Anti-Sherrymonster suggestions please!

[Scout]

I see good threads on Sherrymonsters, here and elsewhere.
I can't find corresponding listings of entirely unsherried scotches, though I've been working pretty hard, researching! The distilleries don't all have websites, the reviewers disagree, etc. Often, the reviewer simply doesn't mention a mild sherry presence. I think MJ referred to "a hint of sherry" in one popular scotch, but it was too much for me.

Sherry annoys me, much as perfumes do, even in some otherwise great scotches. (In some scotches, a mild sherry is successfully masked by stronger flavors, but I don't want to complicate the thread.)
Some pure ex-bourbon casked scotches that I like are Laphroaig 15, Glenmorangie 10, and Ardbeg 10.

I wish I had a list of the pure ex-bourbon casked scotches.
This exact topic is neglected; let's talk about it!

[Lawrence]

Glenmorangie 10
Glenmorangie Cellar 13
Ardbeg 10
Laphroaig 10
Lagavulin 12
An Cnoc 12
Tamnavulin12
Speyburn 10
Bruichladdich 10
BenRiach 12, 16 & 20



I think that's a good start and if I've included some that have sherry I'm quite sure it will be pointed out asap.

[Scout]

Tamnavulin 12! Thanks.
Bruichladdich 10! I couldn't confirm explicitly from the website.

My notes say:
Balvenie 15 SB (but I didn't record the source of the info)

[Deactivated Member]

Well, the Balvenie 15 is a single barrel, so either it is or it isn't.... (It is.) Actually, you might do well to look at independent bottlings, as many are single-barrel bottlings, and often the barrel type is specified. Join the SMWS!

[Deactivated Member]

Bruichladdich WMD II "Yellow Submarine"
Rosebank (You did say you don't like perfume, how do feel about a floral whisky?)
Caol Ila

[elli]

talisker 10 is another none sherry fill cask, I don't know about the 18 year

[Scout]

Laphroaig 10 CS

http://www.laphroaig.com/distillery/vir ... maturation

To sherry or not to sherry? The argument still rages. There is no doubt that using old Spanish sherry casks for the maturation process gives whisky a distinct sherry roundness. But at Laphroaig we were never happy about this alien flavour. However it was not till the 30s that the perfect barrel was found for Laphroaig. It was found to be first fill bourbon, American oak casks. First fill only because this softens the wood to exactly the right depth, and bourbon because its a sister Whisky and it does not impart a new flavour to Laphroaig. Subsequently 3 independent scientific papers from around the world have confirmed our choice. We already knew it 60 years ago - but thats typical of Laphroaig.

"But at Laphroaig we were never happy about this alien flavour."

[Scout]

Glen Moray Classic, 12, 1984, 1989

Confirmed by email from distillery:
"The house style of Glen Moray is to use ex Bourbon barrels and the majority of our range is in this category - Classic, 12 Years Old, 1984 and 1989.

For some of the older whiskies, a small proportion of sherry wood is used
to add intensity of flavour e.g. 16 Years Old and 30 Years Old.

Our most recent Manager's Choice, single cask from 1992, The Fifth Chapter is fully matured in sherry wood."

Karen Stewart
Marketing Manager
Glen Moray and James Martin's
The Glenmorangie Company Ltd.

[Bullie]

After my splendid experience tonight I can recommend a Knockando OB. No sherry at all, nice price, wonderful taste and a superb nose.

Other nice no-sherry-at-all bottles are:
Craigellachie 1970 MMcD Mission
Bunnahabhain 1984 by John Milroy
Highland Park 1991 Cask Strenght by G&MP

[Admiral]

At the risk of plugging a crowd with which I have some involvement, you could always try the SMWS bottlings. They happily reveal the history of every cask, so you can easily ascertain whether the cask is ex-sherry or ex-bourbon.

Furthermore, since the bottling is a single cask only, you can really appreciate the significance and influence of that single bourbon cask, rather than drink something that's been homogenised in a vatting of several casks.

CHeers,
Admiral

[jamiepotter]

I've yet to understand this sherry thing. Taste some Aberlour - a perfectly respectable, even admired whisky. It just makes me gag, however: it's that overripe, sickly, sherry flavour has no right being there. If you want that, go buy some sherry brandy and mix it in to some Teachers!!! Horrible.

Weirdly enough, though, David Wishart in 'Whisky Classified' thinks Macallan is more sherried than Aberlour. News to me - I don't mind Macallan. His classification seems good apart from that, though. Here would be my anti-sherry suggestions based on that fine book (all standard bottlings at the normal age):

Any Islay whisky
Auchentoshan
Clynelish
Highland Park
Talisker
Old Pulteney

[Deactivated Member]

Which Macallan have you had? The traditional Mac is indeed very heavily sherried, but the recent Fine Oak series is not. (I think there is some sherried whisky in those, but not a lot; verification, anyone?)

To each his own. Some love sherried whisky, some don't. Believe it or not, some people don't like whisky at all!

[The Dazzler]

Mr T you are correct the Fine Oak Macallan range have a small quantitiy of sherried whisky vatted with whisky matured in ex-bourbon casks.

For me it is quite interesting to find whiskies traditionaly with a sherried influence but which are from ex bourbon casks only. Cadenhead can be good for un-sherried Glenfarclas, and other independants for un-sherried Macallans, Aberlours and Mortlachs. Douglas Laing Provenance have a nice Dalmore 14yo at the moment.

Slainte

[jamiepotter]

That's just the thing. It was a sherry cask Mac - the normal one. It just didn't come across as very sherried at all. (Neither, for that matter, did Dalmore, another whisky Wishart puts in the heavily sherried category).

Whereas when I have Aberlour or a Glenfarclas, it's about all I can taste.

And the people who don't like whisky are just objectively wrong!!!

[irishwhiskeychaser]

To each his own. Some love sherried whisky, some don't............

........ Believe it or not, some people don't like whisky at all!

Mr T how could you suggest such a horrifying idea


Somebody not liking whiskey... I cannot believe it

[Muskrat Portage]

........ Believe it or not, some people don't like whisky at all!

Mr T how could you suggest such a horrifying idea Somebody not liking whiskey... I cannot believe it

"Smithers! Quickly, hand me down my gun and fill my flask with Oban, we're about to hunt a blasphemer!" shouted the old colonel.

Auchentoshan 10yo; Laphroaig10 yo; Lagavulin CS 10 yo are three that spring to mind as being very low to no sherry, but that's based on my tasting them, not on any websites.
Musky Pete

[Admiral]

It just makes me gag, however: it's that overripe, sickly, sherry flavour has no right being there.

Them's fighting words!!!

However, I was more amused to read your suggestion that we buy some sherry and then vat it with the whisky.

Have you actually tried that?

What you will find is that a sherry-matured whisky and a whisky that has had actual sherry tipped into it taste completely different.

Sherry casks introduce specific notes to a whisky, i.e. sweetness, dried fruits, toffee, etc, etc. Some of these traits obviously don't appeal to every palate, and I respect anyone who says "I don't like sherried malts", but to say they don't belong there is stretching the friendship.

Turn the clock back far enough, and I'll think you'll probably find that sherry casks were more abundant than ex-bourbon casks.

Pour yourself a dram of Macallan or Glenfarclas, then pour a dram of bourbon-cask Bruichladdich and tip some oloroso sherry into it. Compare the two drams. If you can still stand by your comments above, then I'll shut up!

Cheers,
AD

[Lawrence]

Turn the clock back far enough, and I'll think you'll probably find that sherry casks were more abundant than ex-bourbon casks.

Never a truer statment uttered, especially before the scotch whisky industry started using ex American cask in the late 1930's.....

[jamiepotter]

OK Admiral. I have to admit that you're right on this. I haven't ever tried it, and I'm pretty sure it would taste horrible.

I suppose I could have said a similar thing about peat monsters. There's no need for peat anymore. I might have said, get some Bells, boil some leather and put the two together. For me, though, peat seems less incongruous than sherry: on a simple, word-associational level, you think whisky, you think fire, Robbie Burns, warming, blah blah blah. Peat fits into that picture; sherry doesn't.

Of course, this is just false as a historical picture, and it's perhaps a bit disrespectful to wander in and slag off hundreds of years' worth of distilling practice, but I'm just trying to think why I might find sherry so intrusive, but not peat.

A lot of it is just down to flavour - I just don't like the sickly aspect. In this respect, it really is just me. I've got a Glenfarclas 105, and I can appreciate that it's quite a good whisky (some people swear by it as a day-to-dayer), but it's just hard for me to actually enjoy it because of the hefty sherry.

It would be very interesting to see if anyone else sticks to one side of the force, or only sticks in the subtle, complex middle of delicate Highlanders (Glenmorangie, Dalwhinnie) and the subtler Speysiders (Cragganmore, Glenlivet).

[irishwhiskeychaser]

It just makes me gag, however: it's that overripe, sickly, sherry flavour has no right being there.

Turn the clock back far enough, and I'll think you'll probably find that sherry casks were more abundant than ex-bourbon casks.


Cheers,
AD

Yes sherry casks were in use well before Bourbon Casks ... probably usage of plain casks was common back all those moons ago too. I'm not too sure if we got too many shipments of bourbon barrells in the 18th century. Anyway spain was only up the raod

The reason Bourbon is so common place now is the they are cheaper as opposed to the sherry casks.

[Deactivated Member]

Never mind Spain, iwc--the empty barrels were lying all over England.