What makes Old Sherry Whisky, distilled and casked before 1980, so special?

The image above shows Mortlach 12 Year Old 43% Sherry Cask Matured Whisky, 750ml, which was distilled and casked before the 1970s and bottled and sold in the early 1980s. It was one of the representative sherry cask matured whiskies that was in circulation during the "Special Grade Whisky" era up until 1989.

At our shop, Antique Liquor, we mainly source old bottles in order to offer high-quality whiskey that offers performance that exceeds its price, from relatively affordable whiskey to luxury items. We believe that everyone who visits our shop is also fascinated by the special charm of old bottle whiskey.

We have previously posted on our blog about why whiskey from old bottles performs better than current whiskey, and we explained the reasons as follows:

1. The barley variety was changed to prioritize alcohol yield for mass production of whiskey rather than the flavor of the whiskey.
2. The loss of control over the handcrafted process, including floor malting, and the shift to mass-produced manufacturing processes
3. The shortage of quality oak barrels for aging whiskey, such as those used to store high-quality sherry wine,
4. Differences in standards for the ageing of whiskey bottle labels

Among these reasons, I would like to briefly share with you why, especially in the case of Sherry Whisky, you should choose old bottles that were distilled and casked before 1980. First, let's briefly touch on the oak barrel aging of whiskey.

When whiskey ages in oak barrels, the following chemical reactions occur:

1. Additive effects of oak barrels : The influence of substances extracted from oak barrel wood. These mainly include volatile aromatic substances such as aldehydes, lipids, tannins, and lactones.
2. Subtractive effects of oak barrels : The charred interior of the oak barrel acts like a charcoal filter, absorbing the constituents of the spirit.
3. Cross-reaction between oak barrels and whiskey : The effect of a cross-reaction between the raw spirit and the barrel wood, resulting in the exchange of mutual constituent substances and the creation of new substances.
4. Oxidation effect of whiskey : The evaporation and oxidation of whiskey spirits caused by the oak barrels not being completely sealed.

Once the whiskey is placed in the oak barrels, the whiskey is completed in a simple process through a chemical reaction between the whiskey and the oak barrels in the great outdoors. This shows how important oak barrels are as a material for making whiskey.

From the end of the 19th century until the 1980s, sherry wine for export was stored in oak casks and shipped overseas in casks. At the time, sherry wine was steadily gaining popularity in the UK, and Spain's exports of sherry to the UK were also quite large.

Because it was too much hassle to return the empty casks left over after transporting the sherry wine back to Spain, traders would sell and dispose of the remaining casks to Scottish distilleries. As a result, at the time, high-quality sherry casks that had been filled with the finest sherry wine for several months to several years were easily available for aging whiskey.

The sherry casks of that time were newly built not for aging sherry wine but for transporting it over long distances, and so they were also treated to minimize flavor components such as tannins, which give the wine a bitter taste. It is said that new oak casks were filled with young wine to "neutralize" it slightly, and then filled with long-aged sherry wine for sale. (This neutralization process is also very important for whiskey aging, but nowadays many distilleries omit it or simplify it to the utmost extent due to the expense.)

After the neutralization process, the contents of the barrels are transferred to fortified sherry wine with a higher alcohol content (which can be preserved for a long time), but there are cases where the sherry wine is stored in the barrels for several months (or even several years). This was probably due to the fact that there were problems with a sharp decrease in global supply and demand due to the Great Depression and war.

One good example of a typical whiskey aged in high-quality sherry casks that had previously stored high-quality sherry wine for a long time is "ROYAL LOCHNAGAR SELECTED RESERVE," which was released in the late 1980s. The sherry casks used to age this whiskey are said to have been oak casks that had stored high-quality sherry wine for more than several years (probably due to the economic depression). For this reason, many of the sherry cask-aged whiskeys that were on the market until the early 1980s were very delicious, and I consistently recommend them.

However, after the early 1980s, the shipping containers for sherry wine changed from wooden barrels to stainless steel tanks, and in 1986 a law was enacted stating that sherry wine must be bottled in Spain, where it is produced, making it almost impossible to find high-quality sherry casks outside of Spain (such as in the UK). Around this time, genuine sherry casks that had been used to store high-quality sherry wine disappeared, and to make up for the shortage of sherry casks, people began to use cheap sherry wine to produce "sherry casks like" and use them to make sherry whisky. Furthermore, when making these "sherry casks like" the process of neutralizing impurities such as tannins was simplified or omitted, which is thought to have led to a significant increase in the amount of bitter and dry whisky produced thereafter.

(To begin with, the sherry wine used to make sherry casks today is not of a quality that can be called sherry according to the regulations, and since it is not made for drinking purposes, it is generally discarded after coating the wooden casks, or reprocessed into sherry vinegar.

For the reasons above, it is highly likely that whiskey distilled and bottled before 1986, and considering various factors, before 1981, is sherry whiskey aged in these "real sherry casks." Occasionally, people say, "real sherry casks and current fake sherry whiskey taste almost the same!", but when you actually taste it, the difference is clear. Old sherry whiskey aged in real sherry casks certainly has less off-flavors such as astringency and dryness, and often has a more diverse and rich aroma, or a more floral and well-balanced flavor.

*The image above shows the Macallan 10 Year Old, which I had previously at a bar in Tokyo. It is a 57% alcohol Scotch single malt whisky aged in sherry casks that was in circulation in the 1980s. It is a typical and popular old Scotch sherry whisky.

Of course, there are many types of old sherry whisky distilled and casked before 1981, ranging from 3 years to 8 years, 10 years, 12 years, 17 years, 18 years, 25 years, and even super-long-aged whisky over 30 years, and naturally the price increases with the age. However, if there is no difference in price, I am confident that old bottled sherry cask-aged whisky is far, far better value for money than current sherry whisky.

From my personal experience, the Macallan 12 year old 43% whisky that was on the market in the early 1980s was much tastier than the current Macallan 25 year old 43% whisky. If you have doubts about what I say, I recommend that you try a delicious old bottle of sherry cask-aged whisky and think again.

Finally, some of you who have read this far may be saying, "I don't have enough money to drink old bottled whisky...", but if you are thinking of 10-12 year old sherry cask-aged whisky that was distilled and casked before 1981 and bottled in the early 1990s, there are several good options for around 30,000 yen, and if you expand your options to include malt blend sherry cask-aged whisky, there are quite a few old sherry whiskys that can be purchased for around 10,000-20,000 yen. I recommend that you do your research without being too daunted and expand your options without overextending yourself.