Does the Age of Whisky Matter?

Yes and no.

First of all, it’s important to understand how the age statement on a whisky works. The age on the bottle is the age of the youngest whisky that’s been used in the blend. If 99% of the whisky is 25 years old, but just 1% of three-year-old whisky is added, that bottle will legally need to be labelled as three years old.

A great example of this is the Compass Box 3 Year Old Deluxe Blended Malt whisky, which is around £400-£500. Who would spend that much on a three-year-old whisky?

The reality is that there’s less than 1% of three-year-old malt whisky in the bottle from a distillery “near the village of Brora”, and the rest is from a whisky of a “considerable age” from the same distillery. That’s why it’s over £400!

The Case Against Age

I’ve been really lucky to try some very old and rare whiskies through the podcast, like the Rosebank 32, Glengoyne 38, and Talisker 41. They’ve all been amazing drams.

But we also had the best example of age not working well when Fraser Souness talked about a cask sample he was given at Tamdhu Distillery.

It was a whisky that had been maturing for over 60 years. You can imagine his surprise when he described it as chewing on a mix of leather and soggy wood. This is a clear example of the whisky becoming ‘overcooked’ within the cask.

Whisky can spend too long in the cask. When we’ve spoken to blenders on the pod, they talk about the importance of managing the whisky and systematically checking samples to monitor the maturation process.

Each cask is different, and the whisky within it will mature in its own unique way. Meeghan Murdoch brought us in two Glenwyvis samples from two different casks that were lying beside each other in the warehouse, filled on the same day.

But both drams were completely different. This emphasises that each cask will have its own unique stamp on the flavour.

Why Age Matters

The maturation process does plenty of things. In most cases, the longer a whisky sits in a cask, the lower the alcohol by volume (ABV) will become, which can make it smoother to drink.

The longer it sits, the more time the flavours between the wood and the whisky have to marry together.

And of course, age usually reflects on the price. If a whisky has been maturing for decades, there’s a good chance a good whack of it has evaporated to the angels. This means there isn’t as much of it to go around, which makes higher-aged whiskies more expensive.

A well aged whisky can be full of flavour, smooth, complex and have an after taste that can last a long time.

But then again, so can a younger whisky…

The Best Younger Whiskies

As well as trying some great whiskies with high age statements, I’ve also enjoyed some amazing drams that are under 10 or 15 years old.

Most notably, the Tomatin 6 Year Old Virgin Oak distillery exclusive hand fill.

Ardnamurchan has only been distilling since 2014, and I’m struggling to find a bad whisky that they’ve released.

The Springbank 10 is a dram that people scramble to get their hands on, and it’s usually around £60 a bottle.

Then we can get into anomalies like the TB BSW Aged Over 6 blend by the Thompson Brothers. This is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t just look at the age on the front of the bottle.

A large amount of 12-year-old single malt was accidentally blended with a six-year-old blend. The youngest whisky in the mix was only six, so that’s what they had to put on the label.

In the end, age matters for pricing and marketing, but what really matters is the taste.

If you can see past the age on the front of the bottle, then get stuck in, because there are some amazing younger whiskies out there to be enjoyed.

Get more lessons from a whisky podcast that we’ve learned.