What is so important about age and whisky?

“The influence of maturation in the creation of a good whiskey cannot be overemphasized.  Indeed, some authorities consider that a whiskey acquires up to 80% of its final character in the cask.  The cask cannot make a bad whisky good, but it can make a good whiskey great.” –Whiskey, edited by Charles MacLean, DK Publishing.

One of the things you will notice on the label of many whisky bottles is an age statement.  Common ages include 10, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25 and 30.  The age statement is simply the amount of time the whisky you are drinking aged in a barrel.  For the majority of us, the age is an important factor when considering whether to purchase a particular bottle or not. 

Personally, I find that the longer a whisky has aged, the more it suppresses the “rough” or “in your face” alcohol feel you get when you smell and taste the whisky.   This allows you to more easily pick up the aromas and flavors imparted by the wood the barrel is made from.  It can also be said that those same aromas and flavors are strengthened by their continued contact with the wood over this greater amount of time.  It should come as no surprise then that the older the age statement, the more expensive the bottle is.

If a whisky has an age statement on the label, then all the whisky in that bottle must be at least that old (ex. a distillery combines 10, 15, and 18 year old barrels of whisky, the age statement on the label will say 10 years old.)  Since many blended scotches often contain un-aged whisky (less than three years in a barrel,) you will not see an age on the bottle. 

Whisky only ages in the barrel, not in the bottle.  So for all of you people who were gifted with a 10 year old scotch 10 years ago, you still have a 10 year old scotch on your hands, not a 20. 

Slainte