A Beginner’s Guide to American Single Malt Whiskey

A couple year ago , American single malted milk whiskeyhad its Bottle Shock moment . Just like the California wine that pound the French in a unsighted taste test back in 1976 , an American single malt trounced the Scotchin the prestigious Best in Glass competition . And if you ’re not already a fan of the burgeoning genre , you should be . countenance me tell you why .

American whiskey is world - famed but not necessarily for the same reason that scotch is so revered . Typically , whisky is made from mash that ’s some mix of corn , rye whiskey , and malt barley . If the commixture is at least 51 per centum rye whiskey , it ’s a Secale cereale whisky . If it ’s at least 51 percent corn , it ’s a Bourbon dynasty . The list go on to include malted whisky , wheat whiskeys , and corn whiskeys . But more often than not , the American whisky you find at your local feeding bottle shop is rye or bourbon .

Scotland is illustrious for its undivided malt liquor whiskeys . These spirits are define by the usance of a undivided type of malt grain , usually barleycorn . They ’re also made at a individual distillery . In a sense , it ’s whisky in its vestal and most canonic form . In praxis , single malt whisky is fucking delicious . It is not , however , specifically scotch .

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In recent years , an increase bit of American distillery have started induce so - called American individual malts . The American designation is of import , again , because a lot of people think about scotch when they try the idiom “ individual malt . ” It ’s also relevant because the American undivided malt trend represents one of the most innovative happenings in the planetary whiskey market . The fact that an American single malt beat out every exclusive malt scotch in a blind taste test is just the showtime . American individual malt distilleries are churning out a seemingly endless array of truly interesting and typically affordable whiskeys , almost always in small muckle .

So what does innovation appear like in American whiskey these days ? How about taking a terrific cunning beer , distilling it , and turning it into a exclusive malt liquor ? What do you think about make an refined sipping whisky out of blue corn whisky and only blue corn ? Why not throw apple woodwind instrument chips in the heap to give it a special little recoil ?

All of these thing are bechance in the exciting world of American unmarried malts right now . I taste five of the most innovative and low-cost unmarried malted on the grocery to give you a good start point for enjoy the American approaching to a Scots tradition . And boy was it fun .

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Balcones Texas Single Malt Whisky

This adorable little nursing bottle is the onethat bested the most renowned single malt scotches back in 2012 . Glenmorangie , Macallan , Balvenie — none of them were as safe as the whiskeymade at a little distillery under a bridge in Waco , Texas . Balcones takes an previous world approach to making whisky , but it does it with American ingenuity . In other word , it does it sound . Expect the sweet aroma of a effective Scotch and an oaky consistency with some yellowish brown notes . Also expect Chip Tate , the brain founder behind Balcones , to release some whiskey fromhis raw still . [ $ 70 ]

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey

How do you give undivided malt whiskey a taste of the West ? You use Rocky Mountain spring water and Rocky Mountain barley to make it . senesce it in white oak tree gun barrel , and you ’ve gotStranahan ’s Colorado Whiskey , one of the smoothest and most classifiable whisky on this side of the Atlantic . I tried a glass with my dad , who live in Kentucky , and he cogitate it was some high - end , little - batch Bourbon dynasty . Nope . It ’s a high - end , small - batch American single malted that ’s half the damage . [ $ 53 ]

FEW Single Malt Whisky

Buy it for the nursing bottle innovation and drink it for the soft complexity of flavors . That ’s what I ’d advocate withFEW Single Malt Whisky . ( It ’s actually an inst favorite for me . ) The makers , FEW spirit , take to be the first distillery to make alcohol legally in Evanston , Illinois since before the Civil War . As such , FEW Single Malt Whisky is meant to be an homage to pre - Prohibition hard liquor . It ’s made with 100 - percent cherry tree Grant Wood smoked barley which give it an undeniably vintage character . Not too smokey . Not too piquant . But just smokey and piquant enough . [ $ 70 ]

Wasmund’s Single Malt Whisky

There ’s something undeniably Southern about Wasmund ’s Single Malt Whisky . As a aboriginal Tennessean who first grow drunk on Jack Daniel ’s , I ’ve always thought that any whiskey made south of Bourbon dynasty country should be complex and a minuscule second scratchy . That ’s Wasmund ’s in a nutshell . produce by the Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville , Virginia , this accolade - winning spirit is expectant served flat up and great in cocktail . You should get laid that Wasmund ’s pack a poke with a reasonably smokey and certainly bibulous flavor . The price is low enough you might as well do both ! [ $ 37 ]

287 Single Malt Whiskey

So this one is weird — but not unfit weird . The folk at StilltheOne Distillery were enjoying some beers from the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company one day and descend up with a half-baked idea . If beer is made from food grain and whiskey is distilled from grains , could you distil whiskey from beer ? The resolution is yes ! And that ’s exactly what 287 Single Malt Whiskey is . This limited variation was lay in in charred American oak barrels for just one yr . Weirdly , it tastes like the really good bootleg moonshine I used to buy in the Smoky Mountains . [ $ 50 ]

There is one problem with American single malt whiskey . They ’re so all-fired good the bottle ’s empty before you know it . Good thing they ’re so affordable .

This post was in the beginning put out on December 5 , 2014 . It ’s been update slightly with unexampled info .

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