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Comment by 1024core | Hacker News Reader

"There is no 'e' in 'Scotland'" (if you want to tell "whisky" (Scotch) from "whiskey" (everything else))

Only USA, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland call it Whiskey. Any other country not mentioned that distills and bottles Whisky does not use the 'e'.

But not all American whiskys are spelt "whiskey", e.g., Maker's Mark: https://www.makersmark.com/

Buy those all have "e"s in them (assuming you expand USA). And hey, Canada and Japan don't have "e"s either. I think we're onto something.

I thought it was Scotland that got exclusive use of whisky without the "e" in the same way that only French get to use champagne.

The difference in spelling is due to the fact the word for Uisce Beatha was brought into the English language twice. Once from Irish Gaelic before the Great Vowel shift in English and a second time from Scots Gaelic after the shift.

Japan also drop the e. Japanese whisky is quite interesting though, some of the stuff is completely out there (eg using seaweed as flavouring) and other stuff could be mistaken for being a scotch. I seem to recall reading that a lot of Japanese distilleries were trained in Scotland.

Last year I had a bottle of whisky from India which I’m pretty sure also dropped the e. That too was a lovely drink and could easily have been mistaken for scotch.

A lot of Japanese Whisky isn't even from Japan.

https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/19680/not-all-jap...

I hear this said a lot, but is there an example you can think of of a mainstream Japanese whiskey --- a Nikka or Suntory, for instance --- that isn't 100% Japanese spirit? There's Akashi, but the controversy there is that it's not 100% whiskey, not that it isn't 100% Japanese.

I think the trouble lies in the quantity of aged whisky Japan is exporting. They did not have a lot of whisky production 25+ years and so it is simply not possible for them to be bottling this much whisky from 25 year old Japanese casks.

I hate to link to Bloomberg but this article is pretty good:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-19/that-expe...

That was really interesting thanks, did not know that. I like a glass of Yamazaki on the rocks but to me Japanese whiskies have always been a little too smooth and balanced to enjoy neat anyway, compared to a lot of Scotch whiskys which have more character and more rough edges.

Whisky is not a region of Scotland. The use of Champagne is protected because it's a region of France.

There is also EU law for the protection of spirits, which have not been typically named after specific regions. For example, ouzo can only be produced in Greece. Not sure what the status of whisk(e)y is on this.

Scotch whisky has to actually be Scotch—i.e. from Scotland. Whisk(e)y can be from anywhere.

The way to tell Scotch from other whiskey is that Scotch always says Scotch on it.

While there are patterns with which countries use whisky vs. whiskey, there's no legal requirement.

Technically, although this isn't actually the distinction OP made so you're absolutely right, Scotch isn't the same category as Scottish whisky/whiskey. It doesn't simply mean it's made in Scotland.

Or you can just ignore all this silliness and spell it in whatever way looks most natural to you.

You can and many people do.

However it is not silliness to detail regional variations in spelling, particularly when, as in this case, they give clues to lines of heritage.

Spelling things correctly and trying not to look ignorant isn’t silliness.

Except Japan also uses Whisky without the e

There is an E in Wales.

But not in Cymru.

Eh? I mean, literally, yes, there is an e in Wales, but if we're talking whisky, there isn't..

Wales's primary Whisky distillery [0] calls it whisky.

0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penderyn_(whisky)

The GP is responding to a claim that you could have a rule that it is spelled whisky in countries which don't have an e in their name (whisky in Scotland, whiskEy in IrEland). GP is pointing out, same as you, that Wales would be a counter-example to this rule.

This is not a good mnemonic to use at all. Basically only the US and Irish whiskey use 'whiskey' (and legally, you can drop the 'e' in the US), whereas everyone else (India, Taiwan, Japan, WalEs, SwEdEn, GErmany, FrancE, DEnmark, etc.) use 'whisky' (and tend to largely (but not totally) follow SWA regulations). Don't sleep on so-called 'world whisky'. You'll be missing out.

Indeed. For me the distinction is primarily between Scotch whisky (which is peated and smoky, particularly Islay), and Irish whiskey (not peated (except Connemara), but smooth). American whiskeys (bourbon, rye, etc) are not really my cup of tea, though I’m sure there’s some good stuff out there.

I'm not sure what you mean, regarding peat, lots of Scottish whisky doesn't use peat smoked malt.

You’re right, I should have said “typically”. My understanding is that the malted barley for Scotch is dried with smoke that often (but not always, as you point out) comes from peat, but it’s not dried in closed kilns as it is for Irish whiskey. So while you might have more or less peat, you still have more smoke than in Irish whiskey.

There are a small number of distilleries that use peat, almost exclusively the island distilleries. The vast majority of scotch is _not_ peaty. There's at least 50 distilleries in the speyside area/category (notably not peaty), vs 10 in campbelltown and islay.

Agreed. Broadly there are three types of Whisky in Scotland:

Highland. Lowland. Island.

Varieties from the same region share characteristics, but they're distinct from each other.

I would go as far as to say that most scotch is not peated.

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usfeatures/maltwhisky... seems to indicate that coke/oil is used these days, with peat being added if wanted for flavours.

I'm curious how historically the kilns would be fired across Scotland, if peat was more prevalent?

http://www.bairds-malt.co.uk/Bairds-Malt/Process/process mentions about using hot air.

https://www.laphroaig.com/en/whisky/our-process - Has some nice videos, including them using solely peat to kiln the malt.

Most distilleries, including the best known, don't malt and dry their own barley to begin with.

The difference between Irish and scotch whiskies isn’t the smoky flavour. In fact most scotch isn’t peted. It’s the distilling process.

> It’s the distilling process

As well as the fact that irish whiskey generally has a mashbill containing a portion of unmalted barley. Not sure, but I think it is at _least_ 30% as per the Irish Whiskey Association rules?

Single malt Scotch requires (as per SWA rules) a 100% malted barley mashbill.

Blended Scotch, on the other hand, has no such requirement, and is typically a blend of Single malt Scotch and alcohols from other cereals.

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