wood/barrel finishing. The technique of “finishing” (otherwise known as “secondary maturation”) involves taking a mature spirit, which has spent years maturing in one type of cask, and transferring it into another, different cask type for a short period of time. A typical example would be a scotch single malt whisky, which has been matured in “refill” (used) American oak casks being given a few months “finishing” in ex-sherry casks.
The initial maturation tends to take place in refill casks, which give lower impact of oak-derived flavor compounds. In this environment the normal mechanism of removal of aggressive elements, addition of oak-derived flavors, and prolonged interaction between those elements, oxygen, and the spirit have all taken place. See maturation.
The finishing cask, on the other hand, is very active. The short period of time the spirit spends in this new environment means there is no time for slow interaction to take place. Rather, the most significant impact is additive. The spirit absorbs flavor compounds created when the cask’s original liquid had interacted with the oak. Finishing is not simply a matter of adding, for example, sherry flavor to a spirit. The brief resting in the new cask adds another layer of flavor born from the interaction between the cask’s former spirit, its current one, and the cask itself.
In 1987 Glenmorangie’s 1963 Vintage was the first whisky to declare itself to have been “finished.” In 1993 Balvenie launched Double Wood, the first finished brand, and in 1996 Glenmorangie released the first wood-finished range comprising sherry, port, and Madeira finishes.
Finishing is now a widespread practice in scotch, Irish, and Canadian whisky. Some rum producers have also started to experiment with the technique. The big United States bourbon and rye distillers have been rather more cautious but have made the occasional experiment, such as Jim Beam’s pioneering Distiller’s Masterpiece bottling, created in 1999 by master distiller Booker Noe (1929–2004), which finished a sixteen-year-old bourbon in cognac casks.
A wide range of types of finishing casks are used, with sherry (of different types), port, Madeira, and marsala the most commonly seen. Wine casks (mostly red or sweet white wine) are also popular with producers, and some whiskies, such as the Jameson’s Caskmates range, are even finished in beer or ale casks. The Scotch Whisky Association has created a list of permitted cask types, all of which are deemed to have historical precedent as being used for maturing scotch. Calvados casks, for example, are banned.
whisky, Irish; and whisky, scotch.Bryson, Lew. Whiskey Master Class. Beverly, MA: Harvard Common, 2020.
By: Dave Broom