Learn About Whisky

• What Is Whisky? — Grain, water, yeast, wood and time — the definition, the spelling, and the legal rules that make Scotch, Scotch.
• The Styles of Whisky — Single malt, blended malt, blended Scotch, bourbon, rye, Tennessee, Irish single pot still, Japanese and Canadian whisky explained.
• Reading a Whisky Label — Age, strength, cask, single cask, non-chill filtered, natural colour, independent bottlers and SMWS codes.
• Age Statements, Vintages and NAS — What the number on the bottle really means, why whisky doesn't age in glass, and whether older is better.
• ABV, Proof and Cask Strength — Alcohol by volume, US and British proof, cask strength, and why so many whiskies are bottled at 46%.
• How Whisky Is Made — Malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation and bottling — barley field to bottle, step by step.
• Pot Stills, Column Stills and the Shape of Spirit — Why stills are copper, how tall necks and worm tubs change flavour, and the Coffey still that made blends possible.
• Casks and Maturation — American vs European oak, bourbon and sherry casks, cask sizes, first-fill vs refill, char, finishing and warehouses.
• Peat, Smoke and PPM — What peat is, how smoke gets into malt, what PPM does and doesn't tell you, and a scale from unpeated to Octomore.
• How to Taste Whisky — Glassware, nosing, the Kentucky chew, the finish, the flavour wheel and how to run a tasting flight.
• Water, Ice and Why They Matter — The science of a few drops of water, how to add it, why whisky goes cloudy, and the case for ice and highballs.
• Buying, Storing and Collecting — Stand bottles upright, beat oxidation, buy distillery exclusives and festival releases, and avoid fakes at auction.
• The Regions of Scotland — Speyside, Highlands, the Islands, Islay, Campbeltown and the Lowlands — and why style is set by distillery more than postcode.
• A Short History of Scotch — From Friar John Cor in 1494 to smugglers, the 1823 Excise Act, blends, phylloxera, the whisky loch and today's revival.
• Whisky Around the World — Ireland, the United States, Canada, Japan, India, Taiwan and the new whisky nations of Europe and Australia.
• Glossary — From angel's share to worm tub: quick definitions of the words on labels, in tasting notes and on tours.