Whiskey or Whisky (depends where you live)

For the last few months, I’ve found myself to be somewhat fascinated with most things that involve a process to reach the finish product. Whether it was reading about different beers and about what makes them different, or Wine and even Chocolate. Something however drew me towards Whisky…maybe it was the fact that its Whisky.

Theres something about sipping Whisky that is different from most Spirits. I caught myself wondering why? Maybe its from watching all those Western movies where the sweaty, dusty, macho cowboy walks into a dusty Saloon with the sun shining through the windows and asks for a shot of Whisky. Whatever it is, I suddenly became interested in the history of Whisky.

Like you may have guessed, Ireland and Scotland are it’s ancestral homes. The word whiskey comes from the Scot-Gaelic phrase uisge beatha translated meaning “water of life”. Over Hundreds of years the phrase evolved into Whisky.

Like i mentioned in the title – depending on where you live- you might find out you spell Whisky to have an E in it or no E in it. Scotland spells it without an E, however Ireland with the E. I live in Canada and to us it is Whisky.

Whisky is made from grains including either Corn, Rye, Barley and Wheat, sometimes 2 are used together.

The fascinating thing is how many different types of Whisky their is from around the world. Pretty much any country that can grow grains makes Whisky. I hope to soon have a Podcast dedicated to Whisky’s and the difference in each type.

American Whiskeys

• Rye Whiskey
• Bourbon Whiskey
• Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Tennessee Sipping Whiskey
• White Whiskey (Moonshine)

Scotch Whisky

Irish Whiskey

Indian Whisky

Japanese Whisky

French Whisky

In the meantime, if you happen to come across this blog, I encourage you to try the different types from different regions too, even though i live in Canada, i always find myself heading towards the American Whiskey section and grabbing a bottle of my current favourite – Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – Their Bourbon is definitely nice, but their rye is Delicious, and mixing it with soda would be a waste in my opinion.