Meaning & use
malt whisky
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountableBritish
A whisky made only from malted barley, especially one from a single distillery.
Grammar: Countable when you mean a type or a glass ('two malt whiskies'); uncountable when you mean the liquid in general.
Patterns
- a single malt whisky
- a glass of malt whisky
- malt whisky from Scotland
He ordered a glass of malt whisky to finish the meal.
This malt whisky comes from a small distillery in the Highlands.
The shop sells over a hundred kinds of malt whisky.
Word forms
| plural | malt whiskies |
|---|
Common combinations
- single malt whisky
- A single malt whisky is made at just one distillery.
- a bottle of malt whisky
- She brought a bottle of malt whisky back from Scotland.
- a drop of malt whisky
- Would you like a drop of malt whisky in your coffee?
- malt whisky distillery
- The old malt whisky distillery now offers tours.
- aged malt whisky
- This well-aged malt whisky has a smoky taste.
Synonyms and how they differ
- single malt
- A short, informal way of saying single malt whisky, used mostly in Britain.
- Scotch
- A general name for whisky from Scotland; not every malt whisky is Scotch, and not every Scotch is a malt.
Word family
- malt noun
- Grain, usually barley, that has been soaked and dried for brewing or distilling.
- whisky noun
- The general drink made by distilling grain; malt whisky is one kind of it.
Commonly confused: malt whisky or whiskey?
malt whisky vs whiskey
The spelling 'whiskey' is usual for Irish and American products, while 'whisky' is usual for Scottish, Canadian and Japanese ones.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'malt whisky' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Malt whisky' is a noun phrase, so it follows a determiner like 'a' and can be the object of 'drank'. The other options either add a wrong plural, use the phrase as a verb, or put the words in an impossible order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “malt whisky”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.