Pick up almost any bottle of whisky, and you’ll find terms like cask strength, single barrel, small batch, non-chill-filtered, and bottled-in-bond on the label, usually without any explanation of what they mean.
Some of these terms are written into law, such as ‘bottled-in-bond’ or ‘single malt’.Others describe how the whisky was aged, filtered, or bottled without being defined by any regulation. A few have no fixed meaning at all.
Today, we are going to take a look at the most common whisky/whiskey terms, what each one means, and what it can and can’t tell you about the spirit in the bottle.
What Does ‘Cask Strength’ Mean?
Most whisky has water added before bottling to bring it down to a set strength, such as 40% ABV. Cask-strength whisky is bottled at, or very close to, the strength it had when it came out of the cask, so it’s usually noticeably stronger, and you can add water yourself if you want to.
In the United States, the term has a legal meaning: federal rules allow a whiskey labeled “cask strength” or “barrel proof” to be bottled no more than two proof points (1% ABV) below its strength when it was emptied from the barrel.
The Scotch Whisky Regulations don’t mention the term, but the UK government’s technical file for Scotch Whisky, as quoted by Whisky Advocate, states that “The alcoholic strength of ‘cask strength’ Scotch Whisky must not be adjusted after maturation.
What Is ‘Single Cask’ or ‘Single Barrel’ Whisky?
Both terms mean the whisky in the bottle came from one cask instead of being blended from several. “Single cask” is the more common wording on Scotch labels and “single barrel” on American whiskey labels.
Neither is a legal category: Fred Minnick notes that single barrel isn’t a regulated term in American whiskey, and single cask isn’t one of the legal categories of Scotch. However, there is an implied truth in the usage of the term. You can be almost certain that if you buy a ‘single cask’ whisky, that is what it is.
‘Cask strength’ and ‘single cask’ are not interchangeable. A whisky can be single cask without being bottled at cask strength. Four Roses Single Barrel is a good example of the difference between single barrel and cask strength, since every bottle comes from one barrel but it’s bottled at a consistent 50% ABV.
What Does ‘Small Batch’ Mean?
Small batch means the whisky was made by mixing together a limited number of barrels, but there’s no rule about how many that is. Fred Minnick found brands using anywhere from five to 200 barrels for their small batches, and as he puts it, “small batch is not a regulated term, so who really knows?”
What Does ‘Bottled-in-Bond’ Mean?
‘Bottled-in-bond’ is a US legal standard, and its rules are some of the strictest you’ll find on a whiskey label. Under federal regulations, a bonded whiskey has to be made by one distiller at one distillery during a single distilling season, which runs either from January to June or July to December. It then has to be aged in wooden casks for at least four years and bottled at exactly 100 proof, and the label has to identify the distillery where it was made.
The Bottled-in-Bond Act was enacted in 1897, and Col. E.H. Taylor Jr. was a huge proponent of the act. It was the first consumer protection law that was applied to whiskey in the United States, created to combat counterfeiting.
What Do ‘Finished’ and ‘Double Matured’ Mean?
A finished whisky has spent its main maturation in one cask and then been moved into a second cask for extra time before bottling. You’ll also see terms like ‘double matured’ or ‘double oaked’ used for the same basic process.
The second cask has usually held something else first, such as sherry, port, Madeira or rum, and the finishing period can last anywhere from a few months to several years, so the label won’t necessarily tell you how long the whisky spent in the second cask.
The second cask doesn’t always have a previous life, though. For Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel, Heaven Hill takes its fully matured Small Batch bourbon and finishes it in a second, custom-toasted new oak barrel, then bottles it at 94 proof.
What Does ‘Non-Chill-Filtered’ Mean?
Chill filtering is a step where whisky is cooled and then filtered to remove fatty acids and other compounds that can clump together at low temperatures and make it look cloudy.
Non-chill-filtered whisky skips the step, so it may turn a little hazy when you add ice or water, which doesn’t mean anything is wrong with it. Some distillers and drinkers think chill filtering removes some flavor as well, but that is really up to the drinker to decide.
What Does ‘Natural Colour’ Mean?
On Scotch whisky labels, ‘natural colour’ means no caramel coloring has been added. Scotch rules allow distillers to add a caramel coloring called E150A, so a darker Scotch isn’t necessarily older or more heavily sherried than a paler one. When a bottle says ‘natural color’, the shade comes from the casks the whisky matured in and nothing else.
The debate around the use of E150A is one of the most contentious in the industry, with whiskies such as Loch Dhu The Black Whisky fuelling the debate.
What Does ‘First-Fill’ Mean?
A first-fill cask is one being used to mature whisky for the first time after it held something else, usually bourbon or sherry. Since bourbon has to be aged in new charred oak, American distilleries can’t reuse their barrels for bourbon, so many of them are sold to distilleries in other countries, including in Scotland.
A first-fill cask generally passes on more of its previous contents’ character than a refill cask, which has already been used to mature whisky at least once.
More influence isn’t automatically better, though, and using a highly active cask on a gentle spirit can let the first-fill cask take over.
What Does ‘Peated’ Mean, and What Is PPM?
Peated whisky is made from malted barley that was dried over a peat fire, which gives the finished whisky smoky flavors that can also come across as medicinal or earthy.
The level of peat smoke is measured in PPM, or phenol parts per million, but the figure is taken from the malted barley, not the finished whisky, and some of it is lost during mashing, fermentation, and distillation.
As an example, Ardbeg says its malt is “peated to a minimum of 55ppm,” while Kilchoman peats the barley for its 100% Islay single malt to 20ppm. A higher number doesn’t guarantee a smokier whisky because distilling and aging both affect how much smoke comes through, but is is a good indicator of just how smoky the whisky will be.
Ardbeg 10 Year Old is the distillery’s core bottling and an easy place to start with heavily peated whisky.
What Is A ‘Mash Bill’?
A mash bill is essentially the grain recipe for a whiskey and is a term mostly used in reference to American whiskey and bourbon. For example, by law, bourbon has to be made from at least 51% corn in the mash bill, and rye whiskey from at least 51% rye in the mash bill. Distillers choose the rest of the recipe.
The choice of grains can shape the flavor and mouthfeel of a whiskey. Wheated bourbon, which replaces rye with wheat as the secondary grain in the mash bill, tends to be softer and sweeter than a high-rye bourbon, for example.
Mash bills take many different forms depending on what type of whiskey is being made.
What’s The Difference Between Proof and ABV?
ABV, or alcohol by volume, is the percentage of the liquid that’s alcohol, and it’s the figure you’ll see on bottles around the world. Proof is mostly used on American whiskey, and in the US it’s simply double the ABV, which is why bottled-in-bond whiskey is described in federal regulations as “50 percent alcohol by volume (100 degrees of proof).”
The UK used its own proof system until January 1, 1980, when it switched to ABV. Under that older system, 100 proof was equal to about 57.15% ABV, so a 40% ABV whisky counted as 70 proof.
The Terms That Mean Nothing
Some words on whisky labels have no legal definition, so each brand can use them however it likes. Kentucky distillery Heaven Hill lists very old, craft, fine, reserve, special, and handmade as terms that aren’t regulated, along with small batch.
Terms like single barrel, first-fill, natural color, and non-chill-filtered sit somewhere in the middle, because they tell you something specific about how the whisky was made, but none of them promises you’ll like it more.
If you want the most reliable information on a label, look for legally defined terms like bottled-in-bond and cask strength, along with the stated proof or ABV.
Where To Go From Here
Once you know which terms are defined by law and which are down to the brand, a whisky label gets a lot easier to read.
For a closer look at everything else printed on the bottle, our guides to reading whiskey labels, American whiskey labels, and Scotch whisky labels go into more detail.
Read the full article at Cask Strength, Single Barrel, Bottled-in-Bond: The Complete Whisky Jargon Guide
