Why does pot still whiskey use both malted and unmalted barley?
Some malted barley is needed in the distillation process. This is because the malting process, which dries the grains of barley, releases sugars in the form of starch. These sugars are required to react with yeast in the fermentation process. Unmalted barley does not provide these starches so it would not react with yeast. The malt is needed to start the fermentation process.
