Bottling Flashcards
What is bottling?
It is the final stage in the whisky making process. It is where the product is prepared for sale to the public. It is a relatively simple process and is now mainly automated, although there are differences across the industry.
What does the whisky arrive at the bottling hall in? What happens to it once there?
In either bulk tankers or casks and will be transferred into a vat (tang) in the disgorging unit.
Prior to entering the vat, the whisky will go through a physical filtration process to remove solids such as char or small piecces of cask.
What is the “marrying” process?
It is where the whisky is given time in a vat to homogenise (become the same). This ensures there is no layering of strength and/or flavours.
In some operations the whisky will be left in the vat to “marry” but in othres it will go straight into the process.
What occurs on the bottling line?
The whisky, labels and closures (corks, metal tops) are added to the bottle.
The bottles are also placed in any additional packaging, such as boxes or sleeves.
What does quality control look for when analysing the final product?
- alcohol concentration
- colour of the whisky in bottle
- bottles
- caps
- labels
- packaging
What is cask strength?
When a whisky is bottled after maturation without the addition of water.
How is whisky reduced to bottling strength?
Deionised water is used to reduce the whisky to bottling strength, ensuring no flavours or taints are added. Various reducing strengths are used (look at different bottles to see the various strengths).
All whisky must be a min. of 40% ABV to legally be classed as Scotch.
When/why is caramel added to whisky?
This legally allowable additive is added in the bottling phase when the cask strength is reduced to bottling strength. This serves to improve/alter the colour to ensure colour constancy across product runs rather than adding additional colour.
What is flocculation or chill-haze?
When a whisky turns cloudy and deposits small white flakes over time during prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures.
This can occur when whisky is exposed to low temperatures in warehouses and during transportation.
Why is flocculation/chill-haze problematic?
It gives rise to concers about quality, despite being reversible when moved to a warmer temperature.
It was generally perceived that bright, clear whisky was better than any cloudy counterpart.
This was problematic for distillers, who regularly had to recall their product due to tis cloudiness or bottle at ever higher strengths to resist this naturally occurring process.
What is the explanation for the occurrance of flocculation/chill-haze?
It is due to larger molecules - such as long chain fatty acids and flavourful, fatty esters - coming out of suspension. The cloudy/milky appearance is due to alterations in either alcohol strength or sharply reduced temperatues.
Certain whiskies (especially cask strength expressions) can turn slightly cloudy when water or ice is added.
What is chill filtration?
A method whereby whisky is flash-chilled to between 0°C and -4°C to artificially induce precipitation of the fatty molecules into suspension, thus allowing physical removal by filtration through very fine filters.
What is the argument against chill-filtering?
It is the larger molecules that usually contribute flavour and mouthfeel to the whisky. It has been argued that removing these compounds can affect the taste and mouthfeel of the whisky.
However, recent studies have shown no sensory differences between chill and non-chill filtered samples… it is a hot topic of debate!
What type of whiskies are less susceptible to flocculation?
Blended whiskies, due to the grain whisky component.
However, they are almost univerally chill filtered for stability or visual purposes.
What type of distillers are more circumspect regarding chill filtration due to tconcerns about flavour loss?
Single malt distillers.
This has led to higher strenth variants such as cask strength at 46% ABV and above. Although these whiskies attract higher alcohol duty, they are better able to withstand extreme temperature changes since the higher strength successfuly retains the more flavourful esters in solution.
