re: Best scotch.....

Almost all scotch is aged in bourbon barrels. That is why bourbon makers say the best part about Scotch is the barrels they age them in, since there will always be a touch of bourbon at the heart of scotch. Now how did they age scotch before that, Im unsure but it would likely have been used barrels as well from a wine region or sherry producer I would guess. When it comes to ageing in different barrels, I think Macallan was one of the only ones that aged wholly in Sherry casks originally. Aberlour may have one of those as well. The rest of them are all "finished in the barrels". I met the Balvenie ambassador a few months back who was responsible for their new blend "Tun" which is delicious. He specified that the finish in sherry casks is always near 6 months. I think Glenmorangie on the other hand may rest it a touch longer in the port and madeira barrels but no longer that a couple years.

Now if you really want to dry some cool sherry cask stuff, go and locate the distillers editions of Talisker, Lagavulin, Dalwhinnie, Cragganmore, and Oban. They age theirs in different types of sherry from Pedro Ximenez for the Lagavulin to Amoroso for Talisker.

I think i misinterpreted your post which led me to underestimated your knowledge of alcohol.

My bad.