I totally agree with your view on the partial sherry finish process with Signatory. I have a Mortlach 11 yr finished in sherry for 13 months. It's very dark, but does not deliver what is expected of me. Good review.
The bourbon matured for sure. When a 18-20 yr old whisky is finished in a sherry soaked cask , that's a sign that the original maturation wasn't good enough.
Great points Jason. I saw a 23 yr Longmorn from Signatory that spent its entire life in a first fill sherry butt and I think it might look a shade lighter than that Allt-a-Bhainne
I like a heavily sherried whisky, because Glendronach's old Allardice 18's where what made me fall in love with whisky. That, however, is fully sherry matured the entire way. Would a bottle like this Allt-a-Bhainne be less complex? Would the sherry be more like a layer of paint, obscuring the beautiful wood underneath? Is this way of making whisky "the worst of both worlds"? And should i be looking for fully sherry matured whiskies going forward?
Hi Jason I hope you are doing well, I bought a bottle of signatory vintage unchillfiltered collection 11 year old, 16 months in a sherry cask and cask strength 58% abv, I haven't opened it yet and wish if you would do a review on it, this whiskey was bottled for spec's liquor in Texas, maybe you can get close to it, I payed $150.00 us dollars and I don't know if I want to open it just yet, I love your reviews and try and watch all of them, cheers friend and keep up the great reviews !!!
I have always preferred bourbon aged/matured/finished whiskies. Just picked up a bottle of Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Batch 3 @ 60.4% ABV. With a few drops of water it is sweet and magnificent..!!!
I'm going to buy the sherry one!!! Because I disagree with you about the finishing of old scotch, mabe after 20 years it was an awful whisky and the finish was needed????
Not influencing or manipulating me, so no worries about that. It is not like Signatory Vintage kept what was done to the whisky a secret. It is printed right there on the label. So that is entirely on you, as you freely admit. Personally, I don't have any issues with finishing whisky that came from ex-bourbon casks in sherry or port casks so long as the distillery discloses that information on the label (though the result here might be more extreme than what is typical). For the purists who don't want their ex-bourbon matured whisky tainted with flavors from other cask types there are always single cask bottlings.
I don't mind the way Signatory does it, at least they clearly mention on the label what was done to the whisky and for how long. I do have an issue with the "secret" re-racking and finishing that Billy Walker did with Glendronach and currently does with Glenallachie. His son (Infrequent Flyers) does the same thing. And judging by the colour of some of their releases over the past year, I suspect Gordon & Macphail have started doing it as well. It's all perfectly legal according to the SWA, but it's misleading the (often uninformed) customer. Answering your question though: there is no way I would ever even consider buying one of these souped-up finished older whiskies. And it doesn't even have anything to do with the insane prices - it's just something I don't wish to support & encourage.
A little research tells me that Allt-a-Bhainne is pronounced "Oll ta Vane" (or "oltah-vain") and means "burn of milk"--presumably a stream rather than over-cooked. Gaelic bh spelling = v, as with Bunnahabhain. 100 euro whiskies are pushing my budget, let alone 200 euro ones, so. I like whiskies with some sherry influence but not where that erases the distillate character. You say you don't feel worthy of tasting/able to adequately describe the 23yo whisky, and I know that feeling, but you were beginning to find some interesting characters in it. Not suitable for a yt vid. but the very best whiskies one can sit with for 2-3 hours periodically sniffing/tasting and writing notes, in between other stuff such as reading a book or whatever. It's a learning experience/takes practice.
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I totally agree with your view on the partial sherry finish process with Signatory. I have a Mortlach 11 yr finished in sherry for 13 months. It's very dark, but does not deliver what is expected of me. Good review.
thanks Keith!
The bourbon matured for sure.
When a 18-20 yr old whisky is finished in a sherry soaked cask , that's a sign that the original maturation wasn't good enough.
probably yes
Great points Jason. I saw a 23 yr Longmorn from Signatory that spent its entire life in a first fill sherry butt and I think it might look a shade lighter than that Allt-a-Bhainne
Thanks Bill
I like a heavily sherried whisky, because Glendronach's old Allardice 18's where what made me fall in love with whisky. That, however, is fully sherry matured the entire way.
Would a bottle like this Allt-a-Bhainne be less complex? Would the sherry be more like a layer of paint, obscuring the beautiful wood underneath? Is this way of making whisky "the worst of both worlds"? And should i be looking for fully sherry matured whiskies going forward?
great questions!!
Hi Jason
I hope you are doing well, I bought a bottle of signatory vintage unchillfiltered collection 11 year old, 16 months in a sherry cask and cask strength 58% abv, I haven't opened it yet and wish if you would do a review on it, this whiskey was bottled for spec's liquor in Texas, maybe you can get close to it, I payed $150.00 us dollars and I don't know if I want to open it just yet, I love your reviews and try and watch all of them, cheers friend and keep up the great reviews !!!
sorry - I don't think I can find anything like that
I have always preferred bourbon aged/matured/finished whiskies.
Just picked up a bottle of Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Batch 3 @ 60.4% ABV. With a few drops of water it is sweet and magnificent..!!!
we don't have Alba in Eurpoe
I'm going to buy the sherry one!!! Because I disagree with you about the finishing of old scotch, mabe after 20 years it was an awful whisky and the finish was needed????
Maybe
I have the 23 year old it's delicious
Now that looks the business. Cheers. Nice review
terrible business practice
@@WhiskyJason1 The whisky business is a messy business. It’s our job to find the gems.
so I am a gem hunter ??
Did they even dump the original contents of that sherry cask before filing it with whisky?
it doesn't look like it
Not influencing or manipulating me, so no worries about that. It is not like Signatory Vintage kept what was done to the whisky a secret. It is printed right there on the label. So that is entirely on you, as you freely admit. Personally, I don't have any issues with finishing whisky that came from ex-bourbon casks in sherry or port casks so long as the distillery discloses that information on the label (though the result here might be more extreme than what is typical). For the purists who don't want their ex-bourbon matured whisky tainted with flavors from other cask types there are always single cask bottlings.
Thanks Guy!
I don't mind the way Signatory does it, at least they clearly mention on the label what was done to the whisky and for how long. I do have an issue with the "secret" re-racking and finishing that Billy Walker did with Glendronach and currently does with Glenallachie. His son (Infrequent Flyers) does the same thing. And judging by the colour of some of their releases over the past year, I suspect Gordon & Macphail have started doing it as well. It's all perfectly legal according to the SWA, but it's misleading the (often uninformed) customer.
Answering your question though: there is no way I would ever even consider buying one of these souped-up finished older whiskies. And it doesn't even have anything to do with the insane prices - it's just something I don't wish to support & encourage.
I called it pseudo-transparency what Billy Walker and co. is doing
A little research tells me that Allt-a-Bhainne is pronounced "Oll ta Vane" (or "oltah-vain") and means "burn of milk"--presumably a stream rather than over-cooked. Gaelic bh spelling = v, as with Bunnahabhain.
100 euro whiskies are pushing my budget, let alone 200 euro ones, so. I like whiskies with some sherry influence but not where that erases the distillate character. You say you don't feel worthy of tasting/able to adequately describe the 23yo whisky, and I know that feeling, but you were beginning to find some interesting characters in it. Not suitable for a yt vid. but the very best whiskies one can sit with for 2-3 hours periodically sniffing/tasting and writing notes, in between other stuff such as reading a book or whatever. It's a learning experience/takes practice.
thanks for the research