Food - Drink
What's The Difference Between Irish And Scotch Whiskey?
By KATHERINE BECK
Similar in appearance, aged for three years, and both invented sometime in the 15th century, it might seem like the only difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky is that pesky letter e. However, there are many important distinctions between the two resulting in two separate liquors with unique characteristics and flavor profiles .
One of the biggest distinctions between Scottish whisky, or Scotch, and Irish whiskey is that Scotch is distilled twice while Irish whiskey is distilled three times for longer durations, making it remarkably smooth. Moreover, Irish whiskey is generally made from a mix of cereal grains, but Scotch exclusively uses malted barley, giving it a peaty and smoky flavor.
During the distillation process, Irish makers have a bit more flexibility, resulting in a greater variety of Irish whiskeys. On the other hand, Scotch production is stricter, and Scotch must fall within one of five categories, single grain, blended grain, blended, blended malt, or single malt, which many connoisseurs consider to be the whiskiest of whiskys.