8 of the best sherry cask whiskies to enjoy for International Sherry Week
Sherry Week, which takes place from the 7th until the 13th November, is an international festival celebrating this unique southern Spanish wine, which will see thousands of events happen all across the globe.
Sherry plays a massive part in the Scottish whisky industry with casks being used by Scotland's distilleries for well over 200 years, and sherry itself being popular in the country since the 16th century.
Spanish oak casks, which were used to transport sherry, arrived in the ports of Glasgow and Leith in vast quantities, and were a favourite of Scotch whisky distillers, up until the growth of the Bourbon industry when the chearper, more available American oak became the cask of choice.
Nowadays, you'd be hard pushed to find a whisky fan who doesn't have a favourite sherry cask whisky, such is their ubiquity and quality.
However, as the terribly indecisive people we are, we have only managed to narrow it down to eight recommendations and even then, these are only the tip of the iceberg - we've specifically chosen those widely available enough for everyone to have a fair chance at getting their hands on most, if not all, of them.
Aberlour A'Bunadh
(Distillery: Aberlour, Region: Speyside, RRP: £45-47)
A true cult classic, Aberlour's cask strength sherry monster is a great example of quality whisky at great value.
Translated from the Gaelic as 'of the origin' or 'the original', the producers say it has been made in homage to Aberlour’s founder, James Fleming.
The whisky itself is all spiced orange and dried fruits on the nose, with a lovely, rich finish filled with those spiced orange notes coupled with dark chocolate and cream.
The geekier among you will have noticed that it's available in different batches, meaning that every bottle from each batch will offer some different.
Dalmore 15
(Distillery: Dalmore, Region: Highland, RRP: £55 )
We are big fans of Richard Patterson's work and could have chosen two other expressions from Dalmore for this list (the King Alexander III and the cigar malt) but in our heart of hearts we would have known we should have chosen the 15-year-old.
The perfect autumn and winter dram, the 15-year-old is a rich, no-nonsense blast of toffee and rich fruits.
Made using Matusalem, Apostoles and Amoroso sherry casks it's a complex dram that will keep you warm on these long, dark nights and won't break the bank.
Ardbeg Uigeadail
(Distillery: Ardbeg, Region: Islay, RRP: £52-55 )
Sherry casks don't all have to be sweetness and light in fact, some of the best examples happen to be sherry and peat monsters. Ask anyone what their favourite (reasonably priced) Ardbeg is and chances are - if it's not the old 17-year-old - they'll say this.
Pronounced ‘Oog-a-dal’, this expression is named after the loch from which all Ardbeg water flows, and is widely considered to be one of the best value drams in the distillery's core range.
Those of you who think they don't like peat don't be put off, its bark (the nose, which is all smoke and brine) is worse than its bite (those sherried Christmas cake notes take precedence on the tongue and bring a real depth and complexity to the finish).
Tomatin 18-year-old
(Distillery: Tomatin, Region: Highland, RRP: £75 )
More famous for their excellent cask finishing techniques, the 15 Year Old Single Barrel Sherry Cask was unveiled in 2014 and shows the Speyside distillery are just as capable of producing cracking whisky fully matured in Sherry casks.
Released in batches of no larger than 650 bottles from a single cask and each one hand numbered, the result is a crisp, clean and spicy variation of the sherry theme, that will have you reaching for the bottle again and again. Definitely one to enjoy on these long, dark, cold nights.
Bowmore Darkest
(Distillery: Bowmore, Region: Islay, Price: £55)
We had to finish with another trip to Islay, and Bowmore, an underrated distillery that deserves a little more love. The Darkest is a luxurious dram that really manages to balance peat smoke with summer fruits in a way that is subtler, but no less enjoyable for it, than the Ardbeg Uigeadail, it's the perfect pudding for any Christmas feast and great value at the perfectly reasonable price it's available at.