It has been rumored that the Johnny Walker Blue Label blended whiskey was about to be halted for reasons unknown. This rumor is indeed just that nothing more than a rumor. Here you will find some background on this fine product in the event you wish to try it someday.

Although lately the market place is seemingly chomping at the bit to get a hold of some of this Blue label Johnny Walker ultra premium fine blended whiskey, it has managed to remain elusive to most sippers of fine spirits.

This blend was to be made to celebrate Sir John Walker’s existence of 200 years.  A blending of young grains and malts make this drink a little mellower.  Like some of the older whiskies, this blend was to be reminiscent of the blends back in the earlier 19th century.

The blue label product does not show an aging date on the label; however this is by no means an indication of poor quality.  In fact, it is quite the contrary.  It has actually been said that there are approximately 16-18 different aged whiskies and single malt blends in one bottle of Johnny Walker blue label.  No one really knows the youngest of these.

The answer to the question of whether Blue Label is going to be discontinued, is simply, no.  They have no intention on discontinuing the blue label Johnny Walker.  It may have not have had the publicity that the other two colors have enjoyed but do not mistake this color for a slouch.

This blend is by all means the Rolls Royce of the current Walker line up at a pretty $200 a bottle.  Single malts can indeed sell out and replenishment of stock is not a short order since the time it takes to mature is lengthy.  However wonderful blends such as the blue label can always be adjusted according to available stock.  

The over abundance of malt stock will keep the blenders busy for quite some time.  Stock will not just deplete overnight. It is a continual cycle where as young and budding malts become old and wise to be replaced with new fillings.

There is no doubt that rare fine scotch will be a continual operation in Scotland and where this comes into play is the continual stock received by the Johnny Walker name. This wonderfully blended product is not under any circumstances going anywhere..

Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and produced in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.

It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles.

History of Johnnie Walker

Originally known as Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky, the Johnnie Walker brand is a legacy left by John ‘Johnnie’ Walker after he started to sell whisky in his grocer’s shop in Ayrshire, Scotland. The brand became popular, but after Walker’s death in 1857 it was his son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing the scotch as a popular brand. Under John Walker, whisky sales represented eight percent of the firm’s income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent.

Prior to 1860 it was illegal to sell blended whisky. During that time John Walker sold a number of whiskies — notably his own Walker’s Kilmarnock. In 1865 John’s son Alexander produced their first blend, Walker’s Old Highland.

Alexander Walker first introduced the iconic square bottle in 1870. This meant fewer broken bottles and more bottles fitting the same space. The other identifying characteristic of the bottle is the label, which is applied at an angle of 24 degrees. The angled label means the text on the label could be made larger and more visible.

From 1906–1909 John’s grandsons George and Alexander II expanded the line and introduced the colour names. In 1908, when James Stevenson was the Managing Director, there was a re-branding of sorts. The whisky was renamed from Walker’s Kilmarnock Whiskies to Johnnie Walker Whisky. In addition, the slogan, “Born 1820 – Still going Strong!” was created, along with the Striding Man, a figure used in their advertisements to this day.

Johnnie Walker White was dropped during World War I. In 1932, Alexander II added Johnnie Walker Swing to the line, the name originating from the unusual shape of the bottle, which allowed it to rock back and forth.

The company joined Distillers Company in 1925. Distillers was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997.

Johnnie Walker is no longer blended in Kilmarnock, and has not been for many years. The historic bonded warehouses and company offices (now local authority) can still be seen in Strand Street and John Finnie Street.

On 1 July 2009, Bryan Donaghey, Diageo Managing Director for Global Supply Scotland, announced that Diageo intended to cease production of Johnnie Walker Whisky at the historic plant in Kilmarnock. Under a restructuring program across Scotland, production would be moved from the brand’s original home to Diageo plants in Leven, Fife and Shieldhall, Glasgow. The Johnnie Walker plant, the largest employer in the town of Kilmarnock, is intended to close its doors by the end of 2011.

News of the planned closure has had widespread media attention and condemnation from MPs, celebrities, as well as the townsfolk of Kilmarnock and whisky drinkers all around the world. Following the decision, a public campaign started to persuade Diageo as a company to reverse this decision. However on 9 September 2009 Diageo stated that they intended to press ahead with the move away from Kilmarnock and that the matter was “closed”.

Vijay Mallya, head of United Breweries Group, owner of Whyte & Mackay has caused consternation in the staid world of Scotch whisky production by suggesting that he wants to spice-up Scotch with natural colours and flavourings to produce alcopop-style drinks.

Well he can’t call it Scotch. Not if it contains any additives. That would be illegal, said a spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association, referring to the very strict rules, centuries old, governing the production of, what can be called, Scotch whisky. Mr Mallya, speaking about the growth of the Indian market recently, accused the Scotch Whisky Association of “paranoia”.

The Indian Tycoon, who paid £600 million for Whyte & Mackay nearly a year ago, one of India’s richest men, said that he wanted to: “Innovate”. Adding, that the market for Scotch was losing out to Vodka and wines. He said he wanted to experiment with natural additives to make Scotch more attractive to the young. He pointed to the 500 million people, in India, under the age of twenty-five, a huge target market for his proposed innovations, larger than Europe or the US.

There has been much controversy concerning alchopops and other alcoholic drinks aimed at the young. Alcopops are accused of cleverly disguising their alcohol content with sugar and, in some cases, caffeine. The colourful appearance of the products has been blamed for encouragement of over indulgence, or binge drinking, particularly by young women. Parents and concerned groups have repeatedly called for them to be banned, although their fears have been largely ignored. A spokesman for The Scottish Licensed Trade Association said: “We have seen a lot of problems with alcopop-style drinks in recent years and a huge variety of new products have appeared. It becomes a problem when they are deliberately marketed at young people and it’s extremely important that the right balance is struck where these things are concerned.” The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, an organisation with affiliations worldwide, refused to make any comment.

The colourful Vijay Mallya inherited his father, Vittal’s successful Indian business empire in 1983 aged twenty-seven and proceeded to build it into a conglomerate of international importance. He is probably best known for founding the Kingfisher brand. With businesses spanning brewing to airlines, Mallya has earned the nickname The Branson of Bangalore and for his lavish parties The King of Good Times. He controls about sixty percent of the Indian whisky market and his United Breweries Group became the world’s second largest whisky company when it purchased Whyte & Mackay last year. He was recently named chairman of Indian budget airline, Deccan Aviation Ltd. He owns forty-two homes worldwide, including a Scottish castle – Keillour, Perthshire – a stable of 200 horses, the Formula One racing team, Force India (formally Spyker) and the 331 foot Indian Empress yacht, once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. He is estimated to be worth between £1 billion and £2.5 billion.

Mr Mallya did not become a billionaire by kowtowing to four hundred year-old rules and regulations, so we should expect to see Bolly Scotch alcopops on sale soon.

The production of Scotch whisky takes time, a lot of time.  It is a tedious process that can take years.  However when it is done correctly, the product is one worth waiting for.  

Barley is placed in deep tanks of water for approximately three days. As the moisture increases it promotes the germination process. After the germination process, the barley is then moved to the malting segment of the distillery where it will go into drums sometimes known as the malting floor.

The entire purpose of the germination process is to convert the starch in the grains into fermentable sugars. This will feed the yeast in the fermentation stage. Turning the barley frequently ensures the temperature will remain consistent. Sheils, another name for a wooden shovel, are used to turn the grains, on a traditional malting floor. The grains will die if the temperature reaches above 22 degrees, and will the stop the entire process as the starch will not be converted to sugar.

The grain is then kilned as to halt the continuation of sugar consumption the kiln will dry up any moister. Generally a kiln is a building standing two stories in height with the top perforated to allow all heat to leave. The lower floor contains peat bricks that are heated. During this process the grain is dried and takes on that peat like reek. The pagoda style roof on a distillery is the most noticeable characteristic. The malt must not be heated above 70 degrees or it will surely be damaged and unusable.

Most of the distilleries in this day and age buy all their malt from a centralized malting company. However there are still a select few that remain traditional and do it all themselves.

The grain is milled into grist and combined with water in mash tubs to be heated to sixty degrees. During the mashing period the water is changed at least four times to remove sediment. The bi-product of this mashing is called wort. The wort must be cooled prior to mixing with yeast in what is called a wash back. This large container is never filled to the top as the wort froths a lot due to carbon dioxide. After two or three days all the yeast is killed by the alcohol.  The end product of this cycle is called wash. It contains an alcohol percent of five to 8 percent.

The stills in which the wash is placed are made of copper and are regulated to a certain shape allowing for proper distillation to occur. The still method is usually ran twice yet some companies do three or more.

After all this is complete the brew is then placed in casks made of usually oak, for a period of eight to twelve years minimum.

There are six different types of Scotch that American whiskey is divided into is a direct result of the different aging times and adjusted amounts of grains used in each batch of whiskey.

The six different American brews are as follows:

* Bourbon
* Tennessee
* Rye
* Wheat
* Corn
* Blended whiskey

Bourbon

Bourbon Is believed to be produced solely in Kentucky, which is a myth it has been produced in many states. Stipulations for bourbon are very simple.  It must be made in the United States, should only be made from fifty-one percent corn, and can only be stored in charred oak barrels for a term no shorter than two years. The spirit in its raw form may not exceed eighty percent alcohol by volume.

Tennessee

There are a few differences between Tennessee and Bourbon.  They are very closely related. Tennessee must always be filtered through sugar maple charcoal, and can only be produced in the state of Tennessee, hence its name. Currently there are only two brands of Tennessee whiskey available; George Dickel and Jack Daniels.

Rye and Wheat whiskey

Generally rye whiskey is blended with other products to create other types of whiskeys.   Only a very small portion of this whiskey is actually bottled. It must be made of at least fifty-one percent rye in order to be deemed rye whiskey.  The distilling and storing conditions meet the same requirements as in Bourbon. Mostly made in the states of Indiana and Kentucky it is quite uncommon it has a slightly bitter and more powerful taste.

Corn

Due to the overwhelming surplus of corn, this was an obvious choice and is the predecessor of Bourbon. As assumed corn is the main ingredient with about eighty percent. The difference between corn and Bourbon is that corn does not have to be stored in wood. If it is to be aged it must be done in previous Bourbon barrels or barrels that have been uncharred

Blended American Whiskey

You should not be confused by the differences in Scottish whiskey and American blended whiskey.  American whiskey only contains approximately twenty percent of rye and bourbon whiskey, a mass product industrial spirit, makes up the other eighty percent. This makes the product very cheap and much lighter than it’s American cousins

Nothing is straightforward in whisky. Here is a distillery which makes the biggest selling malt in the world, but still uses coal-fired stills, a technique most distillers have abandoned for being too expensive and liable to give variable results.

It’s a light dram produced from tiny stills, when industry wisdom maintains that small equals big.
Only Glenfiddich and Springbank make, mature and bottle on the same site. To be the manager of all of that must be daunting, but lan Millar is up for it. With 25 years’ experience in 10 UD distilleries, lan knows how to get the most out of a plant.

As a modern distillery manager he has to balance the need for a plant to be cost-effective, while preserving the tradition which uniquely impacts on the distillery’s character. ‘The lower the cost per litre, the greater the margin,’ he says.

‘So whisky production is all to do with lowering the cost of the make.’ Unromantic? A distillery manager’s job has always been about getting the best possible yield from the malt, without impacting on quality or character.
Bring three managers together in the same room and you can bet that within minutes they’ll be bragging about how high their yield is. Be will be boys. lan is obviously enjoying the challenge! managing such a high-profile place. ‘This i such a diverse site.

We have floor malting Balvenie, we have three distilleries Kininv is also on site, one of which is coal-fired, we’ve a cooperage, we’re maturing all the stocks on the one site and bottling it here” well. Working for a smaller company has enabled me to get involved in areas such as wood purchase, which I’ve been unable to access in the past, so personally there’s a new depth to the job.’
As a new boy, it also means that he relied on the experience of his staff. ‘Work with people is the joy of this job,’ he says

A lot of people here have been brought up in rhe whisky industry. Their fathers, inii It’s and grandfathers have worked here lirli in1 them. They’ve great pride in what they tin .ind are steeped in tradition.

Developing his skills is, he feels, fundamental to developing the Glenfiddich tick. ‘Traditionally, the distillers and brewers haven’t been given enough credit for what they have done. The way things are developing it’s the integrators who are taking more responsibility, whereas in the past they would look up and ask, what to do.

‘We didn’t give them an understanding of the process,’ he adds. ‘If people are more involved and have more responsibility you are more likely to monitor the quality of the spirit. If they’re not involved, it’s down to you.
Glenfiddich is up there to be shot at, but no matter what the rest of the trade or the critics say, it keeps on selling. Its site may be a tourist trap (but then it does give free tours), and it may be seen as a sign of weakness or innocence to say you like a dram of ‘Fiddich, but can millions of consumers be that wrong?

OK, it’s not the greatest malt in Scotland, but it has never claimed to be. In its standard issue it’s a perfectly decent (and mixable) drink – a Strauss waltz rather than a Mahler symphony. The newest expressions, the likes of Solera, Millennium and 25-year-old, point to a degree of substance behind the froth.

TASTING NOTES

Glenfiddich Special Reserve
Hay-like and grassy, with some pear. A sweet start, with a touch of peanut brittle on the finish. * Glenfiddich 12-year-old A malty/oatcake nose with some grassiness. Sweet in the mouth with a mix of white chocolate and gorse. A spicy, creamy little number ivith a tingling finish

Glenfiddich 15-year-old Solera Reserve
A mix of dried fruits and milk chocolate on the nose. Touch of fruit and some walnut/orange sherry notes. Crisp, with a finish of fresh raspberries, chocolate and cream.

Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve 18-year-old
A waft of cereal/bran notes and some sherry wood. A little peat smoke and mocha. The finish has a bint of caramel.
Glenfiddich Millennium Reserve 21-year-old
Lovely nose of fresh flowers, nuts and ripe red plums. Soft and quite chocolatey to start; velvety, with a mix of vanilla pod and coffee bean on the very long finish. Subtly charming.

The production of Scotch whisky takes a considerable amount of time.  It is a tedious process that can last for years.  However, when it is done correctly, the product is one that is worth the wait.  

Barley is immersed in deep tanks of water for approximately three days. As the moisture increases it commences the germination process. After the germination process, the barley is then moved to the malting segment of the distillery where it will be placed into drums also known as the malting floor.

The intention of the germination process is to convert the starch in the grains into fermentable sugars. This will feed the yeast in the fermentation phase. Rotating the barley frequently ensures the temperature will remain consistent. Wooden shovels known as sheils are used to turn the grains on a traditional malting floor. The grains will die if the temperature reaches above 22 degrees, and will halt the entire process as the starch will not be converted to sugar.

The grain is then kilned to stop the continuation of sugar consumption because the kiln will absorb any moisture. In general, a traditional kiln is a building standing two stories tall with the top perforated to allow all heat to escape. The ground floor contains peat bricks that are heated. During this process the grain is dried and absorbs that peat’s smell. The pagoda style roof on a distillery is the most distinct characteristic. The malt must not be heated above 70 degrees or it will certainly be damaged and unusable.

Today, most of the distilleries buy all their malt from a centralized malting company. However, there remain a select few that continue to be traditional and do it all themselves.

The grain is milled into grist and mixed with water in mash tubs to be heated to sixty degrees. During the mashing period the water is changed at least four times to rid the tubs of sediment. The byproduct of this mashing is known as wort. The wort must be cooled before mixing with yeast in what is called a wash back. This large container is never filled completely as the wort froths a lot due to carbon dioxide. By the time two or three days have passed, all the yeast is killed by the alcohol.  The final product of this cycle is called wash. It contains five to eight percent alcohol.

The stills in which the wash is placed are made of copper and are regulated to a particular shape that allows for proper distillation to occur. The still method is usually completed twice, but some companies do it three times or more.

After the entire method is complete the brew is then placed in casks made usually of oak, for a minimum period of eight to twelve years.

It is said that the acquisition of knowledge on any subject that you are interested in only increases your appreciation for it.  This can easily be said about the finest of scotches as well.

There seems to be a trend building with aficionados flocking the rolling country sides in Scotland just to sneak a sample of the gold they seek. As one must experience to appreciate, it appears that this is a task for the strong willed in this subject.

One could imagine many trips booked from abroad flocking Scotland’s coastlines in search of the malt that has only been heard of and not been tasted. This is not merely just a trend, to Scotch enthusiast, it is rather a mission. To be experienced in the fine subtleties of these malts and blended scotch whiskies is to many a dream. Some could not even imagine the soft roll that many of these great spirits have to offer to the tongue.

Spending time with true connoisseurs of scotch and single malts gives you valuable insight as to what to look for in a full bodied fine scotch. They have made it a life ambition to seek out and test what the worlds finest has to offer. Many of these great spirits of course are not easily obtainable some run very steep in price and are on the wish list of some of the great testers of fine scotch everywhere. Generally they have first dibs, as the company will wait in anticipation for a vote of confidence and endorsement.

So too are the batches that are still maturing that so many people are waiting for with absolute excitement. Given the time it takes for some of these blends to reach an acceptable maturity where it will be appreciated it is only natural that many testers keep close tabs on the process and look for hints of up and coming blends that can be comparable.

As many professional testers will state, the best of the best still and most likely will always come from Scotland as they have mastered this art with a precision and dedication second to none. Testers will admit when they have stumbled on a gem from another country but honestly have not found that diamond in the rough all that many times.

So instead they give honest and professional opinions to the public, the benders, and distillers themselves, taking into account how harsh possible poor media coverage can be.

Ask the Edrington Group’s master blender, John Ramsay, what makes his drams different and he immediately proposes marriage. In the whisky-making sense, of course. Marriage used to be normal practice for blenders: before bottling, malts and grains would be brought together for a period of mingling. Most firms have abandoned the art, but Edrington sticks to the old ways, marrying its blends for six months and at reduced strength.

‘The bean counters in most firms decided it wasn’t helping the bottom line,’ says John. ‘But we ran an exercise to see if we were getting a benefit from marrying, and we were.’ It’s all down to maximizing flavour.

‘When you add water to cask-strength malt, some components become unstable,’ he continues. ‘We give that time to settle, which means we can give the final blend a light filtration. If you don’t do this you’ll have to give it a harder filtration to get that stability – and then you lose some flavour’.

The process is made more complicated by his insistence on marrying blocks of blends. ‘We’ll combine malts and grains; reduce, marry and have Blend One,’ he explains. ‘Then we repeat the exercise and get Blends Two to Four. When it comes to bottling, rather than just using all of Blend One and then moving on, we’ll use some from each batch. It’s a form of whisky solera’.

But we skip ahead. Edrington’s brands (which include Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark -which they blend for Berry Bros – Lang’s Supreme and Black Bottle) start their lives as the new make samples from a host of distilleries, and are nosed by John every day. Then, like every blender, he has to work out how much new make to lay down, to satisfy potential demand for any of the brands many years down the line. It’s this ability to assess new make and mature spirit that sets blenders apart.

John can stick his nose in a glass of Glenrothes 5-year-old from sherry wood and know if it fits ‘the wee picture in my head’, and also how that whisky will behave when combined with thirty others. While some of us may be able to pick out a few malts at a blind tasting, a blender knows not just what it is but whether it fits within the right parameters according to age and wood. It’s an awesome ability, but this modest man hasn’t allowed it to go to his head.

These blends are very different creatures: they don’t just have different core malts, the wood recipe has also been carefully plotted. The sherry wood in the delicate Cutty comes from American oak; the richer Lang’s uses Spanish oak and Grouse uses both. ‘You want a fragrant sweet aroma in Cutty, so you use American wood and a Speyside malt like Tamdhu for sweetness, with some Bunnahabhain for freshness. Grouse is Speyside-based as well, but there is a lot of influence from Highland Park and the mix of sherry from Spanish and American wood’.

He uses a very Scottish analogy to describe the art of blending. ‘It’s like putting together a good soccer team. You need a strong central core, then you can tack the stars around that. It’s useless if you haven’t got that central core right.’ But the unsung, hard-working midfielder in all the Edrington blends is North British grain. ‘We use different grains: some for commercial reasons, but also to give different characters in the blend. We’ll use Strathclyde when it’s younger, as it matures quicker. North British ages well, so it will be used in older blends -it also rounds out the wood influence on older whiskies.

‘A blend is a bit like a pasta with sauce,’ John concludes. ‘The grain is the pasta, edible but bland, and the malts are the sauce – a bit strong on their own, but together they’re a great combination.’ CUTTY SAR1C first made in 1923 by London wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, Cutty Sark was specifically made as a light-flavoured blend that would appeal to the American market, even though Prohibition was in force. It was smuggled into the United States by one Captain William McCoy and became so popular that people began demanding ‘the real McCoy’ as their choice of bootleg liquor.

TASTING NOTES

Cutty Sark Gentle, light nose with oat, butter, icing sugar and some delicate raspberry. A mix of cream and grass, with a touch of lemon sherbet on the finish. * * *

Black Bottle

Originally conceived by Aberdeen tea merchant Gordon Graham in the 1870s, Black Bottle passed through many different hands before landing in Highland Distillers’ lap in 1995. John Ramsay has since reformulated it to be ‘the malt with the heart oflslay’ and uses all seven Islay malts in the blend. It’s a brand to watch.

TASTING NOTES

Black Bottle 10-year-old

Islay personified: ozone, ginger, ripe fruit and ginger. With water, an intense smoky perfume leaps out, then mingles with soft cakey fruit before a blast of salt-spray halfway through. Stunning.

FAMOUS GROUSE Perth wine merchant William Gloag started blending whiskies in the 1860s, to warm the cockles of the huntin’, shootin’, fishin’ set. In 1896 his nephew, Matthew, created The Famous Grouse. It remained a little-known classic until the 1970s, but since then has become Scotland’s favourite dram, number two in the UK, and is spreading its wings into export.

TASTING NOTES

The Famous Grouse

A fat, juicy, succulent nose with a bint of menthol, lavender and a drift of smoke. Lovely weight on the palate, which is sweet, lightly spiced and tinged with peat.

The Food In Trend

Fire was discovered.

This discovery enabled him to the means of preparing food for eating. We call it cooking. Man used stones, used wood, used stove and now, he captivates the appetite of anyone-anywhere. Food now is not only considered as a basic need but also a means of business, profit, expression, culture, and catharsis.

As an element of business and profit, restaurants and eateries have been the form of livelihood for many. As an expression, cooking food is a way of experimenting with what you know and what you want to know more. It is also a good skill if mastered. As culture, menus tell the country’s name. As a catharsis, you can just eat a lot on a depressed day.

Food comes in many trends in all parts of the globe. There are really these popular trends common for the white, brown and black.

We call the tenth food trend as convenient or ready-meals. They are becoming so popular these days. They come in handy packaging and may be chilled or ready-to-eat food products. Americans and Southeast Asians are among who take out these pouches for most number of times a week.

The next one is something one cannot munch but drink. These days, healthy juice drinks, energy drinks and so forth are hitting the customers’ fridge. They come in really cool containers commonly tin cans.

Low-fat and Non-fat food are now in. People now are more conscious and particular about their health. Their body figure is also a big factor. These days, people are now more conscious about their health and wellness so they prefer healthy drinks.

The seventh spot is taken by the healthy low-carbohydrates snack. Between meals, people commonly eat something like junk food. As mentioned, people now try to consider healthful factors for their very selves. A pack of a multi-grain snack and the like are one of the trends and they are liked by people of all ages.

Cheese, condiments and ethnic food flavors like that of exotic fruit takes the 6th spot. On the other hand, farm products like meat, milk and others are always in trend no matter what the season is, it holds the 5th place for food trends.

Meeting friends while pouring a bottle of liquor is a usual sight. As social creatures, we need to meet people. Social drinking bonds people to deeper acceptance of each other. The fourth in trend is the liquor and other beverages. Wines are good for the health that makes it as one of the most wanted. Liquor and its other forms are the third one…

Drive-through in every fast food restaurant. It is more convenient and hassle- free for people especially those who are on the go. Today’s fast way of life really finds this form as in trend. It is the second most popular food trend these present times.

Instant-prepared food is on the top rank. This type includes food which is easy to prepare and are still not so lacking the “full” factor. All over the globe, this is the number one food in trend.

Like fashion styles, food trends also vary and if one is in trend, it does not mean that it is the well-balanced diet our body needs.

Have you ever been to the mother land, the original land of Scotch Whiskey?  Of course you can go down to your neighborhood store and buy any scotch that you heart may desire, but there is nothing like having a glass of scotch from its mother land Scotland.

There is a difference in the taste of scotch that is from Scotland and Scotch made in the U.S.  It is said that the difference comes from the water that is used to distill scotch.  You see, most of the distillers in Scotland maintain establishments that are centered around fresh water springs that originate from the various mountains in Scotland.  These fresh water springs provide pure tasting clear water that has been refined from the mountain ice caps.  Some of these ice caps have snow that has been there for years and by the time the snow melts and releases the water down the hills it is filtered and given a unique taste that can only be found in the hills of Scotland.

Scotch has been around for quite a number of years.  It dates back to the early settles of Scotland, a time since the early Celts.  The Celts valued the drink because of the way that it kept them warm.  Researching a little further you will also find that there are quite a few different types of scotch, including the single grain, the blended whiskey and the blended malt.

Single grain malts are very expensive and are quite rare and even harder to find.  To date there are only 7 known distillers in Scotland that actually make this type of scotch.

The more common type of scotch is the blended malt scotch or whiskey.  This type of scotch is very common and can be brought at almost any store the stocks liquor.  Approx 90% of the scotch made in Scotland is Blended whiskey.  Compared to the single malt scotch, blended whiskey is much milder.

To make scotch and whiskey even more attractive they are packaged in designer bottles usually made out of crystal.  That being said they make wonderful gifts and great collector items.