First time actor Paul Brannigan was, like his character, a former prison inmate. He met Paul Laverty when the screenwriter was visiting various youth centers to get an idea of how young people in Scotland felt and spoke.
Ken Loach's 11th film in 31 years to compete at the Cannes Film Festival. (Loach won the Jury Prize for The Angels' Share (2012).)
Paul Brannigan very nearly didn't appear in the film as he failed to turn up to the first casting session. Brannigan was going through a lot of personal issues at the time and eventually came on board after writer Paul Laverty tracked him down.
Charles MacLean, the whisky expert, is the genuine article and the only one of the cast to see the script in its entirety.
The title refers to an expression that describes the portion of a whisky's volume that is lost to evaporation during the ageing process.