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Making Irish Whiskey 
Ingredients The basic ingredients required to make Irish whiskey are pure clear water, of which there is no shortage of in Ireland, quality barley, time and experience. Basically to distil whiskey the distiller requires starch in sufficient quantity to make spirit. The starch is provided by barley and it is from this starch that sugars are released during the fermentation process. Malting The first step in the process is known as Malting, this will release the starch in the barleycorn by controlled germination. Traditionally the barley is steeped in water for up to 2 days the water being changed several times during this period, the water used in the last steeping is heated to help start the germinating process. The barley is then spread on a malting floor and turned daily to allow the barley to germinate. As germination progresses the starch within the barleycorn releases some of its sugars. It is at this stage that the germination is halted by drying the malted barley in a closed kiln ready for the next stage of the process. Mashing The malted barley is mixed with un-malted barley prior to being passed through a mill to be roughly ground into grist The grist is then mixed with water in a mash tun where it is slowly stirred. The addition of water allows the natural sugars to dissolve in the water which is drained off this liquid is called "wort" Fermentation The wort containing the dissolved sugars from the barleycorn is now pumped into a set of vessels commonly known as "wash backs" into the wort is added yeast. This causes a reaction with the sugars to produce a brown coloured liquid. When the fermentation process has run its course the liquid ceases to foam and bubble at which point it is ready to be pumped to the stills for distillation The distilling process is where the alcohol which has a lower boiling point than water is separated from the fermented liquid or wash from the wash back. Traditionally Irish Pot still whiskey is distilled three times in copper stills to ensure a smooth and delicate spirit 1. The wash is heated in the first still (Wash still) and condensed into low wines 2. This then goes to the second still (Low wines and Feint still) where more impurities are removed and feints are collected. 3. The feints then go to a third still (Spirit still) where a further refining of the spirit takes place The result is the production of a colourless spirit which has a high alcohol content. It is this third distillation that gives "Irish" its different taste which is purer and lighter than Scotch whisky which is distilled twice. At the Midleton distillery in Co. Cork depending on the desired outcome the spirit may have been distilled as many as 5 times. The distilled spirit at this stage still has a long journey ahead of it before it can be truly called whiskey. Maturation Having been successfully distilled the required number of times the spirit is filled into wood casks and left to mature for a legal minimum of three years, however more often than not it is usually more with eight, ten, or more years required for some of the top brands. It is during this maturation process that the magic that is Irish whiskey takes place. The clear spirit over time takes on the character of the cask in which it is stored. The casks may have been used previously to store sherry bourbon or rum although new oak casks are also used. While maturing in sherry casks the alcohol's extract the sherry residue that has soaked into the wood or whilst maturing in charred bourbon casks the spirit will extract some of the chemicals in the wood of the cask. It is all of these factors along with temperature humidity and general storage conditions plus the length of time the whiskey is left to mature that contribute to the final product. Blending Prior to bottling the matured whiskey is vatted or "married" as it is sometimes referred to In this the final stage of the distilling process. The purpose of vatting is to fuse together many casks of whiskey in order to produce as consistent a quality and flavour as possible. This is the art of the blender, however Irish Whiskey producers have a historical disdain for blended whiskey and even today with a few exceptions the vatting process for brands such as Power's or Paddy will take only two or three days. Only with much specialised whiskeys such as Midleton Very Rare or Redbreast will the casks be vatted for up to a full month prior to bottling. In comparison Scotch whiskey may be vatted or married for a year or more. This is said to reflect the importance of blending in Scotch as opposed to the theory in Ireland where it is the distiller's art that has the greater influence on the whiskeys final taste.  |
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