How is Malt Whisky made?

From the light and floral all the way to the oily and smoky, no other spirits category offers the spectrum of flavours that malt whisky does. What makes this so surprising is that, in Scotland, every malt whisky producer must use the same three ingredients; water, malted barley and yeast.

They must also use the same five processes. A highly respected distillery manager once told me that “making malt whisky is easy, making good malt whisky is where things start to get tricky”. So let’s take a look at this in more detail…

Though the science behind the steps outlined above is complex, the processes themselves are simple and often ancient techniques. It is the decisions that the distiller makes during these processes that is the difference between a malt whisky and a good malt whisky, and this is the result of years of dedication and knowledge passed down through generations.