Taste the difference: how to identify whiskey finishes in rum, wine and PX sherry

It all started with sherry casks, but finishing whisky is now an international sport – here are three bottles from our shelves that illustrate just why it’s all so popular

A tasting becomes even more interesting when you can identify the flavour components that make up a whisky. With the majority of whiskies matured in ex-bourbon casks, it’s usually the finishes that make it that little bit harder to identify.

Here’s our guide to spotting the major flavour components of some of our favourite finishes:

PEDRO XIMÉNEZ FINISHES: Redbreast PX

PX is considered the sweetest of all the sherry types. It’s intensely sugared and often referred to as a dessert wine. Married with an Irish whiskey as flavour-packed as Redbreast was a great addition to the family lineup when it launched back in 2021. Redbreast is a muscular pour and easily carries new flavours and textures on its traditional bourbon and sherry DNA. Consequently, the brand continues to expand its range, with 11 bottlings now available in the Redbreast family.

This PX edition is incredibly collectable (and drinkable). It’s a triple-distilled, single pot still, bottled at 46% and matured in bourbon and oloroso casks before a 12-month-plus period in Pedro Ximenez (PX) hogsheads.

It’s this re-casking in PX that delivers the ultra-sweet and treacle-flavoured finish of the Redbreast PX edition. Wrapped in the spice of the single pot still and the complex layers of Redbreast itself, this whiskey has arrived at a destination that is decidedly new yet entirely Redbreast.

Primary flavours: When tasting a sherry-finished whiskey, look out for the dark red fruit components. With PX, they’ll be even sweeter than other sherries and you’ll detect caramel and dark chocolate in there too.

Texture: A PX finish adds a lovely, velvety mouthfeel to a whiskey. It should feel thick or syrupy on the throat and have a long-lasting finish.

RUM FINISHES: Cú Bocan 12

Rum is all about the tropics. You want the coconut and pineapple notes at the heart of rum to whisk you away to a Caribbean beach and feel the sun on your face. That was certainly the goal for the people behind Cú Bocan, the experimental Highland whisky range from Tomatin.

Distilled just once a year in the depths of winter, Cú Bocan is an evolving series of limited releases. There is a host of finishes in the bottles under the Cú Bócan name, if you can find them. Two are completely sold out everywhere.

This 46% release takes its gentle peat profile and finishes it in Caribbean rum casks from Guyana and Barbados, creating a tropical fruit layer filled with flavours like pineapple, mango, cinnamon, ginger and chocolate.

A fast award winner, it took gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirit Competition and gold and a category win at the 2024 World Whisky Awards.

Primary flavours: If you think you’re tasting a rum finish, then that should be because you’re getting molasses, burnt sugar, pineapple and heavy vanilla flavours. It’s a wholly different sweetness than sherry – it’s lighter and fresher with a tiny hint of pineapple.

Texture: Rum should add a creaminess to a single malt – particularly in a double-distilled edition. It should feel almost silky in the mouth and have a certain delicacy. People mistake rum for being meaty, but it’s not. It’s a light, relaxed spirit that manifests in waves.

RED WINE FINISHES: Green Spot Chateau Montelena

Red wine is all about elegance and creating a sheen of authority on a whiskey finish. Its effect is to bring a certain sense of nobility to the wilder taste of whiskey.

Green Spot is one of Ireland’s most-loved pours. It’s a single pot still finished in ex-bourbon and sherry casks and, for this Chateau Montelena edition, is finished for a year in Zinfandel red wine casks. It drives cherries, plums, and cranberries into the heart of the malt, adding layers of viscous character to the pour.

Zinfandel is a great partner to the black pepper spice and vanilla cream that make Green Spot its own. It’s a deliciously dark grape that produces lots of jammy flavours and sticky, spicy notes. It’s perfectly suited to uplifting this famous pot still whiskey.

Chateau Montelena is from the Napa Valley in California, where toasted oak and marzipan are much-revered flavours. In this 46% bottling, it brings tonnes of its own DNA to the Irish whiskey, wrapping it up in one exceptional pour.

Primary flavours: When seeking out the heart of a red wine-finished whiskey, seek out a jammy element. This comes primarily from the ripe skins and mature sugars of the red grape. There should be a slight tartness, too, as notes of pears, cherries, and cranberries compete for attention.

Texture: green Spot is a spicy whiskey, but the red wine softens this beautifully. It adds a thin red line to the cream of the single pot still, underscoring the whiskey’s black-pepper character.

For more of our favourite finishes visit, check out our Flavour Guide