About Scotch

• Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland. In Britain, the term whisky is usually taken to mean Scotch unless otherwise specified. In the United States, it is often referred to as "Scotch".

  Scotch whisky is divided into four distinct categories: single malt, vatted malt (also called "pure malt"), blended and single grain.

• Types of Scotch whisky

  There are two major categories, single and blended. Single means that all of the product is from a single distillery, while Blended means that the product is composed of whiskies from two or more distilleries.

  • Single malt whisky is a 100% malted barley whisky from one distillery.
  • Single grain whisky is a grain whisky from one distillery (it does not have to be made from a single type of grain).
  • Vatted, Pure or Blended malt whisky is a malt whisky created by mixing single malt whiskies from more than one distillery.
  • Blended grain whisky is a whisky created by mixing grain whiskies from more than one distillery.
  • Blended Scotch whisky is a mixture of single malt whisky and grain whisky, usually from multiple distilleries.

   

• Single grain

  The majority of grain whisky produced in Scotland goes to make blended Scotch whisky. The average blended whisky is 60%–85% grain whisky. Some higher quality grain whisky from a single distillery is bottled as single grain whisky. As of 2006, there are only seven grain whisky distilleries in Scotland.

• Vatted / Blended malt
  Vatted malt whisky—also called pure malt—is one of the less common types of Scotch: a blend of single malts from more than one distillery and with differing ages. Vatted malts contain only malt whiskies—no grain whiskies—and are usually distinguished from other types of whisky by the absence of the word ‘single’ before ‘malt’ on the bottle, and the absence of a distillery name. The age of the youngest whisky in the bottle is that used to describe the age on the label, so a vatted malt marked “8 years old” may include older whiskies.

• Blended
  Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. Blended Scotch whiskies generally contain 10–50% malt whisky, blended with grain whisky, with the higher quality brands having the highest percent malt. They were initially created for the English market, where pure malt whiskies were considered too harshly flavoured (the main two spirits consumed in England at the time being brandy in the upper classes, and gin in the lower ones). Master blenders combine the various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent "brand style". Blended whiskies frequently use the same name for a range of whiskies at wildly varying prices and (presumably) quality. Notable blended Scotch whisky brands include Dewar's, Johnnie Walker, Cutty Sark, J&B, The Famous Grouse, and Chivas Regal.

  
  This information and more found at Wikipedia