Alcoholic strength is listed in most countries. Typically, whisky is between 40% and 46% abv. A lower alcohol content may indicate an “economy” whisky or local law. If the bottle is over 50% abv it is probably cask strength.
Age is sometimes listed as well. For example, if a bottle is labelled as 12 years old the youngest whisky in the bottle has been matured in cask for at least 12 years before bottling. A year on a bottle normally indicates the year of distillation and one cask bottling, so the year the whisky was bottled may be listed as well. Whisky does not mature once bottled, so the age is the difference between these two dates; if both dates are not shown the age cannot be known from the bottle alone.
