Whisky Casks Glossary

ABV or 'Alcohol By Volume' is expressed as a percentage. For example, a cask filled at 63.5% ABV contains liquid that is 63.5% pure alcohol and 36.5% of the liquid is water (and a few other bits and pieces) that are 0% alcohol.

In many international markets (including, for example, Latin America and India), 'admixture whisky' is a blend of locally produced spirit with a proportion of bulk grain or malt whisky from Scotland, or whisky from Canada, Ireland or the United States.

The AYS, or 'age of the youngest spirit', tells when the cask was filled with new make spirit, and in a blend or vatting it tells you the age of the youngest whisky in the cask.

Mammal with a large body with stocky legs, long snout, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, big paws with five non-retractile claws, and a short tail. In Wisgy 's Cask Broker Food Chain 'bears' represent the traditional old school cask brokers, a trophic level near the top of the cask broker pyramid.

With reference to Scotch whisky in particular: the process of mixing whisky from two or more casks. Blended Scotch Whisky is a blend of one or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies with one or more Single Grain Scotch Whiskies.

Whisky sold or traded in large quantities, and sometimes in large containers other than casks. Lions trade whisky in bulk. Most whisky is used for 'admixture' and 'blending'.

Bulk litres refers to the total amount of liquid in the cask. 

'It's more of a cask broker food web actually.'

The Cask Broker Pyramid is a model that depicts the structure of the cask brokering ecosystem in humorous metaphorical terms of the trophic levels of a food chain.

Decomposers (see 'Snails') occupy a unique role in the trophic structure of ecosystems. While not assigned a specific trophic level in the traditional sense, they break down dead organisms and organic waste from all other trophic levels, effectively recycling throughout the ecosystem. Decomposers don't fit neatly into the hierarchical structure of Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain but the decomposers represent the 'SCIVs' whose activity runs parallel to all other trophic levels.

A delivery order, or 'DO' is a transfer document that contains instructions for a warehouse to transfer casks from the ownership of one company to another.

A place where fermented raw materials are heated (’distilled’) to separate ethanol from water and other components.

‘Finishing’ means to take a whisky out of the cask it's in, and put it into a cask that previously held a different sort of alcoholic liquid (wine, liqueur, beer or spirit). This is done to give a whisky greater apparent maturity, or a unique selling point that can deliver premium pricing. (see ‘Re-racking’) 

A small to medium sized omnivorous mammal with a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail.  In Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain 'foxes' represent the brokers at the middle of the cask broker pyramid.

Independent bottlers are companies that buy casks from distilleries, brokers and individuals and then 'bottle' and sell them under their own brand labels.

A lion has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. In Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain 'lions' represent the distilleries, these apex predators are in the trophic level at the top of the cask broker pyramid.

The wild-living parakeet population is mostly concentrated in suburban areas of London and the Home Counties of South-East England. The parakeets breed rapidly and have spread beyond these areas; flocks have been sighted in other parts of Britain. Separate populations exist in and around other world cities. 

In Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain 'London Parakeets' represent the private investors, they are not represented in the cask broker pyramid. They compete with other species for whisky casks, further increasing competition and disrupting local ecosystems. The effect of competitive exclusion has not been extensively studied but there is concern amongst some observers that the rapidly growing parakeet population could have unforeseen environmental impacts.

Distillers describe spirit that runs off the stills, and has not yet been filled into casks for maturation, as 'new make'. Cask brokers refer to any distilled spirit that has not yet been aged in cask for over three years as 'new make'.

OLA or 'original litres of alcohol' tells you the original litres of pure alcohol as a volume.

When casks are traded in bulk, it is the total amount of OLA for the entire parcel of casks that is quoted.

The collective noun for casks of whisky (and rogues in a nation). 

The trade price is normally expressed as the 'price per OLA' (for young casks) and 'price per RLA' (for more mature casks).

See 'Cask Broker Pyramid'.

See  'Sheep'

See 'Foxes'

At any point between filling a cask and it being bottled, the cask will be re-gauged to establish its current fill level and alcohol strength.

‘Re-racking’ means to take a whisky out of the cask it's currently in and put it into a different cask. Normally this is done if there is a problem with the way the whisky is maturing in the original cask (see 'Finishing')

At a certain point before bottling, the cask will be re-gauged to establish its current fill level. The  RLA, or 're-gauged litres of alcohol' tells you the current amount of pure alcohol in that cask.

Speculative Cask Investment Vehicles appear to trade casks the same way as the Bear brokers, Fox brokers and Sheep brokers, but with a different purpose.

The Secret Cask Broker self identifies as a Fox in Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain.

A single malt whisky is a whisky made from malted barley from a single distillery. There are fixed regulations around what whisky can be called a 'single malt' in Scotland, enshrined in Scottish Law.

A single cask whisky has unique characteristics because it has been drawn from one individual cask. Not to be confused with vatted whisky.

The fictionalised names of three competing SCIVs referenced in an anecdote by The Secret Cask Broker.

A snail is a shelled gastropod with a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. 

Snails break down dead and decaying organic matter into smaller parts, helping to cycle nutrients back into the ecosystem. Snails are pests.

However, in Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain 'snails' represent the decomposers. See 'Decomposers' and 'SCIVs'.

See 'Bears'

If a cask of single malt has a ‘teaspoon’ of another single malt in it, it's technically a blended malt. For example, when a teaspoon of another whisky is added to Glenmorangie, it cannot be sold as ‘Glenmorangie’ to third parties. It is known as Westport blended malt whisky. It tastes exactly the same, so it’s got the same value for blending stock but does not damage the original brand’s intergrity if sold on the open market.  

A teaspooned whisky doesn't even need to be teaspooned at all as long as a distiller claims that there is a teaspoon of something else in it, it automatically becomes a 'blended malt' rather than a 'single malt'. (see 'Blending')

In Wisgy's Cask Broker Food Chain each trophic level represents a step in the cask broker pyramid ecosystem.

Vatting is a process where two or more casks are mixed together to make a vatted whisky. It is a widely used trade term. It’s use as a product descriptor was effectively outlawed by the Scotch Whisky regulations of 2009, and replaced by ‘blended’.

Casks of single malt Scotch whisky must be stored in a licensed bonded warehouse within Scotland.

WOWGR stands for 'Warehousekeepers and Owners of Warehoused Goods Regulations'. The regulations were established in 1999 and revoked in 2025. They were never necessary, and indeed created years of unforeseen problems. They were never properly understood by administrators, but often referenced by communicators as a shorthand  for sounding well versed in cask trading.