Grain whisky
What is "grain whisky" as opposed to the "malt whisky" I usually deal with here? As the name implies, the "single malt whiskies" that currently dominate much of the premium Scottish and Japanese whisky market are made entirely from malted barley and water. The "single" means that they only come from one distillery. They are distilled in pot stills , which are those pot bellied copper things you see all over whisky magazines.
A grain whisky is made from grains other than malted barley and is usually distilled in what is variously called a "patent still", "Coffey still", "continuous still" or "column still". These are big complicated tower like structures with all kinds of doors and pipes. They look like oil refinery apparatus. A "single grain whisky" is a grain whisky that comes from a single distillery.
Single grain whiskies are unusual. Malt whiskies are the glamour boys of the whisky world, swanning around getting all sorts of attention. Grain whiskies are their shoe shine boys. They are usually used as a component in a blend with malt whiskies. All "blended whiskies", like Johnnie Walker, contain some grain whisky.
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