Question for next FAQ?

  • billsallak
    Topic creator
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    Joined: 02.10.2016Posts: 2Ratings: 0

    Greetings,

    Recently, I was listening to a documentary about a cooperage in Spain that produces mostly European oak (and some American osk) casks for Spanish vineyards as well as for the whisky industry. While I understand that whisky is much more fashionable than sherry right now, I was surprised to hear that most of the cooperage's "sherry cask" production was of new oak casks that were "seasoned" with sherry after toasting/charring and sent directly to Scottish distilleries, and that only a small minority of their casks actually went to bodegas to mature sherry. It sounded like there's a much greater demand for sherry-matured malt whisky than there is for sherry itself, and this was impacting cask manufacture and supply.

    My question is this: in your tasting, have you found differences between whiskies matured in new oak/sherry "seasoned" casks as opposed to whiskies matured in casks that were actually used to mature sherry in Spain? Do you know if this practice of "seasoning" occurs with new oak casks for wine types besides sherry (e.g., are there "port finished" whiskies being matured in port-seasoned, rather than actual port-maturing, casks)?

    Many thanks,

    Bill

    Bill Sallak
  • horst_s_2 Administrator horst_s_2 Joined: 01.07.2014Posts: 507Ratings: 661
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    Thx for asking. The usage of Sherry casks got some uncontrolled growth. A lot is going well and wrong. I think I will take a full video about this topic.

    Kind regards, Horst Luening, Master Taster, Whisky.com
  • hwchoy Member hwchoy Joined: 28.07.2015Posts: 462CollectionHeng Wah’s CollectionRatings: 3
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    I am confused on one hand that sherry casks should not be so old such that the wood still have flavours to impart, while on the other hand we have claims like The Dalmore that they use old 30 years old sherry casks. Could you please touch on this point. Thank you.

  • billsallak
    Topic creator
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    Joined: 02.10.2016Posts: 2Ratings: 0
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    Thanks Mr. Lüning and hwchoy for your replies.

    hwchoy: I'm just a novice/newbie, but my initial thought would be that actual ex-solera sherry casks would be at a premium on today's market, so distilleries like the Dalmore (or whiskies from Diageo's special releases that advertise aging in "ex-bodega," and not just "ex-sherry," casks) would want to promote the use of those special casks over new/"seasoned" ones. I know that Michel Couvreur, when he was alive, insisted on sourcing only sherry casks that were actually used for aging.

    Also, given that alcohol is the primary solvent of desirable oak flavors, and that wine has a much lower alcohol level than spirit, a cask that has held sherry for 30 years might still have some wood flavor left to give, whereas a 30-year-old spirit cask might be spent. And of course, there's also the 30-year penetration of sherry (or port, or whatever wine) that the spirit will extract as well. For each distillery, I imagine, there's an optimal balance in flavor contribution between the spirit's distillery character, the contributions of the wood, and the contributions of the residue of the cask's former contents.

    Just my thoughts. I look forward to your video, Mr. Lüning. Thanks again!

    B

    Bill Sallak
  • hwchoy Member hwchoy Joined: 28.07.2015Posts: 462CollectionHeng Wah’s CollectionRatings: 3
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    I believe you are in the right direction, as I'm sure there is a good basis the likes of Richard Patterson goes on and on about their 30 year old Gonzalez Byass sherry casks. I'd just like to hear from Horst on this.

  • [Deleted User] Joined: 26.08.2016Posts: 0CollectionEmpty Bottle ClubRatings: 160
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    Dr. Luening, I would be interested to hear whether you have tasted whiskies matured in paxarette-treated casks and how these compare to modern sherry-matured whiskies. Perhaps you could include that in your video as well?

    Clear alcohols are for rich women on diets. (Ron Swanson)
  • horst_s_2 Administrator horst_s_2 Joined: 01.07.2014Posts: 507Ratings: 661
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    "Carlton" wrote:
    Dr. Luening, I would be interested to hear whether you have tasted whiskies matured in paxarette-treated casks and how these compare to modern sherry-matured whiskies. Perhaps you could include that in your video as well?

    Yes, I have tasted them and I found them wonderful. But you can never be sure, that they we really that treated. But a lot of the sherry malts from the 70s were such.

    P.S.: Please omit the Dr. I am not carrying it because I earned it for a completely different work than whisky. Here in the forum I am just Horst.

    Kind regards, Horst Luening, Master Taster, Whisky.com
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