Pick a cask, Pick a distillery

Good idea, @Robert99 - I don't have much experience with the more obscure casks but would love to try an Ardbeg that's gone the distance in a good sherry cask . . . but who wouldn't!?

On a slight tangent; just before I read this I was thinking about a dialogue I had with Ralfy once about using mango wood as a cask type. I'd very much like to try an Asian/Indian whisky matured in mango wood casks.

@RianC, does mango wood taste much like mango fruit? There are hundreds of species of mango tree. I think it would take some consideration and research even to choose a good one to use. Probably one for which you most like the flavours of its fruit, and which is plentiful.

Allowing submerged staves gives a lot of latitude for experimentation. Such latitude is verboten with the Scotch Whisky Association. Without use of staves to influence the product almost all woods have been found wanting for use for full barrel cooperage. Most of them just don't have the necessary physical properties.

Some US distillers already do unusual things with wood types. Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia, for example, uses staves from both cherry wood and apple wood during the maturation of its rye whiskey. You can definitely taste the influence of those staves in the final product.

The product I would most like to see that I have not yet seen would be "CORN'BUNADH", a barrel strength 100% corn whiskey matured completely in former, very sulphur free, sherry casks. Ideal maturation time? Not sure. Have to figure that out. Somewhere between 6 and 8 years, I should think. I think that the only reason we have not seen this yet is that producers don't have enough confidence in corn whiskey to make a product from it using expensive sherry casks. I think that the flavours would be excellent. There is no reason at all that sherry flavours should not work well with corn. .

Who would make it? Who else? Heaven Hill.

@RianC I never even saw mango wood, that could be interesting. I would see Compass Box to go for an experiment like that but Amrut would also be nice.

As for me, I would really like to see a whisky finish in a morello cherry liqueur Cask. I think I would pick Longmorn to do it.

@Victor - Not sure about the taste but I know that it smells like the fruit - in the sense that amongst the sweeter notes of the fruit you get a certain 'woodyness'. That's what the wood smells like. I've burned Mango wood and it has a definite and unique odour. And yes, many varieties but no different to oak there. I'd imagine Indian or Pakistani mango working working very well as they seem to produce the sweetest fruit. No real science behind the idea but I have a hunch it may well work and I'd love to try it.

if I made whisky in any capacity wood/cask exploration is something I'd be looking into. Perhaps it would be unsuitable i.e. they tried it but found it too porous or not porous enough etc?

I know about the SWA rules and think the stave rule is a bit of a shame (it is what it is). Wasn't it Compass Box/Spice Tree that got a stern ticking off for daring to use staves first time round? I mean, the cheek of it!

It interests me what you mention about the apple and cherry wood as I was thinking they could well make interesting results. Did you find it an enjoyable experience? Were they particularly sweeter?

Corn'Bunadh - I like it! Has maple wood ever been used to mature spirits to your/anyones knowledge?

@Victor It is funny you are mentioning Apple wood as it would be my second choice for an experiment. Who would do it. I would pick William Grant & Sons, that way they would be able to do it with one Canadian (Gibson), one Scotch (Balvenie) and one Irish (Tullamore).

@Robert99 I use applewood when smoking runs or turkey. I'm thinking maybe this would go well with a peated malt.

@RianC , Yes, the flavours of both cherry fruit and apple fruit translate very clearly into the Copper Fox Rye whiskey through the use of staves made from the cherry wood and the apple wood. They are not sweet at all, but rather dry in influence.

As for maple wood, here is an example claimed to be the first maple wood whiskey finish, a 2010 release of the Woodford Reserve Masters Collection:

connosr.com/woodford-reserve-masters-colle…

The physical properties of maple do not equal oak for the purposes of cask aging, so it was a big deal that they succeeded at all in making barrels from maple wood.

A correction and an addition about Copper Fox Rye:

1) they use chips of the cherry wood and apple wood, instead of staves during aging.

2) I forgot to mention about Copper Fox Rye that it is made with a mashbill of 2/3rds rye and 1/3 malted barley. The malted barley is kiln dried using only the smoke from smouldering cherry wood and apple wood.

So you get both fruit wood chips in the drink during aging, plus fruit wood smoke kilning the barley grain prior to mashing. Smoke influence in the final whiskey is light, but no doubt scews the fruit effect to the dry side. .

connosr.com/copper-fox-rye-whisky-whisky-r…

I have also tasted some much better bottlings of Copper Fox Rye than the one I reviewed, above. Some bottlings I have tasted would rate near 90 points from me.

@Victor How does it affect the floral notes of rye grain?

@Nozinan I think you are right with the condition of the peat being light because apple wood has a delicate flavor.

@RianC No need to apologize, we are here to have fun while talking about whisky and that is exactly what we are doing now.

@Robert99, I would describe Copper Fox Rye as being above average floral for a rye whisk(e)y.

@Victor It sounds interesting and I saw on their site that the have a Peachwood Single Malt. Did you ever taste it? I know I would like to see Glenmorangie or Glengoyne using Peach wood. In staves or chips, I wouldn't mind.

@Robert99, no I haven't had any of the Wasmund's malt whisky, peach-wood aged or standard. I've managed not to have tasted Wasmund's Malt for all of these years, despite the fact that the distillery is located 2 hrs from DC, and Rick Wasmund himself has occasionally been seen delivering his product to my wife's place of employment. I think that peach wood would be delightful paired with a mild malt.

Jim Murray has in the past called Rick Wasmund "the mad scientist of whisky". Wasmund likes to experiment.

I see I made one more error, above. Copper Fox Rye uses cherry wood smoke for drying the malted barley, but the wood chips are apparently just apple wood and oak wood. One does taste that cherry wood smoke, however. And the whisky does taste a bit like cherries.