Traditionalism is rife within Scotch whisky, and not always for bad reasons. Some traditions have continued through many different eras of the modern world, even when easier ways of doing things have emerged. If the end result is fantastic, then perhaps the older way is not such a bad thing after all.
Some of these traditions have stranger, or more mundane, origins than you might expect. So let’s work through them and see which one you think is the strangest.
Take our quick whisk(e)y survey
Peat Was Once A Necessity
Peat is a hydrocarbon-rich material found beneath the topsoil across much of Scotland. Its use across the country began to decline as coal became the fuel of choice for almost everything. However, for those living on Scotland’s islands, transporting coal by boat was costly. As a result, its introduction to the whisky industry in these areas was delayed.
It goes back further than that, though. Peat was used to build homes, cook food, provide heat, and halt germination in malted barley. The natural infusion it gave to the barley, creating that famous smokiness, was essentially an accident.
Over time, it became an additional flavour profile, and eventually one of the most recognisable in Scotch whisky, as well as in a few other whisky styles around the world.
Like so many things in whisky, including cask maturation, the use of peat began as a production necessity. It just happened to create something rather special. To this day, it is still used to help create the iodine-soaked flavour of whiskies such as Ardbeg, Laphroaig, and Port Charlotte.
The Silent Season
Summer in Scotch whisky is a time when many people can enjoy a brief glimpse of sunshine. In the early days of distilling, however, summer was all about harvesting. Distilleries would close so that labour could be used in the barley fields, before storing the grain for production once summer had ended.
Some distilleries still treat summer as a quieter period for production. Modern sites can often run on skeleton crews during quieter stretches, largely thanks to automation. There can be a knock-on effect for tourism, but it mainly means you need to plan your distillery tours carefully if you are heading up when the weather is warmer.
The Angel’s Share
This is not something anyone has control over, but it is something that has been fully embraced and wrapped in mythology and mystery when it comes to aging whisky. Scotland’s moderate temperatures make it an excellent place to age whisky for long periods of time.
The evaporation rate is often around 2% a year. In the first year, that might not seem too bad, but as the amount of whisky in the cask diminishes, that 2% becomes more impactful over time.
Casks will usually absorb more liquid in the first year too, as the spirit penetrates the wood. But if we work from an average of 2% per year, compounded annually, this gives you an idea of how much whisky might be left after around 18 years in a standard ex-bourbon cask:
200 x (1 – 0.02)¹⁸ = approximately 139 litres
So, from your original 200 litres, you have around 139 litres left. That works out at roughly 150 to 200 bottles, depending on bottle size, strength, and how the whisky is handled. Oh, and you still have to pay tax on what went into the cask, not what came out.
Age Statement Reverence
I would love to meet the marketing team or individual who began selling the idea of age statements as an indicator of quality. Personally, I would take a younger whisky, or even a good NAS whisky, from well-managed wood over something that is 18 or 25 years old but has spent its life in a poor, tired cask.
An age statement on a bottle is not an automatic indicator of quality. The same goes for colour. Don’t get me wrong, we have all chased down certain age-statement bottles because of the brand, the reputation, or recommendations from friends and peers. But putting a 12 on a bottle, or leaving an age statement off entirely, does not automatically make one whisky better than another.
NAS whiskies have shown that age is not everything. Some online whisky reviewers once said they would never review NAS whiskies. These days, that stance has softened. Never judge a book by its cover, in any context.
Glen Scotia, Ardbeg, Ardnamurchan, Kilkerran, Arran, Lagg, Ledaig, and numerous other well-respected distilleries have shown that it is about what comes out of the cask, not simply how old the liquid inside it is.
Wood Superstitions
Hear me out on this. For some reason, and I cannot dive deep enough into the human psyche to fully explain it, darker liquids seem to win us over on sight. Is it because we associate darker whisky with older whisky? Or richer whisky? Or more expensive whisky?
There is a point where most of us learn, in many different scenarios, that more expensive does not necessarily mean better. The obsession with sherry cask influence in Scotch whisky is a strange one. Yes, sherry casks can give whisky darker colours on average, but port, rum, and ex-bourbon casks can create dark colours too.
Sherry also contains sugar, depending on the style used, so part of that colour comes from the interaction between the wood, the seasoned cask, and the spirit. That raises its own questions. Do darker sherry-influenced whiskies contain more residual sweetness than others? Does colour really tell us as much as we think it does? There are plenty of questions here, and not all of them have simple answers.
What Really Matters In Scotch Whisky
These traditions still shape parts of Scotch whisky, and certain brands continue to lean into them. But as consumers, we have shown time and again that flavour is what matters most.
Age, colour, cask type, peat level, and tradition all play a role. But none of them guarantee quality on their own. At the end of the day, flavour is king, and that is what should really guide us.
Read the full article at 5 Scotch Whisky Traditions That Are Stranger Than You Think
