Whisky Saga Release #1 - part 3
OK, then, we have arrived at part three in the saga of the creation of Whisky Saga Release #1. The time has now come to select the casks I want to sample.
Having poured over the cask list from Tomatin I quickly settle on two cask types, re-charred oak and bourbon barrels, and I pick two casks from each type. These are safe choices, I feel. I do enjoy a nice, clean, bourbon barrel maturation, and I think this suits Tomatin very well. However, I feel a little adventurous, so for the last two samples I pick French oak hogsheads. Why the heck not, right? I have never tried a Tomatin matured in French oak before, but I have had a few other wonderful whiskies treated to such maturation.
Time to check in again with Scott Adamson, Global Brands Ambassador at Tomatin Distillery, to get the facts on the selected cask types. Scott delivers and here are the details:
Re-charred oak:
The whisky has been fully matured in these casks, no finishing
Originally bourbon barrels, used once, then remade into hogsheads
In practice they will work as somewhere between 1st fill bourbon and virgin oak
Some casks of this type are used in Tomatin 12 YO
Sweet and spicy
Bourbon barrel:
The whisky has been fully matured in these casks, no finishing
The distillery has warehouse logs from 1909 to 1929, revealing that they have used bourbon barrels at the distillery since 1914. This type of casks were not really very popular with maturation of Scotch until the 1940s
French oak hogshead:
The whisky has been fully matured in these casks, no finishing
Originally used to stored wine for a couple of years, then re-built and re-charred
For all practical purposes these are (very close to) virgin oak, but they are not calling it that
More aromatic, with more tannins, giving a chewier mouthfeel
Only ever used in one of their major releases, a 12 YO for the US market
Based on the above three cask types I pick the following six casks, and request samples (WS = Whisky Saga):
WS1: vintage 2008, cask 2910, re-charred American oak hogshead
WS2: vintage 2008, cask 2911, re-charred American oak hogshead
WS3: vintage 2006, cask 33307, French oak hogshead
WS4: vintage 2006, cask 33309, French oak hogshead
WS5: vintage 2005, cask 40386, American oak bourbon barrel
WS6: vintage 2005, cask 40387, American oak bourbon barrel
Sláinte!
- Thomas
