The making of Whisky: Malt

The making of Whisky: Malt

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The kiln takes as its starting point the still germinating green barley from the floor maltings of the distillery. This is fed up to a mesh floor in the upperpart of the kiln where it is laid in a blanket, heated by the furnace below and permeated by its smoke.

The kiln has three purposes. The first is to stop the germination of the barley at the optimum time by heating it. The second is to dry the green barley enough to allow it to be milled, to be broken down enough to promote the mashing process. And the third purpose, in some cases, is to add a peaty smokiness to the flavour of the malt, and the whisky that is eventually produced from it.

This last of these is much misunderstood. It is probable that in the days when every farm had an illegal still, most malted barley was smoked over the central peat fires often used for everyday heating. The result must have been a flavour far too extreme for modern tastes (and the tastes of many at the time). But when you lived in an atmosphere of peat smoke anyway, you probably didn't notice: especially if you drank your whisky, as all but the well-off did, fresh from the still.