Whisky Myths: Does darker = older?
It sounds simple; the darker the colour, the longer it must’ve spent in the cask. But it just doesn’t work like that! Colour is not an indicator of age, so you cannot guess the age of a whisky by sight. How fast or slow a whisky takes on colour is purely down to the type of cask used and other environmental factors such as temperature. Spirit matured in a smaller cask, for example, will take on colour faster than that in a larger cask.
Whisky can so often seem wrapped up in rules. Sure, there are the regulatory ones (legit) but what about the rest? Who makes these rules, and should you feel bad for breaking them? We’re here to bust the myths and separate the simple mistakes from the marketing speak.