| The majority of private owners of whisky casks are | | | | reduction in strength causes the whisky to become |
| looking for an assessment of their options. The | | | | cloudy. Chill filtration impairs the flavour of the whisky |
| purpose of this article is to help answer questions that | | | | and is therefore avoided by purveyors of fine malt |
| private owners may have about bottling their whisky | | | | scotch and it is normal for such products to be bottled |
| casks. | | | | at such high strength, i.e. 46% or more. |
| Its always recommended that private owners bottle at | | | | There are options for defraying or deferring some of |
| cask strength as this minimises the number of bottles | | | | the costs involved: |
| that you get making it cheaper for bottling and requiring | | | | Syndicates |
| less storage space. The materials needed for a single | | | | Many people form a syndicate with family or friends. |
| malt presentation include: tall round clear bottle, | | | | This reduces the cost burden but of course you get |
| varnished wood topp stopper cork, gold coloured pure | | | | less of the whisky. This is not usually a problem as it |
| tin capsule and plain white outer cases. For private | | | | will take five years to get through one cask at a bottle |
| owners the use of a simple black and white label | | | | per week. A private syndicate who are not buying and |
| would be sufficient. On it would be your name, distillery | | | | selling can be treated in the same way as an individual |
| from which the cask originated and the cask details | | | | private owner and does not currently need to be |
| including date of fill, cask number, strength etc. If you | | | | registered with Customs & Excise. |
| plan to print your own be aware that labels printed on | | | | Bonded Storage |
| ink jet computer printers are likely to have the ink run if | | | | The majority of the expense when bottling is incurred |
| the whisky is spilled on the label. A colour laser printer | | | | in the form of duty and VAT which is also levied on |
| is however a very good option for short run label | | | | the duty. You can choose to store your bottled whisky |
| production. | | | | in a bonded warehouse. If you can locate one locally, |
| The typical hogshead cask will yield around 280 bottles | | | | and they are happy to support a private owner, then |
| at a strength close to 60% alcohol. If you were to | | | | you can store the whisky under bond and pay the |
| bottle at 40% this would entail the addition of around | | | | duty and VAT as and when you remove the goods |
| 120 litres of water and would require an extra 171 | | | | for use. You are likely to be charged pennies per case |
| bottles to contain the increased bulk volume. It would | | | | per week for bonded but please do confirm this with |
| also mean that the whisky would need to be chill | | | | your chosen warehouse in advance. |
| filtered to maintain it's clarity and brightness as the | | | | |