When I think of Scotch Whisky, I picture the casks, racks and racks of them, each one slightly unique, sourced from across the world. They are filled with spirit that’s been distilled somewhere in Scotland, lying dormant while life ticks by outside the warehouse, waiting for the point where it is deemed to be good enough to drink, or better yet, exceptional. It takes three years and a day for new-make spirit to become scotch whisky. For every new whisky distillery, from the moment they fill a cask, they won’t be able to call that liquid whisky for three years. Its hard to imagine creating something and having to wait that long before you can share it with the world. Or at least know what it’s going to be like. As the old sayings go “things get better with age” and “good things come to those who wait” but that still doesn’t make the actual waiting any easier, especially when you are constantly filling casks that you won’t see again for years. To a lot of people, the word whisky has connotations of time and age, but in actual fact, the spirit distillation from low-wines to new-make spirit only takes us a few hours. It’s the next three years that everyone thinks about, when that clear new-make spirit turns golden while it ages in barrels that turn it into whisky as we know it.

The importance then, of the casks themselves cannot be overstated, as anyone in the whisky industry will tell you, good casks can save bad whisky, and bad casks can ruin good whisky. This is why the Scotch Whisky Association have legal requirements for what casks can be used. Simply put they have to be made from oak and left for a minimum of three years. This could be American white oak, Japanese water oak or Scottish oak. Distilleries get barrels from cooperages, where coopers labour intensely to make, fix and test casks that come from all over the world. Bourbon casks for example, are shipped across the Atlantic in containers where they can dry out and fall apart. The cooperage then takes the casks (or what’s left of them) and inspects, pressure tests and fixes (if necessary) them. They are then delivered straight to us, and we have to open and nose each one, making sure they still smell fresh and don’t have any residual liquid in them. It is very rare that a cask is not up to our standards as the cooperages we work with always strive to get the best casks and are masters of their craft. They then sit outside the distillery until we need them so they don’t dry out, which we can always rely on the Scottish weather to help with.

When we first started producing whisky, we were making such a small amount that we filled only four 200L barrels in the first few months. Then we filled all of the private casks for our founder’s club, which were custom made for us in Portugal (more on that later) and then after that we have filled predominantly bourbon with a small amount of sherry and other experimental casks. As we are doing this from scratch, we can honestly say we don’t know what casks will work best with our new make spirit. This is why we are mainly using bourbon so that we can really let our new-make spirit shine without the influence of other liquids such as sherry, which we can use to finish the spirit in later. It is one of the most exciting parts of the job when a cask reaches a milestone (3,6,12 months) and we get to sample it. It is always unexpected how new flavours present themselves and how the character of the new-make changes over time, as does the colour which all combine to show how close we are to having our first whisky.

There is a lot of trust involved in casking whisky, you have to trust the distillery that the cask came from, the cooperage that inspected and tested them and then that cask itself will do your new-make spirit justice. This is why it is important for us to build strong relationships with the cooperages that deal with the casks. We work with cooperages here in Scotland and in Portugal that help to secure us the best casks we can get and sort out any issues they may have. Since we filled out first cask in 2022, we have filled a total of 177 casks. This doesn’t seem like a lot but when we know the story behind every cask we fill, we can rest easy, knowing the whisky we’ll end up with will be as good as it can be.

One of the great benefits of making such a small amount of whisky is the fact that we can be very selective over what casks we use. For example, we are currently filling mostly 110L Bourbon barrels. These come from smaller distilleries, who like us, focus on quality more than quantity. Now, for the bigger distilleries it wouldn’t be worth their time filling these smaller barrels as they take up more room and would take them longer to fill. But for us, where we fill around 10 a month, they provide us with a great opportunity. Firstly, the smaller size means that the liquid has more contact with the wood, taking on its character faster than a larger barrel would, which paired with our new-make will create a smoother and more drinkable whisky, much quicker than a conventional 200L barrel would. Secondly, because the casks are from smaller, craftier distilleries, the liquid that was in the barrel previously will be of a higher quality than the bigger, more industrial distilleries. And lastly, because the barrels are all relatively new, the cooperages here only have to pressure test them which allows them to keep as much of the character from the original bourbon as possible. All of this combines to make our whisky as special and unique to us as possible.

As the founders and cask owners will already know, we have also worked extensively with the Josafar cooperage in Portugal. Keeping with the small cask theme, we wanted casks that would mature quickly and so the cooperage took 200L oloroso sherry, port, madeira and muscatel casks and reworked them into custom 64L casks. The same applies as the bourbon, the combination of a small size, the quality of the liquids and our attention to detail will give our whisky an edge in the market and hopefully be evident of the care that’s gone into every part of our whisky making process.

So, does the wood make the whisky? I hope that the main thing you take away from this article is that casks are by no means just a means to an end. Or that the quality of whisky can solely be judged on its age. I think the goal of a cask is to work in tandem with the spirit inside it, and that they bring out the best in each other. And also to appreciate the quality of the bourbon, sherry or whatever else was in the casks before we got a hold of them, and in turn how that works with our very small and special slice of the scotch whisky industry.

Slainte!

Elliot