It's still a used oak barrel.
I have here a bottle of Glenmorangie 'The Tayne' which is finished in amontillado sherry butts. It starts in bourbon barrels as do some of the current Macallen products.
The 18 year Macallen is to my knowledge aged in sherry oak for the entire time. It's a stellar whisky.
For a really good bang for the buck in a Highland malt try Glen Garioch. My brother gets this for me at the duty free when it's available.
I like them all. Obviously. The Islay style is a favorite, the standard Laphroaig 10 year is still semi-reasonably priced and is just perfect after a good dinner in front of the fire.
The thing about scotch vs. bourbon is that for the price of a good bottle of scotch you can get a couple VERY good bottles of bourbon. Thus, I tend to buy more bourbon than scotch.
