In recent years, whisky has been enjoying a rise in popularity, and with new distilleries opening each year, it shows no signs of slowing down. With such a diverse range of whiskies available from across the globe - it’s a great time to be enjoying some liquid gold. We know it can seem a little overwhelming when starting out on your whisky journey – so we have put together a short introduction on the styles of whisky available to help you get started.
Here at Teacher’s we work closely with the Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) who help to protect the much loved spirit drink with its global reputation. As part of this, you will see the appropriate style is clearly visible on each of our bottles of whisky. Our classic award winning Teacher’s Highland Cream is a Blended Scotch whisky.
Blended whisky is by far the most popular style of whisky enjoyed across the globe today. To achieve the status of a ‘Blended Scotch whisky’ the product must be a blend of one or more Single Malt Scotch whiskies with one or more Single Grain Scotch whiskies.
You will often hear the term ‘fingerprint’ which describes the single malt used within the blend – for Teacher’s Highland Cream, we use the fully smoked peat single malt whisky from The Ardmore, giving incredible depth and smoothness with a rich smokey undertone. Blends can have as many as 50 different malt and grain whiskies - all skilfully selected and blended together for a unique flavour profile.
Similar to the Single Malt, this is whisky that has been distilled at a single distillery. It must also be distilled from water and malted barley however can be with or without whole grains of other malted or unmalted cereals.
Cereals are the critical raw material used in the production of Scotch whisky, it typically refers to grains such as barley or wheat. Historically, the vast majority of grain whisky produced has been for blends however, this is changing and you will start to see more Single Grain Scotch whiskies entering the market in the upcoming years.
Single malt whisky is often ranked among the best whisky in the world. To achieve its status as Single Malt Scotch whisky it must be distilled at a single distillery. In addition it must be distilled from water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals. Lastly, it must be distilled by batch distillation in pot stills. An age statement on a bottle will reflect the amount of time the youngest whisky in that bottle has spent maturing in a cask.
As the name suggests, this category dictates that the whisky can be a blend of Single Malt Scotch whiskies that have been distilled at more than one distillery.
This style of whisky is a blend of Single Grain Scotch whiskies that have been distilled at more than one distillery.