
Telling Whiskey from Whisky - bookofjoe
https://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.100511
======
chrisdhoover
Ireland gave Scotland whisky and the Scots perfected it. Ireland gave Scotland
bagpipes and the Scots didn’t get the joke.

~~~
oldgradstudent
> Ireland gave Scotland bagpipes and the Scots didn’t get the joke.

They even spread it across the empire.

[https://youtu.be/vkYbSwb0s4E](https://youtu.be/vkYbSwb0s4E)

~~~
hackbinary
Bagpipes are amongst one of the oldest instruments, and originated in central
Asia.

Also, Japanese whisky is amazing.

~~~
oldgradstudent
> Bagpipes are amongst one of the oldest instruments, and originated in
> central Asia.

Definitely, but local bagpipes were mostly replaced with the modern Great
Highland bagpipe[1], just like local bowed string instruments[2] were mostly
replaced with the modern violin family.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Highland_bagpipe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Highland_bagpipe)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebab](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebab)

------
leoh
Unfortunately, if we come to deeply rely on the idea that Whisk[e]y that
produces tree-like patterns is superior, producers will exploit that, finding
means of inducing the pattern without actually enhancing the quality of
Whiskey. Better to drink what you like and try not to be too worried about
authenticity. Though sometimes the so-called authentic stuff is great.

------
ineedasername
Japan has a significant whiskey distillation setup, generally though to be in
the Scots vein of production. I wonder what their signature would look like.
Of course wasting any of it by purposely letting it evaporate is nearly a
criminal act.

~~~
stinos
_generally though to be in the Scots vein of production_

I didn't even know Japan made whisky (whiskey?) until about a month ago when
trying a Nikka Yoichi brought to us by a Japanese colleague. We were very
impressed. This was easily as tasty as many of the better Scotch single malts.
In fact I bet if people wouldn't see the bottle and would be asked what it was
the majority would say 'good Scotch' :)

~~~
GordonS
Scot here - I'm _really_ impressed with Japanese whisky. The Japanese seem to
treat creating good whisky (and gin) as an artform - I love their persuit of
perfection.

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dluan
The best part of drinking whiskey is smelling the glass the next day. It's
like an oak candle with all of the sugars that got left behind.

Anyways, not sure what the point of this study was other than a reason for
scientists to have many bottles of whiskey open in the lab.

~~~
ReptileMan
“I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food”

Having lot's of open bottles of whiskey (and other alcohols) in the lab is
venerable part of the science method where I live. Especially in the
theoretical math and physics faculties.

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jlg23
I always thought that using new, charred barrels was a requirement specific to
Bourbon, not to "American Whiskeys" in general.

~~~
mng2
Most American whiskeys require new charred barrels, corn whiskey being the
most common exception.

See pages 21-24: [https://www.ttb.gov/images/pdfs/whisky-
webinar.pdf](https://www.ttb.gov/images/pdfs/whisky-webinar.pdf)

------
eigenschwarz
If you find this article interesting you might find this interesting as well!

[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/07/these-
pi...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/07/these-pictures-
look-like-planets-but-they-are-whisky-glasses/)

[Using colored lights and editing a photographer turned whisky sediments into
galactic looking works of art.]

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farrarstan
This is a real ketchsup on the hot dog situation

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netvarun

      A Scotsman who spells
      Whisky with an ‘e’,
      should be hand cuffed 
      and thrown head first in the Dee.
    
      In the USA and Ireland, 
      it’s spelt with an ‘e’
      but in Scotland
      it’s real ‘Whisky’. 
      So if you see Whisky 
      and it has an ‘e’,
      only take it,
      if you get it for free! 
      For the name is not the same 
      and it never will be,
      a dram is only a real dram,
      from a bottle of ‘Scotch   Whisky’.
      ~ Stanley Bruce.
    

[1] [http://thearrogantmale.blogspot.com/2011/04/helpful-poem-
to-...](http://thearrogantmale.blogspot.com/2011/04/helpful-poem-to-remember-
difference.html?m=1)

~~~
chrisdhoover
Stanley Bruce can pound the sand on the banks of the Dee. In the world of
whiskey, there are great bottles from Scotland, Ireland, the US, Japan, and
the even Mexico, although they call whiskey tequila.

~~~
egdod
Tequila is not whisk(e)y. It’s fine, but it’s not the same thing.

~~~
nailer
This article calls bourbon whiskey. If we consider whiskey could be made from
corn we may as well allow agave or potatos too.

~~~
egdod
Everybody calls bourbon whiskey.

~~~
nailer
No, Americans call bourbon whiskey. More to the point, something being common
doesn't make it correct.

~~~
egdod
Eventually it does.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description)

------
1024core
"There is no 'e' in 'Scotland'" (if you want to tell "whisky" (Scotch) from
"whiskey" (everything else))

~~~
oscar9926
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'.

~~~
collyw
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.

~~~
pushpop
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.

~~~
steve19
A lot of Japanese Whisky isn't even from Japan.

[https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/19680/not-all-
jap...](https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/19680/not-all-japanese-
whisky-is-japanese-whisky/)

~~~
tptacek
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.

~~~
steve19
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...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-19/that-expensive-
japanese-whisky-may-be-mostly-scotch)

------
gw
> Kentucky—a state with twice as many barrels of aging whiskey as residents

That completely blows my mind. I went to the Woodford Reserve distillery
recently but i didn't realize the state made that much.

~~~
cortesoft
I don't know if it is that crazy.. California produces around 86 million
bottles of wine every year, which is over twice the population of California.

If you consider how long whiskey ages, it really isn't surprising that there
is that many barrels.

~~~
selectodude
Kentucky has 4.5 million people. A barrel is 53 gallons (100L) which means
they have ~477.7 million gallons of whiskey. 2.4 billion bottles.

The numbers seem staggering, after doing the napkin math I'm curious how
accurate they are.

~~~
twic
Scotland has 5.44 million people [1] and 20 million casks laid down [2], for a
ratio of 3.67:1. If these Kentuckians want to get serious about booze, they
need to raise their game.

[1] [https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2019/scotlands-
population...](https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2019/scotlands-
population-2018)

[2] [https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/insights/facts-
figures/](https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/insights/facts-figures/)

~~~
wil421
What’s the average age of whiskeys in Scotland vs Kentucky? If my hunch is
correct the Scotch whisky’s are aged for a longer period of time. It could
explain why they have more.

~~~
tptacek
Yes, scotch is aged much longer than bourbon. A 12-year scotch is a
supermarket product, and liquor stores are full of 21+ year olds; bourbons
average closer to 7-9, but can get bottled much younger, and supposedly don't
benefit from super-long aging periods the way scotch (supposedly) does.

------
anonu
My in-laws are Scots. Don't call it "Scotch" as they will either look at you
funny or chastise you. It's just whisky.

~~~
chrisdhoover
I was delayed at Heathrow for an hour and a half. Bad weather is not uncommon
there. I get to Dublin late. The night porter had my key ready for me when I
walked in the door. Quick as a rabbit, I was checked in. The bar was long
closed. I asked, “any chance of getting a drink?” “Why yes,” was the answer.
Out from the back came another man. He opened the bar doors and in I went. I
asked, “may I have a whiskey?” He answered, “Here is our whiskey,” pointing to
a well stocked section of Irish. “Here is our Scotch, and here is our
bourbon.” I opted for the aged whiskey and it was good indeed.

You know it is a matter of where you stand, in Ireland whiskey is Irish
whiskey as it should be. In the US I’ll ask for whiskey and I have a choice!
bourbon or rye. Its only right that in Scotland whisky is Scotch whisky.

While the my Irish hosts showed great hospitality in opening the bar they were
not done. I asked about dinner and the bar keep made it for me.

I’ve been all over the world but my trip to rainy Dublin is so memorable for
how well I was treated.

~~~
farazbabar
Any chance you can share the name of this place?

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mark-r
I must have seen that title 10 times, but it wasn't until I clicked through to
the article that I realized there was a spelling difference in it.

------
goatinaboat
_Americans have whiskey and Scots have whisky_

Ahem, the Irish had whiskey a thousand years before Americans.

~~~
avip
Yes. In fact _The word Whiskey comes from the Gaelic usquebaugh, which means
"Water of life"_.

... and I know this priceless piece of trivia because the Clancy brothers
mention it in the intro to _Finnegans Wake_.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Which is a really common name for booze, cf Vodka.

Edit: Actually the link to vodka might be bad etymology on my part, my Russian
teacher taught me that. _Eau de Vie_ , and tonnes of others fit.

~~~
floren
Akvavit, for another

