Best Wine Cask-Finished Whiskeys for Food Pairing
The vacations are approaching. That usually means get-togethers, dinners, and spouse and children gatherings—many of which you’ll want to show up at bearing a present. Wine is the all-to-obvious route. So why not existing your host with anything far more thrilling (and stronger)—like wine cask-completed whiskeys?
Wine cask-completed whiskeys strike a balance of energy (generally at the very least 40 percent ABV) and elegance, thanks to the affect of the finishing casks. Their past contents may have been a fortified wine like sherry or port, a sweet dessert wine, or a desk wine. Both way, that liquid has left its mark on the oak itself—and, in transform, the cask changes the taste of an by now-experienced bourbon, scotch, or other whiskey that spends a several months finishing.
The barrel’s impact is most obvious in flavors (consider jammy or dried fruit), but it also displays up in the liquid’s texture. Wine casks can beef up velvety texture and lush mouthfeel, generating a sipping practical experience that stands up to food stuff pairings—and just as very easily stands on its very own.
If you transform up to a dinner party with a bottle of whiskey, it can be opened that night time and appreciated for as lengthy as the liquid lasts. No want to end it inside of a several days like wine. Quick- or lengthy-lived, any of these ten wine cask-completed whiskeys are sure to steal the exhibit.
Royal Salute 21-12 months-Old Polo Estancia Version Blended Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
1. Royal Salute 21-12 months-Old Polo Estancia Version
Blended scotch often gets missed in the one malt frenzy, but offerings like this Royal Salute gem show why which is a oversight. Created by grasp blender Sandy Hyslop, Estancia pays tribute to Argentina’s polo tradition with a end in Bodegas Etchart Cafayate malbec casks. It’s exceptional to obtain a malbec-completed whisky. The varietal provides rich fruit and chocolate notes as properly as texture, giving Estancia a plush, velvety system without turning into heavy or extremely dominant with food stuff. Aged for 21 a long time, it is priced far more in line with one malts a number of a long time its junior—something only a mix can pull off.
[$250 royalsalute.com]
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The GlenAllachie Speyside One Malt Scotch Whisky, Aged eleven Yrs Courtesy Graphic
two. The GlenAllachie eleven-12 months-Old Grattamacco Complete (and 13-12 months-Old Rioja Complete)
Speyside one malt scotch distillery GlenAllachie has a total series of limited-version wine cask-completed whiskies, including two that recently debuted in the U.S. Each have been in the beginning aged in ex-bourbon casks before paying nearly two a long time in wine barriques—from Bolgheri’s Grattamacco winery for the eleven-calendar year-aged ($one hundred ten), and the Spanish area of Rioja for the 13-calendar year-aged ($one hundred thirty). Every whisky is bottled at a generous forty eight percent ABV, highlighting the purely natural complexity developed by the wine casks. Fewer than 1,000 bottles of every single made their way stateside, so keep a sharp eye and grab if you obtain them.
[$one hundred ten-$one hundred thirty theglenallachie.com]
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Compass Box Canvas Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
3. Compass Box Canvas
Whilst sherry, port, and red wine are all frequent finishing casks, Compass Box Canvas turns to a wine design which is just about unheard of to create its notes of marmalade, honey, and cocoa: vino de naranja. Manufactured in Andalucia, Spain, vino de naranja is an aromatized sweet wine, made with white grapes and macerated orange peel which is aged in a solera procedure. With such a exceptional finishing cask, this blended malt whisky is guaranteed to be one of a kind. But if which is not plenty of, Canvas delivers an even far more unique practical experience as a result of its label, which can be tailored with your very own picture or impression by using QR code.
[$160 compassboxwhisky.com]
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Angel’s Envy Cask Toughness Courtesy Graphic
4. Angel’s Envy Cask Toughness
Compared to scotch, Kentucky bourbon is a relative newcomer to cask finishing. Angel’s Envy started leading the way about a decade in the past, offering its flagship port cask-completed bourbon which is now grow to be a staple on bars nationwide. The once-a-year limited-version Cask Toughness ramps up the proof—and therefore the inherent jammy fruit notes from the port casks, including dim plums, blackberry cobbler, as properly as burnt sugar. Usually in high demand, Angel’s Envy Cask Toughness is far more out there than at any time in 2021, with almost 15,000 bottles of the one hundred twenty.seven proof bourbon rolling out nationwide this December.
[$250 www.angelsenvy.com]
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Aberfeldy eighteen-12 months-Old Red Wine Cask-Concluded One Malt Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
five. Aberfeldy eighteen-12 months-Old Red Wine Cask-Concluded
Master blender Stephanie Macleod turned to Côte Rôtie casks for this limited version. The famed French wine is made predominantly with syrah grapes and in some cases viognier—lending it flavors that are each meaty and floral at the similar time. In the Highland one malt, this is expressed as flavors of redcurrant and lingonberry together with the distillery’s signature honey notes.
[$one hundred thirty aberfeldy.com]
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Limavady One Barrel One Malt Irish Whiskey Courtesy Graphic
six. Limavady
When WhistlePig branched out from rye whiskey a several months in the past, it headed to the Emerald Isle, co-founding Limavady with longtime Irish whiskey grasp distiller Darryl McNally. The manufacturer introduced with a triple-distilled one malt, aged in the beginning in ex-bourbon casks and completed in PX sherry casks. Every cask is bottled separately, meaning there may be slight variations, but every fall should showcase the sweet dried fruit flavors and heat spice that PX imparts. At 46 percent ABV, it is a good selection to match with dessert or a cheese course—or just solo at the end of the food.
[$fifty limavady.com]
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Bunnahabhain Aonadh One Malt Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
seven. Bunnahabhain Aonadh
Islay’s Bunnahabhain Distillery doubled up on the wine casks for this limited version, which was distilled on February seven, 2011 (to be specific). The whisky was crammed into two cask varieties (port and sherry), which invested a decade maturing individually before staying merged for bottling. That whole-term wine cask aging, moreover a cask-energy proof of 56.two percent ABV, makes this unpeated one malt impressively rich and rounded. Wanting to know how to pronounce the bottle’s Gaelic title correctly? It’s “oon-ouch.”
[$one hundred eighty bunnahabhain.com]
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Town Branch Sherry Cask-Concluded Bourbon Whiskey Courtesy Graphic
8. Town Branch Sherry Cask-Concluded
Lexington, Kentucky-based mostly Town Branch Distillery opened in 2012 and has been making some of the state’s most appealing whiskey at any time because. Its new oloroso sherry cask-completed bourbon is the end result of a number of years’ really worth of experimentation by grasp distiller Mark Coffman, who blended a 26-barrel batch with a number of one of a kind one barrels to create the final product. The ages of the whiskeys in the mix range, but most are close to 6 a long time old—which Town Branch says is its sweet spot.
[$sixty lexingtonbrewingco.com]
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Highland Park Cask Toughness One Malt Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
9. Highland Park Cask Toughness
Right up until this whisky arrived out, cask-energy Highland Park was far more or less only out there if you could obtain the odd independent bottling—a disgrace, because this whisky at barrel proof is definitely amazing. Matured predominantly in sherry casks made with each American and European oak, it is meant to assist drinkers take a look at their very own palates and how they greatest like to get pleasure from the whisky. Add drinking water, insert ice, heck, insert soda if you want. This characterful one malt can just take it. Batch two is just now hitting cabinets, and makes a good comparison with its predecessor or with any of the other sherry cask scotches on this listing.
[$eighty five highlandparkwhisky.com]
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Macallan Double Cask 30-12 months-Old One Malt Scotch Whisky Courtesy Graphic
ten. Macallan Double Cask 30-12 months-Old
Well known for its sherry cask maturation, Macallan thoroughly controls the procedure of generating and seasoning barrels in Spain before shipping them off to Speyside to be crammed with whisky. That may audio alternatively calculating, but it is needed to regularly create the world’s most collectible one malt. For its Double Cask series, Macallan utilizes each American and European oak barrels, every single imparting one of a kind flavors and aromas, thanks to the diversified developing ailments of the various tree species. The 30-12 months-Old joins 12-, 15-, and eighteen-12 months-Old expressions, and will come in a wonderful oak box which is completely ready-made for a (really generous) host present.
[$4,000 search area distributor themacallan.com]
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