Calling all Sherry Lovers ™....and soon to be!

Nothing goes more hand in hand than whisky and Sherry casks. These old casks became the single most important flavor profile for the whisky industry. Every whisky distillery around the world like to write Sherry Cask on their labels, but the problem is that the demand is much higher than the actual amount of original old Sherry casks in circulation, so a lot of fake casks and new cask with bad wine are produced. Even old decomissioned Sherry casks in Scotland were returned to Spain and refilled with "Sherry" for a short period to get the "right" smell and then sold again as old original Sherry casks!

You can learn much more about that from www.SherryCasks.es.

Many distilleries are desperate to get the Sherry cask flavor in their whisky without putting in the time and money needed!

This American whiskey company simply decided just to add Oloroso Sherry to their whisky batch before bottling to save time and money. This is apparently legal in US but very illegal in Europe! Until 1990 Scottish whisky producers used to add the now banned Pajarete to their casks (a former "Sherry" type now exiciled from Jeréz to Malaga as its not much more than cooked and reduced grape juice with added alcohol). One particular whisky distillery in Spain has defrauded consumers all over Europe the last 10 years by adding PX Sherry and other flavor inhanching aromas to their rum and whisky but never told consumers about it, because it's illegal. I have reported them to both Sante Food Fraud in Brussels and the Spanish authorities.

You can read more about that here:

LiberDistillery.com

LiberWhisky.com 

Many dubious Spanish cask producers have invented all kinds of "Sherry" casks to profit on the names like Amontillado, Oloroso or the most famous of them all Pedro Ximénez(PX).

Due to high demand and lack of original old Sherry Casks, Rafa from Casknolia came up with a much hyped marketing concept of just making "Sherry" casks from new oak and young wines, in many cases not even real Sherry from The Golden Triangle. Spanish Whisky Club® bought and tried all the new "Sherry" casks from Casknolia and to me this is nothing but the Emperor's New Clothes.

If you want real original old certified Sherry casks, I can highly recommend two companies: Hector from Southern Casks in Puerto Santa Maria and Tonelería Juan Pino in Montilla. Not to be confused with Tonelería del Sur(Casknolia) as they are both operating out of the same town between Malaga and Córdoba. In the pictures below you can see Juan Pino demonstrate a real certified Sherry cask. See this amazing video on YouTube from when I picked out a random certified Sherry cask to be opened up. If your Sherry cask don't look like that inside it's not AUTHENTIC, end of story!

What you see in the pictures below is residue from 50-100 years of settlements in old Sherry casks. This can not be immitated in new industrial Sherry casks aged for a few months often with a quality of wine which is deemed "not drinkable" and later used for Vinagre del Jeréz or distilled to brandy!

Residue in sherry casks, often found as sediment or haze in finished whiskies, comes from the sherry wine that previously aged in the wood. This residue contains flavor compounds like sugars, esters, and phenols, which contribute sweet, fruity, and spicy notes to the whisky. While some might see it as a flaw, it's a natural consequence of using sherry casks and a sign of a more traditional, less filtered approach to whisky production. Again a more authentic product.

My Sherry blending masterclass always ends with a professional real life hack of a standard bottle of whisky. You will taste and learn how to simulate 10 years of cask aging in 10 minutes with only 3 special components. Of course this life hack can not substitute the aging of spirits in certified original old Sherry casks! But it can save consumers a lot of money against age statements and label confusions on whisky and rum bottles from around the world.

If you have any questions just ask me. I'm also the president of the Spanish Whisky Club® and if you are interested in whisky visit my website BestSpanishWhisky.com

Whisky Wants Sherry, So Should You!