Fettercairn

[jsrnephdoc]

Whisky is a curious comodity.

Age is seldom a reliable guide to quality, and price usually reflects the distillery's decade or two of storing casks which sees a loss of spirit in the form of the angels' share.

Apart from the single cask offerings, most single malt whiskies are something of a blend (albeit an in-house mix of good stuff) and the age given is the youngest spirit used. The distilleries have their craft down to a fine art, but they readily acknowledge that few spirits improve to any great degree after 12 or 15 years.

The "angels share?"

My guess is that refers to evaporation of ethanol through the walls of the cask or its closure.

But the thrust of your message is that really NOTHING separates well-made whisky aged 10-20 years from that held in casks for 20-50 years except the bravado that comes from opening the bottle in public and proclaiming (silently or contemptuously) "look at ME; I can afford this!"

Shades of Ozmandius, or the Emperor's New Clothes!