Not perhaps a question that springs to everyone’s lips but if you are interested then I will explain why some whisky is so expensive compared with others. I will concentrate mostly on single malt scotch whisky but the same principles apply across the whole range.

To understand more then we need to look more closely at each stage of the whisky making process.

Malting The Barley

The first stage in whisky production is to encourage the grains to begin to sprout and turn starch into sugar. The process is stopped at the critical phase by heating it in an oven. A proportion may be dried over a peat fire to add the smoky flavour that some whiskies have.

Most distilleries now buy their malted barley in but some still produce their own. This adds a certain exclusivity to the process and therefore may influence the price, as of course would the quality and availability of the grain used.

One particular example would be the Glen Garioch distillery. it was shut for two years from 1995 to 1997 for refurbishment, but the old maltings were closed, never to reopen and so any whisky produced prior to 1995 has a certain rarity value. The company utilises this in its marketing by releasing limited batches of pre 1995 single malts.

Brewing and Distilling

The largest influence in these two processes is the size and capacity of the equipment. Producing spirit is in two stages. The first is to extract the sugar and flavours from the malt and then ferment the extract to produce a strong beer like liquid.

The second is to distill this liquid by heating it in large copper vessels and condensing the resultant vapour to produce a cask strength spirit. All scotch whisky is double distilled (except for Auchentoshan which is triple distilled).

In both these processes it is generally cheaper to produce on an industrial scale, but this of course raises the rarity and exclusivity value of the smaller distilleries, such as Edradour of Pitlochry (Scotland’s smallest at the time of writing).

Storage in Barrel

This above everything else is the biggest influencing factor in the final cost of any malt whisky.The liquid that results from distillation is clear and does not have a particularly strong flavour, (I did get the chance to try some last year with a bottle of the “Spirit of Lewis” from the very new Abhainn Dearg distillery in the outer Hebrides. The final flavour is imparted to the final product by storage in wooden barrels and there are two factors that come into play.

1) The type of cask used. Traditionally most whiskies are matured in used American Bourbon casks. This is because American Bourbon is matured in new barrels and therefore there is ready supply of used barrels available.

Some whisky makers use other barrels to add different flavours to the whisky. Some of these are still easily obtainable so do not affect the price greatly, except again by the rarity value. Other barrels are rather more difficult to get hold of cheaply.

This is particularly true of used sherry casks which are used to give many Speyside malts their distinctive smooth sweet flavour. Many distilleries partly store in bourbon casks then transfer to sherry casks later to add this character, but a few, such as Glenfarclas of Ballindalloch still use sherry casks for the whole process. This sets their whiskies at a premium of course (or at least the ones that they make solely with sherry casks).

2) The length of storage time. The longer a whisky is stored in cask then of course the more storage space it must use of course relative to its financial return. This inevitably makes the longer stored whiskies more expensive.The other factor is the evaporation that occurs from the cask, the so called “Angels’ Share”. This means that there is of course less whisky to bottle at the end of the process.

Why then you might ask do they store whisky so long? It is simple, the longer in barrel the whisky remains then the more the flavour of the barrel is bestowed on the final drink. On top of this some of the harsher flavours are calmed down so the finished spirit is more mellow (as a general rule). For example 18 year old Talisker is the same spirit and essentially goes into the same barrel as its younger more common counterpart but the peaty flavours are slightly less pronounced and the slightly oaky tone slightly enhanced. I did not appreciate the subtleties until I actually got to try them side by side for my self.

When I did my Glenrothes Select Reserve review therefore I had a pretty good idea what to expect before I even got my hands on the bottle. Speyside, no age or year declared, it held no surprises at all.

A final factor in the storage is of course not being entirely sure what the final result will be like. It takes a lot of faith and initially very deep pockets to put into barrels something that you may not even get to try in your own lifetime! Imagine the disappointment that inevitably must happen from time to time. The price of the succesful must of course reflect the failures (thankfully rare).

Once whisky has been bottled that that is it in terms of the finishing. If you put a bad whisky in a bottle then however long you leave it you will still have a bad whisky! The only difference that age might have is with the rarity value and older rarer whiskies can become collectors items.

The same principles apply to blended whiskies where the production from several distilleries is combined. They can be really cheap or using the top products with long aging be eye wateringly expensive

So now I hope you have a bit of insight as to why you might pay a reasonable amount for say a Glen Garioch Founders Reserve.(£30 UK) This particular whisky does not give any age for it time in barrel or any particular year. You would pay rather more however for the Glen Garioch Vintage 1995(£55 UK) and pay a vast amount more for some of their more exclusive bottlings.(£2,000 +)

I have not even mentioned other factors of course such as deliberate limited editions or editions for special occasions such as the Laphroaig Diamond Jubilee 18 year old. That I think will have to be the subject of another article.