About how long is a port, sherry, etc finished?

[classyndry]

I received a spirits aging barrel as present a while back. I tried some rum finished scotch a while back, and since I had a bunch of rum on hand, I decided I'd try to put a rum finish on a scotch myself. I already have some rum aging in the barrel. Since its a small volume barrel with a lot more surface area than that much rum/scotch would normally see, I'm planning on pulling the rum out in about a month, which would give the rum enough time to seep into the wood and add to the scotch finish. Then I want to put some scotch in, but I don't know how long to shoot for. Right now I'm thinking about starting with something fairly basic, but I've also considered using something a little more intense in flavor. So maybe a Macallan 12 to try to fully taste the rum finish, or maybe like a laphroaig to temper the rum finish with some smoke. What would you guys do? Any idea how long a port, sherry, or rum finish generally takes? I can taste the scotch to evaluate its progress, but since its low volume, each sample means less finished product and more air in the barrel.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[jwise]

I know the big distillers finish for six months or longer, but that is in very large casks. With a smaller cask, it should only take a couple months probably.

I would Google this, as I remember hearing other people talking about this (maybe a blog I read?)

Sounds like a great hobby!

[classyndry]

I googled pretty good, but didn't find much info. I was thinking about one year would be safe, but 6 months sounds reasonable as well.

[jwise]

Hmmm... I couldn't find it either. Well, you might check with the folks at whiskywhiskywhisky.com. I'm pretty sure I read about it there.

[BourbonDrinker]

I would think 60-90 days would probably be enough in a small cask. As for the whisky, how about an Ardbeg 10. The dry smoke flavor would benefit from some sweet Rum finish.
Send me a sample!

[jwise]

The rum finished whiskies I have tasted were lacking in any "sweetness." I mostly just got spice. LOTS of spice!