The Perfect Blend, James J Fox Page 20/ How its made Grain to Liquid

Irish SpiritsNew!

How it’s made...

Whiskey

Simple in theory, a tad trickier in practice. One thing that struck me when I became a distiller for a day was that making whiskey is not the ‘linear’ process it sometimes appears.

Grain, yeast, and water. Usually, a mix of malted and unmalted grain. Why? Once again, it comes down to tax! The malted grain in your whiskey was taxed but not the un-malted grain, hence the blend was born.

Whiskey was a beer once, then distilled and rested in wood to become whiskey. Today, craft, and community unity is becoming more and more important. Distilleries across Ireland are constantly working towards becoming selfsustainable and supportive to its community. Distilleries across the country are using as much locally sourced ingredients as they can. Not only does it support the community but it also reduces their carbon footprint.

Many distilleries use a blend of malted and un-malted grain. To get the malted grain, you must first steep the grains in water to start the germination process. This is achieved by allowing the grain to steep in water for two or three days., turning starches into sugars. Once germination begins the grains are spread over the malting floor and turned frequently so allow the grain to dry out evenly. This process is rarely done on site and most would go to a Malt House to have this done. There are still a few distilleries in Scotland that have their very own malting floors.

When the distiller is happy with the malting, it is now time to crush the grains, using a grain mill. Essentially the grains have to pass between rollers, crushing it down into a grainy flour.

Once you have your grain ready, you place it into a mash tun, usually made from wood but more and more are opting for steel. Add water, stir and then heat. This is done to release the sugars, at this point it can resemble porridge. Once the sugars are extracted it is time to drain off this precious liquid. The spent grain is fantastic animal feed, and many have been selling it to local farmers.

It is drained off into a fermenter otherwise known as a washback. Here the yeast is added and stirred in, to start the conversion of sugars to alcohol. It will be left to ferment for a few days. Once it’s around seven to ten percent alcohol, it is time to remove the liquid.

It will then be transferred to the whiskey still. In Ireland we tend to favour the pot still and usually distil it three times to give it that extra smoothness we are known for. The liquid is transferred into the first of three stills. The liquid will be heated up and as alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, the alcohol vapours rise up into the neck of the still, where it will reach the condenser and turned back into liquid, at this point the liquid is referred to as low wines, at around 20% alcohol.

From there it will be moved into the next still, known as the spirit still. The process is repeated once again.

From here the liquid is moved into the third still, this time resulting in a liquid at 60% or more.

It is now time to discard the head and tails and keep the heart. Many distillers will distil the heads and tails again. Heads and tails is about the start and end of the run. The flavours are usually harsh and not very good for you either. The heart is then placed into the wooden barrels for a minimum of three years. However, most will keep it in wood for a lot longer.

To sum it up, you add your crushed malted grain to water, heat to release the sugars. Add your yeast to ferment the liquid and convert it to beer. Then distil the beer into new make spirit, where it is placed in a wooden barrel for a minimum of three years.

In Ireland, by law, we only need to age our whiskey in wood, in Scotland however they must use oak by law. Thus, giving us a unique ability to play around with the flavours different woods can give.

Gin

Gin is made using a neutral spirit, by distilling grain and infusing it with juniper and spices, fruits, flora and fauna to give the fragrant spirit we love. Again, they would use a copper still to distil the base spirit before steeping it or infusing it. Steeping involves placing the recipe of botanicals in the spirit, sometimes up to forty-eight hours, before removing them again. By infusing, you can get more of the essential oils this is achieved by hanging a removable basket that can be placed into the still, loaded with botanicals, over the spirit.

With craft, experimentation going on and the support for craft, many are infusing the spirit with locally sourced or foraged, fruit, flowers, fir tree needles, seaweed, rose petals. The list is endless, but it means you are getting a unique gin every time, and a gin that is seasonal.

If you enjoy a G&T and love to experiment, you could try making your very own foraged gin. And no, you do not need a still. Grab a bottle of regular gin and infuse. You can pop into your garden and grab some fruit or flowers and steep them in the gin, to infuse your style of gin. If you don’t have gin, vodka will also work with the addition of Juniper berries.