Whiskies and Whiskeys

Appears in
On Food and Cooking

By Harold McGee

Published 2004

  • About
Whiskies (United Kingdom) and whiskeys (elsewhere) are spirits that have been distilled from fermented grains, mainly barley, maize, rye, and wheat, and then aged in barrels. The term comes from a barley distillate of medieval Britain, but is now applied to largely maize distillates in the United States and Canada, and mixed grain distillates in many countries.