Whisky casks – all you need to know

It’s agreed that whisky gets much of its flavour from the wood it’s aged in. Many different types are used, but what do they add? This was the subject of a recent shop tasting hosted by senior assistant manager Chris Bolton. Here the key points about whisky maturation:

• the number of times the cask has been used – the more times, the less flavour will be imparted,
• the size of the cask – the greater the surface-area-to-volume ratio, the more flavour the whisky will get,
• the length of time in the cask – more time means more flavour extraction,
• the intensity...