Nature: Welcome to this two-part series investigating the roles of distillation and maturation in the creation of the uisge beatha.
In this section I'll be discussing the impact that the 'stills' have in the whisky making process and how the design of them can radically effect the density of the end spirit, regardless of the maturation process.
Whisky contains three elements; water, barley and yeast. Distilleries fiercely protect their water sources but many get yeast and barley from the same distributors. In addition when on Speyside it's difficult not to throw a stone blindfolded and not hit a distillery (exaggeration - don't try it), so why do different distillery's have their own unique flavours and characteristics? Many of the reasons for this lie in the design of the stills.
In this explanation I will take two rather extreme examples; Glenmorangie, a fine distiller from the Speyside area of the Highlands whose characteristically light spirit makes an excellent accompaniment to sherry and other fortified wine flavours; and Lagavulin, The Prince of Islay from the south shore of the magical Hebridean island.
Glenmorangie: Glenmorangie's whisky is renowned for being lighter than whisky's from the other distilleries; the Hebrides in particular. Glenmorangie's lighter style is created by the height of the traditional copper stills and the steep angles of the collection pipes that run of the top of them. Without going into too much detail about the distillation process the wide base of the copper still is heated (copper being used as is excellent at naturally separating and reducing sulphurs. This causes the vaporisation of the liquid in the still which rise up through the still and through the collection pipes before cooling and forming the spirit in the spirit safe.
The designs of the Glenmorangie's stills mean that only the lightest vapours are able to reach the top of the still and continue to rise through the collection pipes, leading to a light and delicately fruity spirit.
Lagavulin: The stills at Lagavulin are very different in design. The odd looking fat pot stills allow much heavier vapours to rise up through the still and the collection pipes which point downwards mean that any vapours that make it through the still will definitely be collected in the spirit safe. This leads to Lagavulin's characteristically heavy spirit which has so many fans across the whisky world.
No explanation of the distillation process would be complete without the mention of peat. Peat is essentially dead vegetable matter that can be dug out of the peat bogs and is abundant is many parts of Scotland and was used as a primary energy source for heat as Scotland isn't not a land resplendent with trees.
The process of drying the barrel out prior to fermentation was historically therefore done with peat. This produces a flavour that is often characterised as like antiseptic or chlorine; although combined with the sugars and vanillas from the wood, I like to think of as a 'Fisherman's Friend' character.
Distillery's that stay true too this historical method such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig produce a very different taste to Glenmorangie; however their is nothing stopping Glenmorangie using peat to dry the barley for some of its bottlings, the end result would still be very different to Lagavulin due to the design of the stills and the nature of the distillation process.
I hope that this has been informative summary into the nuances of the distillation process and helped you to have an idea of how important the design of the stills are to the distillation process.
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