Drewcifer said:
I was under the impression that Scotch was made from wheat, Bourbon from corn and Canadian whiskey from rye, can any of our whiskey pedants confirm this?
[whisky hijack]
Scotch Malt whisky is made from 100% malted barley
Scotch Grain whisky is made from unmalted barley with a small amount of malted barley
Most American whiskey is made principally from corn, with some wheat and malted barley (usually using a
sour mash process which re-uses a portion of the previous fermatation)
Rye whisky, unsurprisingly is made principally from rye, with other grains as well.
Irish whiskey tends to be made with a mixture of malted and unmalted barley, sometimes with other grains.
A very important factor in whisk(e)y production is the aging in barrels; By law Scotch must be aged at least three years in oak barrels and most scotch is aged in re-used barrels--commonly barrels that have previously contined whisky (scotch or bourbon) or sherry, but rum and even wine barrels are not uncommon.
American whisky is mostly aged for (minimum) four years in new charred oak barrels--this is a direct result of the strength of the Coopers' Union at the time the legislation was drawn up.
I'm not so sure what kind of barrels that Irish whiskey haas traditionally been aged in -I guess refill barrels mostly- but in recent years more attention seems to be being paid to this (you see a lot of sherry-aged Jameson variants, for instance).
[/whisky hijack]
