The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Cask Finishes

Recycling casks for scotch

After a grain mash is distilled, the new-make spirit is aged in wood casks. That's where a great deal of the flavor of whisky is created. By hand-selecting the casks for aging, a Master Distiller can produce a desired whisky taste.

[Nerd Alert - lots of exposition about casks ahead. Proceed at your own risk, or just skip down to the tasting notes. We'll meet up with you later.]

Cask influence on aging scotch

(Ok, they've gone ahead, so tell us, tell us, more about casks!)

Of course, how can I refuse such enthusiasm for knowledge?

I'm going to speak generally now, as each individual expression of scotch will have its own distinct aging process (time, type of cask, etc.). Many whiskies start aging in oak casks. Quoted from The Bourbon Review:

"Whiskey barrels made from oak have three broad effects on the spirit:

• As an additive – It adds to the taste and aroma of the spirit by providing desirable elements from the cask. For example: vanillin, Oak lactone (coconut, bourbon character), toastiness, wood sugars and color.
• As an agent that removes undesirable elements from new make spirit. For example: sulphur compounds and immaturity.
• Oak barrels also interact with the spirit. It adds extractive wood elements from the cask and converts them to organoleptically desirable elements."

Whew, oak adds a lot of character!

[Side note: "organoleptically" = characteristics that release to the senses (I had to look it up. The things you learn)].

Cask trivia

Before we move on, here's a few more tidbits from The Bourbon Review that you can use to amaze your friends or win the pub's trivia contest:

1. The wide-spread use of bourbon whiskey barrels is a fairly recent occurrence, aa result of the difficulty in sourcing sherry casks during the Spanish civil war in the late 1930’s.
2. Currently anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 bourbon casks are acquired for use in the maturation of Scotch whisky. In contrast to only about 18,000 sherry casks are used.
3. Contrary to popular belief, very few whiskies are aged exclusively in bourbon barrels. Most ex-bourbon aged single malts are vatted with a (varying) percentage of whiskey which was aged in ex-sherry barrels.

It's the little things, Gentle Reader, that bring the spice to life.

Final thoughts

It's interesting to me that because I tried the lineup at one time, the effect of the different woods was quite apparent.

Each expression was so different, which, of course is the point of the whole idea. But being able to compare and contrast them all together really brought this effect home to me.

Reusing casks for scotch aging may be environmentally friendly, and it produces great whisky as well!