By LOUISE RHIND-TUTT
How Much Whiskey One Barrel Actually Holds, In Bottles
While there are no U.S. regulations that specify the size distillers must use, the American Standard Barrel, which holds around 53 gallons, is commonly used for aging whiskey.
Though it may seem like you could easily get just over 267 bottles of 750 millimeters each from a single American Standard Barrel, the calculation is not quite as straightforward.
Due to whiskey’s extensive aging process and factors like geographical location, evaporation, and bottling methods, the yield from a single barrel can vary from 200 to 300 bottles.
This is because, the longer the liquid is kept in the barrel, the more whiskey is lost to evaporation, at an approximate rate of around two percent for each year it ages.
How the whiskey is prepared for bottling also affects its volume. If it’s diluted with water or undergoes filtration, the alcohol by volume is lowered to around 40 to 46 percent.
This process means you can get more bottles from each barrel. Alternatively, if the whiskey is bottled without any dilution, fewer bottles will be produced from a single barrel.
Additionally, since an American Standard Barrel isn’t the only barrel that distillers use, the type and size of casks utilized for aging will greatly impact the final bottle yield.