Scotch whiskies, including blended whiskies, must be aged in oak barrels for at least 3 years, by law. Single malt whiskies are usually aged for more than 10 years, with excellent single malt whiskies ranging from 12 to 21 years old. Only oak barrels are used for ripening, as oak is breathable and durable.
The origin of the oak barrels is crucial to the taste of the whisky, and the Glenfiddy Distillery primarily uses American white oak barrels ripened for bourbon. Wineries like McAllen or Pomo mainly use oak barrels ripened with Spanish sherry.
American white oak barrels
Sherry barrel
Whisky ripening requires less storage location, and old warehouses with rough cement floors are stocked on oak beams and stacked in rows of 3 to 6 stacks. The new warehouse has a cement floor that can be moved by forklifts.
Usually the alcohol content of whisky is usually 63.5% when it is barreled, and after a certain year, the wine in the barrel will volatilize through the barrel wall, because alcohol volatilizes faster than water, the alcohol content of whisky drops by 0.2% to 0.6% per year, and about 2% of the wine will evaporate naturally every year.
Due to evaporation and absorption by the oak barrel material, the whiskies in the barrel become mellow with the increase of the year. The winery periodically extracts samples from each barrel to determine the best production period. The size of the oak barrel also has a great relationship with the maturity of the wine, and the larger barrel has a smaller contact surface for the wine in proportion, and the flavor absorption of the wine is less, so the whisky in the large oak barrel must be aged longer to ensure the degree of maturity.
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