Single Grain...

[JohnM]

An interesting post, I think, from connosr.com

As a follow up to the discussion of the labeling of Single Grain Whiskeys: it is only a matter of time before the Europeans realize that the four common basic grains barley, corn, wheat, and rye, each has its own whiskeys to tell its own stories. Then, "Single Grain" on a bottle label will look...

Read it all here, under the post from Victor, 08 January 2011 20:47 - http://www.connosr.com/members/cooley/

[DavidH]

That is a good topic he raises.

Although the grain distillation process removes far more of the character of the original grain than the pot still process, there must still be some difference at the end. So it's of interest to know if it's corn or wheat or whatever. (Mostly, anyway; there is some malted barley in Cooley's grain whiskey too.)

I guess Cooley is thinking about it because they plan to fire up the old Coffey still in Kilbeggan, using malted barley instead of corn. They should definitely make that clear on the bottle because it's pretty unusual.

[JohnM]

Yes, there's the Nikka Coffey Malt and Loch Lomond produce a single malt from a column still... or at least they were proposing it be called some kind of single malt. So maybe the stuff to be produced at Kilbeggan could be called a single malt?

[DavidH]

"Coffey Malt" is a pleasing-sounding name. And it's a chance to emphasise Irish whiskey heritage. Since the still in KIlbeggan was made by the company Aeneas Coffey founded, they really should use this.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

However one thing he has not taken into account is the use of multiple grains in the grain whiskey. Most would add a small amount of malt to say Corn/maize to help it along. Which I think is very common in the production of grain spirit and may even be a requisite in the production process and therefore you could not really say Single Grain "corn" whiskey but the tag line Single Grain Whiskey is still allowable as it is a grain whiskey produced in a Single Distillery.