What makes a whisky a Christmas whisky? Is it simply a whisky you receive as a gift for Christmas? Is it a whisky that comes packaged in traditional Christmas colours, e.g. red, green, and white? Or is it a whisky that smells and tastes like Christmas? (Which begs the question: What does Christmas actually taste like?)
With Christmas traditions and cultures varying all over the world, it’s hard to nail down the definitive Christmas character but – for the most part – one of the most iconic and traditional items is the festive Christmas pudding. It’s essentially just a fruit cake, but it’s dark, moist, and chock-filled with dried fruits such as raisins, dates, sultanas, currants, cherries, figs, prunes, and apricots. It might also be complemented with spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, or cloves. And, if that’s all not decadent enough, it might be enhanced with a drizzle of butterscotch sauce, or caramel, or even a splash of brandy (which is traditionally lit with a match and allowed to burn off).
The more observant of you will have noted that most of the items rattled off in the preceding paragraph also happen to be oft-used descriptors for whisky. Not every whisky though: We’re specifically referring to whiskies matured in ex-sherry casks. And that typically means oloroso sherry or, occasionally, pedro ximinez casks.
It’s the whiskies matured in ex-sherry casks – clean casks, mind you – that deliver those rich, Christmassy aromas and flavours. I make the clarification of clean casks, because any cask that’s been tainted (poisoned?) with sulphur will ruin and destroy the experience. Sulphured casks are slowly working their way out of the system (at least with respect to 1st fills, although there will be plenty of 2nd fill and refill casks around for a few decades yet). If you’re not familiar with the info and details behind sulphured casks, there’s a great little article on the subject which you can read here.
There are certain distilleries and releases that make a particular virtue of sherry cask maturation. Glenfarclas and Glendronach are the two obvious nominees, and traditionalists will also readily name Macallan, although Macallan’s range and releases are so diverse these days that purchasers need to do their homework to get the right expression. (Noting also that the Sherry Oak range from Macallan is not available in every market, and also carries quite a price premium). Other distilleries may have one dedicated expression in their core-range that features exclusive sherry cask maturation and thus delivers the Christmas goods… a’Bunadh from Aberlour being a good example.
The other piece of the puzzle – although it’s mainly only hardcore whisky enthusiasts that appreciate this – is the type of oak that the sherry and whisky matured in. American oak (quercus alba) is more prevalent and yields delicious results, although it can sometimes come across as being a little “grapey”. European oak (quercus robur) is the one that really imparts the rich spices and pronounced dried fruits. Most commercially available whiskies from the core-range of distillery portfolios will often combine the two in the vattings for their production runs, but single cask bottlings – more commonly released by the independent bottlers – will obviously be either the one or the other, so seek out European oak if you really want the spices that come with the Christmas pudding.
So if there’s a whisky lover in your life and you’re looking for the perfect stocking filler this Christmas – or if you simply want to indulge yourself with something delicious – choose something from our newly updated feature article “The Top Five Whiskies for Christmas”. Enjoy.
Cheers,
AD
PS: You might also like to read our relevant feature article, The Whisky Lover’s Guide to Sherry.
