Scotch whisky is a type of malt grain spirit produced in Scotland that is featured in many popular cocktails such as Sour and Whisky Fizz.

Often simply called ‘Scotch’, this variety is the most common form of whisky in the UK. Just like other famous spirits, a spirit must abide by a number of standards in the UK in order to be considered Scotch whisky.

This includes being distilled and produced in Scotland from water and malted barley, with constraints relating to what may be added to the ingredients and the level of distillation by volume during production. The spirit must then be kept in Scotland in oak casks for at least 3 years.

Apart from caramel colouring and water, no other ingredients may be added before bottling. Finally, the regulations dictate that Scotch whisky may not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.

Scotch whisky can fall under 4 different varieties: single malt, ‘vatted’ (or pure) malt, blended and single grain.

However, the 2 main distinctions tend to focus on whether it is single malt (meaning it is produced from 100% malted barley in a single distillery) or blended malt (meaning it is made from whiskies originating from more than one distillery).

• Single grain is also produced from one distillery, but can be made from more than one type of grain;
• Pure malt (or blended malt) whisky is less common – it is composed of a mix of single malt whiskies originating from more than one distillery;
• Blended Scotch whisky is a mix of single malt and single grain whisky which usually comes from more than one distillery.

Blended whisky is the most common form of whisky available, representing an estimated 90% or more of production. It usually contains between 10% and 50% of malt whisky, with the rest composed of other grain whisky. As a rule of thumb, the higher the percentage of malt whisky, the higher the quality of the whisky.

Blended whisky is generally more suitable for mixing cocktails as it usually features a more mellow taste than pure malt whisky.