Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery has revealed the unusual cask finish used for its whisky brand Filey Bay's latest bottling. 

Filey Bay Orange Wine Barrique is a seven-year-old single malt, matured in ex-bourbon casks for three years and three months before being "re-racked" into orange wine casks for three years and 10 months. 

Spirit of Yorkshire whisky director Joe Clark said: "Over the last few years, deep within our warehouse, four ex-orange wine barriques have been happily maturing for this deliciously different special release. But this isn't the skin-contact orange wine you'd expect to find on the list of your local artisan wine bar."

Clark explained that orange wine casks used had previously held Vino Naranja del Condado de Huelva, a wine fortified with grape spirit that has been "aromatised with orange peel". 

He continued: "The natural reduction of strength over many years in the orange wine casks is a big part of what makes this whisky so smooth and delicious. Unlike the powerful cask-strength whisky, these casks were filled with mature whisky at a reduced strength of 50% ABV in March 2021. In the intervening years the ABV has slowly slipped away as the angels took their share.

"In this very rare example, the strength in the bottle of 46.2% is the strength that the whisky reached in the cask all on its own with no final reduction before bottling. It's a process that requires constant checking of the casks to make sure the whisky is bottled at precisely the right time."

Fellow English distillery the Lakes has also used orange wine casks for a blended whisky release, the One Orange Wine Cask, which was launched in 2020.  

With a limited release of 1,100 bottles, Filey Bay Orange Wine Barrique (46% ABV, RRP £85) is available via spiritofyorkshire.com, the distillery shop, and specialist retailers.