The whiskey secondary market is fast and furious these days. Beyond those willing to pay great amounts for limited run bottles, there are brokers like Last Drop and Cask 88 who score access to whole barrels of unique whiskies from distillers all over the world. The latter recently introduced a highly limited-edition series of four whiskies matured in smaller quarter-sized casks to their range of independent bottlings.
Cask 88’s the Eighty Eight Series features small batch expressions from Bunnahabhain, Highland Park, Caol Ila and Bladnoch, and offers whisky enthusiasts the opportunity to explore the impact of cask size on the maturation of the whisky.
A Bladnoch 27 Year Old (55.6% ABV; 70cl; $569.99), is the oldest whisky in the series and was originally held in an ex-sherry Hogshead before being finished in an ex-sherry quarter cask for 9 months. A Caol Ila 9 Year Old (58.9% ABV; 70cl; $239.99), was originally held in a refill Hogshead before being finished in an ex-sherry quarter cask for 9 months. A Bunnahabhain 9 Year Old (57.8% ABV; 70cl; $239.99) was originally matured in a refill ex-sherry butt before being finished in an ex-sherry quarter cask for 3 months. A Highland Park 14 Year Old (54.8% ABV; 70cl; $154.99) was originally held in an ex-bourbon Hogshead before being finished in an ex-sherry quarter cask for 7 months.
Quarter casks, at one eighth of the size of a standard cask to hold whisky, are capable of holding approximately 50 liters of whisky each. Each quarter cask yields 88 bottles of whisky. “The smaller cask size maximizes the contact between the spirit and the wood, theoretically producing a whisky with a stronger, more complex flavor,” said APAC Sales Director Patrick Costello. “Whereas the wider industry favors larger casks to produce whisky on scale, we wanted to select something a little different, and focus on producing small batch whiskies that excite the senses.”
The Eighty Eight Series is the second release of Scottish whisky independently bottled under the Cask 88 brand. The first bottling under the Edinburgh-based whisky broker and independent bottler’s brand was a 45 Year Old Ben Nevis 1972 Single Malt from the Cask 88 Scottish Folklore series, with a design inspired by the Scottish legend of the Cù-Sìth.
All four whiskies in The Eighty Eight Series will be available from Whisky Foundation for worldwide delivery and from Cask 88.
