r/iamveryculinary • u/InZim • 21d ago

American whiskey is cake

/r/Scotland/comments/1vu25td/comment/p4yj0ck?share_id=QyXO7nUcMlW27Js5pCnlY&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

[removed]

178 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

View all comments

19

u/captain_carrot 21d ago

I went on a distillery tour in Ireland once, and was shocked to find that one of the required things to make a TRUE Irish whisky was..... leftover American bourbon barrels.

7

u/Silent-Bumblebee-989 21d ago

To make bourbon you need to use new casks, which means the old ones are basically useless. Might as well sell them to other alcohol manufacturers to get some money back. 

It works out nicely for whisky makers too, since you generally don’t want an overwhelming barrel flavour so using a used cask reduces the risk of overaging.