TERMINOLOGY

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1. Platinum Cask Proprietary Terms.

Cask fractions are a concept Platinum Cask has created in order to divide a cask of maturing whisky in a fair and logical manner. As whisky ages a certain percentage of the liquid is lost each year through evaporation, this is colloquially referred to as “The Angles share”. With a product such as aging whisky that becomes smaller over time, the best way to divide it is by fractions rather than by a fixed unit such a litres.

The Cask Fraction Market Place is an online portal currently under development that will allow Cask Fraction owners to buy and sell their Cask Fractions with other owners.

The “Time until exit” is an indication of when we anticipate the cask with either be bottled or sold.

Single cask releases are limited bottlings of cask from our collection. They will be limited to the number of bottles that can be drawn from a cask and cannot be repeated. Some bottlings will form part of a series, such as “The Olympians”, others will be a stand-alone release.

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2. Cask Specific Terms.

The Angles Share refers to the loss of alcohol and water that makes up the whisky through the process of evaporation. Over the time the whisky takes to age some estimates state that between 7% to 9% can be lost through evaporation per year.

The Devils Share refers to the volume of liquid that is absorbed by the wood of the cask. This rate can be affected by the type of wood, the number of times a cask has been used before or the volume of liquid that remains in the wood from its previous contents. It is estimated that up to 10 litres can be absorbed by a virgin cask, this process is most notably used (in reverse), when finishing whisky in a cask that had previously held another liquid.

Finishing is a process of moving the contents of one cask into another cask for a short period of time before bottling. The aim of this process is to add extra colour or flavour to and already aged whisky. Common finishing casks would be ex-sherry or ex-bourbon casks, although casks that have previously held more exotic liquids are not uncommon.

Teaspooning is a process of adding a small amount (a tea spoon full) of liquid from one cask to another, by law creating a blended whisky. This is mostly done with casks that are produced for the sole purpose of blending and is done by a distillery to protect their brand identity, by preventing their name being used by independent bottlers. In reality the process of Teaspooning has far less of an effect to the whisky than the process of finishing would.

Is the process of measuring a cask of whisky to determine how much liquid and what percentage of alcohol remains in the cask.

Whisky can only be called whisky after it has been ages for 3 years in oak casks, before this it is referred to as spirit or new make spirit when it first enters the cask.

Bulk litres refers to the original number of litres of new make spirit filled into a cask.

OLA refers to the Original Litres of Alcohol contained in a newly filled cask of spirit.

RLA can mean Real Level of Alcohol, Real Litres of Alcohol or Re-gauged Litres of Alcohol depending on who you talk to. ALA stands for Actual Level of Alcohol. Essentially it refers to the most current measurement of the total volume of alcohol in a cask.

The strength referrers to the percentage of alcohol in the whisky, otherwise known as ABV, or Alcohol By Volume. This will normally decrease over time as alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature to water, causing the alcohol content to reduce quicker. Cask of new make spirit are normally filled between a high 50’s to mid 60’s of strength. (58% - 65% ish) For whisky to be classed as whisky it must not drop below 40% That is why most mass produced younger aged or NAS blends and Single Malts are bottled at 40% ABV.

Stands for No Age Statement. This is normally the case for younger whiskies that have been produced on mass, often blended and bottled without stating the age of the whisky.

The number of times a cask has been filled. However, a 1st fill bourbon barrel would have been filled for a second time when a whisky was added to it, and a 2nd fill bourbon barrel would have most likely had a whisky aged in it following its original bourbon but prior to its current whisky, therefore being filled for a third time.

Refill casks may have been refilled once having previously held a similar whisky or many times. Refill casks are often cheaper, and depending on the number of times they have been used will have less wood activity remaining to age the whisky. However, they do offer significantly more chance of imparting an influence of their previous contents onto the current one.

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3. Cask Types.

Barrels are one of the most commonly used cask types in the Scottish whisky industry. A Barrel holds approximately 200 litres of liquid and is the primary variety of cask used in the American bourbon industry. By law bourbon must be aged in a charred barrel made of American white oak that has not been used before. Due to the restrictions on the reuse of barrels for aging bourbon many of these barrels are sold to the Scottish whisky industry to age whisky.

Hogsheads are the second most common type of cask to be used to age Scottish whisky. A Hogshead is typically a remade barrel constructed form the staves of barrels that have previously held bourbon or sherry. As a remade cask Hogsheads are slightly larger than a barrel, holding on average up to 250 litres.

Butts are most commonly used to age Sherry and traditionally have been made using Spanish oak. Today a large amount of Butts are made using American white oak, with both varieties typicaly holding up to 500 Litres of liquid. Historically when sherry was shipped to the UK the Sherry Butts were discarded after they had been emptied, this led to them being used to age Scottish whisky. Today following the advent of plastic these cask are no longer used to ship sherry and so many of todays “Ex Sherry Casks” are in fact purpose made to deliver the same results.

Barriques are the most common type of wine cask, originally from the Bordeaux region in France they traditionally hold approximately 225 Litres. The Barriques smaller size was favoured by wine maker who wished to give the oak more influence during the aging of the wine.

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4. Previous Cask Contents.

Bourbon is an American style of Whisky primarily made from corn, it must be aged in new, charred oak casks and bottled at no less than 40% ABV.

Sherry is a style of fortified wine that is produced in the province of Cádiz in southwestern Spain. There are many different types of Sherry, each produced using a unique and specific style.

Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese Islands of Madeira. It is made using a unique method of heating wine to a temperature of 45 to 50 degrees C for a period of no less than three months.

Banyuls if a French dessert wine made from the fruit of old vines in the Catalan Pyrenees in the south of France. It is produced in a similar way to that of Port where alcohol is added at a certain point to halt fermentation and to preserve the remaining sugar levels.