Scotland and whisky go together like, well Laurel and Hardy or any other famous double act that you care to imagine, but the chances are that you have never heard of something called ‘The Angel’s Share’. This is one thing that every distillery is aware of, and it is all to do with the way in which whisky is left to mature in wooden casks for years.
As each year passes, there is a certain amount of whisky that seeps through the wood and evaporates. On average, 2% is lost each year, but it does vary depending on the type of cask that has been used for storage. Tradition states that as this whisky vanishes into the heavens, it then leads to a series of rather drunk angels, which is in itself quite a cool thing to think about. However, it is actually an important part of the entire whisky making process since the maturation stage helps to remove some of the more undesirable aspects of the whisky, leading to something that is certainly much easier to drink.
We should really thank the angels for taking all of the bad stuff for their own selves.