Here is a small collection of Scottish whisky pictures from a holiday visit in June 2008. The journey included a mix of golf, bird watching and whisky-distilleries for a couple of weeks. Highland Park (Orkney), Brora, Glenmorangie, Glenfarclas and Dufftown in Speyside-area are the whiskyplaces we remember most. We also visited Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie where barrels are beeing both produced and restored.

The Scotch Whisky production process has changed little in the last two hundred years, Scotch is still produced using traditional methods although modern production and quality control are now used to ensure that the quality of the finished product has never been better.
Malting
The barley must first be malted, that is germinated, to convert the starches in each grain into soluble sugars. The barley is steeped in water for 2-3 days, and then spread on the malting floor where it is turned frequently to maintain a steady temperature. After about a week, when green shoots have appeared, the germination is stopped, by drying the now green malt in a kiln. Peat, which gives a smoky character to the malt, is the traditional fuel used in the furnace for the drying process. Only a few distilleries still malt their own barley - e.g. Highland Park, Balvenie and Bowmore. Industrial maltings now provide distilleries with malted barley to their exact specification.
Mashing
Hot water is added to the milled malt (grist), and the mixture is fed into the mash tun. Revolving paddles stir the mix for several hours. The sugars present due to malting, dissolve, and the solution called wort is drawn off through the perforated floor of the tun. This is usually done three times, increasing the temperature of the water each time. Only the wort from the first two waters is used - the last water is used as the first water for the next batch of grist. The residue, the draff, is collected and used as cattle feed.
Fermentation
After cooling, the wort is passed into large vessels called wash backs. These are traditionally wooden, but some distilleries now use stainless steel. Yeast is added and fermentation begins, converting the sugars present into alcohol. This ceases after two days to leave a low strength, 5-10% vol. alcoholic liquid, similar to beer, called wash.
Distillation
Malt whisky is usually distilled twice, in copper pot stills, one the wash still and the other the spirit still. The wash is pumped into the larger wash still and is heated either directly (coal or gas fired) or indirectly (steam coils in the bottom of the stills). As the vapours rise up and pass over the neck of the still, they condense. This collected liquid - the low wines - is forwarded to the spirit still, where the same process takes place. The residue known as pot ale is collected and used as cattle feed. This time the still-man monitors the spirit, using hydrometers and removes only the heart of the run. The start of the run, the foreshots, contains the higher alcohols and is too pungent. The end of the run, the feints, contains the weaker alcohols and also gathers pungency. The foreshots and feints are mixed with the next batch of low wines and are redistilled. Once all the alcohol is drawn off, the remaining liquid is basically water and is known as the spent lees
Maturation
The new-make whisky is then filled into oak casks. The most common types of oak are American, used in the Bourbon Industry, and Spanish used for the maturation of sherry. During maturation the flavour of the first filled spirit re-emerges and together with the compounds in the wood enhances the aroma and flavour of the mature whisky. As each year goes by 2% of the volume is lost due to evaporation. This is the Angels' Share.