Oak aged malts

From my own experience: Laphroaig 18, nice deep oak, a bit of peat and quite affordable. Or look for an IB from your favourite brand which mentions 'matured for 15 years in 1st fill bourbon barrels'

My guess would be if you want to taste some oak in your malt you should pick a single malt matured in a virgin oak cask (there are bottlings available from Deanston, Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch, ...), instead of a refill bourbon cask

Glenmorangie Ealanta comes to mind.

Otherwise, try An Cnoc 16 YO and check out the independents: Signatory and van Wees spring to mind.

Bruichladdich 16 Bourbon Cask. NOT the Laddie 16

The bourbon casks dominate in the Highland Park 15, as well, even though this one is a mix. The Bruich 16 is fairly sharp but the bourbon really dominates for an Islay. I also recommend the Kilkerran WIP #5 Bourbon. It's young, but very complex for its age and the bourbon comes through in a very "old school" type of way. It takes me back to my youth when I first began drinking scotch in the late 80's when scotch was far more interesting and yet more understated than it is today. Like most things, scotch today is mostly about extremes and "bombast" rather than subtleties & sophistication. There, of course, are always exceptions.

I know this sounds horrible, but I have actually vatted bourbons with scotches successfully on a few occasions. Eagle Rare 10 and HP12 were rather interesting, if I can recall. It's been some time ago. That was back when the Eagles were a little more heavy on the "vanilla" flavor than today. They aren't as good as they once were. Another interesting vatting to try is the Hudson Four Grain. It has barley, wheat, corn, and rye in it. Yes, the rye dominates a little, but the finish does feature some very nice barley notes, surprisingly enough

The laddie 16 is good, but I prefer the Laddie 10. I wasn't meaning to suggest that the 16 was bad; I simply couldn't recall if it was bourbon casked or not

For me, oak tends to dominate after about 21 years old. The an cnoc 22 is reasonably priced for how old it is and it has that oaky finish you seem to like. Laphroaig QC is very oaky, as well. Since it is aged in a smaller cask, it is very woody for its age (and its price). The Ardmore Trad Cask is also oaky, but that is kind of the poor man's oaky since it is inexpensive and a bit hamfisted in its delivery, but still quite nice, esp after the bottle is really oxygenated down about two thirds in

Balvenie 12, and 15 Single barrel.

Ancnoc 12 yr.

Old Pulteney 12 yr.

Forgot to add Glenlivet Nadurra.

Seems as though the older the whisky - the more challenging it is to have single cask maturation.

@Jules - Alberta premium 30 YO - liquid oak...aged in ex-bourbon...100% rye...JM raves about this distillery, and this grain.

@rigmorole HP 15 is not matured in bourbon casks. It's American oak but seasoned with sherry.

Thank to all for the great recommendations! I'll try to check them all out.

Jules, just curious: Are seeking oak-heavy whisky because it's what you really like or because of a more abstract "interest"?

I have at least one toe the latter camp. Sometimes reviewers talk about excessive oak influence in a whisky, and Serge is always deriding "oak-doped vanilla bombs" and whatnot, but I'm not even sure if I could tell which part of a whisky's flavor mix comes from the oak. I feel kinda dumb saying that. I think it comes from (a) not being at all interested in new-barrel American whiskey and (b) not being able to afford much highly aged scotch. I have a 22 YO Glen Scotia in my stash that I'm waiting to open, and when I do it will be the most-aged bottle to cross my bar by far.

So maybe I'll pose another question similar to Jules' original: What's a whisky that clearly demonstrates heavy oak influence? If the answer if "see the above responses," that's cool. :)

Bonus points for any suggestions that are cheap (given that my interest here some somewhat "academic") or actually decent despite the heavy oak.

@CaptinTom I thought American oak was ex bourbon? So they buy virgin barrels then?

@OlJas - out of interest mainly, I have a good grasp of what constitues 'sherry' influence of Scotch, but want to explore the pure infuence of oak, without the usual added sherry finish...

Balvenie 15 & AnCnoc have so far piqued my interest. Not sure about the Macallan fine oak series...

@OlJas In my limited experience with older oak aged whiskies, the oak influence (please correct me if I am wrong) more often than not leads to a very drying and tannic feeling whisky - it seems to literally soak the moisture out of my mouth. In my opinion, that is what "over-oaked" does to the mouthfeel.

Tastewise, I would recommend buying a creamsicle. Eat it, then suck on the stick for a while. When you feel that you no longer taste the ice cream and start to predominantly taste the wood - that's it. When that taste is mild in a whisky, it is nice, when it is stronger, or more noticeable, it seems to become bitter and astringint. A cheaper whiskey that I feel shows this quality in its mild and pleasant form is Compass Box Oak Cross.

These are just conclusions drawn from my experiences. Just sharing.

A few more have come to mind is the Longmorn 16 yr, and Scapa 16 yr.

Both might be tough to find - however there's 'Wine Searcher . com' to help locate spirits.

Omnibubba, I love the creamsickle idea. I've gnawed plenty of spent popsickle sticks in my day and I can readily call their flavor to mind without even repeating the experiment! :) Do others here think that the oak in over-oaked whisky is somewhat similar?

I think what you're generally describing is a quality that I haven't run into much. I can imagine it though. It sounds quite different than the overly sweet quality that I'm used to (and used to avoiding) in new-oak American whiskey.

I'll keep Oak Cross in mind for a good affordable example.

@Jules Interesting discussion I would have to second @FMichael's choices the AnCoc 12yr and OP12yr are good as well as the Balvenie 12yr. Hope this was helpful. :)

I tasted the AnCnoc 12 (too 'flimsy' for me, rather thin) and OP12 (more like it, very nice fruit&brine!), but I eventually bought a Glenkeith 21yo bottled by 'Nectar of the daily dram', a Belgian bottler. It is beautifully oily at a generous 50%abv and really seems to show off the influence of it's 21 years in first fill ex-bourbon barrels.