b"HOW WHEAT IT ISWhisky is made from rye, barley and corn, right? Turns out wheat makes some good tipple, too. Treena Hein WHEN WE THINKof beer and spirits, wheat isnt likely the first crop that springs to mind. But, just like every other grain crop that humans have ever cultivated, its been used to make spirits and beers both plain and more inventive. Nowadays, with the craft brewery and distillery trend going strong, there are some new wheat genetics develop-mentsand no shortages of new wheat-based alcoholic drinks to try. The Gin is InAccording to a website called The Gin is In, among the eight crops that gin is mostly produced from, wheat only became a more-common base for gin in the 20th century. Because wheat was (and still is) such a useful grain for baking, there was often very little good-quality grain on the market for distillers. However, advances in crop technology and modern agriculture have reduced wheat scarcity and now distillers can choose a wheat base if their heart-so-desires. Last Mountain Distillery in Saskatchewan makes a popular wheat whisky.One of these is Chuckanut Bay Distillery in downtown Bellingham, Wash., which uses local white winter wheat in its gin.in new, charred oak containers and can be sourced from Chuckanut Brand Ambassador Reggie Gallo says51% to 100% wheat. As for flavour profiles, think of using local grains in their products is a priority, andWheat Thins or wheat bread, she writes. [Wheat whis-luckily we found a farmer in Whatcom County wherekies] are flavorful, yet have a lightness and gentle sweet-were located who could provide us with corn, rye andness to them. Depending on the amount of secondary wheat. We use white winter wheat mostly because itsgrains, the spice factor is generally relatively low.what we could find.One of the makers of whisky with a lower amount of When asked why they chose wheat for their gin, Gallowheat is major distillery Brown-Forman. Its first wheat explains that wheat lends the spirit a softness that youwhisky, launched in spring 2018, contains 52% wheat, 8% don't get from, say, corn or rye.rye and 20% each malted barley and corn in the mash. In So, with that, our gin is very gentle and approach- Australia, Starward makes a 60-40 wheat-to-malted barley able, he says. We let the vanilla sweetness of the wheatblend whisky, distilled and matured separately in red spirit work in conjunction with our botanicals to bring outwine barrels. the best in each. Some people may say that the base spiritHowever, many other distilleries use 100% wheat. for gin doesnt really matter that much because you justThese include Dry Fly Distilling in Spokane, Wash. (local cover it up with botanicals, but we don't think thats true.winter wheat), Breuckelen Distilling in Brooklyn, N.Y. The wheat spirit we produce is one were very proud of(New York state white wheat, and the firm also makes and we would say its a very important part of our gin. a wheat gin) and Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Mich. (100% organic Michigan wheat).100% Wheat Whisky Last Mountain Distillery in Saskatchewan is another Wheat whisky in the U.S. (according to Stephaniethat makes whisky from wheat, and in the case of their Moreno, blogger for the Distiller website) must be agedCanadian Whisky, wheat and rye. Their 100% wheat 48GERMINATION.CANOVEMBER 2020"