Sherrygeddon
Or: Whisky drinkers try sherry with their whiskies.
A Gross Sherry Misconception
I’m not entirely sure who the culprit is (I think it’s definitely me) but my close friends group has been finding good reasons to get together and share around quite a few whiskies every few months.
Sometimes it's a “try before you buy” sale wherein my partial bottles are put up for a good price given their fill level and open bottle status, removing the burden from my burgeoning whisky hidey holes and enabling my friends to try various whiskies that they very likely wouldn’t have bought without tasting first. Other times it has been a dedicated tasting, such as a nine-way, peat-fuelled affair wherein I’ve hooked some friends on peated whiskies.
But regardless of the culprit, we’ve been getting together more regularly and with increasing interest in various aspects. I’ve even been asked to crank up the whisky nerdom level, such is the thirst for expanding their horizons and whisky factoids.
So following a whisky night around five months ago, the notion of putting together a sherry & whisky tasting was broached. I don’t know who suggested it or the context, but it stuck with me. Knowing my friends would be good for it financially when it came time for the tasting, I began assembling the knowledge and pieces to host such an evening.
I read up on the sherries themselves and set about locating the necessary components. Sherry is not a popular drink in Canada, with many specialty stores only carrying a few different sherries in total, much less options within each sherry type. And, equally as surprising, despite myself being in objectively North America’s malt whisky mecca, I struggled to find a few whiskies finished or matured in certain types of sherry. So armed with that knowledge, I turned to the whisky auctions in the UK, aiming to procure at least two whiskies for each type of sherry.
Fast forward five months and I was ready to go. With schedules cleared and everyone arriving properly fed and hydrated, we began by tasting the sherries by themselves, with the chilled Fino leading the way and ending in the Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry, before pouring ourselves the sherry again with two accompanying whiskies, allowing us to go back and forth between the sherry and the whiskies themselves.
I’ve arranged the following reviews and thoughts in the order in which the tasting was held, during which we learned a thing or two, and you as a Dramface reader can follow along this journey with snippets and outtakes from the group as we stumbled our way through one particularly fine Friday evening.
Group 1: Fino
Review 1/3
Bimber Fino Butt, Fortnum & Mason Exclusive, 51% ABV
£85 / $150 CAD (auction shipped)
Interestingly, the bottle states it is non-chill filtered (yay!) but curiously enough, cask strength is not mentioned anywhere and the %ABV is curiously perfect at 51% on the dot. I’m assuming a dash of water was added, likely helping get the bottle count up to 857 bottles in this single cask release. And a last niggle: back label states ex-bourbon initially and a stint in a Fino cask from Bodegas Tradicion for an undisclosed length of time. Bummer.
Here’s what the marketing jingles had to say:
Oscar Dodd, buyer of wines and spirits at Fortnum & Mason, added: “Knowing first-hand the outstanding quality of Bimber’s whisky, I sought a cask to add a new and unique dynamic to Fortnum’s first ever London single malt.
“Through our longstanding relationship with Bodegas Tradición, I was fortunate enough to source a fino butt which was shipped over to Bimber in 2021 – a fino finish also being a first for Bimber.
“Ex-Bourbon casks were transferred to the first-fill butt, with 857 bottles drawn at the point of perfect harmony between the whisky’s generous, sweet, fruit and nut character, and the Sherry’s saline freshness.”
Score: 5/10
Average.
TL;DR
Noses well. Drinks less well.
Nose
The sticky sweetness is wafting out of the glass sitting on the table next to me, it’s very profuse and almost Sauternes-like. Tinned peaches and apricots, golden syrup, dollop of french vanilla ice cream/custard, and sticky glazed hot cross buns. Underneath, some bakery goods of baklava, cinnamon, and green apple.
The nose is very rich and sweet.
Palate
A deviation from the ultra sweet nose. The sweetness is now a mixture of green apples and green grapes, alongside some generic sweet tones that I’m struggling to describe with just a touch of unroasted raw pecans. Cinnamon bite. The mouthfeel itself is nicely syrupy.
With a dash of water, the sweetness, cinnamon bite, and syrupy notes are more equal. There’s a light salty note now.
The Dregs
My first Bimber. I couldn’t really detect anything resembling spirit underneath the heavy layer of Fino sherry sweetness. If I read between the lines in the marketing details, it would appear that the Fino finish was less than a year, seeing as Bimber received the cask in 2021 and bottled later that year. So this was a very active cask and dang near smothered the Bimber spirit in very “green” flavours and a good “bite” to the palate.
What others said: “nose: very good, french toast w/ maple syrup, palate: cinnamon & spicy”, “familiar Speyside-like flavours”, “smells like cinnamon french toast, palate: middle is spicy, ending in dry cinnamon”, “semi-sweet nose, little harsh on the palate”
Review 2/3
Dailuaine 14yo, Cadenhead’s, Transferred to a Fino barrel September, 2020, 51.7% ABV
£55 / $165 CAD (auction shipped)
Score: 6/10
Good Stuff.
TL;DR
Big wood that needs a dollop of water to shine.
Nose
Big oak. Rough hewn cedar wood. Brown sugar. Green apple. Sticky coffee cake with cinnamon.
With water, brighter fruit notes of peaches are brought forth, accompanied with cooked golden raisins in brown sugar and butter (think the inside of a butter tart). Gone is the big oak influence and I’m thankful for it. Syrupy sweet and delectably balanced.
Palate
Big hit of oak again. Cedar. Cinnamon. Toffee cake. Sliced almonds. The finish is tannic and drying, not unlike a dark rye bread washed down with an overly tannic wine.
With water, the oak is massively reduced, now just peaking out from under the tinned fruit, peaches, golden raisins, and now some milk chocolatey goodness. It is no longer drying but rather syrupy, tooth achingly sweet, and mouthwatering. When left to sit for 20 minutes with water, the tannins and drying experience do come back a little, coming across as barrel char, pushing back against the sweetness now.
The Dregs
Personally, this one was left to cook for just a bit too long. I’ve got a few Dailuaine’s in the stash, and enjoyed several over the years too, and this robust spirit is dang near taken to its limits with this Fino finish. One more round with this powerhouse of a hogshead and you’d have no idea what was hiding underneath.
The experience with water saves this whisky from being a 5/10.
What others said: “woody, not sure why but I don’t love it, too oaky?, sweetish apples on the palate”, “oaky, light pepper”, “can feel the Fino”, “pretty sweet, thick, wet wood”
Review 3/3
Alvear Fino Sherry, 15% ABV
£13 / $22 CAD
Nose & palate (crowd-sourced)
Broddy: Dry, very yeasty, citrus fruit pith at beginning of palate, gets sweeter with time in the glass, pear cider
Sour/tart, very light, citrus, pear cider, very dry
Woody, pith, bitter
Started tart, back of throat bite, light white wine
Grapefruit pith, smells sweet but does not taste so
The Dregs
Definitely not what I thought sherry tasted like. I was expecting something lighter. And it was unanimous feedback around the table that this sherry was not what we were expecting and nobody was going to rush out and buy a bottle.
We did consistently remark that we could smell and taste the link between the sherry and the whiskies however.
Group 2: Amontillado
Review 1/3
Blair Athol 13yo, Auld Goonsey’s Cask 306989, 51.8% ABV
£52 / $90 CAD
Score: 8/10
Something Special.
TL;DR
Stunning. That’s all you need to know.
Nose
Fudgy cooked dates, brown sugar, sliced red apple. Light undertones of orange oil and moist leather. This has that densely sweet nose that makes this a dessert whisky.
Palate
Pleasantly sweet and syrupy, bordering on fudgy entry. A caramel blonde brownie is deftly accompanied with cooked dates and figs. Brown sugar and black pepper. Orange oil, tinned peaches, hint of sliced red apple, and almond extract.
The Dregs
I absolutely love this whisky. There’s traces of the Blair Athol spirit dotted throughout, nearly covered by the cask, and what a cask it was. Well deserving of the score.
What others said: “best one yet, smooth and tasty although don’t like as much as the [other] boys”, “brown sugar, molasses, very smooth”, “so smooth, sweet, incredible!!”, “poached pears, brown sugar, UNREAL”
Review 2/3
Mannochmore 13yo, Auld Goonsy’s Cask 9321, 57.1% ABV
£57 / $100 CAD
Score: 5/10
Average.
TL;DR
Big oak and generic sherry.
Nose
Tickles the nose, corresponding with the %ABV. Under the prickles is a more ‘typical’ sherried nose, albeit quite muted. Some sugary and raisin compote, lemon-orange cake.
With water: completely flattened, generically brown-sugar sweet.
Palate
While the nose gives off a sense of the %ABV, the palate hides the strength quite well. Big oak. Woody spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Orange cake, raisins, and indistinct candied nuts. Somewhat mouth numbing on successive sips.
With water: the wood spices are tamped down, balancing the experience. The orange oil is now more prominent, now joined with a dehydrated fruit leather aspect, with candied nuts and the baking spices. A marked improvement.
The Dregs
The palate is the redeeming feature of this whisky. The nose was tight and hot, not giving up the goods easily. This is a drinking whisky and not a “sit and analyse” type of whisky, which is fine except for the price point. Since it needs water, near enough to the 48-50% mark, it opens up a plethora of other core range official bottlings. Arran 10 or Sherry cask “The Bodega” come to mind, while leaving some spare change in your pocket to boot.
What others said: “oaky and spicy, not much other flavours, smooth though”, “spicy wood flavours, does not taste like 57%”, “oaky, don’t like as much, not much flavour”, “oaky, hot spices”
So there ya have it. A somewhat drinkable, especially with water, generic sherried malt.
Review 3/3
El Maestro Sierra 12yo Amontillado Sherry, 17.5% ABV
£23 / $40 CAD (350ml)
Nose & palate (crowd-sourced)
Broddy: pear cider, candied nut brittle, raisins, very drying at finish, bulk bin trail mix
Dry, green apple cider, sweeter, raisins, light brown, salty
Way more depth of flavour, dry
Sweeter smell than Fino, green apples and raisins
Way more sherry smell than Fino, but still not sweet on palate, sour apple, more flavour than Fino, not sure if I like it more
The Dregs
This is getting closer to what we were all expecting for a sherry but it still was a fair ways off.
Group 3: Palo Cortado
Review 1/3
Glenmorangie 12yo, Palo Cortado, 46% ABV
£56 / $95 CAD
I previously reviewed this Palo Cortado barrel select release in 2023, awarding it a prestigious 8/10 score. I’ve copied the notes from that review below however you’ll find my thoughts of this release and how it stacks up in this lineup in The Dregs.
Score: 6/10
Good Stuff.
TL;DR
An excellent Glenmo despite the misleading official notes
Nose
Light, sweet, and fresh. Tinned peaches, shredded coconut, light runny honey, caramel toffee, faint whiff of golden raisins from the bulk bins. As some smell and taste in colours, this is very much in the golden region of the rainbow.
Palate
Quite syrupy and mouth coating. Fruit cup syrup, blonde brownie, and light caramel sauce. Raspberry white chocolate vanilla scone. Perfectly measured dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. Touch of cooked dates, golden raisins, and the barest amount of indistinct nuttiness. Retronasal reveals an orange citrus burst.
The finish is medium length, pleasant, and somewhat drying, with sweetness and baking spices trailing off elegantly before the dryness makes you want to refresh your palate with another lick of this delectable whisky.
The Dregs
So why the asterisk on the 8/10 score? What gives Broddy boy? Well this bottle has developed in an interesting way since being drained to the halfway mark for my previous review before being relegated to the storage box for future enjoyment. In that 10 month hiatus, this has really developed quite a spicy bite to the palate, disrupting the enjoyable nature of this whisky. I noticed it immediately, and even with keeping most of my thoughts to myself during the tasting, others picked up on it as well.
What others said: “easy drinker”, “pleasant, not as smooth as it should be [at 46%-BB], still good”, “milk chocolate, light”, “pleasant but not mind-blowing, chocolate milk”
I’ve got a backup bottle of this sitting sealed. Given my experiences with the first bottle, I’ll be sure to drain the bottle within the 4-5 weeks I had the first bottle open. During this tasting, and with everyone else’s experience mirroring my own, this get’s a full 2-point drop to a 6/10. Yikes.
Review 2/3
Teaninich 10yo, James Eadie, Autumn 2021, Cask Finish Release, 56.9% ABV
£75 / $125 CAD
I previously reviewed this bottle in a 5-way James Eadie review in early 2023. As before, I’ve copied my original notes below and provided any relevant day-of thoughts in The Dregs.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Liquid Berry Candy.
Nose
Strawberries and orchard blossoms. Wet grass on a cold spring morning. Manuka honey. There’s a moderate ABV tingle here if you stick your olfactory sensor too close.
Palate
Strawberries and red apples drizzled with honey and generously dusted with cinnamon. The sweetness reminds me of a hard berry candy you sometimes get in a wrapper after a meal at a restaurant. There is a slight mouth-drying effect on the latter half of the experience, only serving to enhance the strawberry finish and begging you for another sip.
The Dregs
This bottle, in my opinion, keeps getting better and better as I come back to it every few months. Whereas the Glenmorangie has taken a turn for the worse with time, this bottle keeps evolving and bringing new nuances to the table. I’ve kept the scoring the same on this one with particular emphasis on it being a very very solid 7/10, especially with the experience level after being open for 1.5 years.
This whisky was also a divisive one with the crowd, with some remarking it was hitting their sweet spot while others simply did not enjoy it.
What others said: “nose is meh overall, char finish but a good whisky, real good!”, “smoky, sweet, fruit, never guess 57%”, “bit smoky”, “no”
Review 3/3
Lustau Palo Cortado Sherry, 19% ABV
$40 CAD
Nose & palate (crowd-sourced)
Broddy: intense rush of flavours, walnuts, brown sugar, much longer finish than all others, still a yeasty aftertaste
Citrus, oranges, yeasty, lingering flavour
Longer middle, starts sweet, dries on the finish, sticks to gums, yeasty finish
Even sweeter smell, very yeasty finish, flavour lasts longer, earthy taste
Sweeter smell still, raisins on the nose, initially slightly sweet on palate than tart/bitter finish
The Dregs
This is very much getting closer to what we expected however some elements of the Fino/yeastiness could still be found throughout. The finish was the longest of all the sherries and it definitely had the gloopiest and stickiest legs of any of the dry sherries, very similar to the PX sherry.
Group 4: Oloroso
Review 1/3
Jura 14yo, Distillery Cask 1892, 57.2% ABV
£60 / $170 CAD (auction shipped)
After winning this at auction at a low-point in pricing, I reviewed this heavily sherried Jura distillery exclusive in May 2023. While the label did not explicitly mention it was an Oloroso cask, I took an educated guess based on my experience.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A dark, sticky dram that hits the spot perfectly.
Nose
Dark toffee, blackberry jam, dark Manuka honey mixed with a healthy pinch of molasses. Smell of burning sugar to create a crème brûlée top on a dessert. Milk chocolate and cinnamon sticks. Melted brown sugar and treacle. Gooey butter tarts filled with golden raisins. I get more of the darker notes at the bottom of my glass and distinct lighter notes at the top rim. It’s dark, syrupy, brooding, and enticing.
A lovely burnt orange burst pops up with a dash of water.
Palate
It’s intense and weighty, balancing sweet and bitter (not sour) notes. The mouthfeel and weight on my palate is very similar to the official releases of Highland Park’s cask strength releases, albeit significantly less fiery.
Fresh-picked blackberries and blueberries. If there ever was a perfect example of nutty bitterness, this is it. Dried prunes and fresh dates. Dark molasses, brown sugar, and 90% dark chocolate. There is a fudge-like note similar to a dark chocolate brownie made with espresso powder with a just barely cooked centre. Dash of cinnamon sprinkled across all notes. Vanilla and orange oil appear at the trailing end of the experience.
The nutty bitterness is oily and pervasive, refusing to leave my teeth and gums. Any other whiskies that follow this pour are going to be tainted. The finish is long with nuttiness, but is a concoction of a quality blackberry jam. Prunes, brown sugar and vanilla slowly fades away. This is one of the longest and stickiest finishes I’ve had in a long time.
The Dregs
On the night, this was very much hitting the Oloroso sherry-loving sweet spot for a few people and provided a noticeable change in sherry influence from the sweeter and brighter Palo Cortado’d whiskies that preceded this island gem. It was dark, bitter, and potent and still deserving of the original score.
Now this is where the train started to leave the proverbial rails. After many many sips of sherries and decent pours, we were starting to get a little blasted at this stage. While my palate was still hanging on ok, many others were starting to feel the after effects of high %abv. So take all the “what others said” comments with a grain of salt from here on out.
What others said: “too hot, with love”, “wet leather, water didn’t help, if not so far into this tasting I’d like it more”, “maple syrup, wet leather”, “raisins and other things, getting drunk, but tasty”
Review 2/3
Tobermory 14yo, 2008 - BB&R Kensington Wine Market Exclusive, 64.8% ABV
£70 / $120 CAD (on sale)
Kensington Wine Market, a local brick-and-mortar specialty store, seems to have an excellent rapport with the folks at Berry Brothers & Rudd for they are usually stocking 1-4 exclusive bottlings at a time recently. I purchased my first bottle of this at full price after trying it in their store (thank you brick-and-mortar stores for providing this invaluable experience!), and after enjoying the first half, it conveniently went on a lil discount. Given my enjoyment of this whisky at the time, I had to snag another bottle!
Score: 6/10
Good Stuff.
TL;DR
Welcome to the deep dark dank side of Tobermory
Nose
Black forest cake baked in a charcoal-fired oven. Dark chocolate. Dried raisins and cranberries. Touch of humidor/moist tobacco and oranges after time in the glass. It still doesn’t nose as hot as it should nor is it super sweet.
With water: dense, chocolatey, and fudgy. Sticky toffee pudding. Chocolate ganache. Dash of raisins and orange after a while. At ~52% strength, you can get your nose right in and savour it.
Palate
Gotta get your big boy sherry pants on for this one. Big blast of baking spices and black pepper hit your tongue, with some tannins nibbling the inner cheeks. Then a smoky barrel char note that is presenting as bitterness, almost like a dark espresso. I can’t shake the dark chocolate relationship here. After this, there’s loads of nuttiness. So nutty. It’s not sweet at all and dries your mouth like the real deal sherry.
With water: tannin spices, cinnamon dusting on dark chocolate cake frosted with dark chocolate ganache. Nutty bitterness. It’s not nearly as sweet as the nose or colour would lead you to believe, a refreshing departure from modern sherried whiskies and also providing a direct link to the sherry we tried. Fun!
The Dregs
At full chooch, it’s a handful. If you didn’t read the label after splashing some in your glass, it’ll catch ya out! But if you’re prepared, and either made yourself a transition glass of this with a healthy splash of water or had a palate cleansing dram, you’ll be rewarded with a flavour density that is quite different from many other whiskies. Personally, this is a fantastic whisky at the low 50’s %ABV and is just too much to handle at full strength, unless you want to get thrashed about.
Where to slot this in scorewise? Well for a 14 yo 100% sherry nuke from Tobermory, this would be double or triple the price if it was an official bottling. I think for the experience it’s a 6 and if I put my blender hat on, if you’d stuck this in an ex-bourbon barrel for another 2-4 years, you’d have something in the mid-to-high 50’s %ABV and more sweetness and less aggression to balance everything out. I think it’d truly be something special then. As it sits, it needs a solid sploosh of water and is a little imbalanced so a 6/10 it is.
If I was flush with cash, I’d buy a case or two of this whisky and slosh it into a Badmotivator ex-bourbon barrel for a few years, purely for research purposes of course (ok, maybe for enjoyment too).
As I mentioned before, everyone’s palates were quite fried by this point in the evening so our thoughts are a little off the rails here.
What others said: “hot and still hot after water, not my favourite, time and water helped a lot though”, “spicy and hot”, “hot and overpowering, with water opens up it’s lighter and allowed me to get to the depth of it”, “holy t*ts spicy”
Review 3/3
El Maestro Sierra 15yo Oloroso Sherry, 19% ABV
£33 / $70 CAD
Nose & palate (crowd-sourced)
Broddy: much less drier than others, candied nuts, Christmas cooking w/ cinnamon, finish has some cooked dates or something (not plums or raisins)
Marmalade, Christmas mince jam, dark brown sugar, sweet, dark dark chocolate, earthy, dates
Much sweeter, smell of a damp forest, hint of the yeast
Sweeter, smoother, red berries, medium length flavour, nutty aftertaste, not nearly as dry
Again sweeter on both smell and palate, less yeast/dryness on tongue
The Dregs
There were remarks during the tasting that if someone poured them a glass of Oloroso sherry when being entertained by friends, they wouldn’t be mad about it. I think that perfectly sums up our experiences with the “dry” sherries we’ve covered here. Up to this point, I don’t think any of us would reach for a bottle of sherry however the first hopes of enjoyment were coming with this 15 yo Oloroso.
Group 5 - Pedro Ximenez
Review 1/2
Millstone 7yo, Cask Strength PX, Special #23, Fully Matured in PX, 51.6% ABV
£70 / $120 CAD
I previously reviewed this ex-solera cask matured Dutch single malt here but I’ve copied my score and notes below. I only had one confirmed PX matured whisky on-hand, and deeming it to be a good representation of the category, I didn’t procure another. Good thing too as that would have been whisky #10 on an evening which did not need more whisky!
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
7 years of old school PX.
Nose
Brown sugar. Treacle. Mounds of cinnamon. Cooked raisins, plums, and dates. Orange peel. Maybe some fudginess? It’s densely sweet and refined. Highly oxidized with dark and fuzzy notes and not the typical bright and fresh sherry influence that’s common these days.
Palate
Beautifully soft and full entry. Orange oil, milk chocolate, cooked fruit leathers, touch of raisins but it’s far from a dominant note, vanilla pods. Dark, rich, savoury spice cake. Buttery mouthfeel. The oxidized tones carry from the nose and it’s a cask driven experience, but what a cask! Syrupy sweetness coats your mouth and the %ABV tingle is that of a 40-43% whisky. A dangerously drinkable dessert.
A few drops of water reduces the density on the palate and makes this brighter, with more brighter citrus and fruits coming up.
The Dregs
The relationship between the sherry and the whisky was quite evident for this comparison. This Millstone also provided a unique anchor at the end of this sherry extravaganza (or marathon), highlighting a completely different spectrum of sherry type and influence.
What others said: “SO GODDAMN SWEET, tastes 51.6%”, “tastes like fermenting grapes, most similar to the sherry”, “smells like Cliffdale, I do not like [a byproduct of a recent and apparently memorable work trip for this person-BB]”
Review 2/2
Alvear Pedro Ximinez De Añada 2018 Sherry, 16% ABV
£17 / $30 CAD (350ml)
Nose & palate (crowd-sourced)
Broddy: straight raisins on the nose, palate: dark honey with raisins. Finish is Baklava
Raisins, raisins, raisins and honey. Thick, viscous, dessert, sherry version of ice wine
So sweet, honey & raisins, crazy viscous
Nose is 100% raisins, feels and tastes like honey and raisins
Are you f**king kidding me? Raisins melted into honey
The Dregs
We immediately noticed how viscous this was when pouring into the glasses and the difference between PX and the other sherries was almost too much to handle. Such a departure. Ice wine is very much a Canadian “thing” for us and is very similar to PX sherry, albeit usually more along the lines of a white wine, with it’s uber high sugar content and syrupy nature relegating it dessert drinking status.
Final Thoughts
So what did we learn? Well, we learned that we really don’t like sherry, and had no idea what sherry was going to be like. Most of us thought sherry would be along the lines of what PX was, although admittedly we were still shocked by the intensity of the PX, and had absolutely no clue how dry and yeasty the majority of the “dry” sherries were. That first whiff and taste of that Fino sent us down a massive WTF chute before plunging us into turbulent rapids of how the hell does this make whisky taste so good? It was such a dizzying difference that it took us several tries to wrap our heads around the sherries, and only after tasting the whiskies, could we see how some of the sherry traits carried through to the whisky.
“We don’t like sherry, but we like what sherry does to whisky”
Broddy’s whisky crew on this fine evening
Much like lab rats (sorry gents), I had my friends fill out a sheet during the night, allowing them to capture their thoughts to refer back to but also giving me the opportunity to document their instincts and feelings on the sherries by themselves, the whiskies, and also evaluate which combination of whisky & sherry produced the most consistently enjoyable experience. These rankings would help us focus on sherry types to consider when shopping but also provide you with extra accoutrements after you’ve made it this far.
So what was our favourite sherry? As you’ve probably guessed, we liked the oxidative stuff (Oloroso and Palo Cortado) the most, followed by the flor-aged sherries. We deemed the PX sherry to be off on its own ranking since it was so different it was like comparing apples to a mountain.
What about our favourite whiskies of the night, standing by themselves and only judged against each other?
Turns out there was a bit more spread here, no surprise really given everyone’s personal preferences, but trends could still be sleuthed out from amongst the spread. Ranking the whiskies from 1-9, in order of preference, we arrive at a “low score is the winner” type of ranking. Almost unanimously, we ranked the Fino-influenced Bimber and Dailuaine the lowest.
The PX matured Millstone followed, along with the rocket fuel Tobermory. Then we got into a tighter race, with spreads closing in.
A second-place tie between the Oloroso’d Jura and the Teaninich Palo Cortado occurred, with a marked scoring win to the first place Amontillado-finished Blair Athol from Auld Goonsy. From a 10,000 foot perspective, most of us enjoyed the partially oxidative matured “dry” sherries (Palo Cortado, Amontillado) compared to the polar ends of the spectrum with the flor-matured Fino and the heavily oxidative Oloroso and uber-sweet PX. Very interesting!
And lastly, what combination of sherry and unpeated single malt produced the most consistent positive experience?
This is a slightly different take on the previous whisky rankings and was purposely geared towards determining if any nuances and inconsistencies might have been occurring between rankings, keeping in mind that we were around 20-22 drinks in at this point (before you cry wolf, this includes the lower %abv sherries and the whisky pours were small) and 3.5 hours in so it's not a surprise that some, how shall we say, drift in objectivity and memory may be occurring.
Again, scoring between 1-5 means low score wins and we see that Palo Cortado barely wins, followed very closely by Oloroso and Amontillado. No surprise there given our own personal preferences that night.
With that bit of fun over, I’ll let you read on with a “Sherry Summary”, a knowledge packet I had prepared for this tasting and something that I believe some readers may want to refer back to.
Now for the obligatory disclaimer: I compiled this summary from a noobish perspective.
As you’ve just read, I had no clue what sherry would be like, and now I still only have the barest glimmer of knowledge and experience with it, so take the following summary with a grain of salt. I’ve obviously glossed over some items, simplified others, but I believe this to be a useful “field guide” to sherry rather than an encyclopaedia.
How and Where Sherry is Made
Sherries are aged white wines fortified with spirit distilled from grapes (e.g., unaged brandy). Wines generally can’t achieve higher than 14% abv on their own during fermentation, and below this %abv, the long-term stability in a barrel is questionable so fortification is required. With a small amount of fortification, usually up to 15-16 %abv, a yeast layer (called a “flor”) can form on top of the sherry within a barrel.
Further fortification of sherry (or other fortified wines like port) is usually completed to 17-24% to prevent the “flor” or yeast layer forming on top of the sherry. In contrast to traditional winemaking practices which constantly monitor the wine level in the barrels to fill up any “head space” to reduce bacteria formation, seasoned or solera sherry barrels are not typically “topped up” during maturation because of the ability of the alcoholic strength to kill anything harmful in the sherry.
Sherry must be made in Andalusia, in the sherry triangle between Jerez, El Puerta Santa Maria, and Sanlucar de Barrameda.
Sherry is almost always made from 3 grape types: Palomino, Pedro Ximenez (PX), and moscatel even though the latter is much less common than the previous two grapes. Palomino grapes can be considered quite unremarkable and generic even, for if they were used for a traditional white wine, they would be quite boring and decidedly a “budget” wine. But what makes them boring for a white wine makes them ideal for marking sherry, with a low acidity, high pH, and bountiful yield, setting them up for flavour development during ageing rather than building in significant flavour during pressing and fermentation.
Palomino Grapes
By law, up to 70% of the pressed grape juice can be used for making sherry, with the remainder eligible to be made into sherry vinegar or spirits for fortification. Initial fermentation occurs fast, with a slower secondary fermentation taking much longer. After the second fermentation, the wine is tasted and its characteristics will determine what type of sherry the wine is destined to become. Based on the type of grape used, sherries are generally lumped into two camps: dry and sweet sherry.
Dry sherry: is made from Palomino grapes and completely fermented, consuming nearly all of the sugars from the wine, making this a “dry” sherry. When the wine is tasted after fermentation, delicate and nuanced wines will be left for biological ageing (flor), while more robust wines will be left for oxidative ageing (no flor, fortified above flor %abv limit). Oxidative ageing generally starts to darken in colour and nutty, earthy, mushroom notes begin to form. The flor protects the sherry from oxygen in the barrel, keeping the brighter colour and style. Sometimes the flor may unexpectedly die off, now exposing the sherry to oxygen and forming a Palo Cortado sherry (which can organoleptically lean towards biological or oxidative characteristics depending when the sherry is removed from the barrel).
Sweet sherry: is made by late harvesting PX or moscatel grapes, producing a higher sugar content in the grape and drying in the sun after picking (FYI, if you continue drying in the sun, you end up with raisins basically). While these are high sugar wines effectively, and should therefore produce a high %abv wine, fermentation typically is cut short by fortification to retain sugars (ie., the addition of spirit kills the natural fermentation, keeping the sugar in the wine and preventing it from transforming to alcohol). Some cheaper sweet sherries blend dry sherry with PX/sweet sherry, thereby creating a “cream” sherry.
Sherry Maturation & Barrels
Sherry has traditionally been aged in a solera system, sometimes referenced by whiskies of yesteryear. A layered mass of barrels, visually similar to a dunnage warehouse, some of which can be over 5-6 decades old, allow the newly made sherries to mix with decades old stock, vatting and co-mingling together to produce layers of flavour in a fractional blending manner.
This process, wherein around 30-40% of the sherry is drawn from the younger upper layer of barrels and filled into the older lower barrels every season to account for 30-40% being drawn off the very bottom layer for bottling and sale, used to be quite labour intensive. Workers would fill containers and buckets from the upper layer and pour into the subsequent layer however now, the transfer of sherry from top to bottom is completed with a pump pulling sherry via hoses and headers. This solera system was thought to have originated in around 1760 near Sanlucar de Barrameda.
While the dunnage-style arrangements is a romantic line drawn similar to whisky maturation, the more modern sherry houses are more strategic. Fino and Manzanilla are usually kept on the bottom layers due to a cooler and more consistent climate and oxidative types (e.g., Oloroso) towards to the top where it is warmer. The largest houses may also employ multiple buildings with different ages, relegating the workers to decant the desired volume into large bulk containers before filling up casks in another building entirely. It’s all in the name of efficiency of course.
Historically, a portion of the sherry from the solera system was vatted into transport barrels to make the long marine voyage and continental trek to consumers around the world. And it is in these transport barrels that whisky was also placed after being emptied. One might think of these transport barrels as very similar to today’s seasoned barrels. It was, and still is, quite rare for whiskies to be aged in ex-solera casks.
The “best” sherry houses age their sherries for an extended period of time in their decades, and sometimes centuries, old solera systems. These barrels are only retired when the structural integrity of the barrels is questionable, after which they are sold. Bodegas generally release anywhere from ~5-50 barrels from their solera system every year, making them very sought after. These barrels, often ~500 L in volume and called a “butt”, will generally need to be recoopered to ensure they can hold whisky. This may or may not decrease the volume of the barrel depending on the state of the cask.
The whisky industry in the past three decades has increasingly relied upon seasoned casks, or casks of various sizes that are filled with sherry for a variable length of time, albeit much shorter than a typical bodega-made sherry. Seasoning is usually 6-24 months for the majority of the whisky industry. With the demand for sherry barrels being at an all time high, it has been difficult to obtain good quality seasoned sherry barrels. This has resulted in some barrels being filled with sub-par sherry, most of which is likely destined to be distilled into spirit later after extracting soluble compounds from the fresh wood and generally not fit for enjoyable consumption. Seasoned casks are effectively casks purposely impregnated with sherry for the purposes of flavouring a whisky.
To ensure the quality and availability of sherry seasoned barrels, some distilleries have turned to investing directly into a bodega. In 2023, Macallan purchased a 50% share in Grupo Estevez to ensure their continued access to sherry seasoned casks that meet their requirements. Also in 2023 and at £100M, Ardgowan purchased a decades-long supply of sherry casks from Bodegas Miguel Martín. Ardgowan, who isn’t set to begin production until late 2024, is planning to seasoning their casks for 27 months before a full maturation in sherry.
Types of Sherry
The following types of sherry have been arranged from lightest and driest to most intense or sweet.
Fino & Manzanilla: fortified to 15%, each type of sherry uses the same base wine, just aged in different locations. Manzanilla is made in Sanlucar, which has a cooler and more constant temperature, allowing a thicker flor to form, resulting in light, delicate, salty, and more yeasty sherry. ‘Manzanilla’ translates to chamomile in English. Fino is the inland twin of Manzanilla, with a more herbal, bready, and citrusy taste. Both Fino and Manzanilla are aged for at least two years.
Amontillado: initially fortified to 15% and allowed to mature under a “flor” (ie., a Fino or Manzanilla sherry), the flor is killed off part-way through maturation by the addition of spirit. This will then kick start the oxidative maturation without the protective flor layer. This dual maturation can retain the initial bready & yeasty notes while adding on oxidative layers & finish length with mild raisins & golden syrup, sometimes exhibiting some nuttiness depending on oxidative ageing length. Some Amontillado sherries will be lighter and less oxidized, while other Amontillado’s will be aged longer without a flor and may have more oxidative characteristics (e.g., oloroso sherry).
Palo Cortado: these are anomalies, wines that were destined to be Fino or Manzanilla but flor died off by unknown reasons. Palo Cortado comes from the “X” or cross drawn on the barrel, indicating the maturation is doing its own thing, and “cortado” means cut short when translated. These sherries can lean towards biological or oxidative nature depending when emptied.
Oloroso: made from the most robust tasting of the base wines and aged entirely without a flor for its entire life. Usually fortified to 17% however strength may increase with older oloroso’s. Oxidation-type notes up front, with a dry finish at the end because the grapes were not late harvested or sun-dried, resulting in a normal or lower sugar content. Oloroso is perhaps the most common type of sherry used to season barrels for the whisky industry.
PX: made from the late harvested and sun-dried grapes, producing a very sweet base wine. Fermentation is halted to retain elevated sugar levels before fortifying to 17-18% to enable full-term oxidative maturation. The elevated sugar contents can make these very syrupy and raisin-like. For reference, typical “dry” sherries have a retained sugar of 0-5 g/L, while PX is usually around 100-200 g/L! Due to the higher sugar content, PX sherries interact with the wood differently than other sherries, requiring longer maturation in the soleras. While many sherries increase in strength during maturation, the sugar content of PX sherries decreases the strength with age and may require refortification before bottling.
Got through this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
