In Scotch malt whisky production, the use of copper for the construction of the pot stills for distillation is regarded as having an important effect on whisky aroma. During distillation in copper pot stills, the copper acts to reduce sulphury aromas in the resultant spirit by reducing the levels of sulphur compounds such as dimethyl trisulphide (DMTS). This work has shown that the copper is more effective in this role in some parts of the pot stills than others. This information can be used to help distillers maintain or, indeed, to alter new make spirit aroma. It was also noted that in addition to DMTS, other, as yet unidentified, compounds make a significant contribution to sulphury aromas, so future research efforts should focus on identifying such compounds.

It is not known if peats derived from different areas of Scotland have distinctive chemical constituents that could impact on malt whisky in discernible organoleptic ways. Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used as a high throughput screening method to investigate discrimination of a large number of peat samples from six different geographical origins around Scotland. The data were analysed statistically (using principal component-discriminant function analysis) and the results showed a difference between peat samples from different geographical origins. Therefore, we have shown that FT-IR spectroscopy provides a quick and simple method for differentiating peat types.

New product development for distilled spirits frequently involves experimental trials at the laboratory scale that attempt to replicate industrial-scale production processes. This process is time-consuming and limits the number of samples that can be analysed. The aim of the present study was to conduct laboratory-scale Scotch malt whisky production experiments to determine if samples taken from earlier in the production process, that is, directly after fermentation (wash stage) or after a single distillation (low wines stage), showed similar analytical differentiation compared to samples of fresh distillates (new make spirits). Napping, a rapid sensory method, was used to assess the impact on flavour characteristics while solid-phase microextraction (SPME) gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was used to analyse volatile flavour congeners. Hierarchical Multiple Factor Analysis was used to compare the product maps from samples taken at each whisky production stage and revealed a pattern of differences across the samples that could be tracked through the process. Although the flavour descriptors and volatile congeners composition changed at each stage, there were only marginal changes in the differentiation between samples, resulting in the same sample groups being found in all analyses. RV coefficients >0.90 for all analytical comparisons and >0.74 overall showed that all product maps were highly similar to each other and showed the same overall differentiation between samples. These results indicate that the analysis of fermented malt whisky wash may provide sufficient information to proceed to larger-scale industry trials, saving time and allowing a greater number of parameters to be explored.

Peat, a crucial component in whisky production, imparts distinctive and irreplaceable flavours to the final product. However, the extraction of peat disrupts ancient ecosystems and releases significant amounts of carbon, contributing to climate change. This paper aims to address this issue by conducting a feasibility study on enhancing peat use efficiency in whisky manufacturing through non-destructive analysis using hyperspectral imaging. Results show that shot-wave infrared (SWIR) data is more effective for analyzing peat samples and predicting total phenol levels, with accuracies up to 99.81%.