Why not use American oak sherry casks?

Actually Highland Park uses American White Oak barrels that previously aged sherry for their 15 yr expression.

It's what sets it apart from the 12 yr, and 18 yr.

Youtube video...www.youtube.com/watch

Try this again...

www.youtube.com/watch

Thanks! Fascinating, and interesting because, coincidentally, I finally just purchased the 15yo 2 weeks ago.

Is HP15 special in this regard, or are there other malts that use such casks? (And if not, then why not?)

I think Macallan does something similar: sherry seasoned barrels. Not sure what that means though, just buy virgin oak barrels, chuck in lots of bulk sherry and then let it mingle for a while before emptying it?

@sengjc

That's exactly what they seem to be doing. It's almost shameful!. They say they put old sherry into casks for 2 years.

Now I ask you....what "seasons" a cask better, a 2 year soak with aged sherry, or aging sherry for 10-20 years in the same cask?

You would think the authentic barrel aged in sherry would be the real deal. Problem is, I gather authentic sherry barrels are becoming hard to get.

Perhaps whisky drinkers should do their part and drink sherry and port more often.

Why not just pour the sherry right in?

(rhetorical question)

The following webpage states some facts (2006) about the numbers of sherry cask types: inebrio.com/thescotchblog/

@sengjc Are you saying that The Macallan uses American Oak? In the above webpage, The Macallan stated a commitment to Spanish Oak. Has that changed?

Aside from HP15, does any other distillery/malt use American Oak sherry casks?

You know, maybe I'll ask a similar question a little more seriously. I direct this to the lovers of sherry bombs:

Have you ever just poured some sherry right into your glass of, say, a'bunadh? Is it good? Is it markedly different than what you get when maturation sucks the sherry out of the cask wood?

(Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but the above posts were about how producers get the sherry INTO the casks, with the unstated ultimate goal of leaching it OUT of the casks and into the whisky. It all just seems like a charade to flavor the whisky with sherry without calling it flavored whisky. If I loved sherried whisky, I bet really would—probably—pour sherry directly into my CS sherry bombs. At least to try it. I do love peated whisky and I would pour peat directly into my glass if possible!)

@OlJas

Interesting though. I'm not a big sherry fan, though I haven’t had a lot of it. I wouldn't buy a whole bottle to try a little in a glass with a sherry bomb. I don't think it would really be the same though. But a sherry matured dram is not where you'll notice. More likely if you poured a few mLs into a bourbon matured dram.

IF I get a chance I will try it. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has...

@OlJas I have had exactly this question in my mind for a while: Why not add a couple drops of sherry to a malt that seems to be lacking? I have not tried it, but I have purchased sherry (purely for erudition of course-- and to support the sherry industry). I like it, but I have not made the experiment yet. First I need to choose a good candidate. The question that interests me more is: do any distilleries do this (add sherry directly or especially request casks with a lot of residual)?

@vanPelt

Nah - I don't know if Macallan uses American Oak at all. I didn't even know they exclusively used Spanish oak but I would be sceptical of that.

@vanPelt, Canadian distilleries have certainly been known to have added straight sherry to their whiskies. Occasionally they make this known publicly; usually they do not reveal the nature or quantity of their allowable 9.09% maximum additives.

I have not yet tried using Sherry as additive, but I would not hesitate to do so, especially for a whisky which has lost a lot due to air exposure. Wood-aged rums work well as boosters for air-damaged bourbon-cask malts, bourbons and ryes. So far I have been using good condition heavily sherried whiskies as an additive to prop up air damaged sherried whiskies. But I have the sherry and expect to conduct the experiments using straight sherry one day as well. It is certainly cheaper to use straight sherry than sherried whisky for this purpose.

With most Spanish Oak Casks brought to Scotland, the practice has been to insist on 5 to 6 ltr. of Sherry to be left in the casks; it was deemed sufficient to keep the cask moist and to prevent the staves from opening up...What do you do with that Sherry? This a supreme quality Sherry from a top quality (and rather expensive) cask. What would I do?...I most certainly would not empty it into the drain! Macallan has traditionally purchased the finest Sherry casks on site and have pre-purchased and marked their choices using taste as the criteria: They have done this very well, indeed! Only G&M have taken cask management one step further by importing full casks of various Sherries; I'm not sure that this is still a possibility.

Cheers.

I wonder if the whisky makers have considered Australia as a source for sherry/port cask considering that there is a fairly big local wine industry.

Here's another set of opinions, for anyone who is curious: reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

A while back I started a thread about Scottish distilleries, and their sources of casks for whisky maturation.

Long story short - it's a pretty well kept secret as to who is dealing with who on the opposite sides of the 'pond'...I'm thinking it's no different concerning the use of American White Oak to age sherry, and to whom is the buyer of the butts once the sherry is bottled.

On a side topic, do barrels have to be oak? Could it be other types of wood?

@sengjc...by law, Bourbon must be new American oak. I believe that the SWA has an 'oak only' type of regulation for Scotch as well (though I do stand to be happily corrected on these points).

@Pudge72

I think you might be right, I recall reading something along those lines before.

Speaking of barrels, how's this for a mind-bender, wine finished in whisk(e)y barrels: thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/06/…

LOL - it seems the tables have turned. While I am used to seeing whisk(e)y finished in wine barrels (ala. Springbank, Benromach etc.), this is a first.

Now consider if we can recycle spent whisk(e)y barrels then we may well have a perpetual supply of barrels suited for either industry.