The Truth about Rare Malt Whisky

Rare Malt Whisky

In the world of alcohol, there are many myths and legends. Does Jagermeister really contain deer blood? Is that why metal heads love it? Wrong! No deer blood; metal heads love Jagermeister because it uses the font of beloved metal band Motorhead. The strange herbal liquor is not the only one suffering from misinformation. The world of scotch whiskey brands is full of nebulous, drunken half-truths.

Let's start with the spelling of the word whiskey. Some of you may have seen bottles labeled whisky as opposed to whiskey (note the E before the Y). Now neither one is wrong perse, but whisky is usually used to denote Scottish whisky. Whiskey is the generally accepted spelling everywhere else, so most people (outside Scotland) would probably tell you to stick with that. Therefore, unless that rare malt whisky was born in Scotland it is a single malt whiskey.

What exactly is the proof of whiskey? Simply put, the proof is double the ABV or alcohol by volume. So 100% pure alcohol is 200 proof. Your average hard liquor is 40% ABV or 80 proof. That means that when you pick up a bottle of single malt whiskey, 40% of that liquid is usually pure alcohol. The term proof dates back to the times of old, when the only way to test the strength of alcohol was to see how flammable it was. Before any bar or general store keeper would buy whiskey, he would light it on fire and prove its alcoholic content.

Many people think that whiskey is the hard liquor equivalent of beer. This is not exactly true. Some hard alcohols are simply distilled equivalents of naturally fermented drinks; for example, brandy is concentrated wine and cognac is concentrated champagne. Beer and whiskey are both grain based, but the naturally fermented grains that are later distilled to whiskey are not beer. Both are a wheat based alcohol, but it is a bit of a stretch to call scotch whiskey distilled beer when compared to the way brandy is considered distilled wine.
There is also some debate about the best way to enjoy single malt scotch and other whiskey. Most people prefer them at room temperature or mixed with water that is at room temperature.. Theoretically, room temperature is the point at which  the flavors of the single malt scotch become most apparent, but I would say just drink it in a way you enjoy.