What Kind Of Information Can You Find On a Whisky Bottle?

If you're looking for a new whisky, it's helpful to know what you can find on the bottle. The label of a whisky is a wealth of information. Here are five terms you'll find on whisky bottles.

Nowadays you can find the term non-chill filtered on many whisky bottles. Sometimes it's small on the back and other times large on the front label of the whisky.

As the term implies, non-chill filtered is the opposite of chill-filtered. With chill-filtering, the whisky is cooled to between 1 and 2 degrees before bottling, so that certain substances solidify and are retained by a filter.

Many distilleries nowadays do not cool the whisky before it goes through the filter. As a result, the fats, oils, and esters are retained in the drink, while other parts are still filtered out. It's said that this results in a creamier whisky with richer and fuller flavours.

The alcohol percentage on a whisky bottle is important. Many whiskies are diluted with water to lower the alcohol content of the drink. Other expressions are bottled undiluted from the cask (after it has been filtered).

In that case, we're talking about a cask strength, or a barrel strength whisky. These whiskies can be found with a percentage starting from 50 percent and going well above 60 percent alcohol. A drop of water in your glass is recommended for these types of whiskies.

A whisky label often shows an age. This is called the whisky’s age statement. The term is not meant to indicate how old the whisky is right now otherwise, the label would need to change every year. Instead, an age statement refers to the whisky’s age at the moment of bottling. This is calculated by looking at the time between distillation and bottling.

In a mix of different whiskies or a blended expression, the stated age always refers to the youngest whisky in the bottle. For example, there is a Compass Box 3 Years Old Deluxe that contains various old whiskies plus a drop of three‑year‑old whisky. The age on the label is therefore three years.

Technically, whisky is already whisky after maturing in a single cask for at least three years. At that point, the distillery can choose to bottle it or transfer it into another cask for what is known as a cask finish, or secondary maturation.

This finishing period is usually shorter than the initial maturation, often just a few months. The finishing cask previously held another drink, such as sherry, tequila, wine, or mezcal. Each of these imparts different effects on the whisky’s flavour, aroma, and colour.

If you’re looking for a whisky that is more limited in availability, you can look for limited edition expressions. These bottles are often individually numbered and sometimes highly sought after by collectors. Another category of limited releases are single cask expressions.

The term single cask is defined by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). It refers to whisky that has spent its entire maturation in one cask. This does not mean the distillery uses only one type of cask overall, but rather that the whisky in the bottle comes from that single cask.

The limited nature of single cask whiskies also comes from the cask’s finite capacity. The longer the whisky matures, the more angel’s share evaporates and the fewer bottles are ultimately produced.

Discover more of our articles and background stories of your favorite drink on this special page.