Scotch Shows Its Strength
Even the casual drinks enthusiast may have noticed a proliferation of ultra- liquor bottles over the last decade proudly displaying the words “Cask Strength” or “Barrel Proof.” They indicate not just a heightened percentage of alcohol, but to many devotees they are also a mark of quality, of authenticity, a message that this is the proof that nature intended.
It’s easy to find dozens of high-octane Bourbons and ryes in your local package store. But until recently Scotch whisky wasn’t as well represented on those shelves. It’s as though the country that gave us whisky is late to the overproof party, or that the same benefits that come with extra alcohol in America don’t apply to single malts made in Scotland.
Neither is true. The movement for cask strength is gaining traction in Scotland and such renowned distilleries as Aberlour, Arran, Benromach, Glendronach, Glenfarclas, Glenlivet, Laphroaig and Port Charlotte all offer standout examples in the category. Furthermore, a deep dive shows that the phenomenon has existed in Scotland for a long, long time. The concept of enjoying malt whisky undiluted is age old even while labels may not always trumpet the style. Which is to say that you might have enjoyed cask-strength Scotch without knowing it.
To connoisseurs—as opposed to the get-lit-quick fraternity crowd—the appeal of strong proof comes not from how much alcohol it contains but how little it is diluted with water before bottling. Almost all whisky we consume has had water added, whether to soften the blow of something that can come out of the barrel at well over 60 percent alcohol (120 proof), to achieve mass appeal or to maintain a fixed proof and flavor profile from batch to batch. Some standards exist: the 80-proof minimum is observed almost worldwide, the 100-proof mark is designated in America for bonded whiskeys. But forgoing the step of adding water offers a unique take on a whisky.
“You certainly will get a good glimpse into the distillery’s character when no water has been added to reduce proof,” says Rory Glasgow, brand ambassador for Glendronach. “It will quite frankly provide more flavor as you are keeping the flavors at their maximum settings and not diluting them in any way.”
What is now seen as a selling point would have been quite unremarkable back in the day. Gordon Dallas, who represents Glengoyne, refers to a time when Scotch was sold to bars in casks rather than to end-s by the bottle, a time when cask strength was the norm, rather than an exception. “It was up to the publican, the person that the whisky got delivered to, to bottle it, label it or dilute it,” he explains. “It was not in the hands of the producers until the late 19th century.” It was not uncommon, he says for an establishment to offer whisky straight from the cask and then provide a tap so the customer could water it down to taste.
That last option is something to take advantage of even now. Glasgow suggests that water can transform a malt’s character and that each cask-strength whisky will vary in how much water it needs to open up. “Start slowly as you can always add more,” he advises. “I use pipettes and distilled water. Ice is another great tool.” That method allows the end to decide for himself what the sublime alcohol content is for a particular dram.
The cask-strength movement is also a boon to another sector of whisky lovers, says Dallas. “The trend in the U.K. at the moment is for non-chill-filtration—and that includes most whiskies that are above 46 ABV (percentage alcohol by volume).” A debate rages on about how that process affects taste, but essentially chill filtration is used to avoid a cloudiness that can occur in the bottle or glass when whisky is exposed to colder temperatures. For esthetic reasons, it is very often chilled and then run through filters that remove the fatty acids, proteins and long-chain esters that form the clouds in a whisky. Some believe it removes flavor. Others think that it makes no difference. Whatever the case, the point is academic when considering most cask-strength whisky. However, the cloudiness only occurs in whisky that is below 46 percent alcohol by volume (92 proof). Therefore, a cask-strength malt that is bottled well above that is unlikely to be chill-filtered, whether it says so on the bottle or not.
Then there are a special few malts that are technically cask strength but are unlikely to be labeled as such because their alcohol levels don’t seem extraordinary and they are, at any rate, beside the point. These are the extremely old bottlings—say deep into their third decade and above—that have lost so much alcohol that they come out of the barrel near 40 ABV, or 80 proof. Yes, they’ve been bottled at the strength they came out of the barrel, but the numbers aren’t remarkable.
The American whiskey drinker should not be surprised when wandering into the Scotch cask-strength market that the proofs here are not quite as high. This reflects climate differences in the two regions. In Kentucky, where most Bourbons are made, the high temperatures and relatively low humidity mean that the angel’s share (the portion of liquid lost to evaporation over time) contains more water than alcohol. That means the ABV goes up as the spirit ages and explains why a proof in the high 120s is not uncommon. This is how Elijah Craig created what was dubbed the “hazmat” barrel proof at a shade over 140 proof—the maximum for carrying on an airplane.
In Scotland, with its colder, damper climate, the opposite occurs. Whisky loses alcohol with time. Hence cask-strength Scotch tends to top out at 120 proof and may even be offered below 110. Ardbeg Uigeadail, which is considered a strong dram by most, is bottled at 108.4 proof. David Blackmore, a global ambassador for the brand, explains that it is not technically a cask-strength whisky as small amounts of water are added to ensure that the proof is standard from batch to batch over the years.
He also points out that the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, where he started his career, offers everything at cask strength. A negotiant of special drams, it procures casks throughout the hundred or so single-malt distilleries and bottles them as single-cask whiskies. Their alcohol content fluctuates markedly from offering to offering as tasters purchase the casks they deem ripe for bottling.
The many distilleries that also produce limited releases of outstanding casks use the same wait-and-see method. Which comes with a peril. Blackmore re an occasion when the bounds of aging were pushed too far. “We had an old Ardbeg cask—I can’t the exact age, 36 [years old] or something like that, ready to go—and it went to the bottling line at a shade over 40 ABV. It was bottled, and before labels were put on and everything went any further, a bottle was taken and checked, and to our horror, it had dropped below 40. Therefore it was no longer legally Scotch whisky. Everything stops right there.”
The solution was to add higher-proof, but younger malt to raise the alcohol level. Because Scotch regulations require a bottle’s age statement to reflect the youngest whisky in the mix, they could no longer claim it as a 36-year-old.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Blackmore says, in understated fashion. “You went from having a really old, really rare something [that can’t be sold as Scotch whisky] to something less rare, a younger single malt that you can now sell. Yeah, there’s finance guys with their heads in their hands at that point.”
