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5 finishes – what’s your favourite whisky cask finish? Rum, wine or brandy?
Oct
A whisky finished in another spirit’s cask can create a wonderful marriage of disparate flavours – but only if done correctly. Here are five cask finish releases that we love
Whisky finishing is a true dark art – it involves placing so much trust in two or more casks and predicting how they might interact. Some of the most-loved finishing casks are also some of the most dramatic and unpredictable – rum, for example, can create delicate and favour-packed layers, but it can also totally overrun the flavour of whisky it meets.
Similarly, with wine casks, the interaction of wine and whisky does not always make good bedfellows. Add to that the unfortunate attempt by some distillers to hide their mistakes behind a curtain of a sherry cask finish and you suddenly can’t trust one cask finish over another.
Here are five whiskies of varying ages and finishes from our shelves that we think you can definitely trust. Each of them creates something distinctly fresh in its market.
Rum – Talisker 8 Special Releases 2020
For a change, when Diageo launched its 2020 Special Releases series, the youngest bottling caught the attention of fans.
Despite the presence of two 30-year-old single malts in the 2020 lineup, it was the 8-year-old Talisker that turned heads. And why? For the first time, the Islay distillery used Caribbean rum casks to cask finish their ocean-fuelled peaty malt.
Talisker is well known for its command of big flavours, so knitting a layer of rum into the equation is intriguing. Rum is, of course, all about the molasses, chocolate, vanilla, dark sugar and coffee notes it imparts. And Talisker is all about sea salt, peat, burnt embers and heavy fruit.
Is it a match? We certainly think so. The clash of cultures marries beautifully in this cask-strength single malt, putting a distinct burnt sugar and heavy viscosity on the malt – a wonderfully exotic pour from one of Scotland’s most famous islands.
Moscatel – Caol Ila Distiller’s Edition 2022
Caol Ila has long grown into a confident and singular distillery from its home base on Islay. It reaches out into the whisky world in search of new flavour combinations to lift and complement its smoky personality. For this distinctive bottling, it looked to Spain and the Moscatel-producing region for a suitor for its single malt.
Moscatel is a naturally sweet wine from Spain. It is harvested late in the season when the grapes are plump and mature. The grapes are then left to dry in the sun so the sugars ripen even more. These sun-ripened grapes produce a gold-coloured wine with tons of flavour, an unmistakable floral aroma, and a distinct personality.
It’s a delicate and flavour-packed marriage as the Moscatel-seasoned cask finish imparts its wisdom on the already bourbon-casked malt — a superb double casking.
Marsala – Boann Single Pot Still
Boann is a young Irish distillery, and this bottle is one of a trio of its first core range series. It’s a single pot still, not a single malt, which means that they can use a mixed mash bill rather than solely the malted barley that Scotch single malts are built on.
This bottle is made from a mash of malted and unmalted barley, as well as small components of oats and rye. Unmalted barley (or green barley) brings a distinct level of spice, creaminess, and black pepper that would be absent without it. The oats and rye then impart complexity and smoothness within that.
Finished for around 12 months in a Marsala cask, this young, non-age statement whiskey is wrapped in a cloak of sweetness and dark fruits from this Italian fortified wine. Bottled at 47%.
Tokaji – Athrú Keshcorran 14
Trilogies make excellent collectibles and this 14-year-old triple-distilled single malt from Lough Gill Distillery in Ireland’s Co Sligo proves the case. The team at Lough Gill borrowed an old favourite of the crowned palaces of Europe, Hungarian Tokaji wine, when they set out to add a touch of distinction to Athrú Keshcorran, the third in their trilogy of cask finish single malts. The third release in the Creation Trilogy was aged for 14 years: 11 in ex-Bourbon and a further three in Tokaji casks.
Hungarian Tokaji is a golden dessert wine and is considered a king among its peers. It adds rich, sweet, gentle spice and fruit flavours to the layers of this fine single malt. The renowned master blender overseeing it all, Scotsman Billy Walker, has plenty of experience with the magic that Tokaji can bring to a whiskey. He’s worked with these casks on several of his Scotch bottlings with fantastic results.
This is a triple-distilled single malt that is bottled at 48%, which isn’t cask strength but not far off. A tiny drop of water will open it up beautifully.
Cognac – Glenmorangie 13 Cognac Cask
This superb cognac-finished single malt from Glenmorangie results from extensive testing and experimentation. Its maker, Dr Bill Lumsden, was reportedly never pleased with the way Cognac interacts with the distillery’s extra fruity single malt.
For this bottling he moved away from first-fill barrels, choosing barrels that had been filled a number of times, thus allowing the cognac to have a gentler, more subtle impact on the whisky. However, with a four-year finish on top of an eight-year initial maturation in ex-bourbon, the cognac component is deeply embedded in the release.
The cognac is elegant and refined, with notes of apple, plums, and leather introduced to the Glenmorangie personality of almonds, cloves, and deeply fruity whisky. It’s a wonderful combination, and it’s bottled at 46%.
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