ralfy review 904 Extras - different casks for different scotch

If you like my content you can buy me a 'wee dram' at / ralfy , thanks !
My Books 'Search For A Whisky Bothy' and 'Stories From A Whisky Bar' are both on sale at Amazon and all good book shops.
www.oswa.co.uk - An online democratic award programme identifying the best spirits worth buying for each year.
For more whisky info & stuff, SUBSCRIBE to 'ralfydotcom'
Subscribe to my other KZbin Channel 'Fitter Philosophy'
This video represents a personal opinion and perspective only.
To comply with Google Adsense policy this video is an independent non-profit review and is not knowingly selling or linking to a site that sells the product being reviewed.

[@ADSCP]

I recommend the Green Spot Leoville Barton, finished partially in oloroso and red wine.

[@intothefeints8506]

Westland Distillery in Seattle has been experimenting in Quercus garryana, or Garry oak. This is a species that only grows in the Pacific Northwest in the US and Canada. The flavor is BBQ sauce, soy sauce with a overtone of smoke. Very savory and umami experience. For now, they have been using it in blends because the 1st fill barrels are so powerful. The tasting mentioned that it will likely work best as a 2nd fill barrel.

[@giuseppeiaria6564]

Hello Ralfy and thanks for the informative video. About the use of different woods for aging, there are some bottlings of grappa aged in acacia and cherry wood casks that are quite interesting though I don't know if they fit well with more "delicate" spirits like whisky. Talking about the use of ex wine casks for maturing whisky, I totally agree with you about the importance of the knowledge and expertise of the people involved in this process. In my opinion the challenge is to find the good balance between the spirit and the wine, pinpointing the right time and avoid wine predominance which would produce a brandy-like whisky. Billy Walker is doing a great research in this regard withe the last wine series releases.

[@tkmikkelsen1]

I have found that I really enjoy whiskies matured in sweet wine cask (sauternes and moscatel). A particular hidden gem is Tomatin's Moscatel finished whisky.

[@nebulusnebulus6503]

One solution is to become fond of the generous sherry wines, the Manzanilla from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the generous ones from Montilla-Moriles. If there is demand for these wines and quality is committed, this will generate more demand in quality and quantity that will lead to greater and better stocks of barrels of sherry. Greetings from Spain from a new Whiskey fan.

[@steveno7058]

Cool video! One of my favorites is last years Springbank 12 cask strength which was a mix of Sherry, Ex-Bourbon, Burgundy, and Port.

[@ИгорьКозлов-ж2е]

Поддерживаю.

[@philosophaster1]

I love content like this it really helps me to be a more informed consumer and to more fully enjoy the whiskey. Any chance of you reviewing more American single malts?

[@WhiskyLock]

"Light coloured whisky for birthdays; dark coloured whisky for Christmas" Ha! love it! I'm just about old enough to remember a time when there was still a major marketing focus on still size and shape affecting a whisky's character and cask type and cask finishes were just starting to become the hot topic. Very interesting video. I particularly liked hearing you talk about the difference between a finish and a double maturation and the value of occasionally having simpler, straight forward and good value whisky. Both points that I very much agree with. Cheers!

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Such admirable detail! Thank you again.

[@nzmarco]

I use your whisky wisdom to impress my friends at bbq's.

[@jasonolyver6430]

what I would like to know is how to select proper casks ensuring you get the best there is before you put your new make in them

[@robfut9954]

Rainwater Madera does well with malt whisky, experiments I’ve run using oak cubes spot that as the best. Fruity and nutty all at the same time.

[@marcwhiskey]

Sounds like I'll have to finish up on the Stories from a Whisky bar quickly!

[@stephantimmermans6107]

I remember the Benromach Sassicaia Wood finish… by far the best wine cask finished whisky I have ever tasted…magnificent dram…

[@ceklahn]

Ralfy, thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@aframs-cctaf-rams-cct6424]

Oh man, I like vids like this. Good info to share with friends

[@ders5905]

Mentioning Ballechin I still have some 14yrs Manzanilla... it's soo extreme (incense, Curry, smoked ale stuff like that) / definitely not for every day but sometimes stellar 😆

[@davet7185]

Absolutely fascinating and informative subject Ralfy. Cask management from my experience with the brewing industry is also considered a vital component in the supply of a good end product....obviously more so with whisky due to the length of time developing in cask. I do wonder though about the long term future effects of climate change and how that may influence the selection and storage of whisky casks. The availability of new casks, the choice of wood and marriage with the whisky will continue to inform my own choices. I noted that another malt mate's suggestion of sweet wine cask e.g. sauternes for whisky and how that could influence agreeably with certain whiskies. I also agree with your prediction for the emergence of craft-blended whisky in the future, especially as we may see more barley yield variation and the need to source more grain or cereal. Well done Malt Maestro for yet more insightful and thought provoking commentary.

[@oliverphilp4207]

So let's clarify a few things about sherry casks and, by that I mean, correct me where I'm misconceived. From what I've read, the casks that were used to transport sherry from Spain to the UK had usually previously held wine and had probably never seen the inside of a bodega. Therefore most 'sherry casks' up until the 1980s were merely 'seasoned' with whatever sherry they had held to be transported to the UK and until they were disgorged which could be weeks or months. These casks would most likely have been European oak. Casks in the solera systems are often hundreds of years old and are very rarely sold, being prized precisely because they are 'inactive', i.e. there is nothing from the wood working on the contents. It's perhaps a moot point but still worth highlighting that American oak has been used in sherry production for a long time. European oak is used to produce sherries such as Fino and Amontillado because of the tighter grains which prevent oxidation. The liquid retains some active yeast and continues to ferment in the barrel developing a layer of yeast or 'flor' on top which acts as a further barrier to oxygen. These sherries end up light in colour. Sherries such as Oloroso and PX on the other hand are strengthened with a form of brandy to the point that the yeast is killed and they are then matured in American oak which is looser grained and allows oxidative ageing, hence why they turn brown. To bring this all up to date and put a context around things, when DOC rules were adopted in the '80s, sherry had to be aged and bottled in Spain, meaning no more transport casks. The solution of Scotch producers was to have the tonelarias cooper bespoke casks to be 'seasoned' with sherry and then transported to the UK. However the sherry used is legally as young as it can be for economic reasons (i.e. unrecognisable as sherry) and it's cheaper to use American oak too so we see more American oak in use these days and a lot of Oloroso and PX finishes. The sherry is used several times and then tipped away or turned into vinegar or distilled into brandy. It is never drunk as, besides being too young, it has interacted with the wood and would be tannic. Despite this, it is likely that the wood is still also somewhat active and will have a greater influence on the Scotch to be filled into it than would have been the case with a traditional transport cask. All smoke and mirrors!

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . cask transporting sherry to the UK could remain in warehouses for years before being bottled ! So not so straight-forward. But generally true what you say, and often these casks were/are ideal for maturing whisky being 'fresh' emptied in a cooler climate and preserving better before re-filling.

[@francescoalbanese9215]

I want to try the glendallough finished in new Irish oak casks. Interested to see if they taste much different than American oak

[@graham2954]

Be interesting to try something like a west coast non peated finished in palinka barrels.

[@farshadp6114]

Thanks for the review , very informative as always , question that I have is that how we can find out if the wine cask been looked after, I guess I just need to keep trying different single malts, one example could be Talisker port cask, I have a bottle that I tried the first week that I bought it and didn't really enjoy it, been sitting in my glass display for almost 2 years now, I will give it another go this week. Cheers from Australia

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . we find that out at the moment we taste the whisky !

[@xaviermacdonald1477]

What a world of great content and this is no less so. Thanks for it all, Ralphy. You've another appreciative follower here. Sláinte mhath dhut.

[@crabmansteve6844]

This is why as an American I try to convince people to try more Corn whiskey. Bourbon legally has to be aged in New oak casks. Corn whiskey can be aged in anything you want, you find some truly incredible spirits that aren't oaked to death. Different woods have different flavors.

[@mullettjf]

An excellent informative video that helps us all! Thanks for that :)

[@WICHO727]

I would like to hear your perspective on tequila casks! Good info!

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . some interesting flavours there.

[@scotchgod8478]

Has anybody ever tried a herring cask? I guess that could add a salty, slightly musty note to the spirit 😄

[@zadornov128]

Actually, there were the claims of some experimental bottling of that type, something ironically called like ‘fishsky’ as I recall. The result was rotten (as one could expect) and I can believe that they’re telling the truth on both the existence of that cask and the quality of the whisky finished/matured in it

[@JH-lm2hx]

This is interesting. If you believe the spiel put out by many distilleries, they seem to suggest that since time immemorial, their whiskies have been matured in, for example, ex-bourbon casks. But that cannot be so, can it? In the 1940s and austere 1950s Britain, where US imports were hard won and expensive, how could distilleries get hold of such things? So a 20 year old whisky sold in 1970 was most unlikely to have seen the inside of a first fill ex bourbon cask. So the whiskies from those days must have tasted substantially different - or is it all hype and smoke and mirrors anyway??

[@oliverphilp4207]

I think that the extensive use of Bourbon casks only goes back to the 1930s. When the laws around the production of Bourbon were tightened (I have read that the US lumber trade was in trouble and lobbied the government for help but I'm not sure about this provenance) it was decreed that only virgin oak could be used. At a stroke the value of used Bourbon casks collapsed and the Scotch industry saw an opportunity to reduce costs. Since then Bourbon casks have come to make up 90% of casks used to mature Scotch. However ironically, given the changes to 'sherry casks' in the 1980s, it could be said that Bourbon casks are now more genuinely 'traditional'. If we go back to Victorian times and before SWA regulations I'm sure the Scots would have used any cask they could lay their hands on, even chestnut or other woods as Ralfy says (Irish regs specify only wooden casks) and there were other common practices now outlawed too, e.g. 'single malts' made on column stills (cf. Loch Lomond distillery).

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . some hype is always a part of business.

[@martindouwe6099]

Kavalan Solist French Wine Cask is an absolute stunner in my humble opinion.

[@Laughinggravy857]

Number one ladies detective agency ( Alexander McCall Smith )

[@AndyCigars]

The main thing I know about casks is that many come from the Ozark area of my state, Missouri. ...so, Cheers, from a Malty Missourian! 🥃 (fyi...I already had a malt mention mention'd...so I'm not requesting it be added to the list) 😉

[@philiptruitt]

Thanks Ralfy!

[@Twobarpsi]

Excellent video!!

[@Kawika404]

Is there a reason distilleries dont start maturation in wine or sherry casks and then finish in ex bourbon casks? Or is this happening and im not aware?

[@steviestevie6868]

Light for birthdays and dark for Xmas........... Love your cutting through the dross comments

[@undivided_unified]

I know there is some scotch lover who is also great at managing data and could create some chart that catalogs the flavoring in relation to the cask used...

[@bzzz1800]

So much yes!

[@delicatpizza3981]

Teeling Whiskey Small Batch Rum Cask Finisk 46% . Great dram!!!!!

[@georgeholloway3981]

Fascinating!

[@RichardHowells1234]

Arran gold 💎

[@SteveHB59]

Ralfy and folk music, yep can imagine that

[@johnburns3703]

Alexander Mcall Smith?

[@stuartwatts7491]

Think David Stewart at Balvenie got to finishing before Glenmorangie. Bill Lumsden would himself agree!

[@Johnstone72]

10/10 Ralfy.

[@ADSCP]

What about beer casks?

[@kirbyculp3449]

Jameson is doing that with stout, and IPA. Jameson is also doing regional releases of the local beers.

[@ADSCP]

@@kirbyculp3449 yes I tried the stout but didn’t like it. I think Glenffidich also tried beer.

[@johnburns3703]

If you are getting odd comments from US or other foreign ports you ought to replay this with sub title switched on! Bowmore + Bulmore ! etc!!

[@Allouran]

The wine industry is extremely conservative when it comes to wine varieties. There are very few varieties that have had any alteration to their natural tendencies, and there are definitely no fine wines with “modernised” varieties. Warming climate and recognised cool tolerant vines has meant the industry has spread further, it has nothing to do with any gene splicing and the like. Cheers

[@discordia013]

"There are definitely no fine wines with “modernised” varieties" Citation needed.

[@Allouran]

@@discordia013 hardly. I own a vineyard and make “fine” wine - there are no varieties which are in common use that have been altered by modern technologies such as gene 🧬 splicing or other manipulations. It’s illegal in many wine growing regions anyway. There are 100’s of varieties that show enough variations in regards to climate tolerances to provide options anyway so it is not a part of the industry’s agenda. If you wish to seek assurance simply check through any wine association site and see “all” the references to such changes in the vineyards - you will find nothing for good reason

[@Twobarpsi]

Cheers 🍺

[@VeryUsMumblings]

the Canadian Wine industry is a little bit crazy how it's grown. In Toronto, In the 80s my dad and uncles used to make home-made wine from Niagara grapes that could be bought in inexpensively in crates when they were picked in the late summer and early fall. Now, all the Niagara grapes are bought before they're grown by wineries and winemakers. All the grapes in the grocery stores in Toronto come from other regions and even from California. There's a handful of very blue and purple grapes that are native to Canada and even grow wild, but some of them are even being bought by wineries too, to blend or to make available as specialty wines. Even if you go to farmer's markets, it's hard to find grapes from anywhere within the region. It's gone too far!! People are going to forget what grapes look like.

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . very interesting !

[@Sidmacher]

I always put you down as someone who could fiddle along with everyone else. 😉😜🤣

[@stevenbuchanan8895]

I don't know if you are aware Ralfy, but sometimes the subtitles go a little crazy! I feel sorry for any non English speakers reading them.

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . It is an issue due to the auto-translate, however it has been requested by malt-mates who have hearing problems.

[@10lauset]

...Cheers...

[@elduderino3120]

Cheap Chardonnay is often (to me) too oakey.

[@swedishburrito5073]

❤️👍🥃

[@simonridge6607]

Tongue Munching Chore. 😆

[@ИгорьКозлов-ж2е]

Мне кажется, хорошему шотландскому виски, достаточно бурбоновых бочек. Зачем смешивать хороший виски с хересом. Дайте ему отдохнуть 12 лет в бурбоновой бочке. Они такие разные херес и виски.

[@thewhiskybothy]

. . . правда, в некоторой степени!

[@tussk.]

Glen Morangie saved the whisky industry with thier innovative cask runs. Before then, whisky was seen as dull and boring. A drink for old men that tasted like liquid fire. Now its difficult to find a bottle that hasnt been finished in port or bourbon, and the pretentious and tedious wankers havecome out of the woodwork to wax lyrical about the notes the barrel imparts to the dram, but they are simply parroting industry hype and talking out of thier arses. This happened in the guitar industry too. Clever marketing teams invented a thing called 'Tonewood' and managed to convince almost everybody that the wood an electric guitar was made of had a significant effect on the sound it made when plugged in. Now, anybody with any knowledge of electronics and sound, like Big Clive, will see through this nonsense in a minute, and it's been debunked over and over again, but you still get cork sniffers talking about how bubinga gives the high end a snappy sound, while mahogany enriches the bass tones. Absolute rubbish of course, but thats the power of making people feel like theyre experts. Then they go out and do your dirty work for you.

[@daanvdwielen8760]

Fun Fact, Gibson is one of the biggest brands that sells on 'tonewood' while Les Paul himself spend his life making sure to build an instrument that would give as little resonance as possible to get just the strings and elements (and amplifier). I believe that casks, temperature, time etc influence molecules and thus taste. Experimenting with that would be great fun (but for a company also a risk). But in the end, I don't care about the wood, time, temperature, location.... as long as I like the taste of the product. On the other hand, if you encounter several whiskies you don't particularly love and they all share some characteristics, you can choose to avoid that thing in the future and go for things you did like a lot.