What Are You Drinking Tonight?

[lumberjim]

AS I understand it, Scotch is smokier and heavier. Irish smooth and lighter.

The difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch whiskies

· The big difference between Scotch and Irish whiskey is the distilling phase which is made twice with Scotch and three times with Irish, giving Irish whiskey a particular lightness

· Scotch whisky first allows the barley to sprout and then it is dried. Irish whiskey uses raw and malted barley while Scotch is entirely malted barley. (This is partly because there was an extra tax on malt in Ireland)

· Scotch barley is dried with peat smoke which gives the usual scotch aroma to whisky.

· Scotch is cask aged for at least 2 years, Irish at least 3 years.

· Irish whiskey is distilled three times in larger than normal copper "pot" stills. The pot stills and the extra distillation produce a uniquely delicate drink. Developing later, Scotch uses continuous process stills.

· The rural poor, in Ireland, made whiskey first. The logic is whiskey developed in a bread eating culture. You grow grain, mill it for bread and save some to sow next year's crop. In good seasons when you have extra, you make whiskey.

· The Irish invented it, but Scotland is the spiritual home of whiskey

whisky in Gaelic is uisage beatha The Water of Life


IF you read Outlander, it comes up a bit. I did the audio book, so I got the pronunciation of "uisge beatha" by Davina Porter. I have never seen a picture of Davina Porter, but I'm pretty sure I'd do bad awful things to her person if I got the chance.


She has one of those voices like Emma Thompson ( who stars as DanaC in my 'cellar reading voice in my head') the narrator from 'Stranger Than Fiction' Where Will Farrell is hearing the events of his life, narrated by an author writing her masterpiece, in his head.