Is scotch getting sweeter?

[ForresterModern]

Historically most single malt scotch whisky has been aged primarily in secondhand american bourbon casks (by legal designation scotch has to be laid in a used cask while american bourbon by law has to be laid in a new cask) so that is pretty much the standard for the last hundred plus years. How long (10, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25 years and such) was the piece of the puzzle that helped determine some of the flavors and qualities of the scotch. About 15 years ago many distillers began projects of expanding their product lines, not just by bottling different ages, but by what is called "finishing", putting an aged scotch into a second cask that may be a port wine, sherry, madeira, rum, jerez, burgundy, etc... previously used cask to "finish" off its last 3-5 years of aging by picking up some of the subtle flavors of the previous inhabitants of those casks. In that way the distillers have successfully broadened their offerings with a variety of new tastes, while simultaneously diminished the large stocks of their relatively "young" batches (typically 8-10 years old primary casking) and gotten them to market at a younger age (usually 11-15 years), without having to try to age them 18, 20 or 25 years to get a unique flavor. One of the side effects of this new finishing trend is that most of the casks they finish them in have some sweeter tendencies (rum, port, burgundy, sherry, madeira, jerez are all typically sweet or dessert type drinks) along with some new fruitiness generally not seen in most of the standard straight single casked single malts of old.

Personally I think the internationalizing of the whisky industry and large export of scotch whisky in particular has brought new people into the scotch drinking habit, many of whom prefer a slightly sweeter or fruiter product than was typically available previously, and that these newer finished whiskies have spread the customer base in precisely the way they were intended to in the first place---great business sense IMHO. Us old farts can still take our 18 yr old Macallan neat and enjoy its robust and fertile nature while knowing that there are some newer styles out there that are bringing more people into the scotch drinking fold who would probably never have done so without the sweeter and fruiter varieties as a somewhat more inviting first offering.

I think Glenmorangie in particular has done a nice job with their variety of secondary finished scotches, each unique and inviting in its own way but distinct from its standard varieties.

j