'HERESY' SERIES
Caramel cascade
The latest release from the Society’s ‘Heresy’ series of small-batch bottlings comes from Ireland, right in time to raise a glass for St Patrick’s Day. As Julien Willems describes, Caramel cascade not only comes from across the sea, it’s also from a lesser-spotted form of sherry cask maturation
Today’s story starts in Ireland and a certain distillery where four casks were filled on 30 November 2011. The casks eventually found their way to the warehouses of our friends at Dunville’s Irish Whiskey.
There, they were given new, fresh bourbon casks and allowed to mature for a further four years before being transferred into fresh palo cortado sherry hogsheads.
PALO CORTADO EXPLAINED
It’s probably a good idea to take a step back now and give a bit of context as to why that matters, in the context of sherry. If you simplify things a bit (probably too much), sherry is a fortified wine made in the ‘sherry triangle’ of Andalucia. That is as basic an introduction as can be, but it’s for the greater good. Among sherries, you will find different types of maturations and sweetness profiles. The driest is fino, which matures under a veil of yeast, preventing the wine from interacting with the oxygen in the air and sucking all the sugars out of the wine. The result is a straw-coloured (fortified) bone-dry white wine with a flavour I’d describe as zingy and laden with nutty and celery-like flavours. It’s exceptionally refreshing, well chilled in the summer, but it is not what we’re talking about today.
Next, you get what is probably the most widespread type of unblended sherry: dry to semi-dry, oloroso. Unlike its zingy fino cousin, the wine is fortified enough to kill all the yeasts. As a result, it matures in casks with oxidation playing a leading role in flavour development, with opulent and rounded dried fruits and spice flavours. This isn’t what we’re talking about either.
So, what are we talking about? Palo cortado: a sherry somewhere in between both aforementioned varieties that is really not as widespread as either, because there’s just a lot less of it. The main reason for that is that this hybrid sherry is the product of a happy ‘accident’. While casks of fino start maturing and the veil of yeast forms on the surface, the wine starts its life developing fino-like characteristics as you would expect. Sometimes though, that protective veil dies off, and the wine takes a turn in its maturation to also acquire oloroso-like features. At this point the winemakers will fortify the wine further to prevent it from spoiling in cask. Though not as plentiful, it is a style that is highly sought after because it hits a unique and brilliant combination of flavours.
STRAYING FROM THE SINGLE CASK PATH
Now, back to Ireland and barley. Remember the four casks we mentioned at the beginning? After the spell they spent in bourbon casks, our friends at Dunville’s moved the whiskeys to these palo cortado sherry hogsheads for the remainder of their maturation, or about five years. There, they soaked up all the bountiful flavours they could from the wood and then used them to create this stunning whiskey: Batch 29 in our small-batch ‘Heresy’ series, Caramel cascade. And here is where the story gets interesting.
If you are new to the Society, you may know us for single casks and additionally matured casks delivered to our members at cask strength in our iconic green bottles. What you may be less aware of is that since August 2017, there has been a series of bottlings that do not conform to the SMWS’s usual approach. They are either blended malts or peculiar cask maturations and experiments. And diluted to an ABV of 50%...the nerve!
While the bottle shape remains the same, these whiskies are bottled in transparent glass and have a batch number rather than the traditional distillery and cask code. Additionally, the labels also sport fun and interesting designs to match the tasting note theme the Society’s Tasting Panel came up with.
While some suggested in 2017 that we were losing our way, I personally think it’s quite the opposite. Behind the scenes, the project was jokingly called ‘Heresy’ for straying from the single cask path, and somehow the name stuck. But it is not quite accurate: the means may not conform to our approach to single casks or additional maturation, but their aim to challenge preconceptions, to surprise and delight our members and to push flavour boundaries is, on a deep level, true to our philosophy.
To find out more about the series, you can start with two articles, the first compiling batches one to 12 in Unfiltered 63, and the second batches 13-20 in issue 84.
PICTURED: Saul Woehrling at the bar at The Vaults
RETURN TO IRELAND
Caramel cascade is the product of our second collaboration with Dunville’s Irish Whiskey. Our first opus, Batch 23: Shimmering silk, used whiskey matured in Pedro Ximénez sherry (PX – the sweetest sherry there is) casks. It was incredibly well received and enjoyed by our members. And as Stephen Magennis from Dunville’s explains:
“We really enjoy our partnership with the SMWS. It’s also especially gratifying given there aren’t that many Irish whiskey releases every year, so it’s great to stand out and be part of the adventure.”
As you have probably guessed from the fact we’re discussing the sequel to Batch 23, the feeling’s mutual.
If Shimmering silk was so successful, I hear the critics among you ask, why did you change the recipe? As Stephen explains: “PX is amazing, especially bringing depth and the weight of age in maturations lasting four to five years, it is just great. These are, I think, the best casks in the world for whiskey novices.
“Whiskey in palo cortado casks ages differently, however. We have some whiskeys that have been in palo cortado hogsheads for nine years, but they remain really fresh and fruity.”
Regarding this new offering and its flavours, Stephen adds: “Caramel cascade is a perfect name. When young, this whiskey is rich in green apple flavours. The older this single malt becomes, the more those apples become nearly overripe fruit. But here with those palo cortado casks, you also get a good deal of dairy and toffee chocolate flavour.
“This, I think, is meant for whiskey aficionados, because it requires a bit of patience to really appreciate the full spectrum of its subtle complexity.”
The Tasting Panel wholeheartedly endorses Stephen’s assessment, writing the following note upon tasting Caramel cascade neat: “A heavenly symphony of stewed apples and ripe mango followed behind, harmonising with caramelised walnuts and a hint of nutmeg.”
So, there you have it: a proper dram with plenty of unusual features and superb complexity. Here’s to a unique expression of know-how and luck, right on time and topic as we celebrate Ireland.