A grains journey to whiskey.

The journey starts with grains. If it is a grain, it can grow up to be whiskey, but only grains are allowed to be part of our beloved water of life. Potatoes and fruits are for other spirits. Barley, corn, rye, and wheat are the grains that most commonly make it to our whiskey. Some of their friends like oats, quinoa, triticale, and others do make rare appearances.  

All grains are grown, which depending on the weather, can be a hard-fought journey, harvested, and cleaned. Now depending on the grain, their journey could differ a bit from here. 

Barley is most likely, especially in the case of Scotch, headed to a malt house. Malting is the replication of a natural process to release necessary enzymes. The grain is steeped in water for a while (perhaps 2 days). Then drained and allowed to germinate. During this time, the grains have to consistently be turned to prevent clumping. The germination releases the enzymes to expose the starches (for the next part of the journey). At the height of the conversion, the process is cut off by heating the grains (now called malt). The grains are dried by blowing hot air through them drying but not roasting. This is where peat or smoke will be introduced to the grain if desired. 

All grains can be malted, but barley is the most common. 

After the grains have been harvested, cleaned, and in some cases malted, they are delivered to a distillery. The grains that pass the quality inspection are milled to each particular distilleries specification, but usually a flour-like consistency. This can also be referred to as mashing. This process transforms the grain into dust, the grains (or grist) are mixed with hot water in a mash tun, the vessel where starches from the grist are converted to sugars. This mixture is now called the mash. Sometimes the water is added at the desired temperature, and other times it is gently heated in rising "steps" to release different enzymes. Once the starches are converted, the sugary liquid is the wort.

The grain's journey to whiskey can be confusing, so let's recap where we are. The grains are grown, harvested, cleaned, malted (sometimes), turned to grist, then mash, and now wort.

Now depending on what country you are in, the grains may have different paths. In most non-U.S. distilleries, the wort (sugary liquid) is strained from the grains and sent to a heat exchanger to cool before heading to the fermentation tank. The grains U.S. counterparts are not filtered; the entire mash (wort plus grist) is sent to the heat exchanger and on to fermentation.

During the fermentation process, the grains (in the form of sugary liquid) are introduced to yeast. This little fungus eats sugars, consistently reproduces, and makes carbon dioxide and alcohol! It is now called "beer" by U.S. distillers and "wash" by Scottish and Irish distillers. After fermentation, the "beer" or "wash" is between 8 and 18 percent alcohol by volume. 

The next step in the grains' distant journey to become whiskey is the distillation. While there are many types of stills that all work differently, the principals are the same. The still separate the alcohol from the "beer" by heating the liquid where the alcohol evaporates, leaving the water behind. The alcohol vapors are captured and condensed back into liquid alcohol. 

The grains have now successfully been turned into whiskey, but not the whiskey you are probably sipping. Right now, the liquid is clear and unaged, also known as new make whiskey or moonshine. It is ready to be placed in an oak barrel for aging (or maturation) before being bottled and shipped to your local store, bar, or restaurant. 

Let's do one final recap of the grains journey. The grains are grown, harvested, cleaned, malted (sometimes), turned to grist, to the mash, to the wort, then "beer" or "wash," to new-make, and finally aged whiskey.

This is a high-level overview of the process, and you can see it is a long journey to turn grain into whiskey. There are many additional steps within each process, each being as important as the previous—everything from start to finish aides in creating the flavor in your favorite whiskey.