But fret not; if you’re determined to achieve novelty, no matter the cost, opportunities still abound in the world of cask finishing. Sure, you could choose one of the usual suspects – charred American oak, sherry hogsheads, Syrah casks. But when your options are so extensive, why be pedestrian? Here are a few distilleries pushing the boundaries – in one case, what I would call the outer boundaries – of cask finishing.
Westland Inferno
Westland Distillery, the straight-laced single malt distillery based in Seattle, turned a few heads when they released Inferno, a single malt aged in a Tabasco barrel, on April Fool’s Day this year. No joke, this whiskey is spicy: Axis of Whiskey described it as “unrelenting and borderline painful.” Our editor-in-chief, who got to try it as part of his recent visit to the distillery, pretty much agreed with the Axis assessment.
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Abraham Bowman Coffee Barrel
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Heritage Distilling Dual Barrel Bourbon Whiskey
There’s not much out there about this one, but Instagram posts hint at the existence of a vanilla extract cask-finished bourbon from Heritage Distilling, based in Gig Harbor, Washington. I guess it sounds OK in theory…
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Ah, my personal favorite. Fisky, from independent bottler Stupid Cask, is a Bruichladdich single cask finished in a barrel that once held herring. Before you dismiss it as nothing more than a stunt (which, I guess, it is), consider this: there’s historical precedent that Scottish distillers may have once used fish casks for the same purpose. Reception was mixed: Serge from Whisky Fun enjoyed it, while Whisky Cast called it “by far the worst whisky I’ve ever tasted.”
