Hogsheads and Puncheons
Maturation plays a crucial part in determining the final taste of Single Malts. By law, Scotch Whisky has to be matured in oak casks no larger than 700 litres but whisky producers use a wide variety of casks.
The smallest one generally tends to be a barrel. Made from American oak, it holds around 180 litres. However, it was common practice a few years ago to add staves to these barrels in order to expand their capacity to 250 litres (hogshead) or 400 litres (puncheon).
European oak, mainly Spanish, is also used and comes to Scotland as butts. These casks are much longer and larger than a barrel and can hold up to 550 litres.
Occasionally, ex port casks are also used. Referred to as pipes, they are the biggest in the industry and can hold over 600 litres.
The type of cask you use will naturally give different flavours and colours to your whisky. For example, a barrel will contribute to vanilla, honey or toffee notes and pass on a light colour to a whisky. A butt, on the other hand, will give a much darker colour as well as rich fruit flavours.
At the Glenfiddich Distillery, we use a combination of all these casks, except for pipes. Most of our whiskies are primarily matured in barrels although we do tend to increase the European oak content as Glenfiddich gets older. We find doing so produces a better balanced whisky.
Whisky drinkers normally have a preferred type of cask. Mine is a barrel or perhaps a hogshead as I normally prefer light, vibrant whiskies. Not everybody has had the opportunity to compare whisky matured in different casks but if you have, I’d be curious to hear which one you prefer.
Best regards,
Ludo
Responses to "Hogsheads and Puncheons"
nachum goldstein | February 5, 2007
You mention that "we use a combination of all these casks, except for pipes".
For your single-malt whiskey is the type and timing of casks used always the same for each production run?
Also, what type of flavour does an ex-sherry or ex-port cask contribute, as opposed to ex-bourbon or virgin oak, and which types do you use for the single-malts?
Thanks.
Ludo | February 8, 2007
Hi Nachum,
We don't always use the same 'recipe'. Each cask is unique, so our Malt Master needs to tell us when our whisky is ready for bottling.
Also, to answer your second question, the European and American oak casks I referred to above are mostly second hand casks. Our European oak casks have all previously held sherry, while our American oak casks have mainly been used to mature American whiskey. We only use virgin American oak casks for our 15-year-old Single Malt, Glenfiddich Solera Reserve.
Hope this helps,
Ludo