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Actually, I think "whisky" is for Scotch, whereas "whiskey" is how the Irish spell it. The difference between the two is something to do with how the barley's malted IIRC. The difference was explained on a tour of the Jameson distillery in Dublin a while ago, and could well be on their website, but those of us without JavaScript and Flash wouldn't be able to find it :-)
Woo. 128th Post
davis
It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
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Yes, you're quite right about the spelling (though 'whiskey' applies to everything except Scotch, i.e. Irish, Canadian, Bourbon, etc.), and that the difference between Irish Whiskey and Scotch Whisky is in the malting. In case you're interested, the exact difference is as follows:
In order to halt the malting of the barley, it is dried in kilns. For Scotch, this takes place over a fuel that includes peat, whose smoke imparts the 'peaty, smoky' flavor characteristic of Scotch. For Irish Whiskey, the malted barley is dried in closed ovens, and never comes in contact with smoke, which results in a more 'pure' malted barley flavor, without the 'smokiness' of Scotch.
Cheers!
-- 3dan
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