Contents
Whiskey Basics
Types of Whiskey
Whiskey Drink Recipes from the Four Seasons Restaurant
Algonquin
Black Rock
Blackstone
Blue Monday
Boilermaker
Catch-22
Catskill Cocktail
Charles’s Ward Eight
City Stormer
Commodore
Connolly Cooler
East River Cocktail
52nd Street Cocktail
The 59th Street Bridge
Four Seasons Shamrock
Four Seasons Whiskey Sour
Hudson River Cocktail
Irish Cooler
Irish Fixer
Karen’s Cocktail
Lynchburg Lemonade
The Manhattan
Mounted Cop
Old Fashioned
Opening Night Cocktail
Park Avenue Sour
Parking Meter
Rusty Screw
Rye Fizz
Seaside Whiskey
7 and 7
Smithtown
Subway Car
Taxi Cab
Whiskey Driver
Whiskey Fizz
Whiskey Godfather
Whiskey Mint Cooler
Whiskey Orchard
Whiskey Pres
Whiskey Stinger
Learn more with these titles from Barnes & Noble
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- A brief history of whiskey and the basics of how whiskey is made
- A rundown of different types of whiskey, so you’ll know what you’re buying
- Whiskey cocktail recipes from the Four Seasons restaurant
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Whiskey Basics
Whiskey, spelled whisky in some countries, is the name given to a diverse group of alcohols that share two common traits:
- Distillation: All whiskeys are distilled from a fermented mash of cereal grains.
- Aging: All whiskeys are aged in wooden barrels.
Beyond those two characteristics, whiskeys can differ a great deal. In fact, some types of whiskey—Scotch and bourbon in particular—are so widespread and popular that they’re often treated as distinct from other whiskeys. This guide to whiskey, and the mixed drinks you can make using
whiskey, focuses on Irish, Canadian, and nonbourbon American whiskeys. (For more on Scotch and bourbon, see the Quamut guides to Scotch & Scotch Drinks and Bourbon & Bourbon Drinks.)
A Short History of Whiskey
The first written record of whiskey-making dates from 1494 and describes the process used in Scotland to make Scotch. Within a century, Irish whiskey surpassed Scotch in popularity, as people preferred Irish whiskey’s lighter body. By the end of the 18th century, more than a thousand Irish stills were exporting whiskey to the growing British Empire. Meanwhile, Scots-Irish farmers brought whiskey with them when they came to North America. Farmers of the more southern British colonies (the future United States) used mostly corn as their main whiskey ingredient, whereas their Canadian counterparts used rye—the reason Canadians still refer to whiskey as “rye” even though the present-day version has a far greater proportion of corn, wheat, and barley.
By the twentieth century, whiskey-making had spread across the world. In western Europe, France, Germany, and Sweden now produce some whiskey, as do a surprising number of distillers in Asia—especially in India and Japan. In the southern hemisphere, whiskey is produced in Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
How Whiskey Is Made
Whiskey can be made using any cereal grain (usually corn, wheat, barley, or rye) or mix of grains—the choice of which grains to use and in what proportion profoundly affects a whiskey’s qualities. After choosing grains, a whiskey-maker goes through a five-stage production process. The choices made during these stages further refine the character and taste of the finished product.
- Mashing: The grain to be used is ground and mixed with hot water to form a mash, which on steeping becomes a sugary liquid called wort. Mashing releases the grains’ starch, which will eventually be converted into fermentable sugars.
- Fermentation: The wort is transferred to large stainless steel or wooden vats to which yeast is added. Enzymes in the yeast convert simple sugars into a low-alcohol liquid called wash. (Different strains of yeast have their own characteristics, and distillers experiment to find the strains that will contribute to the taste profile they’re looking for.) The wash is left to ferment until it contains 7–9% alcohol.
- Distillation: The wash is usually distilled in a columnar, or continuous, still—two tall, interconnected cylinders filled with perforated plates that trap and condense water vapors while alcohol-rich vapors pass through. Some whiskey-makers still use traditional pot stills—giant copper kettles.
- Maturation: Whiskey is aged in barrels usually made from white oak. The minimum period of aging required by law is two years in the United States and three years in Canada and Ireland, although many spirits are aged significantly longer. In general, the longer a whiskey is aged, the rarer and more expensive it is and, often, the better it tastes. Many whiskey producers sell whiskeys of different ages. Whereas most whiskeys distilled in the United States are aged in new barrels, those from other countries are commonly aged in barrels previously used for sherry, port, or other fortified wines.
- Bottling: Whiskeys are generally bottled at proofs ranging from 40–101. In the United States, proof is defined as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume: a whiskey with 50% alcohol by volume is labeled as 100 proof. In the United Kingdom, 100 proof is 57.1% of alcohol by volume, meaning that a 100-proof American whiskey would be labeled as only 87.5 proof in the United Kingdom.
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