the current Irish spelling, 'that accursed spirit whiskey'. Interestingly, the variants whiskybae and whisquy-beath are first recorded in 1792, despite being apparently much closer to the Gaelic.
When writing of Irish distilleries in the 1880s Barnard continues to use the Scots spelling with no 'e', but then as Magee points out, the 'e' was first regularly inserted in Ireland by Dublin distillers in order to differentiate their product from what they perceived as inferior provincial spirit. (IW) He also notes that, 'Paddy, curiously, is the only Irish whiskey spelt in the Scotch manner, without the "e"'. (ibid.), though since then Paddy has fallen into line with the other whiskeys in the Irish Distillers' stable. Clearly the inconsistency of spelling was not limited to Paddy, a product of Cork rather than Dublin, as Giles Gordon notes in his commemorative poem for George Macbeth, 'Yet the ancient mottled advertisement for Jameson's/behind the bar spelt the stuff the Scots way'. (The Weekend Scotsman, 19 September 1992)
This is interesting, as Jameson was one of the principal Dublin whiskeys.
Even today the usually quite rigid spelling conventions that dictate Canadians use the Scots variant and Americans the Irish are not always adhered to, with Maker's Mark from Kentucky and George Dickel of Tennessee preferring the Scots spelling.
In the United States there are specific definitions of ⇒Bourbon and ⇒rye whiskeys in respect of content, and - in the case of Bourbon - country of origin, while with regard to Canadian ryes the only real stipulation refers to production within Canada.
Dunkling writes of the words whisky and whiskey that 'Pronunciation is the same in either case, and was thought to be familiar enough throughout the world to make "whisky" represent the letter "w" in the International Phonetic Alphabet'. (GDC)
white dog The term white dog occurs in North American usage to denote freshly-distilled spirit.
White implies new and clear, as in ⇒white lightning and ⇒white mule, but whereas those terms are usually used in relation to illegal, ⇒moonshine operations, white dog is widely applied to new spirit within the US distilling community. It is the US equivalent of ⇒clearic or ⇒new make in Scotland.
'After distilling, but before it is barreled, bourbon is clear, like vodka. At Wild Turkey Distillery they call this "white dog".' (www.visitlex.com)
white lightning See ⇒lightning.
white mule Writing of unmatured ⇒spirit produced and sold illegally in America during ⇒prohibition, Lockhart notes that 'new "corn" whisky has long been honoured by Americans with the name of "white mule", because of its powerful kick'. (Sc) The use of the word 'white' in this context is as in ⇒lightning.
wood Grindal writes, 'American oak casks, broken down into staves for shipment and reassembled in Scottish cooperages, now make up a large proportion of the "wood", as it is called in the trade, used by the distillers of Scotland'. (SoW) With the sense of ⇒cask used as receptacles for ⇒liquor, as distinguished from the bottle, wood is first attested in c.1826, according to the OED, 'When the speerit's been years in the wudd', though Elizabeth Grant (Memoirs of a Highland Lady) recalls that on the occasion of King George IV's visit to Scotland in 1822, her father instructed her to send to Edinburgh 'whisky long in wood'.
The term wood is also now used as an element of the brand names of a number of expressions of Scotch malt whisky. For example, William Grant & Sons Ltd produces a 'Balvenie DoubleWood' bottling. According to www.thebalvenie.com 'The Balvenie DoubleWood Single Malt Scotch Whisky is a 12 year old single malt which gains its distinctive character from being matured in two woods. During its period of maturation The Balvenie DoubleWood is transferred from a traditional oak whisky cask to a first fill Spanish oak sherry cask'.
Grant's also offers a Balvenie PortWood expression, which has enjoyed a final period of maturation in ex-port casks, while Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd markets a 'Three Wood' version of its triple-distilled Lowland single malt Auchentoshan, which is initially matured in ex-Bourbon casks before being finished first in Spanish oloroso and finally Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.
worm In the words of the Scotch Whisky Association the worm in a distillery is 'a coiled copper tube of decreasing diameter attached by the lyne arm to the head of the Pot Still and kept continuously cold by running water'. (SWQ&A) The alcoholic vapours from the still condense as they pass through the worm. Both distillation and non-distillation uses of 'worm' in an inanimate sense refer to objects that spiral or coil. In the relevant distilling context, it is first attested in 1641, 'Put it into a Copper Still with a worme', though a captioned illustration of a worm and worm-tub appears in Lonicer's Naturalis Historiae Opus Novum, published in Frankfurt in 1551. Robert Burns offers a splendid poetic use of worm in his poem 'Scotch Drink' (1785) when he writes, 'Whether through wimplin' [crooked] worms thou jink/Or, richly brown, ream o'er the brink,/In glorious faem ... '
The worm is situated in a wooden worm-tub of water outside the ⇒stillhouse, and, 'fed by the still, it in turn feeds the receiving vessel with the condensed distillate'. (SWQ&A) This traditional condensing apparatus is now found in only a few Scottish distilleries, having been replaced by what Neil Wilson calls 'the more efficient water-jacket condenser' (S&W) which was introduced in the second half of the 19th century. Moss and Hume note the introduction from the 1880s of 'tube and shell heat-exchangers' to replace the worm. (MoSW) The Perthshire distillery of Edradour operates a worm which dates from 1825, almost certainly the oldest in use, and Talisker on Skye also continues to rely on this traditional piece of apparatus, as does the ⇒Lowland plant of Glenkinchie: 'It spirals two storeys high inside an enormous tank of cooling water just outside the stillhouse, the worm-pipes diminishing steadily in diameter as they wind towards the collection point'. (The Malt Letter, No. 2). The preserved distillery of Dallas Dhu on Speyside also offers a good chance to see worms in situ.
The worm was first developed in the 16th century. Condensing of spirit had previously been achieved simply by air-cooling, consequently production of liquor was limited. Writing of 16th-century advances in distillation techniques, Moss and Hume remark, 'The most important innovation involved passing the delivery tube through a tub of water. At first the tube was carried straight across the tub, later diagonally. From about 1540-50 the tube was coiled into a 'worm' which increased the cooling surface available'. (MoSW)
In illicit as well as legal distilling operations the worm has always played a crucial role, being a comparatively difficult and therefore expensive piece of equipment for the coppersmith to fabricate, a ⇒cask often serving as a makeshift worm-tub. Cooper writes, 'The key to the whole operation was the worm … Not infrequently when a worm was worn beyond all use its whereabouts could be revealed to the Excisemen and a reward of £5 collected for disclosing evidence of illicit distillation. With the £5 you could buy yourself a new and better worm!' (CCtW) The ingenuity of Irish prison distillers was equal to the complexities of worm fabrication, as McGuffin illustrates when he quotes the still-maker 'Uncle Doc' who was a Long Kesh internee for several years. 'I would strip a ½-inch diameter copper pipe from the toilet, fill it with dry salt, plug the ends, warm it and bend it. (The salt is to stop the pipe crimping.) That would make a reasonable worm'. (IPoP)
wort 'The liquid containing all the sugars of the malt which is drawn off after the malt has been mashed with warm water', as Cooper explains. (CCtW) Wort is essentially unfermented beer, and its production is paralleled in beermaking. When taken internally it was formerly recommended as a cure for acne. The word is first attested in c.1000. 'Bewylle one riddan dæel on hwætene wyrt', and from c.1325 with the current spelling.
Morrice notes that after ⇒mashing, wort is 'a sweet, sticky, semi-trans- parent liquid and is still a long way from resembling anything like the end product'. (SGtS) From the ⇒mash tun the wort passes through a heat exchanger to be cooled and is then transferred to the ⇒washback, where it is fermented to produce ⇒wash. In many ways the pre-distillation process for making ⇒grain whisky is very similar to that for producing ⇒malt whisky, but 'In some cases, Grain distillers do not separate off wort, passing the complete mash to the fermentation vessels'. (SWQ&A)
Cooper stresses the pronunciation wurt, and Daiches writes 'wort (pronounced "wurt") or worts. (I have heard the plural form more often than the singular in distilleries)'. (SW1) In my own experience many Scottish distillery staff employ the singular and the pronunciation wort.