McCarthy’s 6 Year Oloroso Finish
McCarthy’s was founded by Steve McCarthy and first released as a whiskey in 1996, serving in the vanguard of American single malt whiskies. Hailing from the Mount Hood region of Oregon, McCarthy’s barley is sourced entirely from Scotland and is peat smoked. The early releases earned high praise from whiskey reviewers like Jim Murray but they have not rested on their laurels. The McCarthy’s 6 Year Oloroso Finish is distilled from heavily peated Scottish barley and aged in Oregon oak casks before being finished for an unknown amount of time in Spanish ex-Olorosh sherry casks.
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.
Talisker 18 Year
Talisker was founded in 1830 by the MacAskill and, after almost two centuries a more than one change of hands, is now owned by spirit conglomorate Diageo. The five stills at the distillery – two wash and three spirit – have a unique feature called swan neck lye pipes. A loop in the pipe moves some vapor into the worm tubs, which condenses some of the alochol therein before it is distilled again. Along with having travel retain bottles and a few No Age Statement expressions, the core of the lineup features five aged offerings, beginning with the Talisker 10. The Talisker 18 Year has long been part of the distillery’s output, along with the 10.