The Finish

A finished whiskey is one that has been matured in a primary barrel and then "aged again". This could be it being transferred into a new vessel (think toasted barrel finishes i.e. Woodford double oaked), a previously used vessel that harbored a different product (think wine barrel finishes i.e. Angel's Envy), or having staves inserted into the same barrel to add extra nuance (think Maker's Mark 46). In essence, we could simplify this to say that anything we do to the whiskey after it has been aged primarily to add extra nuances is a "finish".