Whisky

Whisky is distilled from fermented grain and aged in oak. The cask is not storage: it is where most of the colour and a good deal of the flavour comes from, which is why the same spirit finished in a sherry cask and a bourbon cask arrives as two different drinks.

A single malt is made from malted barley at one distillery. A blend brings together malt and grain whisky from several. Neither is automatically the better drink; they are built for different things.

An age statement is the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle, not an average. A bottle with no age statement is not therefore a young one, and a number on a label is not a score.

The spelling follows the country. Scotland, Japan and Canada write whisky; Ireland and the United States generally write whiskey. Both are correct, and which one appears on a label tells you where it was made.

We pour whisky in 25ml measures, and the strength of each one is on the board beside it. A little water can open some of them up, ask and we can supply a jug.