Modern twists on whisky traditions

The Scotch whisky industry lays great stress on tradition, and one can say whiskies are produced today much as they were 100-150 years ago.

Malt whiskies are distilled twice in copper stills (OK, Auchentoshan distils three times), grain whiskies once in twincolumn patent stills. With malt whiskies, the malt is milled to grist, mashing done in mash tuns, worts fermented with yeast in big washbacks and the alcoholic wash distilled.

New spirit goes into oak casks, today mainly ex-bourbon, before spending three or more years in big warehouses before being bottled as a brand-name blend or single malt. That also happened in the 1920s and earlier, so one can say tradition is alive and well.

However, looking in detail, the industry has changed enormously. Washbacks, once near-universally made of Oregon pine, are increasingly made from stainless steel. Long ago, component parts of copper stills were riveted together. More recently, they were seamlessly assembled as one unit. Today, still components have huge flanges so they can be bolted together at the distillery, to avoid a crane lifting the stillhouse roof off and lowering the whole still in.

Time was when stills were directheated by coal or gas, so they needed “rummagers” – revolving steel brushes to stop yeast residue scorching the inside of the still. Today, steam from big boilers heats the stills via internal coiled pipes or bolted-on heat exchangers. Only Glenfarclas still uses rummagers inside its wash stills.

However, the real changes are in vastly increased output and the separation of production and storage. A century ago, everything – barley deliveries, malting, milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, casking and warehousing – was done at the distillery.

Today only the crucial four (milling to distilling) happen there – everything else happens elsewhere. Distant maltings make the malt and deliver it in 30-tonneplus loads to the distillery hoppers. New spirit is transported by 25,000-litre road-tankers to be casked and aged in giant central belt warehouses.

There, the old earth-floor “dunnage” system – casks stored three rows high on their sides – is being replaced by the pallet system: four upright casks share a pallet on a concrete floor, with pallet upon pallet stored on top, limited only by the reach of the telescopic forklift. Tradition yes, but great change is here too.

PROCESS: Mashing is done in a mash tun during malt whisky production.