ralfy review 880 Extras - All about sherry casks in 2021 (whisky)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
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One of the upsides to this information/internet age is that a regular middle aged fellow from the Isle of Mann can almost single-handedly steer an industry without even sitting on a board or having a voting stake in any company. Integrity might not make a man rich, but it will certainly get respect. Good on you, Ralfy.
One of the strange things with covid is that Sherry consumption in the UK is rising fast, maybe because multiple generations are drinking together at home and youngsters are trying gran’s sherry.
I’m doing a series on Sherry & Sherry Cask whiskies. There are far better sherries for far less money. Try Lustau or Gonzales Byass Amontillado or Olorosso. You can buy them for $25-$30. If you like Fino or Manzanilla try Tio Pepe or Osborne for $10 - $15. Spain has been using American oak for very long time in Ribera Del Duro, Rioja and Jerez.
Any thoughts on Cotswold Sherry? Im looking to make a small cask of my own whisky and am looking for a good sherry to help flavor the wood.
@@theprodigalstranger5259 sorry, I’ve not yet tried it.
Osborne PX is the best liquid i have ever tasted.
Redbreast 12 Lustao is a Good´s nectar!!!!!!
Somewhere, Fraiser and Niles are lamenting the cask changes of their beloved Sherry.
Got to love Frasier. 😂
I'm lamenting the end of that show. And the occasional single malt scotch references were also amusing! Even Armagnac was honorably mentioned once 😎 Remember when Frasier was accepted into a very exclusive club? And he asks the butler to bring him a glass of "your finest 18yo lowland Scotch". Or when Roz poured a glass of very old Glenfarclas down the sink... Fun times 😉
@@alexk3088 Kelsey Grammer said the restart of Frasier might air in 2022 and that most of the original cast might return.
@@brucetheloon that'd be neat (pun intended).
The Gonzalez Byass Bodega for example is producing about 20.000 sherry-seasoned-casks a year. Each cask with 500 litres. The young sherry matures for one year and then it's processed to vinegar. During this time the virgin wood soaks up about 20 litres sherry. Together with another 10 litres sherry (to keep the cask moist during transportation) the cask is shipped to scotland. It usually costs 600 to 1000 £. So the whisky, matured in a cask like this, contains a lot of young cheap sherry wine. And Gonzalez Byass is only one of numerous bodegas, which are producing sherry-seasoned-casks for the whisky industry.
By the way, Richard Patterson sometimes buys really old premium sherry casks for finishing very old Dalmore. But these casks are rare, because the bodegas barely sell them and they are very very very expensive.
. . . great comment, thanks !
But these bodega casks are usually quite inactive because of their many years (even more than 100) of use in the solera system in Spain. So I guess their influence in the whisky they will contain might be more related to the quality sherry residues left inside of them and not because of it’s woody nature as is the case with the active casks seasoned with sherry to mimic what transport casks used to be in the old days. Greetings from Venezuela.
I think we must be increasingly aware of sherried whiskies. I think we are buying lots of not so good quality sherried ones and we don’t know that. It’s strange to know that sherry consumption became so unpopular in the last decades but at the same time there never been so many sherried whiskies, using mostly and of course American oak. I’m looking more and more for other types of maturation instead of sherry.
I've watched a lot of your videos over the time but this has been the most informative.. Thank you.
Ralfy, the sulfur from Mortlach and Springbank are from worm tub's lesser copper contact. There is a way to treat ex-sherry casks to get rid of sulfur. Foursquare does things like steam the staves and add hot water to get the wine and sulfur out.
Wow! We need 2 hours more! Amazing
Many thanks, Ralfy, for all the wonderful info on the changing use of "transportation" (now banned) and "seasoned" ex-sherry casks over the years. Just a couple of small vignettes to complement your video. First, it's interesting to know that as early as 1929 the Johnnie Walker brand was already using "seasoned" sherry casks (hoggies) which contained 35 liters of sweet dark sherry (maybe something similar to paxarette) for a period of 6 weeks before being filled with whisky for maturation. The casks were then lightly pressurized before the sherry was poured out. Many of these casks were also made of American white oak, while others were larger refill sherry butts made of European oak. The second point is the relatively new certification system that has been set up in Spain in 2015 to document and certify the use of sherry- or wine-seasoned casks emanating from Jerez. It's run by the Consejo Regulador and its regulations are enforced by the "Organization for Agro-alimentary Evaluation of Compliance and Certification" (what a mouthful!). It specifies the wines that are allowed to be stored in the casks, the period of storage, and usually the type of oak used, among other matters. Naturally, the wines must come from Jerez and Barrameda in order for the casks to get their "Sherry Cask" approved classification. Reading through the document is instructive (available online) as every step along the way is in fact specified with a minimum requirement. I ask myself, why don't those whisky companies that use such casks include the certification on their back label? It would give the consumer some kind of guaranteed minimal standard that could be relied upon. And those "ex-sherry" whiskies that were matured in casks that only saw 6 months of vinegar-grade sherry wine would, of course, miss out. The whisky enthusiast would be better informed, and those whisky companies "doing the right thing" by establishing minimum standards would be rewarded accordingly. Seems like a topic for discussion, don't you think? Cheers.
. . . a very useful comment, thanks !
What about Port casks?
I don't get it, isn't it the point that the whole industry is using casks seasoned with vinegar-grade sherry? Why would they want to write it on the label?
Sherry always makes me think of the Monty Python sketch with Michael Palin as the sherry drinking vicar! 🤣
Ralfy, as a young lad I'd look up your reviews and count the days until I was of legal age to purchase said spirits. Well, 10 years have passed and I no longer drink and stopped watching but it makes me happy to see you're still on TH-cam doing your reviews. Cheers, and thank you for the company so long ago!
Once at the Crinan Hotel I asked for a surprise aperitif. I was given a glass of Tio Pepe and loved it - that made me look into the subject..
As i sit here in my 18 wheeler on this boring Sunday morning in South Carolina with a hot coffee i thought it time for an education..:)...Now ive never tried any sherry, but i would happily accept if offered to me..To be perfectly honest ill probably spend my mislaid minimum malty money on a new malt experience instead..With that said i now feel like i have a PHD in sherry, and educations are priceless..Thanks Ralfy!!!!
I had to do a ton of research and digging over a period of time to learn everything that you just covered in this one video. It's a great resource for those wanting to understand sherry casks in whisky production.
I am always glad to hear such opinions about sherry. Such views leave the superiority and breathtaking complexity of good quality dry oloroso sherry affordable for mature palates that have grown out of regressive tendencies that are at the root of attachment to comparatively sweet whisky :D
Amazingly informative video! This is why we all keep coming back to your channel, Ralfy.
I love sherry, honestly. I think the first time I tried olorosso I had already learnt to appreciate those aroma via ex-sherry Scotch, but coming from that direction you're also likely to find the palate a bit underwhelming the first time.
Best thing to do then is to pair your sherry with food. It really goes great with the most charcuteries and many cheeses, but also with salty, fatty snacks (like good quality kettle crisps with your friday night movie). But a fino with a nice salad on a hot summer's day wouldn't be too bad either. Or an amontillado or an olorosso with a rich mushroom soup in the autumn.
The thing is to not treat it as a sipping spirit all the way through the bottle, but to think of it more as a wine. I for one will always give a new bottle of wine (or sherry) a bit of a sniff and sip and ponder tasting notes before anything else, but in the end they're meant to go with food.
Of course, the more special (older vintages and such) the wine, the more attention you should give its on its own.
Anyway, sherry is really trendy as a cocktail ingredient now, but the amounts are generally quite small (its rarely the main ingredient). So if you love ex-sherry Scotch, you should do your part and try some sherry.
Thanks for this informative video Ralfy.
You're one of the few indipendent whisky blogger that has the competence and courage to public discuss these topics.
This explains why I feel like a lot of cheaper “sherries” whiskies taste like balsamic vinaigrette to me. They must have let the fake sherry casks sit too long and it turned.
Just as we wondered what alchemy produced enough casks for aging very popular sherried whisky, when the world seems to have lost its taste for sherry itself, along came Ralfy with the answer. Now we know where sherry casks--and balsamic vinegar--come from. Thank you, Ralfy!
I hope the same doesn’t happen with Port.
I brought out a bottle of oloroso and a bottle of PX at our last whisky club night to try before we had our uigeadail and glendronach Cask strength.
For an intense sherry aged whisky, give Navazos Palazzi Overseas Malt Whisky a try! They send 3 year old scotch to Jerez, Spain, where it is aged for 4 years in an oloroso sherry cask, in a much warmer and drier climate than Scotland! Very nutty, raisin, dry and a little funky. Like sherry, I enjoy it more served over ice.
That’s reminds of me of Nomad Outland wich is also aged in Spain (Gonzalez Byass bodegas). It’s almost tastes more like pure sherry than whisky.
Went out and got a bottle of sherry this week!
Great vid Ralf love the wealth of knowledge from these extras. Nothing else like it on TH-cam
Ralfy, lots of great content here!! THANKS. We started with Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry 30+ years ago, then fino sherry, ruby port and now for the last 20 years, tawny port. The tawny is so rich and flavorful. And just a couple of years ago, armagnac. Bourbons finished in armagnac are amazing.
Can you recommend a bourbon finished in armagnac please? Sounds amazing.
@@LuxscapeMusic Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend (190), Bardstown Bourbon Co. Chateau de Laubade (130) and High West American Prairie Barrel Select Bourbon finished in armagnac (60). Unfortunately they are very difficult to find but simply amazing. Yellowstone just came out with one (120) but I haven't tasted.
@@djbeacon1942 thanks
Recently opened a old bottling of Macallan 12 sherry cask before they changed the wording to sherry seasoned casks. A different dram than the current bottles, wish I had found more of them dusty on the shelf.
Hud the bus ya bass! Manzanilla and Fino are some of the finest white wines available that represent fantastic value. Works with spiced food like thai and curry and are far too cheap. la Gitana and Il pastrano are just superb. haven't quite got into Amontillado etc but chilled Manzanilla or Fino is superb. I was at the aftermath of a Fiesta in Ronda in the south and the street was knee deep in Sherry bottles.
Gotta admit my attention was drifting in the beginning, but you brought me back.
Another excellent video. Thank you Ralfy! I continue to learn a lot about my favourite tipple. 😁👍
I think this is the most informative video on sherried whisky I’ve ever seen
My grandmother drank sherry, didn't care for it but I do love a good sherried Scotch. Very interesting episode Ralfy.
Thank you Ralfy for giving me an idea of how to go about Sherry-finishing some homemade "whiskey", a project I've been dabbling in for about a month or so. Cheers from NC, USA!
Great informative video ralfy. Thank you. Can you please update us on Cognacs someday, as an alternative for whisky. It's has been long since you did any Cognac video. Thank you 🎊😇
What a GREAT video!! So informative. As a portugueses, I cant wait for the port and the Madeira version of this video. Cheers!
Would love to see it too.
Excellent episode Ralfy. You truly are the professor of fortification...& fortitude!!
Super interesting and very educational 👍 thanks for sharing, mate!
An incredible amount of information.Many thanks.
Loved this Ralfy! Recently started buying some Sherry (mainly Oloroso) and this was enlightening!
If you are into high end dry sherry I strongly recommend "1991 Gonzalez Byass Palo Cortado Anada Sherry". Pretty unusual since it is a single vintage rather than a Solera
I have already done that wood experiment; Charred European oak has been in a sample Moonshine for 1½ years.
I didn't like the original moonshine, but with the oak it was surprisingly drinkable
So much information. A great place for dabblers, such as myself, to get a feel for the depth and breadth of what happens in the industry.
I felt truly educated after watching this video. Bravo.
I like the whiskys that have dry fruit notes more than just sherry mixed with malt. I like both but definitely the crazy dry fruit is the stuff for me
The port pipes are the same when it comes to the port producers needing the casks to be reused many times to limit the wood influence. However port seems to be in bigger demand in the world market, so that might counter effect it a bit. It would be interesting so hear more indepth about that :)
Would also like to know about port casks and whisky.
A great episode - one of the best - very informative. Thanks for sharing !
Such a great, interesting, and educating video! Thanks!
Hey Ralfy. Very informative video, as usual. Even if it is almost 2 years old, it feeds our minds.
One thing that I don't agree with you is in your disaffection for Sherry wines. A lot of wines made in the Jerez area are really great fortified wines. You just have to go for an old Palo Cortado, Amontillado or Oloroso to taste very flavoursome wines. Sherry wine got famous in the UK through the basic medium sweet wines but there is many wines produced with the solera system that are real wine jewels (and ususally don't get to the UK market). I guess that solera systems are not very compatible for selling the casks (as they are never emptied, but refilled every time they take out 1/3 of its capacity for bottling). Brands like Lustau, El Maestro Sierra, Barbadillo and many others make crazy wines with great strength and flavours far from diluted.
I appreciate the market and losgistics knowledge that you are sharing in your videos, very useful to understand a bit more of what's behind the whisky production.
Slàinte!
Ralfy, Brilliant! Thank you! Never enjoyed school as much as I do your classes! NealyB
0:50 Boiled grape juice is added to increase the sugar content and make PX or Oloroso sherry sweeter for specific markets.
The majority of sherry is made entirely with white grapes and the colour you see in the drink or the cask is the result of the oxidation process. Oloroso is aged and heavily oxidised and dark. Sweet Oloroso sherry is sweet and dark because they have added grape juice syrup.
Sherried whiskey doesn't have to have a lot of colour and its entirely up to the distiller to make that decision when they chose the cask. I've had exceptional, light coloured Fino sherry cask matured whiskey and there needs to be more of it.
. . . thanks for a great comment !
Lyche was the first tasting note i ever came out with , my parents used to let me try white wine when i was a kid and i always remeber it being like tinned lychees.
Just read the chapter ‚chuckles‘ in your new book while enjoying some Laphroaig. I need more of these limericks 😜
. .. thanks for buying my book !
Famous dialogue from "Withnail and I" film:
Monty (to Withnail): "Sherry?"
Withnail: "Sherry."
Monty (To Marwood): "Sherry?"
Marwood: "Sherry."
Monty (to himself): "Sherry..."
Do you like vegetables? What a line
Love your channel. Great vids and reviews.
Hi Ralfy, would it be interesting to do an Extras on cask buying and whisky investment? It seems that more people are buying casks, either for their own pleasure or as an investment. (I'm interested to buy one myself, not as an investment, but for my own interest.) But I wonder if this investing in whisky is something benefiting the industry, or if it's ruining it, making it harder for us costumers to buy whisky at a fair price. I would love to hear your experience on this subject!
Fantastically interesting and educating!
As someone already stated, (dry) sherry isn't really a sipping drink but rather suitable for pairing with food. And boy, does it work. Specially brothy soups, but I wouldn't hesitate to have sherry with any savoury food. Anything boiled for a long time, fried, dishes with broth or slightly caramelised ingredients can mean magic along with a dry sherry. They are not very appealing on their own at all. I also really like the half dry ones with about 45 g. of sugar a litre, and they work well for sipping. Dry Sack is great, some other of the cheap ones has a slightly unpleasant maple syrup taste. The really sweet ones I haven't tried yet, but apparently they go well not with your dessert, but rather in it as a sauce.
I have a PX bottle and can’t drink it. Way too sweet.
@@ADSCP Yes Pedro Ximenes is usually used to make the really sweet ones. Try it as a sauce on ice cream perhaps? I've tried a half dry PX (50g. sugar/litre) and slightly chilled is was lovely.
A lot more Scotch whisky distillers commission their own casks from Spanish cooperages than just the two you mentioned. Actually I believe most of them do...
As fo the use of American oak, that is by no means a recent development. Although most transport casks were made of European oak, American oak has been used for making solera butts in Jerez since at least the late 17th century. Also, I think you meant to say that the seasoning sherry ends up in Jerez vinegar, not balsamic.
Excellent information. I can't believe there's not 100 plus more comments here.......Thanks Ralfy!
Mmm. I’d do love a good sherry. Been known to add a couple of drops in a poor whisky. Px is the best. Nice one
Haven't found a good PX in NY yet, I don't really want to spend the money for the gamble. Fino and Manzanilla, dry is my taste. I don't get it but after 2 ounces I get bored with sherry
The PX I have opened tastes like a perfect pre- balsamic.
Great video again Ralphy but not sure about your comment about Fino being a good Sherry. Fino is a type or style of Sherry and as such there can be bad ones as well as good ones.
Brilliant content Ralfy so interesting thank you
Thanks for the subtitles ralfy,cheers from spain!
I always wondered about two things:
1. Some brands just say "European Oak", but don't specify if this is virgin oak or the casks did contain something.
2. Sherry actually needs casks that were heavily used. Like wine casks that were used over and over again, sometimes for decades. You don't want woody notes in sherry, you want oxidation. These casks can't be good for whisky, let alone better than ex-bourbon first fill ones.
This video somehow answered me. The "sherry" casks are in fact not really "sherry". They are first filled with a wine-like liquid that later becomes vinegar or sherry. Or whatever.
This leads to other questions. What did the people in the past used? Also, what do people use, when they say they use "port casks"? What do they use when they say "ruby port"? I thought ruby port is not matured in casks? Are these port and sherry casks more expensive than ex-boubon? I assume a lot more. Why do people say first-fill ex-bourbon? I thought when there is an used cask, you can't call it bourbon?
Why people don't use fruit brandy casks? I think because nowadays (in the last 20-30 years) most brandies (at least in Europe) are not aged at all. And more importantly, they are made kinda like vodka, very high alcohol, that is then watered down. It doesn't really have any tast, so when you put it in a cask, it doesn't give something to the casks. But there are be some brandies made to have more taste from the fruit, in countries like the USA, Germany, Serbia or Bulgaria.
We need a video about casks in general, I think.
Anyway, thanks for the informative content.
Springbank talked about this on their Online Tasting Week Sherry Cask session - they said they are having far better results with the seasoned casks, and in some cases the seasoned PX / Oloroso are too active!
. . . your right about the over-activity.
Before the bodegas add sherry to the Spanish Oak casks, are the casks toasted or charred? Or does the sherry just go into a virgin Spanish Oak cask, uncharred?
Please exclude American Oak from the above example. This is strictly about European Oak.
Thanks
Man! Ralfy looks like a regular bloke but talks like a number one whiskey expert in the world.
Top notch interesting video here.
As a side note, If I were forced to pick only ONE category of whisky to drink for the rest of my life, it'd be sherry-influenced single malt scotch whisky. The type of sherry is irrelevant to me... PX, Oloroso, Fino, Manzanilla... love it.
Cheers Ralfy
Outstanding Information! Thank You👍🙏🥃
Hey! these sherry businesses should just buy the old and tired shery casks from the whisky industry and sell them their younger one. I could see a nice coupling there.
Great extra. But now I'm genuinely interested in tasting a whisky aged in the sour cask you mentioned. Just curious 😅
Thank you Ralfy for a very enjoyable and informative video, I certainly was not aware there is a market in vintage sherries, more a Port fan myself.
Just out of interest do you or anyone know what is the oldest cask(s) in use today north of the border?
Anyway keep safe, keep sane everyone and keep producing such top quality content Ralfy from that bothy somewhere in the Irish Sea. 👍
I also prefer Port by far.
I learned a lot here, thanks
Tried Sherry cask whiskey and I prefer Bourbon cask. Thank you for showing me why.
Old vintage port from 70’s or older are the best of fortified wines in my opinion and a very different animal than others
Hello malty engineering non-chill enthusiasts! And thank you Ralfy for this malt lesson! I've started my journey not long ago, but I find watching your channel, and your extras in particular, the most amazing source of malty information.
Oloroso sherry whisky is my sweet spot ..fascinating info, cheers @ralfy
May I suggest that you provide links to that webpage you made a while back, as well as the matching Extras videos, that go into how to bake sticks for flavoring liquors? They're worth the views and visit! 😆👍
Ralfy, have you done a extra's from a cooperage? That would be interesting.
. . . in the archives, just check the channel search box.
@@thewhiskybothy Cheers the 3 parter was great. Amazing work
Great and informative as always ralfy. Out of curiousity did you buy a bottle of the jack and victor from the TV show still game blend? Think it was bottled at the Loch lomond distillery but its quite expensive for a blend, would be great to get your thoughts
. . . I have ! Opinion later in the year.
Great video! Many thanks Ralfy… cheers
Ralfy isn't quite right with the vinegar reference. Balsamic vinegar is an Italian thing. The Spanish are using the American oak casks to make sherry vinegar which is why most sherry vinegar comes from Jerez.
I prefer Madeira first, Amontillado Second, then Tawny Port, Marsala, And lastly Olorosso Sherry. Some Cream Sherry’s and Ruby Port’s are ok if I am in the right mood
. . . good running order !
Dry cool fino sherry is excellent with smoked fish and fish generally.
Will a grain distillation used for whisky have any sour notes left over by it own ?
Thank you Ralfy!!
Ralfy, for a real quality sherry, try Lustau Almacenista sherries. They are the real deal.
They also have in theire core-range some good ones, Manzanilla Papyrusa (yeasty seabreeze) or Amontillado Los Arcos (nutty fruit, slightly sweer)
Great video! Could you also make a video about Port finished whiskeys? I love Arran Port Cask and I'd love to know what else you'd recommend. Thank you!
16:57 found this interesting? This is amazing!
My favorite whisky is my own blend which I add px sherry to and I love it rich sweet smokey with a mouthfeel I don't get from any I buy,
Whisky snobs grab those noses lol
I love kilkerran but I can not stand the kilkerran 12 yr old for the eggy sulphur taste I get when I drink it. I have got the Kilkerran 8 sherry cask strength and the Kilkerran Heavily Peated batch 4 and I love them that much I would pay more for them .
A Dios Baco Elite Oloroso sherry is a wonderfully complex drinking experience.
A sherry cask topic, so i have myself a Glendronach 10 years Forgue.
( Thanks for the subtitles. Pouring myself a Spinola Medium right now. Cheers. )
Subtitles are poor, Whisky brands are spelled wrong.
I'm 6 months in to my scotch journey and feel sad not to enjoy the sherried whiskeys. Glenmorangie and Aberlour 12 have both put me off and are gathering dust. I am much, much keener on the peat / iodine
Try Ardbeg Uigeadail…peat meets sherry…delicious!! Cheers!🥃
@@AndyCigars will do! Ardbeg 10 is possibly my favourite. Will be an interesting comparison to try oogy then - slainte!
If you need help making them disappear I'm available. That's what malt mates are for.
Ralfy have you ever bought one of the wee barrels, seasoned it with Sherry or wine and the put a malt in to see what develops taste wise ?
. . yes, featured as a project on my patreon channel.
Poe turned me onto Amontillado, not so sweet, and if you come over I'll take you to the bottle.
hope you do something similar with Port. Generally speaking, what do you think are the biggest flavour differences between single malts finished in sherry and finished in port?
. . . red fruit notes in red port casks and dried fruit notes in sherry casks.
@@thewhiskybothy thank you so much for your answers and consideration. Cheers from Portugal!
@@thewhiskybothy what about Madeira cask? I’m a big fan of Benriach 15.
Hello Ralfy, what do you think about couvreur in france? There are many old faishoned sherry casks in Bouze les Beaunes;-)
. . . interesting bottlings !
"Sweet Sherry please Boaby."
I just had the urge to open a bottle of PX
I love a good sherry.