This 8 yr previous Bunnahabhain 2013 began its life in a bourbon hogshead. Later it moved to a Vino de Coloration cask till Clever Dodger bottled it.
Vino de Coloration is an allowed complimentary product in sherry manufacturing, much like E150 in whisky. In itself it isn’t a sherry however a barrel-aged mixture of younger wine with arrope, a gooey black syrup that’s the results of cooking down contemporary grape should (often Pedro Ximénez) to about 20% of its quantity. Arrope is much like sancocho which is cooked right down to about 33%. Previously, each have been important components in Golden Sherry or Brown Sherry. The truth is the (in)well-known Paxarete (often misspelled as paxarette) can also be a sort of vino de colour.
It fell into disuse within the Seventies however plenty of sherry bodegas nonetheless have a stash of vino de colour. It comprises plenty of pigment, with plenty of sweetness but additionally a agency bitter facet. It’s a bit of tough to drink neat, however it may possibly definitely add punch to a middle-of-the-road blended sherry. And in the event you’ve ever visited Bodegas Tradición or tried La Bota n°33 from Equipo Navazos you then’ll know vino de colour could be fairly great after a long time in a barrel.
There’s a sure group of whisky lovers that thinks Paxarete was the magnificent key to some legendary ‘darkish sherry’ whiskies of the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties. Personally I’m not satisfied of the advantages, supported by Pip Hills’ rationalization of the (demise of the) course of in his ebook Appreciating whisky. But I’m actually keen to do this Bunnahabhain. It has a deep brown color, with much less of the crimson hues you’d anticipate from common sherry casks.
After emptying this cask, proprietor Seb Woolf used it to complete ‘On a Noticed Mill’, a blended whisky on this Lower Your Wolf Free collection.
Bunnahabhain 8 yo 2013 (52,3%, Clever Dodger 2021, bourbon hogshead + Vino de Coloration #900710)
Nostril: attention-grabbing. Caramel comes out first, with darkish cherries in syrup, blackberry jam, chocolate and a touch of truffle. Floor espresso too. Then a surprisingly excessive degree of acidic notes seems, like rhubarb jam, raspberry eau-de-vie and a whiff of PX sherry vinegar. Oranges with cloves. A really wide selection of aromas.
Mouth: much less spectacular now. The astringent woody notes, the natural liqueur (Fernet Branca and related) and bitters are nicely within the lead. Hints of quina too. I’m positive this works as a cough syrup. Extremely concentrated, thick and… a bit of painful to drink. The truth is it’s remarkably near an actual vino de colour at excessive energy.
End: lengthy, dry, natural. Some sweetness returns to spherical off the sides.
Most individuals consider Paxarete as a sort of übersweet Pedro Ximénez. They’re forgetting the melanoidins which are the results of the Maillard response whereas cooking the grape juice, which results in bitter, burnt and coffee-like notes. Very academic whisky, however I couldn’t drink a bottle. So yeah, for now I gained’t be signing the petition to carry again paxarete. Nonetheless out there from Grasp of Malt in the event you’re curious.
