If you’ve enjoyed a good quality scotch lately, chances are you have experienced a finishing technique of some form. Whisky finishing techniques are part of the scotch making process where the scotch is transferred from one type of barrel to another for ‘finishing’.
Although finishing may sound like a quick process that rounds out the whisky making, it can be a protracted endeavour, and some whiskies spend many years in finishing barrels.
In this article we explore whisky finishing techniques including the history of whisky making and how some older techniques are being reintroduced to create exciting and diverse new scotches.
The Lost Art of Patience
When it comes to whisky finishing there are three barriers to entry for distilleries.
Time – Some distilleries have fine time margins, especially if they are a newer distillery and have not yet released age statement whiskies. Often capital has been poured into start-ups and with the three-year minimum maturation rule, many new distilleries will opt to release younger scotches with no age statement to begin generating a return on investment.
Barrel Scarcity – Most whiskies start off their maturation in American bourbon casks as there are plenty available on the market. Barrel making itself is not too difficult, however distilleries prefer used barrels which have taken on characteristics of spirits stored in them previously over new barrels. That means scotch makers are reliant on sourcing whichever used barrels come onto the market – typically these are bourbon casks because of mass production of bourbon in the US.
Cost – There are two main cost barriers when finishing a scotch. The first is the storage of the whisky while it finishes. For every year in the barrel finishing a distillery is not profiting from that scotch. Finishing doesn’t always result in a saleable product, and that extra time could result in no return on investment. Separately, the finishing barrels themselves are often expensive, especially rarer barrels such as sherry casks.
For the reasons outlined above, distilleries are very cautious with their approach to finishing and tend to only put their best scotch in the best barrels they can source in order to command a price point on the end product that warrants the extra cost and time.
Some established distilleries have finishing processes honed in and now regularly use techniques across their scotch brand. These tend to be distilleries with plenty of capital behind them such as Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Maccallan and Laphroaig.
Whisky Finishing Techniques Through Time
It probably goes without saying that when whisky was first distilled and stored in barrels, it would have been a single barrel product, and the end product was not one necessarily of quality – rather distilleries concentrated on quantity. The whisky market has changed drastically since the first medieval whisky production.
For example, whisky wasn’t aged, and the barrelling was purely for storage purposes rather than to impart flavour. Barrels were much easier to transport than bottles and could be stored for long periods of time – especially useful on ships. Medieval whisky was a more aggressive drink because it was much younger and had a different distillation process.
With that said, as time passed, there were novel ways of finishing or storing whisky that did enhance or change the flavour. These were not necessarily an artisanal choice, rather a response to external market factors.
Over the course of whisky history, Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and mead casks became available to distilleries. Likewise in the 19th Century, the French Brandy industry was ravaged due to grape crop disease – with brandy casks making their way to whisky distilleries. During prohibition, scotch makers were also able to source bourbon casks more easily.
Most of the time these barrels were used for the entire maturation rather than finishing, however it is a fair to imagine some whisky makers began experimenting with finishing between the 16th century and the 20th century.
Resurgent Whisky Finishing Techniques
Today, many distilleries are experimenting with whisky finishing techniques. The finishing varies from distillery to distillery depending on the flavour profile they are trying to achieve and also their brand and product range.
Sherry Soaking
Sherry casks are expensive and hard to come by. To make a scotch using sherry casks and produce enough to meet market demand is difficult.
For this reason, many distilleries using sherry casks will only finish the scotch for a short duration (normally six months) before bottling. This allows a quick rotation for the next scotch to go into the sherry casks.
Highland Park is a big sherry cask user in their maturation process and the fruity flavours imparted on the finished products is distinctive. But even a big distillery (the sister distillery of world renowned Macallan) like Highland Park does not have enough sherry casks to store the scotch indefinitely in them. Instead, they rotate the scotch between multiple cask types as it matures often finishing for around six months to a year in the sherry casks.
Highland Park currently uses cask rotation for their age statement whiskies and some variants of their non-age statement scotches. The casks they use are:
- European Sherry Casks
- American Sherry Casks
- American Oak Casks (bourbon)
- Occasionally refill casks.
Impressively, the 15 year old Highland Park spends all its maturation time in sherry casks – only a distillery the size of Highland Park could really manage this as 15 years in the rarest barrels is a huge cost to most distilleries.
Triple Wood Rotation
This technique is a misnomer, a triple wood rotation is a mixture of three casks rather than casks constructed of different wood types – though there may be instances or select scotches that do actually use three different wood types for their triple wood rotation.
The benefit of a triple wood rotation is that you can impart different flavours on the final scotch. American oak casks typically produce a spicy, drier whisky and other cask types can taper this spiciness and depending on what the casks held previously, can create rounded or full-bodied whiskies – especially if they held sherry or brandy in a previous use.
Laphroaig and Ledaig both have triple wood bottlings. In the case of Laphroaig, they use American bourbon barrels, then move the scotch to quarter casks (smaller casks ¼ the size of a standard cask). Finally, they finish the scotch in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.
Slow Reduction
Slow reduction is a fairly cost-effective finishing technique that smaller distilleries are employing, especially without a budget to stockpile rarer barrels.
When whisky is created, water is introduced to dilute the whisky. Slow reduction adds water over a prolonged period of time, rather than in large batches. You can expect a slow reduction finish scotch to have water added over several weeks or even months in small quantities.
The idea behind this finish is to preserve as much of the whisky flavour as possible and dilute in stages to retain as much flavour as possible. Slow reduction finishing can have mixed results, and it is not normally employed by larger distilleries who rely on having a consistent product. It is far more difficult to create a large bottling with the same flavour profile if the whisky has been treated so intensively during the dilution process.
If you are looking to pick up a bottle of slow reduction scotch you may find it difficult, as most are limited bottlings. Because of the inconsistent end product, a lot of slow reduction scotch makes its way to the blended whisky market, and it is not uncommon to find some blended scotches with slow reduction advertised.
In the future, as processes are refined and consistency is improved, you may find larger distilleries embracing slow reduction (also known as slow proofing) because it can lead to exceptional single malts.
Ambient Aging
Ambient aging is a finishing technique that stores the whisky in a certain environment. Many of the Islay distilleries will keep their whisky warehouses close to the water to let the barrels breath in the sea air.
Both Laphroaig and Highland Park (not Islay) can have a salted caramel hint to their scotch because the barrels have been so close to the water during their maturation/finishing. In the case of Laphroaig, this saltiness can be pronounced in some bottlings, and it is possible to pick up seaweed notes in the scotch –complimenting the peat smokiness perfectly.
Distilleries Championing Traditional Whisky Finishing Techniques
Distilleries range in their goals.
For some, using traditional whisky finishing techniques is simply out of reach due to prohibitive cost. For others, using finishing techniques can create special editions or standardised bottlings that command a higher price point.
If a distillery is purely profit driven, they will calculate the cost of the finish vs the sale price. If profit can be made, you will find them using more exotic finishing techniques.
Some distilleries are low volume, artisanal and end-product oriented. They may employ elaborate finishing techniques to create a unique flavour and rely on a high retail value to offset the cost.
The big distilleries like Highland Park, Laphroaig and Glenmorangie using various finishing techniques are trying to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market. With that said, none of the distilleries I just mentioned are finishing in a cheap or necessarily business driven way – instead they want to create unique products and are prepared to take risks in the hope of generating better financial rewards. It is much easier to rest on a name and not finish whiskies in elaborate ways and the argument can definitely be made that Laphroaig could turn a much healthier profit margin without the extra steps on brand value alone.
Tasting the Difference
Ultimately, finishing creates a different flavour profile. Different does not always equate to better. It is down the skill employed by the distillery and the palate of the drinker.
With this in mind, if you fancy trying different scotches that have used varying finishing techniques, you may find some are very much to your liking while others are not.
It is fantastic to experiment and try a range of scotches (responsibly of course) to discover which finishing techniques grip you.
Bringing Old Techniques to Your Collection
Below I have outlined five uniquely finished scotches to try and three personal favourite scotches that have great finishing techniques.
Glenmorangie Signet – Finished with barley and roasted coffee beans that gives the whisky a chocolatey depth.
Balvenie Caribbean Cask – As the name suggests, finished in Caribbean rum casks giving the scotch a punchy and fruity body.
Ardbeg Grooves – Finished in wine casks that have been grooved to allow more surface contact between the scotch and barrel. Expect a spicier scotch due to the added woody notes.
Glenfiddich IPA – An experimental scotch finished in India Pale Ale casks. This imparts a citrus, somewhat bitter note to the scotch.
Auchentoshan Three Wood – Like the earlier mentioned Laphroaig PX Cask, the Auchentoshan is matured in Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry and Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks. The resultant scotch is fruit-bodied and rich.
My personal favourite finish selections are:
Highland Park 12 – For regular readers of the blog it will be no surprise the Highland Park 12 makes my list of personal recommendations. It is affordable, delectable and has the same sherry cask finish you can expect from other Highland Park scotches.
Highland Park 15 – The Highland Park 15 is matured exclusively in sherry casks, and this surprisingly brings about the same flavour profile as the 12, just with added layers of complexity. Typically, the longer a whisky spends in the barrel, the greater the ‘oakiness’ of the final scotch. With the Highland Park 15, the sherry casks offset much of those spicy notes and create a fruity, caramel, decadent scotch.
Laphroaig PX Cask Triple Matured Whisky – The perfect combination of sherry and peat smoke, the Laphroaig PX Cask is punchier than the Highland Park in the sense it is not as well rounded and can be forceful up front. It is not an age statement whisky and Laphroaig don’t reveal how long the maturation process is, so it could well be a young scotch (prone to being a bit fierier). If you want something that grabs you without the layers of complexity from the Highland Park scotches mentioned above – this is the one for you.