Tokaji Finish Batch 2 - 2024 | 54.8% ABV

Cask experimentation: Innovation or try it for the sake of it?

Whisky comes in many fine forms. Influencing the end product via still cuts, barley varieties and indeed geographical regions, all can have a huge impact on flavour, profile and enjoyability.

It's one of the many reasons why as enthusiasts we spend so much time with this glorious liquid. When speaking about whisky to non-drinkers, we can explain how slippery a slope this can all be when you start to delve into whisky.

Picking Scotland as an example, you can pick whiskies from parts of the country to show how different things can be. Peat vs non-peat is another topic for discussion. Then if you find a flavour profile and style you like, how does this translate to whisky created in other countries? Overwhelming when you come to think of it, but it's exciting to dissect and get stuck in.

However, debatably, you can point to the influence that casks can have on the final makeup and character of whiskies. There are arguments out there that casks can imprint up to 80% of the liquids overall flavour. That's both a huge statement and such a percentage of impact that one single aspect can have in the post-creation part of whisky making. In post-creation I'm talking about after malting, drying, mashing, fermenting, distilling and condensing to where an actual liquid is created by a distillery.

The OGs of bourbon and sherry stand tall as the cask of choice for most distilleries. In choosing these, the previous cask fills have proven to give us outstanding whiskies and diverse flavour profiles while at the same time creating a followings for one or the other. I for one like both, but give me my whisky in a bourbon hoggy all day long. Just a personal preference, nowt wrong with something rested, finished or matured in sherry or something else entirely.

So this 'something else entirely' is what I want to touch on today, as we look at a unique offering from Glasgow Distillery Co. as part of their small batch series.

Now I'm not clued in on how a distillery comes about getting their hands on various casks or particular varieties. Does the master distiller or master blender taste an array of different wines individually to see how a particular flavour could compliment or change their own distillate? Or does one simply buy from cask sources that's privy to those in the industry?

My own curiosity got the better of me and I reached out to a few folks who might know how sourcing casks within whisky works. The guys at Copeland distillery told me a few weeks back when I visited their distillery that sometimes they'll get a phone call informing them of a certain type or variety of cask that's available to them. At a premium I might add.

Another take that I've been told is that it's more of a seek and ye shall find, while not necessarily being offered. For a cask that has any seasoning whatsoever, it can be up to five years for your order to be fulfilled. Which can be a bit of a headache in regards to future volume and release planning. All in a day's work for a distillery eh?

The latest small batch series from Glasgow Distillery sees them finishing their unpeated whisky in Hungarian Tokaji Sweet Wine casks for 3 years and 6 months. That's a super long finish if you ask me. Where do we draw a line when it comes to something that's matured vs something that's finished? It's my own personal opinion that a finish is any period up to and including 12 months. With a discussion between the other Dramface writers, there was a collective, 'What actually is Tokaji?' An alcoholic drink that I'd not heard of before but here we are delving into a look at Tokaji.

Firstly, it's pronounced 'Toh-kai-yee' (not 'Toh-kah-gee' as I've been saying it), and the wine is from a region in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. The region, named Tokaj, was declared a World Heritage Site back in 2002. This characteristically sweet dessert wine is made from white grapes and is cultivated from one of 6 grape varieties in order for it to be an official Tokaji wine. The 6 varieties being: Furmint, Hárslevelű,Yellow Muscat, Zéta, Kövérszőlő and Kabar.

The peculiar sweetness and style of Tokaji wines is built on something known as 'noble rot'; aka botrytis. There are better folks on the writing team that would explain this in a level of detail that's beyond my understanding. That being said, '…Botrytis occurs only when the climate is right for it, and dries and shrivels the overripe grapes, turning them into raisin-like “Aszú berries.” This concentrates their flavours and their sugars, and gives the wines made from them distinct complex flavours, a honeyed character, and high amounts of residual sugar.' [Referenced and info gathered from - Understanding Tokaj - Taste Hungary]

You start to wonder why a distillery would choose such a different and unique type of wine or cask variant for release. It's hard to know if it'll work and Glasgow using Tokaji in their small batch range is testament to experimentation here along with Cognac casks, tequila and more. It wouldn't have been a dessert wine I'd heard of or even tried previously. With such sweet characteristics and tasting notes from the wine below, my interest is spared in tasting this new offering from Glasgow.

Review 1/3 - Hamish

Glasgow 1770 Small Batch 6yo, Tokaji Finish, Unpeated, 1300 bottles on release, Natural colour, Non-chill filtered, Bottled - 3rd June 2024, 54.8% ABV
£58.95 RRP

From Glasgow: A marriage of four casks, our unpeated single malt filled into first fill ex-bourbon barrels and finished within Hungarian Tokaji sweet wine casks for 3 years and 6 months.

For full transparency, Wally was contacted by Glasgow directly who were very kind in offering bottles for review. As is typical at Dramface, Wally reached out to the the writer’s team and I was quick (and lucky) enough to accept delivery. Thank you Wally and the team at Glasgow.

Score: 5/10

**Average.**
***TL;DR***
*Not the sweetness that I’d expected and a bit underwhelming.*

Nose

Fresh cut ginger. Small lick of a clean stainless steel hip flask weirdly. Quite floral with a lavender note in the mix. The nose is quite tight and compact. Hard to tease out any distinct notes. Some fresh plum fruit and wine gum sweets. A lashing of orange marmalade, mango and chopped cashew nuts. Honey oat biscuits.

Quite malty with quick blasts of tropical fruits when water is added and the nose seems to mellow and bring forth more fruit notes but they're still hard to tease out.

Palate

Peaches, lemon curd and almond butter. Orange tic tacs and midget gem gum sweets. Very long finish. It's a little sweet, dry and very astringent too.

Kick of black pepper and quite lactic. Reminds me of a cream soda fizzy drink. Some nutmeg over warm cooked porridge oats. A little syrupy after a while. More fresh oak. Hint of raw button mushroom which I didn't expect. With water, it brings out just a little change in more fruit in the form of pineapple juice but really not much else.

The Dregs

This is still widely available on most UK specialist drink retailers for the price of £58.95. Not a bad price point to be fair for a 6 year old cask strength single malt.

Would I pay for it? Maybe if I went in blind and have previously been very impressed with other whisky I've tasted from Glasgow. Their manzanilla was terrific and their peated core range is brilliant.

It’s one dimensional to be honest and that true cask influence (given how long it has been in there) just did not come forward as I’d expected. Given the character and tasting notes stated on the bottle sounded delicious; I was found wanting.

I’d be disappointed if I did purchase this myself. It’s one I'll reach past sadly, and share amongst friends to get their opinions and thoughts. It’s not one for Hamish, but this might tickle the fancy of someone else.

It hasn’t put me off Glasgow distillery, as I now look to the Cognac cask with Fergus.

Score: 5/10 HF

Review 2/3 - Fergus

Glasgow 1770 Small Batch 6yo, Tokaji Finish, Unpeated, 1300 bottles on release, Natural colour, Non-chill filtered, Bottled - 3rd June 2024, 54.8% ABV
£58.95 RRP

From Glasgow: A marriage of four casks, our unpeated single malt filled into first fill ex-bourbon barrels and finished within Hungarian Tokaji sweet wine casks for 3 years and 6 months.

Score: 6/10

**Good Stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Something Different.*

Nose

The cask influence is immediately apparent on the nose. I get my nan’s homemade plum wine, some sweet, sticky Cornish mead and some Applejack sweets. I also get cherry blossom, and pineapple creams.

Palate

Unlike the cognac cask finish, which was balanced, I’d say that the cask influence here is a lot more assertive. I get apple, pineapple, pineapple creams, some vanilla and some lemon rind. I also get some of the mint that I picked up on the cognac cask finish. The finish is pretty short, which is a shame, but other than that, it’s very tasty.

More than anything though, I get dessert wine. I get plums, and sweet fruits, and that Cornish mead thing that I picked up on the nose. It reminds me of an indy Glenturret I once had that had been matured in a madeira cask. It’s just such a distinctive flavour that it has the potential to overwhelm everything else. As such, this is a very cask driven whisky, which to my palate, lacks the balance of the cognac finish.

The Dregs

I’ll admit that this was a difficult one to score for me. Not because I’m not enjoying it, but because I have so little frame of reference when it comes to this style of whisky. And this is definitely a style. It’s a distinctive style. Like I said, the only other whisky I’ve tasted that drinks like this was a madeira finished Glenturret.

That Glenturret was a memorable whisky, and I was glad to have it in the collection, but it wasn’t one that I found myself reaching for too often, and I suspect that the same will be true of this Tokaji finish. This is very sweet whisky. It’s eminently quaffable, but it’s the sort of thing that I think you need to be in the mood for.

All that said, I think that for £59, it’s priced reasonably. It’s also naturally presented, and the info on the label is very transparent. If you’re interested in trying something that’s spent time in a sweet wine cask, then this is probably as good a place to start as any.

A distinctive whisky. Perhaps a little one dimensional, but well presented and very enjoyable nonetheless.

Score: 6/10 FMc

Review 3/3 - Dougie

Glasgow 1770 Small Batch 6yo, Tokaji Finish, Unpeated, 1300 bottles on release, Natural colour, Non-chill filtered, Bottled - 3rd June 2024, 54.8% ABV
£58.95 RRP (Purchased by Dougie)

From Glasgow: A marriage of four casks, our unpeated single malt filled into first fill ex-bourbon barrels and finished within Hungarian Tokaji sweet wine casks for 3 years and 6 months.

My eyes have been well and truly opened by Glasgow and their Manzanilla and Cognac Small Batch releases. Both were really excellent whiskies, and thereafter had me looking out for the next release of Glasgow Small Batch. It wasn’t long before they arrived, again in a variety of different casks.

Having tried the Cognac I fancied this time trying the Tojaki Cask Finish, mostly because the stuff I’ve tried in Tokaji (Glen Garioch) has been excellent, adding to the character rather than dominating. I was given a wee sample of the first batch of Tokaji from Drummond, and really enjoyed it. At £59 it’s once more a fantastic price-to-quality ratio from Glasgow, showing they’re in this realignment phase for the long run.

I also bought a wee glass at the same time, thinking it could replace the wee diddy Glasgow Whisky Festival glass Mrs Crystal smashed a month ago. When it arrived it was 4 times the size! Using it for neat whisky is a dangerous game, but one I’m happy to play.

I also had a wee personalised card made for £1, allowing me to capitalise on the free shipping over £65.

Score: 6/10

**Good Stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Consistently good, with interesting flavours if you can make it past the big rubber o-ring.*

Nose

Saucy. Vinegar base (v.subtle) Desert wine / ice wine. Thick. Syrupy. Bright. Clean. Slight squash court. Cinnamon dusted apple juice. Green and gold. Cucumber raita. Coconut rasp. Reds/Cedar.

Palate

Sweet grapes, thick, saucy. Chewy. Big squash ball - rubbery. Gooseberry. Vanilla ice cream with sharp green compote (kiwi?) Figs. Lashings of toffees and bright sugars.

The Dregs

So it’s not a banger like the Manzanilla was, and it’s not a clean slice of orangey summer like the Cognac, but it does bring to mind fresh zingy evening drams. Great for dessert, great for post dessert, and great for just sitting with.

Doesn’t stun, but certainly doesn’t disappoint. I’m glad I bought this, and continue to look to Glasgow for interesting, consistently good whisky.

Score: 6/10 DC

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. HF

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