Opinion from fans of sherried whisky

The GenDronach 12yr old Original is very much like an old school sherry casked Macallan. Otherwise, I would go with the Glenfarclas. If you can get hold of the 15 or 17 yr old that would be even better.

Of the four from which you are choosing, I would likely go with the Macallan 12 or the Glenfarclas 12 depending on the merits of the individual bottles. Some Macallan 12s are unidimensional and not too interesting, others have nice contrast.

If I were choosing a sherried malt from scratch, I would use Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX, Glenfarclas 15, or, for the hardy, Macallan Cask Strength. Aberlour A'bunadh is, of course, also wonderful, but the Macallan Cask Strength illustrates the pure sherry effect more pointedly.

IMHO if you want to introduce people into style difference, don't pick middle-of-the-road whiskies like the ones you've mentioned. Aberlour 12 is first matured in bourbon casks and then sherry finished, Dalmore 12 is a mixture of American white oak and sherry casks, etc. It's like painting a Fiat 500 in Ferrari red and then claiming it's a typical example of an Italian supercar because of a few superficial similarities.

At least look for a typical, probably first fill and entirely sherry matured whisky. Sonnalta PX is a good one, Aberlour A'Bunadh, Glenfarclas 105, any GlenDronach, Springbank Rundlets & Kilderkins... You could even swap one of the other whiskies and have a Distiller's Edition next to an original version, e.g. have Lagavulin 16 as a classic Islay and the PX version to show the influence of sherry.

By the way, Nock, if those four are representative for your idea of sherry, please try the real stuff and then decide whether you're a fan of sherry or not ;-)

Unfortunately I live in a liquor controlled state and my selection of single malts is very limited. Further, as I mentioned, this is a tasting for people living in this state who don't know a lot about single malts. What I don't want to do is give them something they enjoy and say, "Oh, ya, you can't get that here." I want them to be able to go buy it and be hassle free . . . for now because we all know single malts don't stay hassle free.

So I am really set on picking whiskies these locals can buy at their local liquor store for a decent price point here in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia (and finding Ardbeg 10yo can be tricky). And I am avoiding anything cask strength. I am also keeping it to OB releases.

Nock, I haven't had all of those expressions, but based on what I know, The Macallan is the most sherried (all sherry cask, and large portion of first-fill). However, if your guests are total newbies to drinking whisky neat and still working on that, then The Macallan 12 is fairly "hot" compared to the others and might be more challenging to drink.

Don't worry, I think your lineup and plan look great. You don't always have to buy the best or the extremes, especially for a casual, fun get-together. I'd probably pick The Macallan. You already have a sherry-cask whisky in Highland Park, but Macallan is much more sherried than that.

@WhiskyNotes these are indeed middle-of-the-road sherried whiskies. And maybe that is my own bias. I am a peat freak. And I guess it is like a non-peat lover putting a Springbank in a tasting line up as an example of the "peat expression."

But I have indeed tried the "real stuff." Where I am a peat freak my priest (who introduced me to the rabbit hole of single malts shocking me out of my blasé enjoyment of the Glenmorangie line) is a sherry freak. Further, he hates peat. So for the last decade my goal has been to get him to love peat, and his goal has been to get me to love sherry. Neither of us have yet to gain any ground.

Through him I have tried a number of bottles his favorite distillery the Macallan: most notably the older bottling of the 30yo (from the 90’s), several 18yo vintages from the early 80’s and 70s, and a few independent bottlings from the 70’s and one single cask Signatory from the 60’s (can’t remember if it was 1968 or 1966 . . .).

I also have tried a few Glendronach bottles: 12, 15, and 18.

In the past I have bought 2 or 3 bottles of Aberlour A’Bunadh back when I was still testing the waters of sherried scotches. I think they were in the range of batch 5, 7 and 14 or somewhere in there. But I wasn’t taken and lost interest.

And up to this point I still felt like there must be something I was missing. So for my birthday last year I picked up a Glenfarclas 1974 (31yo; 57.4%). I had done my research and knew this to be a highly enjoyed sherried dram both on this web site and others. And I was SO disappointed. It felt like they had poured their whisky into a cask half filled with sherry. I think I drank less then a quarter of the bottle and gave it to my priest for Christmas. He had never liked Glenfarclas for some reason, but he adores this bottle.

So ya, that bottle really helped me realized that not only do I not like sherry matured whiskies, I actually . . . well . . . I will hold off on my anti-sherry diatribe. I know many people enjoy them including some dearly loved friends. I just know they are not for me.

Hence my difficulty in picking up a “fair” bottle for this tasting.

@Nock, well, if your are giving the tasting for the benefit of your guests rather than for yourself, it would be logical to provide them some whiskies characteristic of sherry-love from the popular conscensus, rather than from your sherry-averse history. People frequently question me about whisky, and I always do my best to give them what will answer THEIR tastes, and not direct them toward my own. If the objective is to show them some 'good examples' of sherried malts, sounds like they will nearly by definition not be ones you like. But you did say that it was your intention to give them those examples, did you not?

Hi Nock,

The way you've described your planned tasting, I'm not struck that you're trying to "sell" anybody on anything except the varieties of single malt Scotch whisky. Even so, you're rather in the position of knowledge on the subject (in your friends' eyes at least) and therefore I'd suggest acting like a clothing store owner I once worked for:"You must know your product." You'll have a tough time "selling" a sherried whisky based on what you've explained. I'm not sure you need to be so dedicated to providing a sample of something you can't speak positively about. Besides, the HP 12 has a little sherry influence; if they like what they find in it, they can -- on their own -- explore a fully sherry matured whisky.

As an aside, I think I'd find a different Speysider. anCnoc 12, Glen Grant 10, Strathisla 12, Cragganmore 12, or even shudder Glenlivet or Glenfiddich 12. Not sure why you want to avoid Cask Strength, but Glenlivet Nadurra is a wonderful whisky.

I agree with @Victor in that the Macallan CS is an amazing representation of sherry cask aging, and it certainly does pack one hell of a punch.

Of your original four choices my vote would have to go with the Glenfarclas 12. I tried maybe 5 or 6 sherried whiskies before trying the Glenfarclas and it really proved to be the tipping point for my love of sherried whiskies.

On another note, if you aren't really going to drink the whisky, I would love to suggest the Canadian Club Sherry Cask. I don't know if you can get it in Virginia, but it's cheap, good, simple and packed with sherry flavour.