Here is the Glenlivet Triple Cask.

The whisky that has been aged in American Oak, European Oak & Ex Sherry Cask & ensures a fine balance of flavors.

It has a lively bright copper colour & to the nose ripe fruits, vanilla & awesome sweetness, to the palate dried fruity notes & spices & finally lingering finish of fruit & nut cake.

Some Whisky Notes:

Barrel proof /Cask strength / Barrel strength / Single barrel /Small batch

We come across these words on the bottle labels but sometimes just give it a pass. Let’s decipher what exactly this could mean & how it could help us to appreciate the final sip.

Whisky basically has three strengths in it’s lifetime.

Still strength – At this stage the whisky that comes out of the still is around 70%abv to 75%abv.

Barrel strength – After ageing for a few years when some alcohol evaporates the alcohol% drops to  barrel or the cask strength of 60% abv to 65% abv.

Bottle strength – At the bottling stage some distillers add enough water to the whisky to bring the bottle strength to 40%abv.

Coming to the Barrel strength, Cask strength, Barrel proof these are all nearly synonymous. They all mean the same thing that is the percentage of alcohol of a whisky as it comes out of the barrel. It describes a whisky that has not been substantially diluted after its storage in a cask for maturation. These whiskies are non-chill-filtered which retains fatty acids which are part of the aromatic profile & appear cloudy on addition of water to the dram.

Small batch whisky are produced by mixing the whiskies of rather small number of selected casks and then bottled. These are distilled in limited quantity. Mostly American whiskies get covered under this category.

Single barrel whisky on the other hand is bottled from whisky that has been aged in an individual barrel rather from the blend of whiskies coming from several barrels. It provides unique characteristics to the finished whisky.

Cheers!