a question about Dunnage houses

Sanjit_Keskar · August 17 2017 at 3:15PM

Scotch whisky has to be legally aged for 3 years in oak barrels after distaillation

The maturation is done in bonded excise warehouses.

How does this work? Does this mean that the distilled whisky has to be taken elsewhere off premises to be matured or are the distillers maturing warehouses bonded areas by default

And where do dunnage houses fit into this discussion

Thanks

SanctTom · August 18 2017 at 4:40AM

@Sanjit_Keskar

The bonded warehouses can be either on the distillery site or, in most cases, they are somewhere else in Scotland.

The term dunnage warehouse refers to the method of storing the casks - in a dunnage warehouse the casks are stored lying, in most cases at a maximum heigt of 3 casks. Dunnage warehouses also often use earth or stone floors, which influence the room climate.

Try to find a picture via Google to see the differences between a dunnage warehouse and an industrial one!

Sanjit_Keskar · August 18 2017 at 5:16PM

So may I conclude that dunnage warehouses ARE bonded warehouses?

if they are on the distillers premises they are bonded to the Govt to enable payment of excise duty but such premises are owned by the distiller? - is this right

Warehouses can be leasedby distillers but are again bonded to the Govt for tax reasons - Is this right?

horst_s_2 · August 24 2017 at 9:36AM

@Sanjit_Keskar

Yes, the Dunnage warehouses are bonded too. In former times all warehouses were from the Dunnage type and of course on premise.

With the time and rising production distillers added more and more warehouses until the area was really full. When distilleries were bought together to form bigger conglomerates, companies started to move casks into much bigger (higher) and therefore cheaper warehouses.

Today most of the distilleries have warehouses on site and the really big ones store their casks at the warehouses of the corporate headquarters. (Please scroll to the photos after the sign Blackgrange Bond). This the area where the biggest corporate bonds are. Search on maps for the Cambus Distillery.

Today only very few Dunnage warehouses are kept, because they are quite inefficient.