Thanks to /u/devoz for bringing this to a recent tasting.

Single Grain Whisky. Or as we call it in the whisky industry, “How to buy older, odder whisky for a decent prize but be confused.”

Why? Well let’s start at what it is: Single Grain Whisky is Grain Whisky that was made at one distillery. The Single, here, doesn’t pertain to the first noun “Grain” but to the the second one, “Whisky”.

Grain whisky is whisky made with grains other than malted barley. Grain Whisky is usually found in blends, good American whiskies, and sad Canadian ones (and the odd good one).

So why does this all matter? Well for multiple reasons.

First off, grain whisky is less expensive to make. Thus you keep some on hand, use it for blends, and voila, cheaper whisky than single malt.

However grain whisky takes longer to take on favourable flavours. Or it…