Ahh, whisky, water of life. These are not my words or definition for whisky. According to the Gaelic word 'usquebaugh', whisky means 'Water of Life' (I'm sure my husband will be very happy to learn this piece of information). As the name suggests, Scotch whisky is made in Scotland. Now I am not a huge Scotch fan, so perhaps I may sound a bit technical here in my writing about the brands (just overlook that part). I always thought that Scotch whisky came in only one kind. But to my surprise, there are actually 5 different categories that you can divide it up in: single malt, blended (pure malt) malt, blended whisky, blended grain, and single grain. Traditionally, Scotch is available in various grains, flavors, price, smell, etc. It can be called Scotch if it is exclusively made in Scotland or adjoining islands. There are a lot of companies who have distilleries to make smooth, excellent, and famous kind. However, we are not here to take a history lesson about its origin or how whisky is made. Our purpose behind this article is to see which are the best brands available in market today. Brands of Scotch Whisky Since there are various whisky types a devotee may be searching for, we have made the task a bit simpler for you. Now I am not going to just give you a list of top 10 Scotch whisky brands and end the article midway. There are so many brands and types that if I failed to mention them, it might just look like an insult. So let this article be a guide for you to reach to your 'Water of Life'. Famous Brands Scotch whisky is made from water and malted barley; fermented by adding yeast, which has a strength of less than 94.8% retaining the taste of the raw materials used in them, and has been matured in predetermined volume oak casks in the Scotland excise for over 3 years at least. Let's start with famous Irish Scotch whisky.

• Bushmills 1608
• Bushmills 21 Year
• Midleton Very Rare
• Jameson Rarest Vintage
• Connemara Cask Strength Peated Single Malt
• Greenore Single Grain
• Jameson 18 Year
• Red Breast 12 Year
• The Tyrconnell 10 Year Single Malt

Single Malt Brands

• The Dalmore 12 Year, Single Highland Malt Whisky
• The Dalmore 15 Year, Single Highland Malt Whisky
• The Macallan 12 Year, Single Malt Whisky
• The Glenlivet 12 Year, Single Malt Whisky
• The Balvenie 12 Year, Single Malt Whisky
• Oban 14 Year, Single Malt Whisky
• Lagavulin 16 Year, Single Malt Whisky

Premium Brands Did you know that a premium blend of Scotch whisky can have 60 or more individual malt whiskys that need to be mixed in while making it? Blended Brands A blended Scotch whisky usually contains a combination of 40―50 whiskys of different grain and malt distilleries. The ratio usually is 60% grain and 40% malt.