Lesser known sherry bombs

hmmmmm its an interesting one, given these days so many whiskies are in bourbon.Now im not sure whether these really qualify as sherry bombs but here we go id look out for Tomatin? tried a couple of them and they seemed pretty good. Glencadam do a sherry finished 14 year old i think. Another big name to go for would be Glenmorangie, their Lasanta bottling is in oloroso. those are my 2 cents worth

o right, and mortlach! just bought a bottle of that i should remember!

BenRiach 12yr 'Sherry Wood' and GlenDronach 12yr 'Original'...not sure how the GlenDronach 12 stacks up to the Revival, but I've heard that it is as good or better than the Macallan 12.

Also, the Clynelish Distiller's Edition (secondary maturation in Oloroso casks), if you can get hold of one. The 1993/2010 was quite sherried.

As a mere beginner here, I'd recommend Glendronach's 21-year "Parliament". I bought a bottle at the distillery in August and on the two occasions I've sampled it so far have been overwhelmed with sherry/port on the nose, which I find quite magnificent.

Unfortunately it's next to impossible to find now, but my favorite sherry bomb up until this point has been the Ichiro's Malt 5 of Diamonds. This whisky has been head and shoulders above every other sherried whisky I've had. I hope I come across it one day again...

Here is one that is lesser known for sure: Zuidam Millstone 12y Sherry Cask.

An excellent big sherried Whisky from Holland. I've tasted it and it is as bold as an A'Bunadh or GF105.

This distiller and this bottling has been mentioned by Dominic Roskow on Connosr and had a very good review.

connosr.com/worldwhiskyreview/issue-8/…

connosr.com/worldwhiskyreview/issue-6/…

If you look at my profile picture you can see the bottle. I'm in the background and the crying bride in the front is my scottish sister in law.

There is a nice story to this picture. Yes it is completely off topic, but hey, what would Whisky (or Connosr for that matter) be without a good Whisky story. Or you can just skip the next part, follow my advice and buy the bottle for about €70,-

Last July my brother got married. He's Dutch (like myself) and 5 years ago he met this girl during an internship in Rome. He thought he saw an Italian beauty, but that turned out different. She was living in Dubai, with her parents and was on a vacation in Rome. Her mother is from Egypt and her father is Scottish.

They fell in love and they decided to settle in Holland. You can imagine that it was difficult for her father to see his daughter move away to the other side of the world. And when they got married you can say that Holland definitely stole his daughter away from him.

So during my speech I told him that I wanted to give him something in return on behalf of Holland. I could have gotten him something typically Dutch, like wooden shoes, tulips or a little windmill. But since he was Scottish I thought I would give him something Scottish.

So in a room full of of Scots, wearing kilts, a dare to give him a good Single Malt.... From Holland....

I even had the balls to say this Whisky won awards and connoisseurs thought of this Whisky to be of such a quality that is has beaten a lot of Scottish Single Malts.

He was touched, the bride cried, success!

Not sure what's available to you, but if you get the chance to try an Arran single sherry cask bottling or anCnoc 22 you won't be disappointed. Since you're not peat averse, Kilchoman Loch Gorm is absolutely delicious. Other independently owned distilleries you might consider are Glengoyne and Springbank.

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but if you're looking for a sherry bomb that is powerful, flavourful and reasonably priced, go for a BLADNOCH. The new ownership under Raymond Armstrong has put out 10,11 and 12 YO single cask bottlings at 55%, cask strength being about 57-58%. Some cask strength versions may be available.

They must use great casks, as these expressions are awesome. They are craft presented, no caramel, non-chill filtered.

Once again, I'm a simple Canadian. The product is not even available here. Even by online order (thanks government...). I'm not associated with the company. Just a fan.

It is a pain to get, but if you can get online orders from uk you can get it from Master of Malt or Whisky exchange.

Beware of other like the 22 year old. They may be good (never tried them) but they will be a different style as they were distiller and casket under different management.

NZ Doublewood 10 yr old - 4 years in red wine....now available in 15yo, I'm not certain how long the recent expression has sat in wine barrels.

@wtrstrnghlt - nice story with sweet sherry notes, not overly whiney. lol.

Thanks for sharing!

@paddockjudge Thanks!

As for your motto "Great whisky can be enjoyed by anyone; good whisky shared with friends becomes legend": He invited me over to Dubai and said he will wait until we can open the bottle together.

The man know how to enjoy Whisky :)

Glengoyne Cask #1 is 58.7% abv. and a marvelous addition to the ranks of sherried Whiskies - I'm reliably informed that the 18yo. is as good or better. We'll see...

Don't know if it's a "bomb" as such, but the Glengoyne 21 is a fantastic sherry cask single malt.

@wtrstrnghlt - The Legend is born!

• while in Dubai you might consider giving a shout-out to tabarakRazvi - he has a world class cabinet.

@paddockjudge I'll keep that in mind

Wow. Lots of great ideas here. This is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for. Some releases I've tried. Others like the Ichiro 5 of Diamonds, the NZ Doublewood, the Bladnoch, Tomatin, and Zuidam are almost impossible to track down in Taiwan. But there are a lot of interesting bottlings I'm tempted to try here. Right now I'm shopping around for some Arran, Glengoyne, and Mortlach sherried offerings.

@wtrstrnghlt: Great story! Such a shame Zuidam is hard to find in Asia. Very tempted to try a bottle. @Nozinan: I've heard from a friend that Bladnoch has some wonderful releases. Too bad they're so hard to track down.

Keep the good suggestions coming, folks!

Went out last night with a buddy from work to a cigar bar that had a really nice selection of single malts.

Had to try the Glen Garioch 1797 Founders Reserve since I've been enjoying the older sibling 12yr...If ya like non-chill filtered sherry goodness - then you'd like the Founders Reserve...The 12 yr is considerably more refined, and I prefer it much more.

@FMichael - this might be right in my wheel-house! I enjoy The Macallan Cask Strength, a whole lot - sad to see it go.

I'm going to throw Bunnhabhain and the Adelphi 'Liddesdale' series (which are Bunnahabhain) into the mix. Whislt I wouldn't necessarily refer to them as a 'sherry bomb' in the same sense as Aberlour A'bunadh, Glendronach 15 Revival or Macallan 12 Sherry Oak - in my opinion they're a different kind of sherry bomb. I've found that some bunna's can be very rich and heavily sherried - wonderfully luscious in cooler weather.

As I haven't had a proclaimed "sherry bomb" but I did enjoy the sherry influence of the Aberlour 16 Double Cask. Im not sure if this belongs here as it isn't entirely sherry influenced as a number of the bottlings here are.

Personally, I would not call a whisky a "sherry bomb" if it were not cask strength. Sherry? Yes. Bomb? No.

@Victor That's fair enough. If you look out there "in the wild" though, the term "sherry bomb" is frequently used to describe any whisky with a heavy sherry influence (i.e. probably first fill sherry cask maturation) without considering ABV. For example, standard strength Macallans and GlenDronachs are frequently described as "sherry bombs", even by well known whisky enthusiasts.

This isn't a comment about what's right or wrong mind you, just an observation on the differing meanings being applied to the term "sherry bomb".

As for me, I'm on the fence with this one.. I think it is possible to have a sherry "bomb" experience with a heavily sherried whisky in the 40-something percent range (say, 46%), where the "bomb" is about the sherry, independent of ABV (although a higher ABV of course helps to deliver the sherry bomb with greater flavour and impact).

Some suggestions that I enjoy:

• Auchentoshan Triple Wood
• Glendronach 21 Year Old the Parliament as mentioned by others
• Nikka Whisky from the Barrel

Have the Clynelish Oloroso. It's really good. Have the Glendronach 15. Is it a big name? Most of my whisky drinking friends have never heard ot it. Here on Connosr it's better known. It's really good, of course. I'm not big on A'bunadh. It's not my cup of tea. I prefer Farc 105 and Macallan cask above the A'bun. Glengoyne 17 is gone from liquor stores but it's terrific. I have one left in my safe. The non chill filtered Aberlour was good, but it's gone from liquor stores now. I have a few independently bottled Mortlachs. Brilliant stuff. Springbank claret is brilliant stuff, it's not a sherry bomb but it's nice and sweet for a Springbank. Great discussion, Hunggar.

@rigmorole

You mention the claret wood from Springbank. Do you know if it's still readily available? I had thought it was a one off. It's certainly good (I'm saving a spare for the future), but it's not sherried...

I still consider the A'Bunadh one of my favourites.

@sengjc, I agree Nikka from the Barrel is a great whisky, especially for the price. But for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would consider it a 'sherry bomb'!?

Yes, sadly, the Claret's history. It was really really good. I have an extra bottle in my safe and another one open right now. I will keep it for a special occasion. The claret is worth mentioning as a bench mark, however. There are still some 14 year old exotic wood Springbanks floating around. Get one. You won't be sorry. I think I will have a glass of the Claret with my lunch today. I feel grateful for having 1.8 bottles left. Every time I taste it, I praise whichever genius designed and executed the plan that it fulfilled, exceeding expectations, I'm sure. F-ing brilliant.

@rigmorole

Hopefully the people at Springbank are watching......maybe a new release sometime in the next decade?