What is a distillers edition?

No, distillers edition is a series name that the distillery itself comes up with and that is not laid down in any law or regulation.

Legally protected are the category names on the bottle, such as Scotch whisky and single malt Scotch whisky. Anyone who puts that on a label must comply with the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009. An additional name above or below that category is free, as long as the buyer is not misled by it.

A brand owner therefore decides for itself what it classes as a distillers edition. In the Scottish range of seven distilleries, the name stands for a second maturation, but that is the brand’s choice and not a rule. The name also appears outside Scotland: of the 10 bottles with Distillers Edition on the label in Bathmen, one comes from Ireland.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 require a minimum of three years' maturation in oak casks of no more than 700 litres, in Scotland, and a minimum of 40 percent alcohol.

Almost nothing may be added. Only water and plain caramel as colouring are allowed, E number E150a. No sugar, no aroma, no alcohol from elsewhere.

Single malt also means that the whisky comes from a single distillery, made from malted barley and distilled in stills. Those requirements apply to every bottle of Scotch, including a bottle without an extra range name on the label.

In a second maturation, whisky that has spent years in its first cask is transferred to another cask, often one that previously held fortified wine.

The distilleries in the Scottish series work with casks of sherry, madeira, moscatel and fino. According to its own product page, Caol Ila uses moscatel casks of re-charred American oak, after a first maturation in American and European oak. At Lagavulin the whisky is transferred to casks that have held Pedro Ximenez.

Since 2019, the technical file of Scotch specifies which casks are permitted: new oak and casks that previously held wine, fortified wine, beer or spirits. Casks from stone-fruit wine or from drinks with added fruit, flavouring or sweetener are excluded. The result must retain the colour, flavour and aroma of Scotch.

A second cask gives the whisky renewed contact with wood and with the remnants of the drink that was previously in that wood.

Wood gives off substances to the whisky and at the same time removes substances from it. A cask that has held fortified wine also transfers wine from the wood. As a result the colour changes, usually to darker, and the mouthfeel changes.

How big the difference is depends on the duration of the second maturation, the size of the cask and how often that cask has been filled before. What a particular bottle does exactly is in our own tasting note or you will hear it at the counter. It cannot be deduced from the word on the label alone.

On many bottles in this series there are two years: the year in which the whisky was distilled and the year in which it was bottled.

The difference between those two years is the total time the whisky has lain in cask, first and second maturation added together. The series comes out per vintage: the 2022 bottling of Caol Ila is called the 2022 Distillers Edition by the distillery itself.

If there is only a bottling year and no age, the maturation time cannot be read from the label. The alcohol percentage is always given. In our selection with Distillers Edition on the label, it ranges from 40 to 45.8 percent.

Besides distillers edition, more words appear on whisky bottles without legal meaning, such as small batch, reserve, special release and finish.

Each of those words means whatever the distillery understands by it. Only the category, origin, minimum maturation time, minimum alcohol percentage and what may be added are fixed. Rules do apply to an age statement on the bottle, but not to a series name.

If you want to know what is in the bottle, look at the category, the alcohol percentage and, if the distillery mentions it, the cask type of the second maturation. The 10 bottles of Distillers Edition in Bathmen come from eight different distilleries, so the name says something about the series and nothing about a fixed style.