Kavalan Triple Sherry Cask
Kavalan always manages to make me smile when they release something new. They have a knack for taking something and sprinkling some magic dust over it. This new release is called "Triple Sherry Cask" and as you've probably guessed, it's a marrying of whiskies that have been matured in three types of sherry cask: Oloroso, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel. Their idea behind this is to bring out the different nuances that each sherry type can bring.
Appearance: Dark amber. Very viscous with heaps of oily legs.
Nose: Aromatic fruit, sherry, moist cherries, mild peppercorns, light vanilla, gentle wood, chocolate sponge cake, and far-off spices. Stewed stone fruit (like plum & apricot), back everything up.
Palate: Initial delivery is quite gentle, and then boom! The flavours appear and blossom with notes of sweet peanut brittle and some gentle woody tannins. An oiliness now appears on the back of the tongue and roof of the mouth. Buttery toffee makes an appearance with some creamy nuts and cake spice. All the while, a variety of sherry dominates, with sweet, dry, fruity, and nutty notes.
Finish: Medium with a lingering sweet & dry-fruitiness. Once it fades, an oily coating is left in the mouth.
Conclusion: This has to be tried. It's a lovely bag of multiple sherry-types that are really well integrated. With the mix of Oloroso, PX, and Moscatel, you're getting sweet, dry, nutty, fruity, oily, and a slight dustiness.
It's a big rewarding thumbs-up from me, as this whisky delivers flavour and depth. I honestly thought the 40% ABV would be an issue, but it's not. I also think this is a very good bridge between seasoned whisky drinkers and new drinkers who like an enjoyable sherried dram with some layers. And it is very (very) easy to drink.
Now, it did get me wondering that if Kavalan decided to do a version of this whisky at cask-strength of around 50%+, I can only imagine the stampede it would cause and would be quite groundbreaking as the flavours present in this are married together beautifully.
Bravo! Many thanks to the team at Kavalan for kindly sending me a bottle of this to try. Worthy of a positive review indeed.
Read more about it on Kavalan's website here. Available in select markets at the time of writing, and globally in 2022.