There's more to Sherry matured whisky than colour

What makes a sherry matured whisky a 'Sherry Bomb'?

It's a topic that comes up quite often on social media, with fans of the liquid posting great pictures of their current dram, poured at an amount that would get most bartenders sacked.

The comments ensue...."ooooh, look at the colour", and "is that cola, or whisky?". Sadly, very rarely does the conversation move to comments like "what does it actually taste like?" and if they do, we are greeted with the reply "it's a real Sherry Bomb".

So what does this mean, and what should you expect from a sherry matured whisky?

The likely, deeper answer is: Christmas Cake, raisins, figs, chocolate, almonds and dime bars. All these flavours sound fantastic and are often used in my own tasting notes of a sherry style whisky - but they only really describe the influence from the cask, rather than the whisky - and the worry is that a sherry bomb needs to be 'too sherried'.

From my own experience, and from scouring reviews and popular Facebook pages, a Sherry Bomb tends to lend itself to a whisky that has had interaction with a first fill sherry cask, meaning that the whisky is the first liquid poured into that particular cask after it has been emptied of sherry.

This does two things - Firstly, it gives the whisky dibs at an intense colour transformation. While it is illegal to add sherry (or any other liquid) to the casks for flavouring or colouring purposes, well looked-after casks will naturally retain liquid in the wood which will interact with the whisky. There may also (sssshhhhhh....) be some 'transportation' sherry left in the cask which is used to keep the wood from drying out on its travels, which adds flavour and colour immediately.

Secondly, is the flavour transformation. It's quick and it can be overpowering. Only the very best first fill cask management system can ensure whisky makes it past a few months before being lost by tannins and spices. 

And here lies the need for balance. In my opinion, to truly capture the essence of sherry maturation, rather than sherry flavouring, a whisky needs to be carefully managed over time to allow the spirit and cask to merge gracefully together over time. A relationship built up over time is more likely to last longer than a Vegas-style shotgun wedding.

When it comes to customer purchases, the first to be hunted down, snapped up on presale or have queues at the door on release day, are the dark monsters. Linkwood, Glen Spey, Glenrothes, the distillery itself doesn’t matter. The reputation of the bottlers are also almost a sidenote in the clamour to get these releases into the basket.

Let's take a look at the long standing sherry champions - the Glenfarclas' and Tamdhus of the world. When looking at Glenfarclas' methods, sherry casks are used up to Fourth Fill! A carefully managed warehousing system is in place to ensure that first fill casks are used as a finishing vessel, adding depth and flavour to an already matured whisky which has been matured for 10 years plus in a refilled cask. This initial impact is monitored and before the sherry wood overwhelms the spirit, the whisky is removed and the cask is now prime for a longer term maturation.

It's easy to link this to a teabag analogy. Dip a tea back into water and it interacts quickly, the more separate cups of water that bag interacts with, the less the colour and flavour impact. Also, if you keep the first use bag in a cup for too long, you've ruined the cup of tea with tannins.

Glenfarclas have their famous Family Cask range, which is selected blind using blue Glencairns, to ensure that the flavour and not the colour stands out to the consumer.

For me, and this is purely personal preference, the best sherry cask whisky is matured first, either in ex-bourbon casks or second or third fill sherry casks and then balanced with first-fill sherry in a finish, or a second maturation. This allows the whisky to age, develop its character and mellow, before the seasoning begins.

A little like a home cooked meal - the salt and pepper goes in last, to taste, once the main bulk of the cooking has been done.

Other styles of sherry aren't exactly flavour of the month (pardon the pun), and they don't capture the imagination in the same way as the massively popular 'big two' in Oloroso and Pedro Ximinez. 

The dry, saline Manzanilla or the also dry but nuttier Fino give wonderfully dry white wine notes and complex fruits to your dram. They work brilliantly with coastal or peated whisky such as a Kilchoman. 

Try an Amontillado sherry cask, giving similar dry notes but with added roasted nuts, tobacco, spice and dried fruit flavours, wonderful in a Highland dram such as Tomatin.

Lastly, the Palo Cortado. Probably a third favourite in whisky circles, likely due to its

rarity and similarity to Oloroso. It has seen popular use in Bunnahabhain, Tomatin and Deanston releases as well as Independent Bottlers. This style begins life intended to become a Fino or Amontillado style. Then, it loses its flor before fortification and begins to evolve oxidatively like an oloroso. The end result is a wine of tremendous elegance and complexity, with lush textures and aromatic flavours ensuing. Think Amontillado on the nose, and Oloroso on the palate.

I've touched on colour and like the rest of us who say we never buy with our eyes, I'm a bona-fide liar. It's so hard not to pick up a dark whisky in awe, however I'm now much more conscious to look at the details on the bottle - how long was the finish, what other casks were used, what strength is it, who is bottling it, is it PX, Oloroso or another style of sherry? All these now play a part in the purchase over and above the colour, which is still, admittedly, a factor in picking up the bottle in the first place.

It is one of the great debates going on in the whisky world - is darker better? Is older better and is darker older? The answer to all three of these is yes - and it is also no. It's an infinite circle of research, second guessing and of trial and error. It's the mystery of finally putting your finger on some sort of continuity only for another dram to pull everything you thought you know from under your feet in a M Night Shyamalan style twist.

My advice at the end of the day is to not go just for colour. Don't go just for the darkness of an Oloroso or PX. Try the new wave of wonderful sherry cask matured whiskies on the market such as the eloquent Palo Cortado, the dry and complex Manzanilla or Fino and the wonderfully deep Amontillado. Explore the style of cask and spirit marriage as much as you would explore a range from your favourite independent bottlers or distilleries. 

Then, you may find that your favourite Sherry Bomb is light in colour, balanced and complex, rather than dark, thick and sweet.