I’ve heard it dozens of times: whiskey is just distilled beer. And in one sense, it’s true: both are made from a fermented mash of grain, and if you distill a (hopless) beer, you do end up with whiskey. But anybody who’s ever tasted fermented whiskey mash knows that it’s thin, sour, and usually quite boozy—not the kind of thing you’d be happy to drink by the pint. How come it doesn’t taste as good as beer?
The answer lies in the complexities of the fermentation process. Any homebrewer worth his or her brew pot knows that 90% of brewing is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Unless you’re Cantillon, bacteria are the enemy of good beer, and most brewers do everything they can to control the microorganisms that get into their brews. One way they do that is by boiling their wort before they ferment it to kill any lingering wild yeasts or bacteria that might have hitched a ride on their grain or equipment.
you can get a degree in it—but if you’re interested in learning more about the tiny creatures that turn porridge into Macallan, I recommend starting with something like Whiskey: Technology, Production, and Marketing by Inge Russell and Graham Stewart (my main source for this article) before you sign up for that Organic Chemistry class.
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