Skip to content

Country

Age verification

By clicking "Enter" you are verifying that you are of the legal drinking age in your location.

What is reflux and how does it influence Scotch whisky character?

What is reflux and how does it influence Scotch whisky character?

Reflux is a physical process that occurs inside the still during the distillation process.


As a liquid boils various compounds are vaporised and turn into a gas. These gases start to rise up the still, and if they reach the condenser they turn back into a liquid and are collected as distillate.


However, a compound will cool down (or lose energy) as it rises in the still. If it condenses back into a liquid while in the still, it will drop back down into the pot to be boiled again. This is reflux and the process amounts to a progressive refining, purifying action which develops sophistication of the resultant distillate, eliminating impurities and other baser, oilier elements.


The amount of reflux activity within a still massively affects the spirit character. More reflux leads to a lighter and more refined new make spirit, while less reflux leads to a heavier, oilier and denser new make spirit.

The following factors can all increase or decrease reflux and therefore affect the spirit character:

  • Still size 
  • Still shape
  • Charge volume 
  • Slope of the lyne arm

You can learn more about reflux and the factors which influence it in the Batch Distillation module of the Certificate in Scotch Whisky. You can try the course out for free and access a varied selection of interactive lessons at the click of a button. You don’t need your credit card and there’s no obligation to buy. Simply see for yourself the wealth of knowledge available, how the platform feels to use and so on. 

Older Post
Newer Post

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

Related posts

EWA Alumni: Martijn van Opstal

Tell us a bit about yourself. I'm a 34-year-old whisky enthusiast who decided to turn his passion into his career. ...

EWA Alumni: Xiaoyan Tao Lenz

How did you first discover whisky?  I discovered whisky from my job, working in a Swiss distillery (Säntis Malt Braue...

EWA Alumni: Mark Hickey

How did you first discover whisky? I have always been interested in Irish and Scottish history and how whisky was cra...

EWA Alumni: Rudy Delattre

Tell us a bit about yourself. I live in Belgium, about 50km south of Brussels and split my time between a) working as...

EWA Alumni: Don Howarth

"Tell us a bit about yourself.I'm Don, and I love the water of life! It all began for me on our regular holidays to I...

EWA Alumni: Zerlina Zhuang

Tell us a bit about yourself. I am Zerlina, and I am the managing director of Spirits Castle Pte Ltd. Our company imp...

Shopping Cart

Announce discount codes, free shipping etc