Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
Whisky is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types. The typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wooden barrels.
Etymology
The word whisky (or whiskey) is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word uisce (or uisge) meaning "water" (now written as uisce in Modern Irish, and uisge in Scottish Gaelic). This Gaelic word shares its ultimate origins with Germanic water and Slavic voda of the same meaning. Distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae ("water of life"). This was translated into Old Irish as uisce beatha, which became uisce beatha (Irish pronunciation: [ˈɪʃcə ˈbʲahə]) in Irish and uisge beatha [ˈɯʃkʲə ˈbɛhə] in Scottish Gaelic. Early forms of the word in English included uskebeaghe (1581), usquebaugh (1610), usquebath (1621), and usquebae (1715).[4]
Names and spellings
Much is made of the word's two spellings: whisky and whiskey.[5][6][7] There are two schools of thought on the issue. One is that the spelling difference is simply a matter of regional language convention for the spelling of a word, indicating that the spelling varies depending on the intended audience or the background or personal preferences of the writer (like the difference between color and colour; or recognize and recognise),[6][7] and the other is that the spelling should depend on the style or origin of the spirit being described. There is general agreement that when quoting the proper name printed on a label, one should not alter its spelling.[6][7]
The spelling whiskey is common in Ireland and the United States, while whisky is used in all other whisky-producing countries.[8] In the US, the usage has not always been consistent. From the late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, American writers used both spellings interchangeably until the introduction of newspaper style guides.[9] Since the 1960s, American writers have increasingly used whiskey as the accepted spelling for aged grain spirits made in the US and whisky for aged grain spirits made outside the US.[10] However, some prominent American brands, such as George Dickel, Maker's Mark, and Old Forester (all made by different companies), use the whisky spelling on their labels, and the Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, the legal regulations for spirit in the US, also use the whisky spelling throughout.[11]
William C. Biles and his brother, John W. Biles founded a liquor wholesale business in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1878. The William C. Biles & Co. was formed in 1892, when William broke away from his brother and started a rival liquor business. It was the start of a bitter rivalry between the brothers. The original business, owned by John after the break-up, had a subscription fee of $199.00 a year. William had a subscription fee of only $1.00. undercutting his brother by quite a lot.
Cincinnati (/ˌsɪnsɪˈnæti/ SIN-si-NAT-ee, nicknamed Cincy) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States.[10] Settled in 1788, the city is located in the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area and has an estimated population of 2,265,051. The city is Ohio's largest metropolitan area and the nation's 30th-largest[11] city. The population of Cincinnati is 309,317 which makes the city the third-most populous city in Ohio after Columbus and Cleveland, and 65th in the United States.
Throughout much of the 19th century, Cincinnati was among the top 10 U.S. cities by population. The city developed as a river town for cargo shipping by steamboats, located at the crossroads of the Northern and Southern United States with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than East Coast cities in the same period. However, it received a significant number of German-speaking immigrants, who founded many of the city's cultural institutions. It later developed an industrialized economy in manufacturing. Many structures in the urban core have remained intact for 200 years; in the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as the "Paris of America" due mainly to ambitious architectural projects such as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel, and Roebling Bridge.[12]
Cincinnati has the twenty-eighth largest economy in the United States and the fifth largest in the Midwest, home to several Fortune 500 companies including Kroger, Procter & Gamble, and Fifth Third Bank.[13] It is home to three professional sports teams: the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball; the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League; and FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer; it is also home to the Cincinnati Cyclones, a minor league ice hockey team. The city's largest institution of higher education, the University of Cincinnati, was founded in 1819 as a municipal college and is now ranked as one of the 50 largest in the United States.[14] The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is based in the city.
Cincinnati is the birthplace of William Howard Taft, the 27th President and 10th Chief Justice of the United States. Recently, Cincinnati has been named among the 100 most livable cities in the world, at number 88, and is on many Best Places to Live lists, including Livability.com and U.S. News & World Report. Forbes ranked Cincinnati as the 5th best city for young professionals in 2023.[15]