It’s been said that up to 70 percent of whisky’s character develops during aging. On top of the length of aging, Cask in which whisky is aged also plays an important role. Type of oak (European vs American), cask treatment process (charred vs toasted), cask seasoning (virgin vs filled by other types of alcohol beforehand), volume of the cask and the number of times the cask is used to age whisky are among the most important factors. Warehouse condition in which the cask is stored also has a vital influence.
What add to the complexity is that even casks of the same type, filled with the same batch and aged similarly in a single warehouse, don’t exert an identical influence. This is a result of oak as a natural product and different sections of the tree can influence the final result differently.
There is a minimum aging period for some categories of whisky products (For example three years for Scotch). In 1890, Canadian government introduced a two year aging period as a minimum requirement. This is later changed to three year minimum. It is proven that rate of development is much faster in the first three years of aging.
Aging process is not always continual which means at certain periods of aging, various elements are more competing. Malt whisky usually experience this period usually around 18th or 24th month of aging.
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