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Scotch: Single Malt Scotch
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Because Scotch is such a lucrative business, Scotland has plenty of this spirit within its borders. In 1994, it was estimated that 2.5 billion litres of pure-alcohol whisky was stored in bonded warehouses in Scotland. At the time of estimation, the value of a litre of pure alcohol was approximately 8 pounds sterling, therefore the stockes were worth 20,000,000,000 pounds sterling at sale. (NOTE: 1 pound sterling = $1.65 US dollars). To date, the most expensive bottle sold was a 50 year old single malt, selling at 47,000 pounds sterling ($77,550 US) in Milan in 1994 Source 2. Also, Scotch, as a noble spirit, outsells every other noble spirit in the world markets Source 1.
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Single Malt Scotch is a type of single malt whisky, distilled by a single distillery in a pot still, using malted barley as the only grain ingredient in Scotland. As with any Scotch whisky, a Single Malt Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured in oak casks in Scotland for at least three years (most single malts are matured for longer). All single malt Scotch goes through a similar batch production process. At bottling time various batches are mixed together or vatted to achieve consistent flavours from one bottling run to the next. Even so, some variation does occur.
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Before the present-day revival in popularity of single malt Scotch whiskies, a number of the 100 or so malt whisky distilleries did not bother to bottle their own product. Almost all of their production would be sold to blenders, directly or through brokers. The one exception to this rule was the relative handful of casks from each season s production that would be sold to independent retail merchants or bottlers who would mature the whisky on their own, then at an age of their own choosing, bottle and sell them to the public. This commercial tradition was more prevalent before the rise of supermarket and discount liquor chains, but a handful of independent bottlers remain in Scotland. The best known of these are Cadenhead, Gordon & McPhail, and The Malt Whiskey Society. These merchant bottlings can offer interesting variations on official distillery bottlings, but that variance is not always a good thing.
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The distillate must age for at least three years in Scotland to be called Scotch whisky, although most single malts are offered at a minimum of eight years of age. Some believe that older whiskies are inherently better, but others find that the age for optimum flavour development changes drastically from distillery to distillery, or even from cask to cask. Older whiskies are inherently scarcer... so they usually command significantly higher prices.
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Scotch & Cigars.com was conceived by five friends on a noble quest to find the perfect Scotch to go with the perfect Cigar. This site is for the average person with an interest in single malt Scotch and premium Cigars.
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Blended Scotch whisky is a combination of grain whiskies and malt whiskies, sometimes as many as 50 different. Although single malts have become more popular lately, about 95 percent of all Scotch sold are blends.
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Single Malt Scotch