MEEKER| I was listening to one of my favorite bands, Skerryvore (https://skerryvore.com)—a Scottish Celtic rock group—wearing a merch shirt from one of the times I’ve seen them live in Denver. The shirt says “Made in Scotland. Powered by Whisky.” I thought, now that may be a fun topic for Vine and Vittles, and just like that, here we are. This topic will span a few columns—too much for one go, so we’ll circle back now and then. To begin, let’s just get American whiskey tabled. It is its OWN thing. Same goes for Japan and the rest of the world.
Today, we’re diving into Scotland (whisky) and Ireland (whiskey), who many like to do their comparisons against. You ever notice how Americans tend to call Scottish based whisky ‘Scotch’, but we don’t call Irish whiskey ‘Irish’ – just… whiskey? FYI, the Scots call it ‘whisky’, not ‘Scotch’.
According to scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk, the main difference between the 2 is one has an ‘e’, the other, does not. (Bit obvious, right?) Apparently, this relates to the original Gaelic and Scotch derivations of ‘Uisge beatha’, meaning ‘Water of Life’. Uhhhh…YES PLEASE. That said, there are actually other differences between the 2. With this, we barely touch the topic of peat (think – that smoky, campfire smell/flavor so commonly found in lowland/Islay Scottish whisky).
Fun facts about Scotch whisky:
Must mature in oak for at least three years.
Production and maturation must take place in Scotland.
Single malt Scotch whisky must be made from 100% malted barley.
And for Irish whiskey:
Irish whiskey uses little or no peat, so there is usually no smokiness in these whiskies – much like a highland originating Scotch whisky.
Irish whiskey may contain a distillate of malt, a barley distillate and a portion of grain spirit.
Irish whiskey is distilled three times.
Like Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey must be matured for a legal minimum of three years.
That’s our first taste, plenty more to savor another time. Never to worry, we’ll pour again soon.
By ALEXIS HULL-STONE
Alexis Hull-Stone is the owner of Off the Olive Branch, a specialty grocery, and On the Grapevine, offering quality wine, beer, spirits, mixers, and non-alcoholic options, at 317 E. Market St.