Why do we seek out old bottled whisky?

Greeting!

For some people, current commercially-sold whiskies are enough. Most often, the production methods or recipes of such brands are not disclosed to the public, and people simply purchase without ever learning that there are varieties that perform better for the same price!

At Antique Liquor, we believe that “enough” should never be the case. Our well-founded opinion, derived from years of research and experience, inevitably leads us to introduce old bottles (old whiskies) that had been circulated in the good old days.

Antique Liquor presents handpicked superior-tasting whiskies that can outperform regular ones on average, and the following are our reasons for choosing them:

 

1. Changes in the Varieties of Barley: the Disappearing Golden Promise

Traditional whisky is made from nothing but barley and water, with the aid of Mother Nature herself! To be precise, barley is saccharified, and then alcohol fermentation takes place using yeast.

Without doubt, the process makes barley the most important ingredient in whisky production. This knowledge made previous generations, beginning from before the 19th century, to continually select and improve varieties of barley, until the 1960s, when the best barley, known as Golden Promise, was introduced. Golden Promise became a very popular variety because it was more efficient at producing alcohol through alcoholic fermentation than those others used prior to 1980, and was well-suited to producing high quality whisky with good flavor.

Golden Promise was used between 1968 and 1980, and although it was not exactly known how much of the whiskies produced within this period was made from Golden Promise, it was one of the factors that made that moment the “Golden Age of Whisky.”

Unfortunately, Golden Promise began to disappear rapidly after 1980. Many distilleries started to move towards a more mass-productive system, pushing the industry to use other varieties with even higher alcohol production efficiency. Golden Promise was simply not suitable for that requirement. With more yield from newer species of barley came, however, a gradual decline in the quality of whiskies distilled in the 1980s onwards. Against this background, whiskies distilled and casked before the 1970s were on average of better quality.

These days, whiskies made with Golden Promise are deemed special, and have become so rare and precious that they command a very high premium on the resale market.

＜Barley varieties used in Scotch whisky production in different periods and the evolution of alcohol production.＞

2. The Successive Discontinuation of Traditional Floor Malting

The second reason old bottle whisky tastes better than current ones is, above all, floor malting. When Scotch malt whisky is made, the traditional whisky process is applied, wherein barley is first saccharified before alcohol fermentation using yeast takes place. The difference is that barley is germinated into ‘malted barley’ so that the starch saccharification of the barley can proceed properly, and this is called the malting process.

During the malting process, barley is first soaked in water for several days, then taken out and spread on the floor, or bed. Next, a specialist called a ‘maltman’ stirs the barley with a shovel to ensure that its overall moisture content remains constant, and that the malting process is consistent. They help to ensure that the small shoots and roots growing out of the barley do not become entangled, and are transformed into a homogeneous malt. Malting alone requires at least several years of training and is not just a matter of stirring the barley with a shovel, but a skill that only a craftsman can have. It is said that this process controls the degree of drying and malting of the barley, and creates the hidden flavor of the spirit (the original spirit before it is matured in whisky casks) that is produced later.

However, floor malting is not suitable for mass production, and it is not easy to maintain a consistent quality of whisky (a quality that retains the unique ‘character’ of each distillery). Above all, the process requires a huge amount of labor. In recent years, mechanical malting, such as drum malting, has become more common. Hence, there are inevitably differences in flavor between old bottled whisky and current ones.

Representative distilleries that have maintained floor malting even partly to this day include Springbank, Laphroaig, Kilchoman, Highland Park, Bowmore and Benriach. These are the major distilleries that are still popular.

3. Depletion of High Quality Casks

When the spirit made from barley is matured in casks, sherry casks that we know and love, or oak casks where other types of alcohol, such as bourbon, cognac and rum were aged, are used. In the good old days, Old Bottle whisky was matured in good oak casks that had accumulated various delicious wines and spirits for sale. Oak casks that used to contain various beautiful wines and spirits, such as sherry wine and cognac, would absorb their previous contents. Maturing whisky in such oak casks is said to often result in a richly aromatic, high-quality whisky. However, these days, it is almost impossible to find such good quality casks due to relevant laws and the supply-demand balance in the market. This is the main reason for the difference in quality between old-bottle whisky and current ones.

Sherry casks, especially those used for the most popular sherry whiskies these days, are often not really the oak casks that used to hold sherry wine, but are rather similar sherry casks that have been temporarily filled with cheap sherry whisky or coated with sherry wine in a toasted oak cask. This is the reality. These differences also make a big gap between old bottle whisky and current products. Old sherry whisky seems to be less cloying, more floral, and more balanced than contemporary ones.

Finally, the oak casks themselves, which, in the past, were made of well-grown, high-quality wood, and were dried for a very long time, are now made of wood with minimal specifications and processing. In some places this is not the case, but there seems to be a major trend forcing them to do so. It is said that these differences affect the vanilla and other flavors of the whisky, making it relatively messy. Lower quality casks require strong peat or the creation of very high levels of alcohol, or a longer ageing to remedy this messiness. However, to create a delicate and complex balance is difficult to maintain. These reasons seem to make a great difference between old bottle whisky and current products.

 

4.The Changing Connotations of Whisky Ageing Age Designations

The picture above shows a 12-year (OVER) matured whisky from the single malt whisky Linkwood, bottled and distributed in the 1970s and early 1980s. Does it mean this whisky was aged for exactly 12 years? The answer is “NO.” The 12-year designation is a number that guarantees that the ‘minimum age of the original whisky is at least 12 years old, and means nothing more than that. In other words, sometimes whisky is made by blending whisky originals that have been matured for more than 12 years in order to improve the taste of the whisky. This was possible around the 1980s, when whisky was not as popular as it is now. It was fairly common then. The first oil shock in the early 1970s, the second oil shock in the late 1970s and the temporary sharp decline in whisky production and consumption due to the global recession probably had an influence on the large amount of long-aged whisky bottles that were unavoidably created.

If 18- and 30-year-old whiskies are mixed, why is the blend labeled “12-year-old” and not “18- and 30-year-old” whisky? The second name could have been nonsensical! Some people may ask, ‘Why 12 years?’ The reason is simple: the aim of whisky with a 12-year age designation and that with an 18-year are different. A whisky of 12 years can be mixed with an 18-year-old whisky to create the right balance, while another whisky can be mixed only with whiskies older than 18 years to create a different, more profound character.

In the case of Old Bottle whisky, this whisky, even though marked as 12 years old, does not mean it is actually 12 years old, but rather ‘a single malt whisky mixed with whiskies aged for at least 12 years. In short, the average ageing period of all that were mixed is longer than 12 years. However, in modern times, with the rising cost of whisky production - from barley to fuel and bottles - and the shortage of aged whisky stock, whisky can no longer be made in the old, fat way: whisky labeled “12 year old” is made from stock that is thought to have been aged for at least 12 years, but is actually ‘almost 12-year-old whisky’. We are now in an era where the whisky is ONLY almost “12-year-old whisky”.

In the end, we believe that old bottle whisky is often actually matured longer than the stated age and is often more complete than the current ones.

 

5. The Effects of Old Bottle Ageing of Whisky

Scotch whisky is made at a minimum of 40%, but due to its high alcohol content, whisky does not age well after bottling. Therefore, no matter how old the bottling date of an old bottle whisky is, the age of the whisky does not increase after bottling. For example, just because a whisky was bottled in 1980 as a 10-year-old whisky does not mean that it will be a 43-year old whisky as of 2023.

However, based on our experience and the opinions of senior whisky aficionados, Antique Liquor believes that whisky will continue to age slowly after bottling, albeit differently from oak cask ageing. The ingredients that influence the whisky's aroma are said to gradually increase during the long bottling period, although they no longer interwork with the oak casks. And, in our near-delusional estimation, the molecular structure of the whisky would be firmly stabilized over a longer period of time after bottling, which could improve the balance and harmony of the aroma. Whatever the reason, old bottled whisky is often, until the last drop, rated higher than current products in terms of taste, aroma and balance.

 

6. Nostalgic Sensibility and the Unique Aroma of Old Bottle Whisky

Finally, there is probably a nostalgic sensibility that only old bottled whisky can offer. One might say that this is an illogical reason after all, but we at Antique Liquor believe that alcohol, food and artwork are all in the realm of sensibility, and are works of art that can be enjoyed, including their history. Old Bottle whisky brings back the time when a certain whisky was made, and how the historical stories and environment surrounding the whisky of that time-- from its conception to the number of years it spent after having been bottled-- have led to this glass of whisky someone is drinking now. We think it is a lot of fun recounting this. Sensibility is one of the most important factors in enjoying the culture of whisky, isn't it? Antique Liquor likes to think of it as a situation where many people who enjoy old bottle whisky are also enjoying this perspective, and are paying a lot of money for it because they are addicted to this kind of appeal and feel that it is worth it.

And if Antique Liquor were to talk about something a little more substantive from that realm of sensibility, we would say that there is a ‘unique aroma of old whisky’ that distinguishes old bottle whiskies. It is something that can be described as a deep and one-of-a-kind aroma, although it can be likened to things that are not food, such as old bookshelves, wardrobes, wet newspapers and cardboard boxes. In this way, old bottle whisky has another aroma that is unique to old whisky, which is not present in the current product, and which also overlaps and merges with the aromas of sherry, peat and malt, complicating the whisky's aroma. Whisky is a drink that enjoys the balance of this complexity as a whole. From this point of view, Antique Liquor thinks that old bottle whisky is deeper than the current product and is good to enjoy slowly.

 

7. Summary

This text was not written to help people understand the values of us who like and enjoy old whisky, nor to illuminate people who do not understand our expensive hobby. It is just that this article has been written with the desire to make the precious and delicious Old Bottle whisky, which will be increasingly rare to drink in the future, available to a wider range of people.

One may think that old bottle whisky is expensive at first glance, but if they look for good whisky without being preoccupied with the number of years, old bottle whisky has a surprisingly good cost performance. Antique Liquor hopes to introduce more and more of such valuable and cost-effective old bottle whiskies.