Whisky Fundamentals
What is Paxarette?
Published 24/01/2021
The worldwide consumption of sherry has been declining since the late 1970s, but the demand for Scottish single malt whisky is constantly increasing and with it the demand for sherry casks - an unhealthy relationship. To make matters worse, since 1981 sherry can legally only be exported in bottles. The earlier synergy of the simultaneous export of sherry and casks has therefore been eliminated. This is the most common reason given for the introduction of paxarette but as with all aspects of whisky the truth is a little more complex.
What is Paxarette?
Types of Sherry
Published 22/01/2021
After bourbon casks, Sherry butts are the most used type of cask used for whisky maturation, though once these casks were far more common. Today Sherry casks are a benchmark in terms of flavor input but what is sherry and how did it enter whisky history? Sherry a definition Sherries are Spanish white wines from Andalusia. Most of the production takes place in Jerez de la Frontera in the Cadiz region.
Types of Sherry
Japanese whisky distilleries worth knowing about
Published 17/01/2021
For the inclined drinker, ouzo belongs to Greece and cognac to France. When they think of whisky, they almost certainly thinks of Scotland. When Japan is invoked most would think of sake. However the country has a tradition of nearly one hundred years of distilling excellent whiskies. The pioneer: Yamazaki It all started here. Shinjiro Torii produced Japan’s first whisky in 1923 along the old road between Kyoto and Osaka. Torii was a pharmacist who caught the whisky fever when the first scotchs hit the country.
Japanese whisky distilleries worth knowing about
What are sherry casks?
Published 14/01/2021
What is the Solera method? The Solera method is a process of aging liquids such as wine, rum and brandy, by fractional blending so that the finished product is a mixture of ages. In this system, the casks are stacked on top of another, to allow the transfer cascade. That is, the change of liquids from one barrel to another by gravity. One of the characteristics of this system is that the percentage of the content of the barrels that is removed to fill others is limited.
What are sherry casks?
What is an Oloroso Sherry Cask?
Published 23/12/2020
Oloroso Sherry Cask are whisky casks which have been previously held Oloroso Sherry. Oloroso Sherry is a type of fortified wine produced near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. The Sherry Triangle produces wines which have been ‘fortified’ with a higher alcohol strength in order to prevent yeast growth and bottled under the official name of Jerez-Xérès-Sherry. There is something of a manufactured misconception, that the casks used at these bodegas are the same used for whisky maturation however this is not the case.
What is an Oloroso Sherry Cask?