Whisky Scotch whiskies are generally distilled twice, although some are distilled a third time and others even up to twenty times. Scotch Whisky Regulations require anything bearing the label "Scotch" to be distilled in Scotland and matured for a minimum of three years in oak casks, among other, more specific criteria. Any age statement on the bottle, in the form of a number, must reflect the age of the youngest Scotch whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed age whisky. Scotch whisky without an age statement may, by law, be as young
Scotch Malt Whisky Society distillery and second the individual cask from which the bottle was taken. For example, 2.35 represents the 35th cask acquired from distillery number two. Society bottlings are always referred to using this numerical code, rather than by the distillery name, as individual casks are unique and, therefore, may not be representative of the whisky produced by that distillery for ordinary retail. The number of bottles available from each outturn of a cask can vary – but single casks by their very nature only produce a limited amount of whisky so, more often than not, there is only a small number