What is Whiskey
As you will quickly tell from this site, we are passionate about all things Whiskey.
Whiskey Fundamentals
Before we delve into the wonderful world of whiskey, let’s take a brief look at what it actually is. 
Whiskey is a distilled alcoholic beverage, made from fermented grain and aged in wooden casks. Ireland, Scotland and America are generally the countries that come to mind when thinking about whiskey, but they are actually made in almost every corner of the globe including Japan and Australia, and in more recent years countries such as Germany and Sweden.
Different countries tend to have different whiskey making styles and ingredients with grain varieties including barley, rye, corn and wheat. We cover everything you need to know about the different Whiskey Varieties here.
Whiskey vs. Whisky
Have you ever looked online, or in a bottle store and wondered why there different spelling of Whiskey and Whisky? Are they the same? Does it make a difference in the type of spirit I’m drinking?
First of all, let us put your mind at ease. Regardless of how it is spelt, whiskey or whisky is an umbrella term of a spirit that is made from fermented grains. Quite simply put, the spelling of whiskey or whisky is typically dependent on geographic location of this drink:
- Countries with an E in their name (i.e. United States, Ireland etc.) will include E in Whiskey
- Countries without an E in their name (i.e. Canada, Scotland, Japan, Australia etc.) typically spell it without an E in Whisky.
Back in the 1800’s Scottish Whisky was of typically low quality, with poor distillation processes. American and Irish distillers wanted to differentiate their better quality product and therefore added an E to make this distinction on their product labels.
To this day, American distillers still spell their spirits with the E, with some exceptions such as Maker’s Mark who like to refer to their Scottish ancestry. You can learn more about whiskey varieties here.
OK… enough of the lesson – it’s time to grab yourself a nice glass of Whiskey (or Whisky!).
Whiskey Varieties
Whiskey, bourbon, scotch – same same but different
History of Whiskey
WhiskeyAdvice has everything you need to know about Whiskey’s origins through to it’s place in today’s world