Cooper King Red Wine Cask Bordeaux Single Malt English Whisky, 70cl

Cooper King Red Wine Cask: Bordeaux, a Cask-Strength Yorkshire Single Malt English Whisky

Cask Series, Autumn 2026 | Matured in Bordeaux red wine casks | Cask strength | 52.8% Alc. | 70cl | 243 bottles

Key Information

• Distillery: Cooper King, Sutton-on-the-Forest
• Region: North Yorkshire, England
• Style: Single Malt English Whisky
• Strength: 52.8% Alc. (cask strength)
• Volume: 70cl
• Casks: 69% ex-red wine (Château Batailley, Bordeaux), 31% refill red wine (Merlot)
• Wood: French oak, 110-litre casks
• Maturation: 4 years to 4 years 7 months
• Barley: Floor-malted English Maris Otter
• Fermentation: 6 to 7 days
• Distillation: Double distilled in a copper pot still
• Filtration: Non-chill filtered
• Colour: Natural
• Batch: 2604, 243 hand-filled, numbered bottles

Tasting Notes

What Makes Red Wine Cask: Bordeaux Distinctive

• Wet casks from a named château: three of the four casks came direct from Château Batailley in Bordeaux, still wet with wine when they were filled. We think that is where the raspberry and warm spice come from.
• Full maturation, not a finish: the spirit spent its entire four-plus years in red wine casks, so the wine character runs right through the whisky rather than sitting on top.
• Small casks: at 110 litres, each cask gives the spirit more contact with the oak than a standard barrel would.
• A refill Merlot cask in the mix: the fourth cask had already held Cooper King whisky, which tempers the fresh wine casks and lets the Maris Otter malt show.
• Bottled as it came from the cask: cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural in colour, with the distillery publishing the full cask breakdown.

Perfect For

About Cooper King Distillery

Cooper King Distillery is at Sutton-on-the-Forest, just north of York, between the Howardian Hills and the Yorkshire Dales. Founders Abbie and Chris built it themselves after a backpacking trip through Tasmania showed them how small, hands-on distilleries make whisky, and the stills were first fired in 2018. Mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation and bottling all happen on site, the distillery runs on 100% renewable energy, and 1% of the sale of every bottle goes to the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

Understanding English Whisky

English whisky must be distilled and matured in England for at least three years, from UK-grown grain. Without the long traditions that shape Scotch, English distillers are free to experiment with casks, grains and maturation, and many release whisky in small, single batches. Red wine casks are a good example: wine-seasoned oak adds red fruit, spice and colour, and a full maturation in wine casks, as here, gives a very different whisky from a short finish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does Cooper King Red Wine Cask: Bordeaux taste like?

A: Expect spiced poached pear, cut flowers, raspberry coulis and white chocolate on the nose, then dried fruit, bay leaf, baking spice and citrus zest on the palate. The finish is caramel, rich malt and Battenberg cake.

Q: What is a wet red wine cask?

A: A wet cask is filled with spirit soon after the wine has been emptied, so the wood is still saturated. Three of the four casks used here came wet, direct from Château Batailley in Bordeaux; the fourth was a refill Merlot cask.

Q: How old is this whisky?

A: The youngest whisky in the bottle spent four years in cask and the oldest four years seven months. As an English whisky it has to be matured for at least three years.

Q: How should I serve it?

A: At 52.8% Alc., add a splash of water; it opens up the poached pear and brings the raspberry forward. A Glencairn or similar nosing glass helps you pick up the aromas.

Q: Is it chill filtered or coloured?

A: Neither. It is bottled at cask strength without chill filtration or added colour, so the colour comes from the red wine casks alone.

Q: How many bottles were made?

A: 243. Each was hand-filled and individually numbered at the distillery.