On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1442

hops,andthendistillit,yeastsandall.The
distillateisagedinusedoakbarrelsfora
minimumofthreeyears,thendilutedwith
watertoaround40%alcohol,andisusually
chill-filtered.Scotchwhiskyowesitsspecial
flavorlargelytothebarleymalt.Malt
whiskiesfromScotland’swestcoasthavea
unique,smokyflavorthatcomesfromtheuse
ofpeatfirefordryingthemalt,andpeaty
waterformashingthegrainbefore
fermentation.Peat,thematofdecayingand
decayedvegetationthatoncewasthecheapest
fuelavailableinswampyareasofBritain,
contributesvolatileorganicmoleculestothe
brewthatfindtheirwayintothedistillate.
MostIrishwhiskyismadefromamixture
ofabout40%maltedand60%unmalted
barley.Forthisreason,andbecauseitispotdistilledtwiceandthenagaininacolumn
still,IrishwhiskyismilderthanmaltScotch
andevensomeScotchblends.


American and Canadian Whiskeys North
Americanwhiskeysareproducedmainlyfrom
the New World’s indigenous grain, maize.
Themostprominentcornwhiskeyisbourbon,
which is named for a county in Kentucky
wheremaizegrewwellincolonialtimes,and
where there was abundant water for both
mashingthegrainsandcoolingthedistillate.
FoodWords:Aperitif,Digestif

TheseFrenchwordsdescribetwofunctions
attributed to concentrated alcohols in the
MiddleAges,ideasthatliveoninboththe
words and drinking habits.Aperitif comes
from an Indo-European root meaning “to
uncover,toopen,”andisadrinktobehad
beforeamealinordertoopenoursystem
to the nourishment to come.Digestif
comes from an ancient root meaning “to
act, to do,” and names a drink for the end
of the meal that will stimulate our system
to assimilate the meal’s nourishment.