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# Whisky! Whiskey! Wait. What?

Posted on January 12, 2018 February 22, 2018 by admin

What’s up with whisky and whiskey? Is there a difference between them besides a letter? Let’s investigate further.

If you have paid attention during your forays to your local brown liquid purveyor, there are two different ways to spell what seems to be nearly the same thing. Ask an American how to spell it and they will usually say w-h-i-s-k-e-y, but ask a Scotsman and it is w-h-i-s-k-y. Are they describing the same thing? Yes and, well, no. Even the respected Whisky Bible by Jim Murray, can’t decide or is confused!

Side bar: the 2017 Edition uses two different spellings on the cover. How do you get from 10th Edition to 25 Years in 4 years?

In North America, whiskey is usually a bourbon, rye, or Tennessee whiskey. The Irish spell theirs with an ‘e’ as well. These whiskeys are different. Bourbon has a grain bill (list of ingredients that are mashed and then distilled) that is very different than that of an Irish whiskey. Bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys are 51% corn with rye and possibly wheat added. Rye whiskey is 51% rye with corn added. Irish whiskeys use malted barley and other ingredients.

In Scotland, single malt Scotch whisky is made with malted barley. 100%. There are variations on a theme, such as single grain, blended grain, blended malt and blended with these possibly adding rye or wheat to their grain bill, but most aficionados drink single malt or blended single malt whisky. Canadian whiskey is 51% rye with corn added. Just like their North American counterparts, there are differences in how the “wash” (The wash is what is distilled. It is basically a hopless beer, the result of yeast acting on the sugars in the heated grain bill. This is truly a simplification.) is distilled, but by and large the process after the mash is very similar. In another blog post, I’ll talk about these differences.

Hey, this is all very interesting but, none of this explains why there are two different spellings.

There is an old saying, at least I think it is old as I remember it from a long time ago, that the only difference between England and the United States is an ocean and a language. I was told that when a young man would arrange to pick up his date in England, he would merely say “I’ll knock you up at 7”. Here in Texas, that wouldn’t fly very far, particularly if the young lady’s father got wind of it.

Whisky has been the customary spelling in Scotland for centuries as has whiskey been the accepted spelling for North America and Ireland. According to Nora Hayward, the NY Times succumbed to pressure from Scotch lovers by dropping their previous praxis of using “whiskey” for all types to distinguishing between whiskey and whisky. How do they do it? Countries with an E in their name get whiskEy while those without, get whisky. UnitEd StatEs get an ‘e’. IrEland gets an ‘e’. Scotland drops it. Japan (hey, they make some wonderful whisky) doesn’t get the ‘e’. It works for me.

So there you have it. The next time you belly up to the bar and ask for a whisk(e)y, depending on where in the world the bar is, you’ll get a brown liquid. It just may not be what you expected. Cheers! Sláinte!

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