I accidentally got this bottle last year when a friend asked if I wanted to add anything to an online order they were planning to make. I told them I would take the Berry Bros Glenburgie without realizing that there were two of them… this and a 29 Year. The mistake for not double checking or being more specific was entirely mine. As far as mistakes go, it is hard to complain when it results in an extra bottle of Glenburgie!  This youngster dates from about four years after the distillery was entirely rebuilt, it was finished in a Beykush wine cask. I had never heard of that before, but it seems to be a winery on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine which cultivates a wide variety of grapes.

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Whisky: Glenburgie 15 Year (2008), Berry Bros & Rudd Cask 8126

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 58%

Cask: Hogshead, Beykush Reserve Wine Finish

Age: 15 Years (Distilled 2008, Bottled 2023)

Notes: An upscale candy store offered cunning combinations of floral and fruity gummies: hibiscus-raspberry, violet-cherry, orange blossom-plum. Some came with a dusting of li hing powder— salted pickled plum— adding a salty, sour tang to sweet stewed fruits and confections. The aroma was spirited at times with plenty of woodsy tannins emphasizing the big wine cask maturation. Occasionally more savory notions of sweet cured salmon and maitake mushrooms lingered in the background. Medium-bodied on the palate, the cask was in my face with the first sip as tons of concentrated dark fruits, brown sugar, and molasses arrived with a plank of cured walnut. Tannic and drying elements squelched some of the juiciness of stone fruits, with paprika, cured salmon, caramelized soy sauce, and hints of mushroom lingering the background— a salmon don for lunch! The finish was medium to long and drying with a touch of residual fruity sugars, brown sugar, purple plum pits, and lacquered wood.

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Score: 6-7 (79)

Mental Image: Candy Making in the Wizard’s Second-hand Cauldron

Conclusion: The wine cask was firmly in the spotlight with just enough of the Glenburgie malt harmonizing with the cask through to avoid the label of one trick pony (two tricks is twice the fun). The cask and malt were more complementary as the whisky evolved in the glass with a good balance between juicy fruits, salt, and earth. It was a touch spirited on the nose, and tannic on the palate, but otherwise opened up remarkably well. Water helped smooth out some of those rough edges, though it was not strictly necessary.

Overall, I am not wild about wine maturations, but this worked well.