Many an American single malt (and those the world over) take a variety of cues from scotch. Wanderback is tapping into a different tradition, one found in both Ireland and in the Bourbon world here in the United States, somewhere between a distillery and an independent bottler. This is where a brand works with a distillery to create the whisky, which is then handed over to the brand for anything else like maturation and blending. This isn’t because the company wants to shortcut the normal process, moreso that they want to explore all the prospects American whiskies currently produce already offer and take them in new directions. The first four batches, The Evergreen Collection, were distilled just a few hours to their north at Westland Distillery. The Wanderback Batch 3 has been aged in high toast, low char new American oak and finished in French oak port casks.
Hazelburn 14 Year Oloroso Cask
Springbank distillery produces three single malt brands and of these, the Hazelburn is perhaps most unique in that it is one of the few whiskies produced in Scotland that are distilled three times (far more normal for their brethren whiskies across the water in Ireland). Distilling an extra time can remove more of what is often described as the “burn” provided by the alcohol in a scotch. Another unusual twist to this scotch is the maturation. While it is not uncommon to finish a whisky in another cask near the end of its aging for a few months or a year to give it additional character, this expression spent the entirety of its maturation in fresh ex-Oloroso casks.
Balvenie 17 Year Doublewood
While there are whiskies with age statements and whiskies with cask finishes, less often are they seen together. Even rarer are the combination of the two, especially when they feature the same mix found in a younger offering. Like the iconic Balvenie 12 Doublewood, the Balvenie 17 Doublewood is a mix of whiskies aged in ex-bourbon casks and ex-sherry casks. So, like the younger offering but with an additional five years of maturity. It is always fun to see a distillery copy most of the particulars of one scotch in their portfolio and then only tweak one factor. Most of the time, other factors are changed like differences in cask finishes, so seeing the age be the variable here allows the studied drinker to make a different kind of comparison.