The Top Single Grain Whiskies from Around the World

This is a grain Irish whiskey release sourced by The Connacht Whiskey Co. while they wait for their whiskey to age. With a mash bill of 93% corn and 7% malted barley, the whiskey ages initially in ex-bourbon barrels. Then the whiskey transfers to port casks for finishing. Available in the US beginning March 2018.

From Suntory's "silent" distillery in the Aichi Prefecture, this is a single grain whisky from the Chita Distillery, which opened in 1972 in Port Nagoya, Japan. This grain distillery already produces whiskies you know and love, namely the grain whisky backbone of the Hibiki range and other Suntory products. Extremely rare offerings aside, Suntory hasn't bothered to bottle much of anything from Chita as a single grain. Its one domestic core range product, the Chita Grain (which was already a limited-production bottling), all but disappeared as demand for Hibiki expanded. Initially released for the Japanese market in September 2015, beginning in July 2016, it will be available at select travel retail and duty free outlets.

Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky is made from 100% South African yellow maize and distilled at the The James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington. This double-matured whisky spends 3 years in first-fill bourbon barrels before it's transferred for finishing in new first-fill bourbon barrels for an additional 18 to 30 months. It has recently become available in select US markets.

Released in late June 2017, this single grain whiskey will first be made available in the US. It is made from 94% corn and 6% malted barley. The initial maturation is done in ex-bourbon barrels with further finishing in a marriage of ex-bourbon and various fortified wine barrels. Bottled at 43% ABV.

Glendalough is an independent distillery founded by five friends that has lead the craft revival in Ireland. Having made a splash with their poitín styles, this double-barrel whiskey is a step in a new direction. It's made from a mash bill of malted barley and corn distilled in Coffey stills. It matured for 3 years in ex-bourbon barrels and finished its maturation in 500-liter oloroso sherry casks. Please note, updated packaging for this product in 2018. (SRP $34.99)

Method and Madness is the experimental microdistillery located at Midleton Distillery where Irish whiskey brands like Jameson and Redbreast among many others are produced. This Method and Madness Single Grain ages initially in first-fill bourbon barrels and finishes its maturation in virgin Spanish oak. Bottled at 92 proof.

Loch Lomond Distilling Company is known for producing a variety of styles both blended and single malt. This single grain expression is one of the first from its fall 2016 US portfolio launch. Distilled in a Coffey still, this one is made exclusively from malted barley and aged in ex-bourbon casks. So it's like a single malt, but different.

Girvan is a single grain distillery owned by William Grant & Sons. The distillery, built in 1963, has been producing whisky ever since for their blended whiskies, but this is the first time the distillery has put out a distillery bottling. The No. 4 Apps (named after the distillery term for "apparatus") is distilled using vacuum distillation, something they have done since 1992. This is a wheat and barley mash and is aged (for an unstated time) in first fill and refill American oak.

Nikka follows up its Coffey Single Grain Whisky with a Coffey Malt Whisky. Both were distilled in Coffey stills at their Miyagikyo distillery. In this case, the mash bill is 100% malt. However, even though the whisky was distilled at one distillery, it is technically not a single malt. That category must be distilled in pot-stills. This product was released in 2014 in European markets and the US as of May 2016.

Haig Club is a single grain whisky distilled at the Cameronbridge Distillery and is made from a mash bill of 90% wheat and 10% malted barley. After distillation, it is aged in a mix of first fill, refill and rejuvenated bourbon barrels for 6-7 years. Though single grain whiskies are the working horse of many blends, they are rarely bottled to shine on their own.

Grain whiskies are the base for most blended whiskies throughout the world. Nikka has decided to use the column still (aka Coffey still) rather than the more modern continuous stills to retain more character to their final product. It is quite unusual, however, to bottle and sell this product instead of using it for blending. The grains used here are primarily corn with a splash of barley.

Released to the US in 2015, this whiskey from Teeling is a predominately corn-based single grain whiskey. This is fully matured in California red wine barrels. Bottled at 46% ABV it is non chill-filtered.