Although age statements on a bottle of whisky are generally optional, the meaning of an age statement carries no room for debate: it always reflects the age of the youngest aged whisky component in the bottle. So, if a specific whisky is comprised of barrels that have aged 6, 8 and 12 years, the age statement must be 6 years. There are times when an age statement is mandated by government regulations. For example, the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) requires American distilleries to disclose when a whisky is aged under four years.
Age statements were initially instituted to convey quality (and eventually exclusivity as a marketing strategy), but today’s whisky distillers and consumers are increasingly aware of the fact that aging from one country’s climate to another’s can be widely different. A whisky aged 50 years in the relatively consistent climate of Scotland might only lose 1% of its volume in a year, where a barrel of Bourbon aging in Kentucky, or a single malt aging in Virginia could very well be bone dry after 35 years. The color, aromas and flavors achieved in one year of aging whisky in Taiwan or Virginia could easily meet or exceed those achieved in three times that length in Scotland or Ireland. India has such an arid aging climate that a barrel of whisky could evaporate within just a few short years.
Cask finishing an already aged whisky does not count toward an age statement, even though evaporation and loss may still occur in these barrels. Whisky does not age in bottle, so a 12-year-old Scotch bottled in 1987 will still be a 12-year-old whisky if it’s opened today.