Colour can give a clue to the type of cask (sherry or bourbon) used to age the whisky, although the addition of legal “spirit caramel” is sometimes used to darken an otherwise lightly coloured whisky. Sherried whisky is usually darker or more amber in colour, while whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks is usually a golden-yellow/honey colour.
The late 1990s saw a trend towards “wood finishes” in which fully matured whisky is moved from one barrel into another one that had previously aged a different type of alcohol (e.g., port, Madeira, rum, wine, etc.) to add the “finish”.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling number 1.81, for instance, is known by some as “the green Glenfarclas”. It was finished in a rum cask after 27 years in an oak (ex-bourbon) barrel and is the colour of extra-virgin olive oil. This is in homage to the legendary “Green Springbank”, also aged in rum casks. Another notable example is the “Black Bowmore”, released in batches in 1993, 94 and 95 after 29, 30, 31 years in ex-Oloroso sherry casks. The name evokes the density of colour and complexity of flavour naturally imparted into what was originally water-clear spirit in 1964.
