This haze might put off the people who
are ignorant enough to put their single
malts in the fridge, just like they would
do with a cheap wodka. Big mistake!
Single malts should be drunk at room
temperature to allow all the aroma's to
reveal themselves. Chilling or adding ice
are two ways to kill a good single malt.
Unfortunately, this filtering also means
that the original texture and taste of
the malt are damaged to some extent.
So, I'm no fan of the procedure...

I enjoy many cask strength malts a lot. Why is that, you ask?
Well, by diluting cask strength malts at your own convenience
you can 'tweak' the whisky in your glass. Just by adding some
water in several small steps, you experience different 'phases'
of the malt, depending on the level of dilution. Mesmerising...

The line between 'standard' bottlings and 'cask strength'
releases is a blurry one. So-called 'cask strength' whiskies like
Glenfiddich 15yo C/S are bottled at a fairly whimpy 51%, while
standard OB's from Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Springbank, Longrow
and Ben Nevis are bottled at a relatively more masculine 46%.
Anything stronger than this 46% is usually called 'overproof'.
Ah, yes - 'proof'... That reminds me of another topic.

The ABV (alcohol by volume) scale
has been in use in Europe for a long
time now, but both the UK and the
USA used to have their own 'proof'
systems. The minimum required 40%
ABV is the equivalent of 70 Proof in
the UK and of 80 Proof in the USA.
Ordering an 80 Proof malt in the UK
instead of the US gets you a stiffer
dram of 100 US Proof or 50% ABV.

When the distillery or private bottler decides that one or more casks have matured to an appropriate and profitable
age, the whisky is diluted (40% is the legal minimum but 43% and 46% are common as well) and then bottled in 70cl
or 75cl bottles. Actually, that last part isn't completely true...

When it comes to the actual bottling of a cask there are two options. An OFFICIAL BOTTLING (OB) is
produced and marketed by the distillery where the whisky was distilled (or by the company that owns it),
while an INDEPENDENT BOTTLING (IB) or private bottling) is marketed by one of the many independent
bottlers of single malt Scotch whisky. (Scroll down for an overview of the main independent bottlers.)

So, how many bottles can be drawn from a cask?
The average 200 litre bourbon barrel that was filled with fresh
spirit at 63% will have some 175 litres of whisky left after 12 years.
Typically the proof will have dropped to something like 55-60% by then.
Diluting the whisky to 40% or 43% and bottling would produce some 250 (70cl) bottles. This 'standard' size
of 70cl was introduced in the EU in 1993 to end the chaos of the multitude of bottle sizes that were used
before. At a price of 40 Euro's a bottle the 'street value' of the cask would be something like 10,000 Euro's.

So, after choosing the ABV, can the malt be bottled now?
Noy quite - often, a malt whisky is CHILL-FILTERED as well.
The only reason for this bump in the production process is that
a malt whisky can become a tad hazy when it's refrigerated.

A growing number of CASK STRENGTH (CS)
bottlings are being released, usually bottled
at an alcohol percentage anywhere between
50% and 60%. In the old days (before fibbing
became a trend and they called it 'marketing')
the phrase 'Cask Strength' used to mean just
that: 'straight from the cask' with no water
added at all. Nowadays most cask strength
bottlings (especially the OB's) are diluted to
some extent to normalise' production..

Time for bottling? Well, that depends - different whiskies reach their peak at different ages.
I've already mentioned some of the factors that influence the maturation process of a single
malt in the previous chapter but 'economical' issues are important as well. First of all, bottling
costs and taxes can easily triple the price of a cask of maturing spirit before any of it is sold.

A growing number of independent bottlings are SINGLE CASK BOTTLINGS.
This means that the contents of one single cask of single malt whisky were used for that particular bottling. Often the number of the cask is indicated on the label, as well as the type of wood (bourbon, sherry, port, etc.), the date of distillation, the date of bottling, etc. Of course, details like these increase the fanatical fun of every genuine malt maniac even further.

Most official and bastard bottlings are VATTINGS - blends of more than one cask. Even after 'perfect' distillation and maturation the contents of a cask can be ruined by blending it into the 'wrong' vatting. Especially OB's are like 'brands' and the distillery should try to blend the 'same' single malt year after year in order not to alienate loyal customers. That's no easy task, because every cask has its own character. That's why every OB is bound to show some sort of BATCH VARIATION over time. Sometimes there's a noticable upward trend (Aberlour, Laphroaig), sometimes there's a distinct trend downwards (Macallan) and sometimes there's just random fluctuations (Bowmore, Edradour). Most of the time, the differences are minor, which is quite amazing when you consider that the master blender only has so many casks to choose from in his efforts to recreate the previous batch, which was a recreation of the one before, etc. It's enough to short-circuit your brain if you think about it for too long...

Bottler/Series Abbreviations:

MM Interview with Mark Reynier
E-pistle: 'Ode to Independents'
E-pistle: 'Independents Day I'
E-pistle: 'Independents Day II'
E-pistle: 'Private Pleasures'

Even though most of the single malt whiskies distilled in Scotland
is still sold 'by the cask' to the industry for blending purposes, a
growing number of casks are BOTTLED for human consumption.
In the days of yore the Scots could just bring any old chemist
bottle to have it filled straight from the cask at the distillery.
Nowadays, most of them have to buy their bottles just like
the rest of us - which seems only fair, if you ask me...

This 6th chapter about bottling concludes the 'theoretical' part of this beginner's guide that deals with the magical transformation of air, water, earth and fire into the 'uisge beatha' you can find at a liquorist near you. That's enough 'dry' theory, I'd say.
The rest of the Beginner's Guide tackles more practical issues...

As long as the casks are stored in the warehouse they are 'in bond'. The taxes are paid only when the cask
is bottled. And even after the whisky has been bottled there are costs for distribution and marketing to be
considered as well. All in all, the decision to bottle a particular cask isn't one to be taken lightly.

Actually, there is a third option; something I'd like to call - excuse me - a BASTARD BOTTLING (BB).
While both OB's and IB's provide information about the distillery where the whisky actually was produced,
these BB's have a more 'illegitimate' character. The distillery of birth remains unknown because they are
marketed under fancyful names like 'Finlaggan', 'Lochindaal' or 'Ileach' instead of the names of the actual
distilleries where the whisky was produced. In some cases the names of 'bastard' bottlings are downright
misleading, like the 'Malts of Distinction' Ben Wyvis that was named after an old, legendary distillery.

Fortunately, more and more new releases are un-chillfiltered these days.
That means that we can enjoy these malt whiskies as god intented us to enjoy them; pure and unfiltered. So, after spending one or two decades in a cask somewhere in Scotland the whisky is finally packaged in containers that are more suitable for civilised consumption and shipped to importers, liquorists and supermarkets all around the world. And that's very good news for the nearly six billion people living in countries with a less developed distillation industry. (Well - the ones that drink alcohol at least....)

Issues like shopping for instance. Experienced maltsters have discovered their likes and dislikes over time, but for the novice in maltland the number of available single malts can be a bit overwhelming. Since single malts aren't cheap (it's hard to find many decent bottlings below 25 Euro's), I thought I'd provide you with some (subjective) observations about the single malt whiskies that offer the most 'bang' for my 'bucks'. Just keep on clicking...

Finally, a last word about 'proof' and bottle sizes.
Information on the label about the strength of a whisky or the size of the bottle can sometimes help you make an educated guess about the 'age' of an old bottle of whisky. In the European Union the old proof system (70 proof, 80 proof, etc.) was replaced by the new ABV system on January 1st 1980. Some companies already used the new system before 1980, but if the strength of a whisky is only indicated in proof (and the bottle was released in an EU country) it was almost certainly bottled in the 1970's or earlier.

At the same time the standard bottle size was changed from 26 2/3 Fl.Oz to 75cl. In 1992, this standard was changed once more to the current 70cl for Europe. In the USA they still use their own proof system and 75cl bottles