Kavalan Solist Sherry for LMdW & The Nectar

I have tried this powerhouse twice before, but was never able to make tasting notes. During a recent visit to the bar PROOF in Ghent, the owner poured me a generous sample to take home. So now allow me to take some time to fully tell you all about it. This sherry cask Solist by Kavalan was bottled for The Nectar and La Maison du Whisky at 58,7%. This is quite a sherry bomb on the nose! Wonderfully dark fruit with raisins, figs, cherries and a good espresso Arabica with chocolate shavings. Next I get some cocoa, overripe prunes, candied orange peel, beeswax and even a salty note like the rind on smoked ham and a drop of balsamic vinegar. Lastly a single leaf of tobacco from the better cigar. This is mighty and complex! It is quite mouth coating and very spicy. The sherry makes is very dry, though. The bitter coffee comes first now, followed by loads of spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and even saffron. The fruit evolves from bitter oranges towards cooked black berries. The chocolate becomes big, but the wood also quite loud. Toasted oak. Goes up and down between bitter and sweet. A surprising touch of cola candy – you remember those small bottle shaped candies? That’s a first in a whisky for me. The finish is very long, bittersweet on coffee and orangettes. At the death, the cherries reappear. Boy, what a mighty Kavalan. This can easily hold its own next to the best of Aberlour a’bunadh and the like.

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