Definitions

Whisky produced and bottled in Scotland that is a minimum of 3 years old and a minimum of 40%vol alcohol.

Whisky that is produced solely from the distillation of the product of the fermentation of malted barley.

Whisky that is produced from, or at least in part from, grains other than malted barley. Maize, wheat and rye are commonly used.

Whisky that is the product from one distillery. It may be a vatting of various ages and styles of whisky. The whisky’s age is classified as the age of the youngest component added in the vatting process. The result is from about 4000 bottles up to tens of thousands of bottles per batch for the largest producers.

Whisky from a single cask and product from one distillery. Number of bottles is limited to the size of the cask.

A general term for the oak container to store and mature whisky. They are made from either American or European Oak. The most common types are listed below.

Cask	Approximate Volume Litres
Bloodtub	30 to 40
Firkin	40
Quarter Cask	50
Octave	50
Barrel	200
Barrique	225
Hogshead	250
Butt	500
Port Pipes	500 – 650
Puncheon	500 – 700

The description of whisky bottled straight from the cask without dilution.

In chill filtering, whisky is cooled to between 5–10 °C (41–50 °F) and passed through a fine adsorption filter to remove fatty acids, proteins and esters from the barley / fermentation process. This is done mostly for cosmetic reasons as it prevents the whisky from becoming hazy when in the bottle, when served, when chilled, or when water or ice is added, however it removes some of the character and flavour notes in the process.

A term to describe the spirit that is lost to evaporation when the whisky is being matured in oak casks. The first year in a cask can see as much as a 3% loss and subsequent years typically 1 to 1.5%.

Bottles being offered for sale when the whisky is still maturing in the casks.

Shared ownership of a cask of whisky. Cask shares allow multiple people to buy part shares in the same cask reducing the cost while giving you access to all the benefits of cask ownership.