介紹：Charlie MacLean是最著名的威士忌作家之一。 自1983年成立以來，他一直參與SMWS（蘇格蘭麥芽威士忌協會），並自1992年以來在品酒小組中佔有一席之地。
How to Read a Whisky Label ?
by Charlie MacLean
1.The Title
The first thing is very obvious, is the title, the name of the whisky.
首先，最明顯不過的就是標題了，即威士忌的名字。
Being single malts, they come from an individual distillery.
只要是單一麥芽威士忌，它們就會產自一個獨立的釀酒廠。
So it tells you where it comes from, what distillery it comes from, what region it comes from.
所以酒標上會告訴你威士忌來自哪裡，產自哪個酒廠、哪個地區。
The label will also tell you where that distillery is located, what style of malt whisky it is.
酒標上會告訴你該釀酒廠的位置，以及這款麥芽威士忌的風格。
2.The Volume
By law, it has to tell you the volume, the capacity of the bottle. Usually typically it’s 70cl, in some markets 75cl.
根據法律規定，酒標上必須註明
容量，即酒瓶內威士忌的容量。最常見的是700ml，在某些市場上是750ml。In the European Union, it has to be 70cl now.
流通於歐盟的威士忌，酒的容量必須是70cl。
3.The Strength
And it tells you the strength, 40% and 43% are standard bottling strengths.
酒標上還會註明每瓶酒的酒精濃度，40％和43％都是標準的裝瓶強度。
In some cases, the whisky is bottled at higher strength, so called cask strength.
在某些情況下，威士忌會以更高的酒精濃度裝瓶，這就是所謂的原桶強度。
Although cask strength is not actually defined in law, but where the whisky might be bottled in 58%, 62% whatever.
雖然法律上沒有明確定義原桶強度，但威士忌能夠以58％或62％等濃度裝瓶。
That is an indication that it has been bottled straight from the cask.
這種高濃度表明威士忌是從桶中直接裝瓶的。
4.The Bottler
It says by law, it has to say:‘ distilled and bottled in Scotland’. By law nowadays in the new regulations, malt whisky must be bottled in Scotland.
接著，我想要指出的是裝瓶商。按照法律規定，酒標上必須標註：在蘇格蘭蒸餾和裝瓶。根據法律的新規定，麥芽威士忌必須在蘇格蘭裝瓶。
5.The Age Statement
And then the final thing is the age statement. That is the age of the youngest component whisky.
最後的一點是陳年時間。酒標上標示的年限通常指的是最年輕基酒在橡木桶中的陳年時間。
So each of these single malts will be mixtures of a number of casks.
事實上，每種單一麥芽威士忌中都有可能混合了多個桶的威士忌。
But the age 18 is the youngest cask. So you mean they can put a 25 year old Bowmore into this one. Probably wouldn’t, they could do. But they cannot put any cask under 18 if it’s bearing an 18-year-old age statement.
（舉波摩18年為例）但18年威士忌一定是基酒中最年輕的。也就是說生產商可以把25年的波摩加進這款酒。他們不一定會這麼做，但做了也是合法的。如果這瓶酒裡面混合了一種低於18年的酒，酒標上的陳年時間就不能標示18年了。
祝大家週末愉快！
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