WHISKY (probably a variant of usqucbaugh, from Gael., Ir. nisqebeatha, water of life, from nisge, OIr. water; connected with Gk. Nios, hydos, water. Skt. utsa, spring. or with AS., GliG. orasean. Ger. Eng. trash. both groups probably ultimately akin + beatha, fir. boot it it, bethn, life, connected with Lat. rita, Gk. pos, bins, ()('hurch Slay. Stroh'', Skt. jwa, life: ef. for meaning Fr. eau-do-rir, water of life. brandy). A distilled liquor. chiefly obtained from the fermented mash of different varieties of grain. The torn) is sometimes used to desig. nate liquors obtained from starchy or sneeharine substances other than grain, as, for example, potato spirits: lint its specifie meaning is hest expressed by the name given it in medicine, spiritus /sumer/H. spirits of grain. By far the ureafier part of Illy vstti1dd liquors eonstuned in the United States is sold under this desig na ion.
Altlumgh it is eustomary to use a mixture of different kinds of grain in the preparation of a mash for t he produetion of whisky. still the classification of different varieties is based npon the kind of grain forming the major, part of the infusion. Thus rye whisky is made Iron] a mash composed chiefly of rye; corn whisky, chiefly from corn or maize; echinI whisky, from wheat; malt whisky, from malted leirley, etc. Each variety has its own peculiar aroma derived from the grain, modified somewhat by the character of the ferment used. Rye whisky, sometimes called 'Monongahela,' is produced largely in Pennsylvania ; corn whisky is chiefly made in Kentucky, and is frequently called 'Bourbon,' from the county in Kentucky of that name. Malt whisky is not extensively produced in the United States, but a small percentage of malt is used in the mash of all whiskies, in order to secure its diastatie action on the starch of the grains forming the principal part of the mash.
As grain, particularly maize, is the cheapest source of either starch or sugar in the United States, distilled liquors. including both alcohol and whisky, are principally made from it; consequent ly, the processes and methods of production for the latter are covered, as to the main features, by descriptions of the ordinary procedure fol lowed in the manufacture of a strong alcoholic liquor from a starchy or saccharine mash. (See
DISTILLED LiQuoas.) But, while the chief con stituent of whisky is alcohol, and a large quan tity of factitious liquor is sold under this name which is simply rectified alcohol, colored and flavored to resemble whisky, yet genuine whisky is very far from being merely a 50 per cent. mixture of alcohol and water. The pharma colncia definition is: "An alcoholic liquor ob tained by the distillation of the mash of fer mented grain (usually a mixture of corn, wheat, and rye), and a t least t wo ears old." This recognizes one very important distinction between whisky and alcohol, namely, the process of 'age ing,' to which the former is subjected in order to fit it for beverage purposes. It will be suffi cient to point out here the other points of dis similarity between the methods used in the manufacture of the two products. In the first place, the fermentation is not carried to the same degree of attenuation in the production of whisky as in the production of alcohol, where the high est possible spirit yield is desired. Two different methods of fermentation are in use for whisky, the products of whieh are known, respectively, as sweet-mash and sour-mash whiskies.
In a sour-mash distillery no fermenting agents are used except the spent mash or slop taken from a tub previously fermented, the method being sometimes called 'yeasting back.' Where this procedure is employed the fermentation is not so complete, and the yield not so great, as in sweet-mash distillation, where beer yeast is used. The usual fermentation period for sweet mash whisky is 72 hours; for sour-mash, 96 hours. The yield in the one case is about 31, to 4 gallons of proof spirits to the bushel of grain; in the other, it is from 4 to gallons.