In the description of our whisky there were three main types of Scotch mentioned:

1. Blended
2. Single Malt
3. Single Cask

With whisky itself being broadly defined as a spirit distilled from grain alcohol that has been aged for a period of time in wooden casks, it isn’t long before bourbon, rye, Irish whiskey and similar products start to need defining also. There are¬†resources defining each type of whisky and explaining its processes in our articles section but for now let’s look at Scotch.

What is Scotch?

Blended Scotch Whisky

Blended scotch is a whisky, produced in Scotland, that is made from a mixture (i.e. a blend) of both malt whisky and grain whisky.¬† The malt whisky is made from malted barley, and the grain whisky is typically made either wheat or maize.¬†¬† Most typical blends would feature a ratio of, say, 30% malt to 70% grain.¬† Most of the more famous blends might typically be made up from over 30 or more different component whiskies.¬† The final blend that you’ll find at your local bottle shop will invariably have caramel colouring added and will end up being chillfiltered and cut with water to a standard alcoholic content (40% abv most commonly) before bottling.¬† The age statement on the bottle refers to the youngest whisky in the blend¬† – which is why many producers avoid age statements.

A further sub-category in this family now is Blended Malt Scotch.  (Previously known as a Vatted Malt or even Pure Malt Рtwo terms that are now no longer allowed).  This is still a blend of whiskies, but they are all malt whiskies Рthat is, there are no grain whiskies in the mix.

Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Single malt scotch is a whisky that is sourced from one individual distillery.  It must be 100% barley malt whisky in every bottle. Not every distillery releases a single malt but those that do will usually vat many casks together to create a consistent release in terms of appearance and flavour and also to meet production demands. Some distilleries add caramel colouring to achieve a darker or more consistent colour year after year and many will also chill filter their single malts and cut with water to a standard alcoholic content (40% or 43% abv most often) before bottling. The age statement on a single malt bottle refers to the youngest part of the blend which is why older whiskies are often more expensive as their components were aged for a longer period.

Single Cask Scotch Whisky

Single cask scotch is a whisky that is sourced from just one cask (yielding anywhere from 70 to 800 bottles in volume) and is not blended with any other whisky. Its flavour profile is entirely unique and can never be precisely reproduced, making single cask whiskies the somewhat unknown gem of the whisky industry.  At The Scotch Malt Whisky Society we refuse to chill filter, colour or cut our single cask whisky with anything, in order to ensure that the unique characteristics of each cask are in every bottle from that cask. This means that our whisky is often well above 50% abv and maintains all of its vital oils and flavour compounds, allowing you to enjoy it either with or without the addition of water.  This higher alcohol percentage will often result in a higher price (since governments charge excise and taxes on alcohol), as will an older age statement.