Under the microscope here is a Kavalan Solist, this time from a Fino sherry cask. Solist is the distillery’s range which focuses on specific types of casks, ranging from Colheita Port over virgin oak to basically every type of sherry cask, including Oloroso, Amontillado and Palo Cortado.
As the driest of all sherry types, Fino is always a bit difficult and almost impossible to detect in a blind tasting, in my opinion.
Kavalan Solist – Fino Sherry Cask (56,3%, OB 2017, 505 btl.)
Nose: strange. First of all it’s full of wood aromas. White pepper and cinnamon, toasted oak and plain oak shavings. This gets mixed with heavy caramel aromas, leather and tobacco, which brings it close to American rye whiskey. Hints of orange marmalade, menthol and some salted nuts as well – at least this could be down to the Fino. Unfortunately there’s also a vegetal and even sulphuric edge – I’m guessing the cask was heavily toasted.
Mouth: thick, but again very wood-infused. Liquorice, cinnamon, ginger, maple syrup and an almost resinous element. In Kavalan I’m always looking for (tropical) fruity notes, but no use finding them here. A lot of citrus, rye spice, leather and walnuts.
Finish: long, dry and woody, with these tobacco and matchstick undertones.
Okay so it’s a relatively dry Kavalan, and there’s some saltiness in it, but the spirit gets drowned in oaky notes. As a sherry educator I think this is one of the worst examples you could choose to introduce people to whisky matured in Fino cask. Or Kavalan for that matter. If you also take the price into account (around € 300), the outcome becomes even worse.