Cask Trade Trilogy

Cask Trade did a neat Trilogy collection of three different cask types from Speyside Distillery, freshly filled, for the affordable price of 5000 GBP for the lot of three barrels:

Using new make spirit distilled at the award-winning Speyside Distillery in Kingussie, Scotland, 
we will create three distinct whisky expressions– Bourbon, Sherry and Port Matured.

Storage and insurance is included for five years, and unrestricted naming rights vest at 15 years.

To give future owners a feeling about what their purchases might look like, Cask Trade has mailed us all “indicative samples” of the three cask types at 46% ABV — let’s take a look!

(1) No good at all; ruinous; unsalvageable 
(2) Bad
(3) OK
(4) Good
(5) Perfect

Bourbon Barrel

Quite pale; on the nose we have fresh-cut grass, green apples, terps, and cornbread. The taste is raw and oily, with cinnamon roll, tropical fruits, and vanilla. It finishes long and sweet. Over time, this should mellow and gain some oakiness as well. Verdict: 3.5/5.

Refill Sherry Cask

Dark enough for “whisky”; very hot new-makey aromatics, some kind of dry/tannin. Smooth dark chocolate, butter cookies, and fudge. The finish is short. These 2nd-fill casks will need some time to really go to work on the Speyside distillate, but this is promising. Verdict: 3/5.

Port Barrique

Lovely almost purplish port hue, a funky nose of crushed berries, mint, and aftershave. In the mouth, medium-sweet port, mulled wine, gauva, and chalk. Medium-bodied finish of berries. Verdict: 4/5

All three of these indicative samples are very young, and the spirit is quite delicate already that I am quite excited to see how they’re like a decade down the road!