As I have said time and time again, it’s this same dedication to quality control that I have adopted which keeps me busy most evenings around nine o’clock, checking out new whiskies and reminding the palate of old friends, the only problem I have is convincing my wife that it’s all in the name of research!!

Now then, where were we? Have you ever wondered about the information and terms that appear on whisky labels but didn’t really want to ask? Well fear not, let’s see if we can answer a few of the more tricky ones.

Hot stuff
Cask strength, full strength & over strength all describe the same product so what is a cask strength whisky? Cask strength whiskies are whiskies that are bottled straight from the cask at natural alcoholic strength or diluted strength having first been filtered through a muslin gauze. Due to the higher alcoholic strength and the potential to anesthetise your pallet on impact, whiskies in this category work better with a few drops of water. You must trust me on this as they do taste much better with water and your mouth will live long enough to appreciate what the spirit has to offer rather than suffering the equivalent of a full on Vindaloo curry and the subsequent 2 hours of numb tongue!!

An alcohol by volume (abv) value above 50% abv would be a typical cask strength. However, natural cask strength could be anything from 40% abv to over 60% abv depending on the whisky, cask type, maturation conditions and age. Cask strength whiskies are not usually diluted down below the 50% abv level as this would remove the uniqueness of that particular whisky.

Generally, a natural cask strength whisky (one that has not been diluted) will invariably have a decimal value stated. For the brave hearted amongst you, try the single cask Signatory, Laphroaig at 53.6% abv. For the more modest, the Balvenie single barrel at 47.8% abv is a fantastic dram, and with a spot of water, delicious!!

Single Cask / Single Barrel, it’s all the same!
The last point leads us nicely into what constitutes a single barrel or single cask. To get a better understanding of the term single cask / barrel it would be useful to have a quick look at how whisky gets into the bottle in the first place.

Typically, having selected the whiskies ready for bottling of say a 10 yr old, the distillery or bottling company will roll out a great many barrels of 10yr old from the same distillery. However, some of the whiskies may be slightly older than 10 yrs and some of the whiskies may have been matured in sherry barrels whilst others in Bourbon barrels.

All the barrels are then emptied into a vat and mixed together (married) and water is then added to dilute the whisky down to the required strength. At this stage the whisky can be “chill filtered” or left in its natural state (Non-chill filtered) and then bottled. The rule here is that the age of the youngest whisky is stated on the label i.e. Mainly Malts 10 yr old.

A single cask however is whisky that is derived from one cask alone and has not been married with any other barrel type. Generally, the label on a single cask bottling will give you a lot more information such as the date of distillation, the date of bottling, type of cask, cask number and the bottle number out of the whole as in the case of the Signatory Laphroaig; Bottle number 206 of 210. Single cask whiskies tend to be more expensive due to the limited amount of bottle available from that one cask.

Single cask whiskies and many of the whiskies produced by independent bottlers in particular, emphasise their individuality by promoting the “non chill filtered” and “no additional colouring” features of their products. Single cask whiskies can emphasise the differences in colour that can be produced from whiskies matured in different casks.

Chill Filtered / Non-Chill Filtered! What’s that all about?
As water is added to whisky, the alcoholic strength begins to drop in order to achieve the desired strength. However, as the alcohol strength drops below 46% abv, the spirit will go cloudy due to natural fats and oils contained within the whisky emulsifying with the water and going into suspension. This feature does not affect the taste of the whisky but it can be a problem visually as consumers may assume that a problem exists with the spirit.

As a result, whiskies above 46%, tend to open up better with a drop of water than those lower down the abv scale.

To address the cloudy problem, the elements are removed by a “chill filtering” process. The process involves chilling the spirit to approx 30C and then running the spirit through a filter to remove the fats which have come out of solution and then allowing the spirit to come back to ambient temperature at which point it will be perfectly clear.

Many whisky buffs/connoisseurs prefer whiskies which state “no chill filtering” on the label as they believe that they are sampling the whisky in its fully natural state but as ever, it is really up to the individual.

For a great experiment, try a side by side dram of standard Edradour 10 yr old at 40% and a dram of Edradour single cask non-chill filtered at 46%, what a difference, but again, up to you as to which is the tastier. As many of you know, Edradour is my favourite so it would be interesting to see if you agree with my choice of comparisons.

Perhaps for the next edition we can generate a league table of most voted for single malts by you, “I must have a word with the Editor about that one”

“Slainte!”

All the whiskies mentioned above can be found at Mainly Malts in Bawtry, Tel. 01302 714 700 so why not call in for a whisky chat, say hello to Ron and find out more about your favourite dram.