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Scotland and Jerez   Neyah White •  Oct 15, 2009 •  Post A Comment

The short story:

Scotch Whisky shelves are full of labels touting the used barrels that previously bore the whisky. 'Finished,' 'ACE'd,' 'Matured' - these words all used to imply luxury and added value. The story runs a quite a bit deeper than these talking points though, and is best couched in a little history lesson.

Great Britain's relationship with Sherry began in the early 15th century when Henry I started trading English wool for wine at great profit. The hot summers of Jerez allowed for very ripe grapes, which in turn, allowed for sweeter wines. These appealed to the English sweet tooth and the Sherry producers grew steadily and scaled up more quickly than the British Empire's distilleries, which remained essentially a cottage industry - at least until Sherry's first big downturn in late 1800s.

In Spain, estate bottling of wines didn't get going until the 19th century, so wine - and pretty much everything else for that matter - was moved around in barrels. Interestingly, Spanish barrels tended to made of American oak, the staves stacked and used as ballast in ships returning from the colonies, which were required to enter the Spanish realm through the Royal Ports in the Sherry region. These barrels, built of American oak, coopered and filled in Spain, began to stack up in Great Britain, which really didn't export much until the 1860s when the vine louse Phylloxera began to strike down the continental European wine industry. The producers in Jerez had a little bit of a buffer insofar as they were ravaged later than the more northerly regions and, by the very nature of their Solera aging systems, had stocks aplenty. In turn, these too were depleted.

Where does western culture turn when grape-based libations are next to impossible to come by? We turn to whisky. When one takes a survey of the founding dates of Scotch distilleries, one finds a striking pattern - between 1879 and 1899 (when Phylloxera is nearing its peak of destruction) over 35 distilleries opened in Scotland. All this new production needed to be put into something and Sherry barrels were the perfect thing.

Today in Jerez, we don't see a lot of extra empty barrels lying around (actually they pride themselves on how long they are able to keep their barrels in use), but we do see the plenty of barrels being conditioned with wine for the express purpose of holding whisky. This wine is not bottled, but sent to the stills to be made into fortifier. So, while maybe a little contrived but certainly not outside of the normal flows of commerce, the tradition of sherry-influenced whisky continues.

In celebration of this, we are featuring 10 special bottlings where the wine speaks through the malt. Try one and taste a little history.

Glenkinchie 1991 Distiller's Edition Amontillado Cask 43%

This is a Lowland, close to England, which means it is triple distilled. Not too peaty, no maritime influence and 3X in the still means light, gentle spirit without too many edges. Closer to Irish Whisky than most other Scotch. The sherry cask gives it some weight that is not present in the original.

Macallan 1991 Murray McDavid Bottling 46%

Think of this one as a barrel saved from fate. Standard Macallan (Speyside) is chill-filtered and caramel-colored. M McD simply pulled a barrel from that program and bottled it whole.

Glenmorangie "La Santa" Oloroso Cask 46%

Glenmo is the most progressive of the big brands. This Highland is the best selling Malt in Scotland because it is clean, sweet and balanced. Not overly anything, also not super-distinctive. A very easy, entry-level Scotch.

Oban 1993 Distiller's Edition Montilla Fino Cask 43%

The slightest whiff of sea air, but not briny. Oban is described as being caught between the sea (salt) and the mountains (sweet) which is apt, because that happens to be where it is situated on the west side of Scotland. The inherent sweetness of the Malt pairs well with the dry acid of the Fino barrel, very complex, lots to think about.

Talisker 1996 Distiller's Edition Amoroso Cask 46%

Talisker is from the isle of Skye, but the sea influence tends to be clouded by peat. The sherry that was in the barrel was sweetened with PX and that fruit shows up here (figs and raisins) along with a touch of bitter chocolate. Seriously cool whisky.

Bruichladdich 1998 Manzanilla Cask 46%

Laddie's are all pears and cloves when they are born, hardly any peat at all. This makes them perfect for barrel-play. The butteriness of Manzanilla shows, not much of the acid.

Bruichladdich 1998 Oloroso Cask 46%

So different from the sister-barrel, sturdier, bigger, and full of walnuts and hazelnuts.

Bunnahabhain 18 yr. Manzanilla Cask 43%

Kettle corn...in all the right ways. Very salty, sweet maltiness that is the base. Bunnahabhain is buttered up by the Manzanilla.

Port Charlotte 7 yr. Bourbon and Sherry Casks 61%

Super peaty, super clean. Very young and flashy.

Lagavulin 1991 Distiller's Edition Pedro Ximenez 46%

The heaviest hitter here. Lagavulin is heavily peated then tempered with good age and sweet PX, dessert for sure.

Update: A number of these Scotches remain available, please check with your server.

Neyah White is Bar Manager at nopa
Posted October 15, 2009 • Filed under Sherry, Spirits • Share: del.icio.us / StumbleUpon / Digg
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