Glenmorangie 18 Year
Glenmorangie was founded in 1843 after William Matheson purchased the Morangie farm at the site, which had been brewing beer and spirits there for over a century, according to legend. Boasting the tallest stills in Scotland, it is often named one of the best selling whiskies in Scotland. While the distillery produced whiskies for use in blends, they ceased in 2009 to focus on single malts. Their offerings feature an array of age and no-age statements, often finished in a variety of ex-wine casks. The distillery and its current Director of Distilling, Dr Bill Lumsden, have helped pioneer cask finishing in the modern era. The Glenmorangie 18 is aged for 15 years and then 30% of the cut is finished in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks for three years before being blended back in.
Laphroaig 10 Year Sherry Oak
While Laphroaig had long experimented with different cask finishes in special releases like the Cairdeas line, less had been done with the standard expressions beyond an occasional cask strength release also under the Cairdeas aegis. The Laphroaig 10 Year Sherry Oak debuted in March 2021 as a limited release but soon transitioned into a part of the core range. Starting life along the same path as the distillery’s iconic Laphroaig 10, this whisky is then finished for 12 to 18 months in European oak ex-Oloroso sherry casks, marrying the new with the familiar.
Redbreast Tawny Port Edition
The Redbreast brand has long been fans of using cask maturation as part of their whiskey’s identity, such almost always utilizing some component of ex-sherry casks of some sort in their core offerings and many of their limited editions. The Redbreast Tawny Port Edition was launched in 2023 as the third release in the brand’s Iberian Series, which looks to pair whiskey with esteemed wine producers from the Iberian penninsula. It is a single pot still whiskies aged in ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks, then transferred to ex-tawny port casks before being married and matured in freshly seasoned tawny port hogsheads for 14-25 months, resulting in layers of influence.