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Bottling Hall
Packaging

Bottling

The whisky can be bottled at the Distillery in our own bottling hall at the prevailing rates at that time - currently £30 a case of 12 bottles, which includes bottles, corks, capsules, basic label and cartons. The minimum bottling quantity is one third of the cask contents.

Join Malt Crusader, the Bruichladdich club, to learn how to taste with Jim McEwan and see film of First Edition tastings here.

Distillery Standard Practices
The Whisky will not be chill-filtered. This is a commercial process that all standard whiskies undergo to remove proteins that can cause a haze in the bottle. The removal of these proteins considerably reduces both the depth and `breadth` of flavour of the whisky. The whisky will be caramel free, the natural colour and will not be artificially adjusted.

Individual cask bottling
Each cask will be bottled separately to preserve the individuality and quality; casks will not be vatted together unless specifically requested.

Strength
We recommend bottling at 46% vol. - the lowest strength possible for whiskies that are not chill-filtered. Cask strength (around 60% vol.) is also possible according to taste and age, but fewer bottles will be obtained. Our Casks are filled at the true spirit safe strength of 70% straight from the still, and are not be diluted prior to filling, as is usual practice. 'Cask Strength' would therefore be higher than usually encountered.

Number of Bottles
This varies and is not exact, but for a hogshead, bottled at 46% vol., in 70cl bottles, after 10 years one would expect about 380 bottles; after 20 years about 290. At cask strength of say 60%, one would expect 300 70cl bottles after ten years and 190 after 20 years.

Labelling
For trademark purposes, one can not use the actual distillery label or bottle shape. However a personalised label can be provided  based on a general template. Should there be any special design requirements such as logos, colour, design work required then the owner of the cask would need to provide finished labels to a specification provided by ourselves. There are certain legal requirements that must be met, dependant on country. Advice can be given.

Further Warehousing
Bottled stocks can also be further stored under bond until required. Once bottled, the whisky can still be stored under bond and despatched in case quantities (minimum 12 bottles), paying duty, delivery and VAT only on what leaves the warehouse, thereby spreading the duty and VAT payments. Bottled stocks can also be further stored under bond until required; there is cased goods storage charge.