What Wood Robbie Say?

We put wood finishing to the test the day after Robbie Burn's birthday on Wednesday January 26, 2011. If you are interested to see if we came up with a "rule of thumb" about what barrels work best for aging, you will be disappointed. Between traditional sherry casks, Madeira, Sauternes, Bordeaux, and new French oak there seemed to be no discernable path to single malt glory.

The top "finishers" were Benriach Madeira, The Arran Sherry, and The Glenlivet French Oak. Although to be fair to the others, it should be noted that the difference in scores from top to bottom was less than three points. While the scores were quite close, the flavour imparted by the barrels was very noticeable.

Perhaps the lesson here is that wood does make a difference to quality, it just doesn't particularly matter which one. If you agree with this thesis then, of this group, the most attractive is probably The Glenlivet. At about $63 a bottle it offers the best value.

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Median scores

Appearance

Aroma

Flavour

Aftertaste

Likeability

Total

out of 4

out of 4

out of 6

out of 8

out of 8

out of 30

3.0

3.0

4.0

6.0

6.0

22.0

3.0

3.0

4.5

5.0

6.0

21.5

3.0

3.0

4.0

6.0

5.5

21.5

3.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

5.0

20.0

3.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

5.0

20.0

2.25

3.0

4.0

5.0

5.0

19.25

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