Six casks, from fifty litres to five hundred.
Three sizes of American oak, one first fill, one rebuilt hogshead and a European oak butt that used to hold sherry. They differ in wood, in volume and in how long they get. They do not differ in the terms, which are identical across all six.
What is available.
The Octave
Fifty litres, five years, and the fastest maturation on the list because a small cask is nearly all surface. It…
The Quarter
A hundred and twenty-five litres of first-fill American oak, given six years. The quarter is the size most people should…
The Barrel
Two hundred litres in a refill ex-bourbon barrel, eight years. This is the workhorse of the industry and the cheapest…
The First Fill
The same two hundred litres, but the barrel has held bourbon once and nothing since, and it gets ten years…
The Hogshead
Two hundred and fifty litres in a hogshead — a barrel taken apart, given extra staves and a bigger head,…
The Oloroso Butt
Five hundred litres of European oak that spent its previous life holding oloroso sherry in Jerez, and twelve years to…
Everything, in one table.
| Cask | Wood | Litres | Years | Outturn | Bottles | Price | Per bottle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Octave | Refill American oak | 50 L | 5 | 40.8 L at 59.5% | ≈23 | £1,250 | £54.35 |
| The Quarter | First-fill American oak | 125 L | 6 | 102.8 L at 58.5% | ≈59 | £2,650 | £44.92 |
| The Barrel | Refill ex-bourbon | 200 L | 8 | 159.4 L at 56.5% | ≈114 | £3,400 | £29.82 |
| The First Fill | First-fill ex-bourbon | 200 L | 10 | 149.0 L at 55.0% | ≈139 | £4,250 | £30.58 |
| The Hogshead | Rebuilt refill hogshead | 250 L | 8 | 200.8 L at 56.5% | ≈141 | £3,950 | £28.01 |
| The Oloroso Butt | Ex-oloroso European oak | 500 L | 12 | 373.6 L at 53.0% | ≈371 | £7,850 | £21.16 |
The terms, which are the same for all six.
The spirit
- Distilled from
- Malted barley grown on this farm and floor-malted within the sixteen miles
- Filled at
- 63.5% ABV, which is where new-make goes into wood
- Cask size cap
- 700 litresThe legal ceiling for anything that wants to be called whisky in the UK
- Minimum in wood
- Three yearsBelow that it is new-make spirit, and it has to say so on the label
Where it lies
- Warehouse
- A stone barn on the estate, approved by HMRC as an excise warehouse
- Regime
- Duty suspension until the day it leavesNothing is payable while it sits there
- Racking
- Dunnage, three casks high, on the earth floor
- Insurance
- Included for the whole window, at replacement value of the spirit
- Storage
- Included in the price. There is no annual bill and there never will be
What comes out
- Bottled at
- 46% ABV, 700mlNever chill-filtered, never coloured
- Regauge
- Volume and strength measured by the warehousekeeper before bottling
- Labels
- Your cask number, the fill date, the outturn date and the bottle number
- Delivered as
- Bottles. Never money, under any circumstances
Storage and insurance are included for the whole window. If we have quoted you an annual storage charge somewhere, it is a mistake, and the mistake is ours.
The trade-off, stated once.
A bigger cask gives you more bottles for less money each. A better cask gives you fewer bottles for more money each. Both statements are true at the same time.
Not an investment
Maturing is a fixed-price forward purchase of a numbered cask of spirit, delivered to you as bottles. There is no cash return, no profit share, no buy-back, no valuation and no secondary market. It is the same structure as Plotting and it is held to the same line. Plotting is a fixed-price forward purchase of produce, delivered in kind. It is not an investment, there is no cash return, no profit share, and no secondary market. We are emphatic about this because the alternative — paying people a cash share of a harvest they had no hand in managing — is an unauthorised collective investment scheme under section 235 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and a criminal offence.
Age restricted
Eighteen and over. We card at checkout and again at the door.
Insured
For the whole window, at replacement value.
Storage included
No annual bill, for the entire term.
No valuation
We do not produce one and will not be drawn into producing one.
What the angels take.
Between two and four per cent a year, and the arithmetic is not gentle.
