Grain whisky

Barrels waiting to be filled with grain whisky at the Whyte and MacKay Grain Distillery in Invergordon

Grain whisky ordinarily refers to any whisky made from at least some grains other than malted barley, such as whisky made using maize (corn), wheat or rye.

Some grain whiskies also contain malted barley spirits (particularly in Scotland, where they are known as Blended Scotch Whisky).

Whisky made from only malted barley (or primarily from malted barley) is typically called malt whisky rather than grain whisky. This can be confusing, since barley is a type of grain and therefore both malt whisky and grain whisky are made from grain.

These terms have special meanings in reference to Scotch whisky. Outside of Scotland, malt whisky may also be considered a type of grain whisky.

In Scotland, "malt whisky" must use a 100% malted barley mash and must be distilled in a pot still, and grain whisky is typically distilled in a continuous column still in a manner that results in a "lighter" but less flavorful spirit. Because of this practice, grain whisky is seldom bottled by itself in Scotland, where it is instead manufactured explicitly for blending with malt whisky to create blends, which account for over 90% of all Scotch whisky sales. Their comparative lightness of the grain whisky is used to smooth out the often harsh characteristics of single malts.

Occasionally well-aged grain whiskies are released as "single grain whisky" or "blended grain whisky" in Scotland, and the best of these can be held in the same league as single malts.^{[citation needed]} These terms can be confusing. Outside of Scotland, they may be interpreted as indicating that only a single grain (in the case of single grain whisky) or a blend of grains (in the case of blended grain whisky) were used in making the whisky. However, a "Single Grain Scotch Whisky" is defined as a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of one or more grains at a single distillery, in the same way that a "Single Malt Scotch Whisky" refers to a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of malted barley at a single distillery. Likewise, a "Blended Grain Scotch Whisky" is defined as a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of one or more grains at more than one distillery, in the same way that a "Blended Malt Scotch Whisky" refers to a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of malted barley at more than one distillery.

Outside of Scotland, the use of continuous column stills and the use of a non-barley mash is not so closely associated with the production of "light" whisky (whisky with little flavor due to distillation at a very high degree of alcohol by volume). For example, nearly all American whiskey is produced using column stills, and all American whiskey that is labeled as Bourbon, Malt, Rye, Rye Malt, Wheat, and Straight whiskey is required use a distillation level not exceeding 80% alcohol by volume (abv). Because of this constraint, much of the American column still whiskey may actually be less "light" than some Scotch or Irish Single Malt pot still products. In the United States whiskey produced at greater than 80% abv is formally classified as Light whiskey and cannot be labeled with the name of a grain or called Malt, Bourbon or Straight. Similarly, many American whiskeys are grain whiskeys that use little or no barley in the mash, and yet are far from being Light whiskey.

Grain distilleries in Scotland

Current

In Scotland, grain whisky is currently manufactured at seven distilleries:

• Cameron Bridge Grain Distillery in Fife is owned by Diageo;
• North British Distillery in Gorgie, Edinburgh, is jointly owned by Diageo and The Edrington Group;
• Invergordon Grain Distillery, owned by Whyte and Mackay, which is owned by United Breweries Group;
• Strathclyde Grain distillery in the Gorbals, Glasgow, owned by Pernod Ricard;
• Girvan Grain Distillery, owned by William Grant & Sons, which is privately family-owned;
• Loch Lomond Distillery in Alexandria, which is privately family-owned;
• Starlaw Distillery in Livingston which began production in 2011 and is owned by La Martiniquaise.

Former

Former Grain distilleries included: the Dumbarton Grain Distillery (1938–2002) owned by Allied Domecq; the Carsebridge Grain Distillery in Alloa (1925–1983), the Caledonian Grain Distillery in Haymarket, Edinburgh (1855–1988) and Cambus Grain Distillery in Tullibody (1806–1993), which were all owned by United Distillers; and the Port Dundas (1813–2009) Grain Distillery in Glasgow, owned by Diageo.