The trend for sherry casks etc

There used to be a character in Mad Magazine named "Marginal Marvin." You're rapidly headed in that direction, without being that entertaining.

-- Larry

No - they're saying "we can make it taste better".

Jim

By adding something which isnt supposed to be in whisky?

I'm not trying to be funny, it's a serious point.

Uzytkownik "Marvin" napisal:

No, it's not. The character of the whisky - by definition - is powerfully influenced by the wood in which it matures. And when you say "sherry cask", you don't mean merely the kind of tipple it was originally used for, but also the type of wood itself - in this case, European oak (as opposed to American oak used for bourbon barrels). Also by definition, whisky - in order to be called whisky - has to be matured in wood for at least 3 years, and fresh oak has been proven to be unaccaptable. Not to mention the scarcity of local oak in Scotland. You will find cask and kinds of wood discussed in almost any book on Scotch whisky, in magazines (Whisky Magazine, Malt Advocate), as well as on websites devoted to our favourite dram. I suggest you check them out for a more detailed discussion of the issue.

Cheers, Rajmund

No, it is just different. With that logic, how would you justify the Scotch using American oak barrels? Scotch without used oak barrels would not be traditional scotch whisky. If you don't like it, then don't drink scotch whisky finished off in a sherry cask or some other type of used wood cask.

I'm not a big fan of sherried malts, with some very notable exceptions. The Lagavulin 16, for example, is about as good as it gets, and it's finished in sherry casks.

Aging in sherry casks is a well-established way of finishing single malts. Some of the most respected malts spend time in sherry casks.

If you want to argue that in some cases, the sherry is added to cover up the inadequacy of mediocre malts, I'm right there with you. But if you say *all* sherried malts are somehow invalid, I'm with pltrgyst. That's not a serious point. It's plain silly.

bill

Who are you to say what should or shouold not be in whisky?

If you go back far enough, whisky was matured in any barrel that happened to be handy, because they're expensive things. Whisky has been matured in barrels that contained sherry, wine, port...even mackeral. Then it would be transferred to smaller casks for transportation (and guager avoidance). These in turn will have been influenced by what _they_ used to contain.

So you see, there's no 'definitive' rules about this apart from "three years in oak before it's whisky (on Scottish soil if it's going to be called 'Scotch')"

Jim

All I'm saying is sherried malts go against the spirit of Scotch Whisky imo.

Well it's in the Scotch Whisky rulebook I believe. If you use casks which have previously been used for sherry then sherry residue is going to enter the whisky.

Residue, yes. We're not talking about opening the barrel a month before bottling and emptying two bottles of Harvey's Bristol Creme in.

It alters the character of the whisky but my belief is that it doesn't stop it _being_ whisky. I know what you mean though - at what point does the additive stop it being whiksy and start to make it a 'whisky based drink'?

Sounds like a discussion to have with a few drams :-)

Jim

What I am taking about here is casks previously used for sherry, that impart some of the sherry character on the whisky.

I see no real argument here.

If you like Sherry (or Port or Madeira or whatever) finished malts, by all means buy them and drink them.

If you don't ....... don't.

While on the one hand, it's nice to see some actual activity on this newsgroup, t'would be nicer if t'were more, shall we say, constructive.

nick

Uzytkownik "Marvin" napisal:

It would. But then, any other stuff that originaly was stored/matured in those casks would (doesn't bourbon bother you?). Were it not for the fact that the casks are charred on the inside before they are filled with spirit. Open fire... We are back to the interaction between wood (or what has become of it after it interacted with the, say, sherry, and was charred) and the spirit...

Cheers, Rajmund

Uzytkownik "Jim" napisal:

Absolutely. It is wrong. In fact in the early days of whisky maturation, sherry casks were more common to be used for Scotch maturation than bourbon casks, which seems to indicate that it is the sherry (rather than bourbon) influence that is in the essence of Scotch whisky...

Must have been the myth that you will hear repeated by the Old Pulteney guides. But even they say it tongue in cheek. And I think it is herring ;-)

Don't think whisky is actually transported in oak any more. It will be stainless steel. And they will make sure nothing influences the flavour of the whisky. Otherwise why bother with long years of maturation in selected wood?

Cheers, Rajmund

Uzytkownik "nick" napisal:

Absolutely :-) Let's drink to it ;-) I'm going to have a dram of Dallas Dhu

Cheers, Rajmund

Rajmund wrote: > Absolutely :-) Let's drink to it ;-) I'm going to have a dram of Dallas Dhu

I'm about to have a dram of the Springbank 10 they just last Wednesday started to bring into the NC State ABC system.

nick