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Anyone ever tried adding sherry to whisky?

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stakenblocken started a discussion

I love Scotch, and my dad, who can't really seem to get into anything other than IPAs, doesn't really care for it. I was trying to explain it to him one day and I started talking about different cask types. He asked me, "If they want to have that kind of flavor, can't they just add a little bit of sherry or port or wine or whatever kind of barrel-aged alcohol to the Scotch?" I got frustrated, thinking, 'You're missing the point entirely!!!' I then thought though, hmmmm.... What would this do? Would it achieve the same effects, or nearly the same ones. I've tasted sherry once or twice, but I've never bought a bottle myself and have never been able to try it. Has anyone ever added a little bit of another barrel aged alcohol to their whisky. The most obvious ones to try would be Bourbon and sherry, but there are some port, Sauternes and red wine barrel aged Scotches out there as well. Does Scotch mix well with any of these things in small amounts?

11 years ago

5 replies

@Abunadhman
Abunadhman replied

@stakenblocken: In Australia, some 40yrs. ago we had an Aussie blend called Corio Five Star Whisky. Where the Stars came from I know not and it was mighty rough. The practice was to add a desert spoon of a reasonable Oloroso sherry to a 750ml. (then 26 2/3fl.oz.) bottle of this 'firewater', thus making it at least drinkable.

The Corio Distillery was supported in large part by the Scottish Whisky Industry, on the one hand to discourage the establishment of independent Distilleries and on the other to promote the much superior Scottish product. Thankfully those days are long are long gone - My Dad and a couple of my Uncles swore that you couldn't tell the difference once the sherry was added! There was, more than likely, an economic side to the spruced-up Corio Whisky in the couple of decades post W.W.II.

11 years ago 0

@maltster
maltster replied

@stakenblocken, yes I added a few drops of my own sherry concentrate (I reduced some Oloroso over low heat until it became thick and syrupy - a bit like paxarette) which worked out pretty well but slightly out of a balance as the Antiquary is a light Blend - maybe I give it a try with something more substantial. I think key is that you just add very little sherry and the concentrate works better than the regular sherry. Another very nice combination is Ardbeg with some mezcal but that is another story..

11 years ago 0

@PeatyZealot
PeatyZealot replied

Whisky and Sherry could be be really nice together in a vintage type cocktail I guess:) I would go for something like: 40 cl Glenmorangie 10 20 ml Sherry 5 ml Frangelico 10 ml Lemon Juice 3 fresh Cherries 8 mint leafs 3 dashes of Orange bitters

11 years ago 0

@YakLord
YakLord replied

Its not Scotch, but Alberta Distiller's Dark Horse Canadian whisky is a blend of 12 year old 100% Rye Whisky, 6 year old single pot rye, with some aged corn whisky (about 8% of the total), and some sherry (about 0.5% to 1%of the total volume). Canadian law allows for ~9% additives...which usually means some caramel colouring, but in this case there is some sherry...and it is really, really dark, and reputed to be quite good. I haven't opened my bottle yet, but a number of reviewers that I highly regard have given it substantial praise.

11 years ago 0