How it's made

MALTING > MASHING > FERMENTATION > DISTILLATION > MATURATION

Step 5: Maturation

"Never tasted a bad drammie yet ...”

- Brucie Bartlett, Warehouseman

The whisky, at this stage colourless, is put into carefully selected oak casks for storage in bonded warehouses. Here, the whisky takes on qualities of colour and flavour. Towards the end of maturation, the whisky is transferred to sherry butts; this subtle use of sherry wood, the marrying process, adds a gentle hint of nuttiness to Tomatin single Highland malt.

Once the whisky is released from bonded warehouse, it is subject to tax.

Tomatin is one of the very few distilleries to retain its own cooperage, where our highly skilled craftsmen maintain the casks in perfect condition.

"I joined the distillery in 1975, and before that I’d served my apprenticeship on herring barrels. Now I’m passing on the craft of coopering to a new apprentice. We’re keen to show the youngsters the skills they need to carry the place on when we’re gone; after all, we come and go, but the whisky is timeless”

- Iain Duthie, Cooper

Before it can legally be called Scotch whisky, it must remain in the cask for a minimum of three years. At Tomatin, our whisky is left in the cask for a minimum of five years – if it is used for blending – but in the case of our single malt, for at least 12 years.

Because of the porous nature of the oak casks in which the whisky is stored, up to 2% is lost each year through evaporation. This is known as the angels’ share.

In addition to giving colour and flavour to the whisky, the mature casks lend a subtlety to the taste and generally soften the spirit over time.

We hope that this simple explanation of the whisky making process will have answered the immediate questions that you may have had. If there’s anything else you would like to know, please click here to our section on Frequently Asked Questions.