Cask Strength Bottling
While the majority of whisky bottled by distillers is watered down to about 40% abv, some whiskies are bottled at cask strength.
These whiskies are usually produced for the upper premium market category, as cask strength whisky is more expensive to produce and less palatable to casual consumers than diluted whisky. Such whiskies are usually older as well, as the whisky develops flavors coming from the long marriage of cask and liquor, to the extent that substantial aging is demanded by the more sophisticated premium-market consumers.
Sometimes bottlers dilute even cask strength bottling, but to a lesser degree, such as to 60% abv. This avoids the need to reprint the labels – which, in some jurisdictions such as the EU, must state the exact alcohol level – due to different barrels containing whisky at different strengths.
Read more about this topic: Cask Strength
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