Single barrel whiskey (or single cask whiskey) is a premium class of
whiskey
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
in which each bottle comes from an individual aging
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
, instead of coming from blending together the contents of various barrels to provide uniformity of color and taste. By contrast, some other whiskeys, even ones that are not blends, may be combined from more than one batch, or even from differing years to achieve consistency. The whiskey from each barrel is bottled separately, with each bottle bearing the barrel number and in most cases the dates for the beginning and end of aging. Each barrel is believed to contribute unique characteristics to the finished whiskey.
There has been some recent controversy over whether single cask whiskeys are indeed all from single casks. Whiskeys sold by Scottish distilleries such as Ben Nevis and GlenDronach as "single casks" have been revealed to be vattings of multiple barrels, which may have been of different kinds, with the "single cask" designation referring only to the final cask for maturation. In the absence of specific regulation regarding this language, it is not clear to what extent this practice is prevalent in the industry as a whole.
Single barrels may further be at
cask strength
Cask strength (also known as barrel proof/barrel strength) is a term used by whiskey (often spelled "whisky" outside of Ireland and the United States) and rum producers to describe a whiskey or rum that has not been substantially diluted after it ...
or non-
chill-filtered
Chill filtering is a method in whisky making for removing residue. In chill filtering, whisky is cooled to between and passed through a fine adsorption filter. This is done mostly for cosmetic reasons — to remove cloudiness — howev ...
to further avoid adulterating the taste of a cask.
Brands
The following is a list of some single barrel whiskeys:
Scotch
*
Balvenie
The Balvenie distillery is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Dufftown, Scotland, owned by William Grant & Sons.
History
William Grant was born on 19 December 1839 in his father's house in Dufftown. At seven he began herdi ...
(has released several single cask bottlings of single malt
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial dist ...
Scotch Malt Whisky Society
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), founded in Edinburgh in 1983, is a membership organisation which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 170 malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and ...
North American
*
Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery is a distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, owned by the Sazerac Company. It has historically been known by several names, including the George T. Stagg Distillery and the Old Fashioned Copper (O.F.C.) Distillery. Its namesak ...
(a
Sazerac Company
Sazerac Company, Inc is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans ( , ,Blanton's (a single barrel Bourbon)
** Eagle Rare (a Bourbon brand which has 10- and 17-year single barrel expressions)
** Rock Hill Farms (a single barrel bourbon)
* Heaven Hill
**
Elijah Craig
Elijah Craig (November 15, 1738 – May 18, 1808) was an American Baptist preacher, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously, ...
(a bourbon brand which has multiple single barrel expressions)
** Evan Williams (a single barrel
vintage
Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In cer ...
Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee whiskey is straight whiskey produced in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements, most current producers of Tennessee whiskey disclaim references to ...
)
** Jack Daniel's Silver Select (available at
duty-free shop
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...
s)
*
Jim Beam
Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have ...
Willett Pot Still Reserve
Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon is brand of a bourbon whiskey produced in Bardstown, Kentucky by the Willett Distillery. (also see reply comment by Drew Kulsveen, January 22, 2008, and additional replies by others). It is a Kentucky straight b ...
Bottled in bond
Bottled in bond is a label for an American-made distilled beverage that has been aged and bottled according to a set of legal regulations contained in the United States government's Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, as originally laid ...
*
Single malt whisky
Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery.
Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch, though they are also produced in various other countries. Under the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Regulations, a "S ...
Outline of whisky
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to whisky:
Whisky (also spelled whiskey) is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are us ...