It's finally happened. It was a thrilling, long-awaited, and incredibly emotional moment for us when the first drops flowed. Our very first Single Malt has been distilled – or more precisely, the first one made with our own home-malted malt from our very own Malzwelt. Yeah!
We've already filled you in on the malting process in a recent post. In a nutshell: unlike fruit, where sugars can be fermented directly into alcohol, grain has to take the detour through malting in order to first convert the starch contained in the kernel into fermentable sugar.
Single Malt – the requirements
Strictly speaking, the clear grain spirit that dripped from the still the other day isn't quite a Single Malt yet. But it will be – that much is certain. A quick note on terminology to clear things up: Whiskies may be called Single Malts if they come from a single distillery and are distilled from a single variety of malted barley. On top of that, the EU Spirits Regulation stipulates that the spirit must mature in casks for a minimum of 3 years. It may still be young and a little rough around the edges at that point, but it's already entitled to call itself a Single Malt on the bottle.
In our case, the grain spirit goes into used Mostello casks. This gives the whisky – which as a clear new-make spirit presents itself as remarkably compact, raw, malty and earthy – a wonderful upbringing. We'll be watching closely as it develops, tasting it along the way and keeping you updated on its journey.
In our next blog post, we'll tell you about the different grain varieties we use to distil our whiskies.
https://www.destillerie-farthofer.at/wp-content/uploads/VIDEO-2018-11-16-15-52-33.mp4
