What Is Sherried Whisky?
” For each I used two sherries from Lustau {Palo Cortado Vides and Oloroso Pata La Gallina) and then four whiskies from the SMWS. The whiskies differed each time but in simple terms all were from ex-sherry casks but the first was from a knackered butt, the second from tired refill, the third was sulphury and the fourth was first fill with no sulphur.) The aim? To tease out what the sherry industry wants from oak, what the Scotch industry wants from oak, whether the two are talking about the same thing and, if not, what “sherry cask” actually means. It’s worthwhile having a look at sherry first. In very simple terms (this isn’t a piece on sherry… so it will skip over some technical details), sherry starts life as a simple dry white wine which then becomes one of the world’s most complex drinks. The style can be divided into two camps: the first uses biological aging to produce its character, the second uses oxidative aging. The first camp contains Fino and Amontillado. These are wines
