Glenlivet Reconstructs The Barrel for its New Rum-Bourbon Finished Expression

Cask finishes are very much a focus for distillers these days, as whisky makers push the envelope on flavor exploration. The latest effort from single malt scotch distillery Glenlivet is its Rum and Bourbon Fusion Cask Selection. That sounds simple enough, but its creation wasn’t merely a matter of dumping the whisky into a bourbon cask and then moving it to a rum cask. Instead, Glenlivet created a new barrel for the finishing.

This was done by dismantling the first-fill bourbon and rum barrels and then reassembling them slightly differently, using the bourbon and rum staves from each in alternating fashion to create a combination of rum and bourbon flavors This approach calls to mind the Indian single malt Amrut, whose Amrut Spectrum 004 release was matured in a bourbon barrel and then transferred to a specially built cask made of four different wood types.

The Glenlivet’s signature house style is fruity, the combined influence of rum and bourbon casks imbues the scotch with more tropical fruit, vanilla custard, coconut, caramel, and fried banana. The new whisky is priced at $100 and is available nationwide. This is the first release from Glenlivet this year, which marks its 200th year making single malt whiskies.

Certainly, the Glenlivet is familiar with rum casks, releasing its Caribbean Reserve, a single malt finished in rum casks, back in 2020. Rum cask-finished whiskies are a growing breed, and they’re a great option for whisky drinkers with a sweet tooth.