Phenol PPM in Whisky: SWRI's Frances Jack on Malt vs Bottle
— Phenol ppm measures the malt, not the spirit. Frances Jack's SWRI HPLC method: Ardbeg 55 ppm malt lands at ~12 in the glass.
Craft — whisky-making as engineering
Distillation chemistry, cask science, blending math, and fermentation engineering, explained without hand-waving.
DMS in Whisky: Why Copper Kills It, and Who Kept the Meat
— DMS is whisky's meaty sulfur note. Copper turns it to odorless DMSO — unless worm tubs cut contact. Cowie kept it at Mortlach in 1897; Winchester on the modern trade.
Worm Tub Condenser Explained: 16 Distilleries and ~1/20th the Copper Contact
— Why 16 Scottish distilleries keep worm tubs despite ~1/20th the copper contact of shell-and-tube: DMS survival, the water-flow paradox, and Brora's 2021 rebuild from archive plans.
Fettercairn's Cooling Ring: Why Stewart Walker Pours Water Over His Own Stills (Alexander Menzies, 1953)
— Fettercairn is the only Scotch distillery that runs cold water down the outside of its spirit stills. Alexander Menzies bolted the first ring on in 1953; Stewart Walker has kept it running against the easier option of just building taller stills.
Bourbon Cask Char Levels #1-#4: Alligator Char and Oak Chemistry
— A #4 alligator char is 55 seconds of open flame; a #1 is 15. How the 3-5mm red layer forms vanillin and guaiacol, and why Wild Turkey has held #4 since 1954.
Mortlach 2.81 Distillation Explained: Alexander Cowie's Six-Still Asymmetric Setup, the Wee Witchie, and Diageo's 2018 Clone (vs Springbank 2.5)
— Mortlach's 2.81 distillation number is a weighted average across three asymmetric lanes, with the Wee Witchie acting as a partial-reflux filter. Alexander Cowie ratified it in 1897, and Diageo cloned it dimension-for-dimension in 2018.
Quercus garryana Oak Cask Explained: Westland Garryana Single Malt and Matt Hofmann's Pacific Northwest Wood Chemistry (vs Q. alba and Q. mongolica)
— Matt Hofmann started Westland in Seattle in 2010 and found a fourth whisky oak: Quercus garryana, a Pacific Northwest tree that lost 95% of its range. The chemistry, the 21% blend ratio, and the fallen-tree-only supply ceiling are all in the bottle.
Angels Share Control: How Harlen Wheatley's Warehouse X at Buffalo Trace Isolated Evaporation Variables (vs Scotch Dunnage)
— The angel's share is not poetry, it is an uncontrolled evaporation loss. Chemical engineer Harlen Wheatley built Buffalo Trace's Warehouse X to isolate the variables one at a time; a damp Scottish dirt floor has been giving the same answer for two centuries without measuring anything.
Wort Clarity in Whisky: How Grist Crush (Porteus Mill) Decides Fruity vs Nutty New-Make
— A whisky's first flavour fork happens when the malt is cracked, not when the spirit hits the cask. The grist ratio builds a filter bed in the mash tun, and how clear the wort runs off decides fruity versus nutty. Robbie Hughes runs it clear at Glengoyne; Frank McHardy ran it cloudy at Springbank; and Porteus built the mill that made both possible, then went out of business for being too good.
Glenlivet Distillery Expansion: How Alan Winchester Doubled Capacity to 10.5M Litres by Copying the Dents
— In 2010 The Glenlivet built six new stills and grew 75% to 10.5 million litres. Alan Winchester's engineering decision was to freeze every variable, even the ones nobody can explain, because still geometry sets the spirit and you cannot prove which curve matters.
Forsyths Coppersmiths Rothes: Why Whisky Pot Stills Wear Out, and How Richard Forsyth's Family Replaces Them
— A pot still is the one piece of the distillery you slowly drink away. The copper that strips sulphur from the spirit is consumed by the same reaction, and Richard Forsyth's family in Rothes has spent four generations hammering replacements. This is the chemistry, the lifespan, and the economics of a catalyst that erodes.
Whisky Spirit Cut: 75-60% ABV Heart, Explained at Glenturret
— The whisky spirit cut splits every run into heads, heart, and feints — only the 75-60% ABV heart reaches the cask. Here's how Glenturret still calls it by eye.
Glengoyne Spirit Run Speed: Why Robbie Hughes Distills Slow for Copper Contact and Ester-Led New-Make
— Glengoyne runs its spirit still at a trickle to buy copper contact and reflux. Robbie Hughes, distillery manager since 2003, calls it nursing the vapour over the neck. The cost is throughput; the return is a clean, sulphur-free, ester-led new make.
Clynelish Waxy Whisky: Why the Feints Receiver Is Never Cleaned (and How Jim Beveridge Built Johnnie Walker Gold on It)
— Clynelish coats your mouth in wax because the distillery refuses to clean its feints receiver. An engineering tradeoff between cleanliness and flavour, and the blender, Jim Beveridge, who built Johnnie Walker Gold around the residue.
Loch Lomond Straight-Neck Stills: Michael Henry's Rectifying Cap Method for Multi-Spirit Output
— Loch Lomond's straight-neck rectifying stills let you choose where to draw the spirit. Master blender Michael Henry, a distilling scientist, runs them like a control problem.
Kilchoman Farm Distillery: How Anthony Wills Built Islay's First New Distillery in 97 Years (Barley-to-Bottle)
— Anthony Wills built Kilchoman in 2005 — Islay's first new distillery since 1908 and its only farm-to-bottle one, running two phenol specs through one stillhouse. Barley-to-glass as engineering.
Octomore Peat PPM Explained: Adam Hannett's Bruichladdich 0-to-300 Three-Level Spectrum
— Bruichladdich runs zero, forty, and 300+ ppm peat through one stillhouse. Adam Hannett inherited the three-way design in 2015 — phenol as a malt-side number, not a marketing line.
Glenmorangie Fermentation: Brendan McCarron's Long-Ferment and Allta Wild-Yeast Approach to Honey-Citrus
— Glenmorangie's honey-citrus profile is half made in the fermentation tank, not the 5.14m still. Brendan McCarron watches it — long fermentation, ester chemistry, and Allta wild yeast.
Macallan Oak Species Explained: Q. alba vs Q. petraea vs Q. mongolica (Stuart MacPherson's Three-Wood Method)
— Stuart MacPherson spent a decade as Macallan's Master of Wood choosing which forest each cask came from — the lactone math behind three oak species and why Mizunara needs fifteen years.
Whisky Purifier Pipe Explained: How Glen Grant's 1872 Bolt-On Reflux Stayed (Dennis Malcolm's 63 Years)
— Glen Grant has run a water-cooled purifier on every still since 1872. Major James Grant retrofitted rather than rebuilt; Dennis Malcolm spent 63 years deciding not to remove it.
Rachel Barrie: Master Blender Behind BenRiach & GlenDronach
— Rachel Barrie has been master blender for BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh since 2017 — how her sherry-cask matrix works.
STR Cask Explained: Jim Swan's Shaved-Toasted-Recharred Method
— STR means shaved, toasted, re-charred: 3-5 mm shaved off a used wine barrel, toasted at 180-220C, re-charred at 700C. Jim Swan ran it at Penderyn from 2004.
Glenmorangie Still Height (5.14m): How Reflux Shapes the Spirit
— Glenmorangie's 5.14m wash stills are Scotland's tallest, a geometry fixed by second-hand gin stills bought in 1843. High reflux is why the spirit is light.