Description

  Scotch outlines the history, heritage, and romance of the industry including the two-century conflict between illicit moonlighters and the Excisemen; the extraordinary boom in whisky production when phylloxera devastated the vineyards of France and created a shortage of Cognac; the challenges presented by two world wars, depression, and prohibition; and Scotch’s resurgence after facing down world-wide competition from white spirits.The heritage, the craft-based production method, and the picturesque locations of many distilleries are a huge part of scotch whisky’s appeal.   It also explains the production of grain whisky and the blending processes that give us our best-known brands, instructs in how to get the best out of expensive single malts, and guides readers as to sourcing unusual malts and visiting distilleries.It explains the raw materials – malted barley and water transformed by the degree of peatiness both in the maltings and the water – and the distillation and maturing processes, going into the sometimes minute variations in ingredients and equipment that give each malt whisky its unique character.