What Are New American Whiskey Finishing Traditions?
Today, as we’ve discussed in our series of blog posts in the leadup to the launch of the Lost Lantern Spring 2025 Collection, whiskey finishing is an important part of the whiskey tradition all over the world. In the United States, distilleries now routinely finish single malts, bourbons, ryes, and more in secondary casks that amplify and enhance existing flavors. Most of these finishes are in types of barrels that are widely used across the world and are effectively part of a worldwide ‘canon’ of finishes like sherry, port, and madeira casks. We’ve released several of these ourselves, including our award-winning Cedar Ridge Iowa Single Malt Sherry Cask Finish.
Yet some American distilleries are going further, expanding the boundaries of what finished whiskey can be and creating entirely new American whiskey finishing traditions. They are exploring innovative new finishes that are uniquely rooted in their own local environment and imbuing their whiskies with new flavors that have rarely been seen in whiskey before.
The Lost Lantern Spring 2025 Collection explores this new world of American finishes. Some of these you may never have seen before. Others are becoming more common. And we hope that some of them, over time, eventually join the canon of finishes that almost every distillery explores at some point.
What excites us most about these new finishes, beyond the delicious new flavors they impart, is how they are organically rooted in the history and traditions of an individual distillery or region. Sherry barrels became popular in Scotland not just because of the great flavors they added to whiskey, but because they were readily available, sherry at the time was very familiar and widely consumed, and (if we’re being honest) because the barrels back then were cheap (not so anymore!).
The new finishing traditions we’re exploring similarly are natural outgrowths of what distilleries are already doing–whether that’s making other spirits like nocino or apple brandy and reusing the barrels for whiskey finishing, or collaborating with other local companies like cideries, breweries, and wineries. And “local” doesn’t have to mean “right next door” – like our Andalusia Texas single malt finished in a Tequila cask, which naturally came from across the border, but still reflects the regional culture and the increasing importance of Tequila among spirits connoisseurs.
Lost Lantern Spring 2025 Collection
In the Lost Lantern Spring 2025 Collection, we highlight the following finishes, all of which are on their way to becoming new American traditions:
- Apple brandy, one of our favorite new finishes, in both Opulent Orchard New York apple-brandy finished rye and Santa Fe Spirits New Mexico Mesquite-Smoked Single Malt Apple Brandy Finish
- Tequila, in our Andalusia Texas peated single malt finished in a Tequila cask
- Honey, in our Starlight Indiana bourbon finished in a honey cask
- Nocino (walnut liqueur), in our Watershed 8-Year-Old Ohio Bourbon Nocino Finish. Nocino is originally an Italian tradition, but has not been widely used in finishing before. And Watershed makes their Nocino themselves using Ohio walnuts, so we definitely think it counts as local!
- Pommeau, a blend of apple brandy and fresh cider, in our Finger Lakes New York rye finished in a Pommeau cask
These aren’t the only new and exciting finishes we’ve seen in the whiskey world, though! And new ideas are emerging all the time. We didn’t happen to feature them in the Collection, but we’re also big fans of finishes like:
- Local red or white wines, as in our Westland Red Wine Cask Finish or Westward Chardonnay Finish
- Beer finishes, especially stout!
- Cider Finishes
- American dessert wine finishes (e.g. ice wine casks)
Some of these finishes will always be on the uncommon side. Others are already widely practiced and will only become more so with time. One or two may eventually be as ubiquitous as Sherry finishes are–but only time and tastes will tell.
For now, we simply encourage you to begin exploring this new world of American whiskey finishing traditions – starting of course with the Lost Lantern Spring 2025 Collection!