whisky, rice. Although not a traditional crop used for whisky production, rice is used as a base grain by distillers internationally. There is debate over whether all of the spirits made from it can be classified as whisky.
Japan’s Kirin-Seagram Co., Ltd., launched a rice whisky (saccharified by malted barley) in the 1990s. While some rice-based, oak-aged shochu brands are being marketed in the United States as rice whisky, the use of koji as a saccharification agent means they cannot be legally defined as whisky in Japan, Britain, and the EU. See koji.
The term “whisky” is also used to refer to “lao lao,” a crude, unaged distillate made in Laos from fermented sticky rice and usually distilled in oil-drum pot stills. See lao lao. Similar rice spirits also have a long heritage in Vietnam. Rice is also used in the predominantly molasses-based spirits in Thailand that call themselves “whisky.” As molasses is not a grain, these also fall out with the legal definition. Some Asian-style rice spirits are also distilled in the United States.
A more classical whisky style is being made with 100 percent rice in Louisiana, while bourbon distiller Buffalo Trace has also experimented with using rice as part of a mixed mash bill alongside oats and replacing rye/wheat with rice in a bourbon-style mash bill.
See also shochu and whisky, Japanese.
Barton, Susannah Skiver. “Everything You Need to Know about Rice Whisky.” Whisky Advocate, Winter 2017. https://www.whiskyadvocate.com/know-about-rice-whisky/ (accessed April 9, 2021).
Broom, Dave. The Way of Whisky: A Journey around Japanese Whisky. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2017.
By: Dave Broom