Page 30 - Craft of Whiskey Distilling

17 | AmErICAn DIstIllInG InstItutE
... there are two schools of thought in the artisan segment regarding how a whisky wash should be distilled.
With the “new” artisan distilling movement in the uS, the availability of hand crafted super premium spirits has resulted in an impressive array of locally and regionally pro- duced spirits for consumers. Although there are artisan spirit producers that have been around for close to 30 years now, the rapidly growing interest in entering this exciting in- dustry segment started to occur about 5 years ago.
In the last couple of years the interest has swung towards producing darker spirits, particularly whisky, which conveniently is mirroring consumer trends. So far, unfortunate- ly, most of those entering this industry do not have a brewing background. Due to the lack of experience and/or training in the art and science of brewing, there is a void that must be filled to be successful in making a whisky that meets and hopefully exceeds consumer expectations.
This chapter is intended to introduce the concepts of mashing malted barley for the production of single malt whisky without becoming too technical, but rather to introduce the fundamentals required to successfully produce a wash that once distilled can become a great dram.
Before getting into the details, it is necessary to define some basic terms. All of these terms are defined as they relate to the production of single malt whisky using profession- ally designed and built equipment:
Combi-tun A single vessels that combines both the functions of a mash tun and a lauter tun. Although a cheaper option and a space saver, the use of a single vessel for both functions can limit your production capacity since you cannot lauter and mash at the same time.